View Single Post
 
Old 04-23-2017, 09:34 AM
6string's Avatar
6string 6string is online now
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Upstate, SC
Posts: 2,000
Likes: 3,090
Liked 4,735 Times in 1,517 Posts
Default

I'm not sure when S&W stopped doing barrel tests of the 41. But, I have a friend who shot on one of the Navy teams back in the late 60s. He visited the factory and actually saw the test range.
Until the NRA changed the match rules, bullseye pistol was an iron sight only event. This made it much more practical for top American shooters to transition to international events. If you've ever seen one of the rare aluminum slide 41s chambered for 22 short, you may be aware that this model was intended specifically for the international Rapid Fire event. Bill McMillan won the Olympic Gold medal in 1960 for rapid fire.... using a High Standard! (By the way, High Standard was much more committed to Olympic event pistols than S&W.)
Bob Ross, another American competitor who shot internationally, used a specially set up S&W 41 in free pistol. Normally, one would shoot a super accurate Hämmerli for that event, but Bob's 41 was set up with a custom full wrap-around fitted grip and trigger tuned to under 1 lb. He never made it to the Olympics with that rig, but he did win a Silver medal somewhere in Europe.

Today, American pistol shooters can't even make the finals, let alone win an Olympic medal. So, there's not much incentive for companies like S&W to cater to that small niche.

By the 1980s, the AMU and even a lot of National Guard teams had given up on guns like the 41 and were buying the Hämmerli 208/208S. That gun was discontinued in the late 1990s, and now the Feinwerkbau AW93 is one of the favorite choices for the top service team shooters.

Jim
Reply With Quote
The Following User Likes This Post: