.41 Mag Reloading Project; Phase 1 - Brass Recommendations *Updated w/ Range Report*

Jack Flash

Jack Flash

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I have never reloaded .41 Mags before so I don't have any brass. Since I'm starting with a clean slate, I'd like some recommendations from this fine forum.

I've usually just gone with Remington because I have had good results. But I notice that Midway has Starline brass for considerably less than Rem or Win. Anyone have experiences with Starline (if not in .41 Mag, then .44 M or other)?

I like Rem brass, but I'm not married to it. Tell me about your brass preferences...
 
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I bought 100 new Starline 41 mag brass cartridges and have not had any problem. I would recommend them. You can buy directly from Starline's website; I think you might save a few bucks.
 
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Starline is great brass, and I've had good luck for a couple decades with Remington brass (prefer Starline now).

I played around w/ lots of powder, but kept coming back to 2400. I like 17.5 gr w/ 210 gr jacketed bullets of several makes (have yet to have one shoot poorly), and 17 gr w/ 215 gr hard cast SWCs. All w/ std primers, firm roll crimp. These loads hit to same POI at 50 yards in my three M57s, BTW. They are all I load in that caliber, all guns have remained zeroed for many years. Simple and good.
 
Greetings +1 for Star- line brass. Hard to beat the price also. If you plan on keeping that 41 or like many of us getting others then do yourself a favor and buy 500. Free shipping and it will be to your house as fast as they can ship it. Shoots fine in all my 41´s.
 
Starline used to advertise that they made brass for ammo manufacturers and decided to go factory direct to the handloaders.

I have shot a lot of it in many different calibers and have never had a problem with it, in fact I prefer it if I have to buy brass.

The .41 is very versatile and is an all around excellent cartridge with a lot of potential that the loading manuals won't tell you about.
 
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Buffalo Bore and Fioochi Extrema Ammo are a couple of ammo makers that use Starline brass.

It's a manufacturing oddity these days. Made in the USA, private small company, top quality and lower prices. What's not to like?:D

If you need to "buy" brass it's one of the best. Hornady is good also.
 
Same boat

Hey guys,
I'm in the same boat and have been thinking about reloading for my .41 cal. Anybody have any good "recipes" they'd share?
 
Brass preference?? I shoot a lot of scrounged second hand brass and 41 mag is never common. Even new it is often out of stock. So my preference is to grab every piece of it I can find and sort into piles later.
 
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Big Ranch said:
Hey guys,
I'm in the same boat and have been thinking about reloading for my .41 cal. Anybody have any good "recipes" they'd share?
Click to expand...

Good, basic place to start is 8 to 9 grains of Unique with the wad cutter of your choice. Simple, not earth shaking fun round.
 
I have not bought .41 Magnum brass but other Starline brass I've bought as been very good. I have bought .357 Magnum, 38 S&W, .45 Colt and 45-70 brass from Starline with great success. I see no reason why their .41 Magnum would be poor.
 
I have boxes of .41 mag loaded with Remington, Winchester and Starline brass. Remington is the thinner walled brass and I prefer using it with lead bullets as you don't get the bulges in the case that you can with the other 2. Starline brass is the thickest brass. All three brands have worked fine.

The .41 mag is one of the easier cartridges to load good ammo for. I have yet to discover a bad load that doesn't shoot well in my revolvers.

With 215gr LSWC commercial cast bullets I use either 7.0grs of W231 or 8.0grs of Unique. Both these loads run 950+ fps from my 4" 657 Mountain pistol. Going to 9.5 grains of Unique sends the same bullet out the muzzle at 1,157 fps for a little more pop.

I've used H110, 2400 and AA9 with jacketed bullets, mostly 210gr Hornady XTP's. Best velocity has come from 2400 with 17.5 grs in a WW factory primed case sending the XTP out the muzzle of my 6" S&W 57 at 1,413 fps or 130 fps faster than a load of 20.3 grs of H110.
 
Good responses.

That tells me what I wanted to know - basically no complaints about Starline.

I'll order some and then go on to Stage 2. :D
 
Buy a larger batch of Starline

Like everyone else...I also like Starline brass. I have used it almost exclusivly when buying new brass.

But I offer an observation. When measuring various batches of Starline brass they will vary a few thousands. Any manufacture will.

So if you buy 100 now and 100 later they will be different lengths, if you mix up thes batches you will notice your crimp will vary also.

For the sake of consistancy (this is what reloading is ALL about) you would do better to order more and all your brass will be the same length, and will crimp the same.

Someone already said order 500, that was good advice.

Good luck with your new caliber.

My favorite hunting load is Cast Performance 265 gr lead wide long nose gas checked bullet over a max load of W296 and a CCI mag primer.
Read up on using W296 and approach max load carefully and do not underload. I have neck shot deer at 85 yards and they drop instantly. This load is used in a Smith PC 657, 8-3/8 barrel with a 2x Leoupold. This is my favorite hunting handgun (and caliber).
 
I bought some Starline brass when I got my first .41 Magnum.
I have gotten some factory Remington and Winchester brass from factory loads. Also got some mixed brass here and there.

All of it has worked well. I have a slight preference for Starline and Winchester. Still load the Remington brass I have happily.
 
Big Ranch said:
Hey guys,
I'm in the same boat and have been thinking about reloading for my .41 cal. Anybody have any good "recipes" they'd share?
Click to expand...

See my post above. My three M57 no dash revolvers (4", 6" and 8 3/8") all shoot beautifully w/ a stout load of 2400. Been using these loads for almost 30 years.

Here's one of them, with the hard cast 215 gr loads:

SWM57deergirls014.jpg
 
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