I got the DA 41colt yesterday.It was $275

It has markings under the barrel.

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Are you planning on shooting it? I almost picked one up a couple years ago but after researching it sounds like the bore diameter and bullet diameter varied over the years. That along with the ammo cost of $1.00+ per round turned me off.

A replacement extractor rod knob shouldn't be too difficult to find. .41 LC ammunition will be the biggest problem. I cannot speak from personal experience, but they have a reputation of being very difficult to work on if anything breaks. You probably have already researched the history of the different bullet diameters used. The later ammunition used a smaller diameter hollow based bullet which expanded to seal the larger bore.

yes I read about the ammo. I do reload so I may get a die for it. I think its neat having an old odd chambered gun. I may get it lettered.

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I used to own a Colt Army Special with a 4 1/2” barrel, dies, bullets, 300 rounds of ammo. I traded it off after a while. It was fun to shoot, like a .38 Special on steroids. I like to have never found a shell holder for .41 LC; I think I got one from Lyman.

Reeves Ace Hardware in Clayton, GA probably has ammo for it.

There may be some factory .41 LC ammo or brass available somewhere. But a major difficulty is that there is no known brass caliber from which .41 LC cases can be formed. And I doubt you will easily find reloading dies anywhere, short of having some custom made. You will probably be money ahead just paying the high prices for older ammo. Don't be shocked if a full box is priced in the $75-$100 range. I have two full boxes of the very last run of Western .41 LC made, just against the remote possibility I find some .41 LC revolver at an excellent price someday.

I like it! I had a blue three incher that I foolishly traded off at a New Orleans gun store for a bolt action .223 Mini-Mauser. I don't even remember what I traded that one off for.

I shot mine a few times with some very expensive factory ammo I found. About half went off with a satisfying bang, the other half blooped with enough power for that hollow-base slug to hit the the ground about 15 feet in front of the muzzle.

These are a popular topic on the Colt Forum - some guys there seek them out to make big-bore belly guns.

Congrats - I'd have bought it, too.

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Very nice score !
A friend of mine had one and he wanted to shoot it...the only fly in that ointment was finding ammo. That was 45 years ago. I found some loading dies and a shell holder (Herter's) he located some brass cases and a used Lyman single cavity , hollow base mould # 386178 , 200 gr. RN bullet. I cast and lubed and sized a good supply of bullets . With that we were able to put together 100 rounds of ammo.
It shot well, the hollow base would seal the bore and it gave adequate accuracy.
He still has it but due to a lack of cases doesn't shoot it very much.
The hollow base bullet works better than the heeled bullet it was designed to use. Easier to load with conventional loading dies too .
His revolver was nickel plated also...that must have been popular.
Gary

starline makes brass and a few companies make factory ammo at $70 a box

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Starline has 41 Colt brass available. There is also an article online about using 38 special brass to make 41 brass you’ll have to google it though. I bought a four cases of ultramax cowboy loads a few years back before the price jumped to $70 a box for my old Colt New Navy from 1903

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Very nice old colt wogentry

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"There is also an article online about using 38 special brass to make 41 brass you’ll have to google it though."

I think it involves soldering a length of 3/8" seamless brass tubing over the base of a .38 Special case. Seems like a lot of work to go through. If in fact Starline is making .41 LC brass, no question that would be the way to go. If brass is available, I'd also imagine someone is making and selling the proper HB lead bullets also. So all you need is reloading dies. Is anyone making those as a stock item?

The */star (or sometimes an '&')on the right-rear of the trigger guard is the Colt Service Dept mark for a re-work,,usually a refinish. But could be other repair.

Redding makes loading dies (about $80 a 3-die set). Probably others but more $$.
Sometimes you can find a set on FleaBay for a good price and snag a buy-it-now for a good price. But waiting and watching can become a full time job.

In theory at least, the handy machinist type should be able to cut a simple set of sizer, seater, & shoulder crimp dies.
The case is absolutely straight one end to the other at .405".
(Colt cylinder chambers are straight thru bored at .410" IIRC,,no shoulder.)
A seater die from a 38-40 could probably be used as well as the crimp die from same. Shortening both may be in order but that's an easy mod for your machinist friend.
The crimper die would only work on the hollowbase bullet.
A heeled bullet would need a collet type of die arrangement to crimp the same size brass and bullet together I suspect.
Seems like someone was modifying a Lee collet die from some other caliber/use to work for this.
A shell holder from the common 38special/357mag works for the 41Colt but is a little small. You may find one that works perfectly, but most will not quite accept the 41 brass so a little rework w/a (OMG) Dremel takes care of it. ,,and it is very little that you remove.
Not much of a rim on the 41, so make the SH fit as snug as possible.


The original Long and Short case lengths were loaded by the factorys,
Then an in-between length at just over an inch OAL.
This was produced and sold but only as a reloading component , not as Factory loaded ammunition.

The Starline brass is (or was) about 1.125 oal which is still short of the orig 41 Long Colt brass OAL (1.135+/-). But close enough to say it's 41 Long Colt.

I saw the cartridge conversion method of sleeving 38Sp brass with tubing to create 41Colt brass in Connelly's(sp) book.
I have seen annealed 38special brass simply neck expanded with a 41 expander and then a bullet seated over charge of approx 3gr of BE.
Then the rounds loaded and simply fireformed in a Colt revolver.
They blow out to the 41 chamber over most of the length of the 38sp brass then taper down quickly to the solid head of the 38Sp case.
A little strange looking but not too bad! They loaded easily and well with multiple reloads of 6 or more before a cracked neck took them out of service.
Never any cracks in the case walls down by the base.
Always generously mild loads used and accuracy was acceptable, certainly not any worse or better than any 'store bought'en shells'.
Now we have brass available so maybe the exersize is not needed.
But it is another way to do things. Just keep the loads low when working with old guns , old fingers, and modified reloading components.

Commercial Casters offer both the heeled and the hollowbase bullet for sale.

A tinkerers delight for sure!
Nice buy!, I'd have grabbed that one too..