I've long been intrigued by the .41 Long Colt even though it has no reason for being in this day and age. I've acquired a couple in the past year or so.
If you want to do .41 Long Colt you gotta buy a Colt.
Here's a Colt New Navy from 1901.
Here's an Army Special from 1925
Single action effort at 10 yards
Rapid-fire double action effort at 7 yards
I'm going to handload as soon as I get the dies. I've gathered up several hundred cases and some proper cast hollow base bullets so we'll see what develops. I'm going to experiment with use of .38-40 bullets in my Army Special and then maybe some cast bullets intended for the .40 S&W. Don't really see why the old round must be used with only hollow base or heal type bullets. I already handload for a .38-40 Colt Single Action Army.
Here are the results of chronograph tests in the Army Special.
Remington 195 Grain Lead Round nose
662 fps: Muzzle Velocity
195 ft./lbs: Muzzle Energy
26 fps: Extreme Spread
9 fps: Standard Deviation
Winchester Western "White Box" 200 Grain Lubaloy Round Nose
671 fps: Muzzle Velocity
200 ft./lbs.: Muzzle Energy
50 fps: Extreme Spread
22 fps: Standard Deviation
Western "Yellow Box" 200 Grain Lubaloy Round Nose
679 fps: Muzzle Velocity
204 ft./lbs.: Muzzle Energy
27 fps: Extreme Spread
9 fps: Standard Deviation
Here's the data obtained last summer when firing this same ammunition from the .41 Colt New Navy.
Remington 195 Grain Lead Round Nose
692 fps: muzzle velocity
207 ft./lbs.: muzzle energy
48 fps: extreme spread
18 fps: standard deviation
Winchester Western "white box" 200 Grain Lubaloy Round Nose
709 fps: muzzle velocity
223 ft./lbs.: muzzle energy
107 fps: extreme spread
46 fps: standard deviation
Western "Yellow Box" 200 Grain Lubaloy Round Nose
720 fps: muzzle velocity:
230 ft./lbs.: muzzle energy
16 fps: extreme spread
6 fps: standard deviation
The loads were a little slower in the Army Special than they were in the New Navy. Could have been any number of things working in concert with each other. The New Navy has a 4 1/2-inch barrel while the Army Special has a 4-inch barrel. Dimensional differences were noted between the two, and the temperature was in the mid-50s rather than the high 90s.
I'm enthused about the old round even if it is obsolete. It's something different to play with and would still make quite a reasonable short range self defense cartridge.