I've had an old S&W 58 .41 Mag sitting for years since I lost the ammo in a move and never had a need to go replace it. I couldn't come up with a single thing I needed a 4" fixed sight .41 Mag for that I wouldn't use one of my adjustable sight .44 Mags for. .44 Special is one of my favorite calibers, so the .41 Special seemed intriguing, and I like carrying big revolvers. I ordered a .41 Special crimp die, and am going to give it a try. I'm fully prepared for getting hooked and converting some .357s if need be, too.

I see you got one of those SFPD issue weapons. Sort of rare. It is, I am assured, a gun gun for bear country. A bud of mine carries one loaded with Rhino Rollers when drowning worms in the boonies.

It was the only 58 I could find at an affordable price at the time. The 58 was a gap in my S&W collection, so I went for it. I bought a few hundred rounds of .41 Mag that just didn't make it in the move, unfortunately. I thought it would be at home as a concealed carry and pistol class gun in the right loading. I tend to carry .44 Mags or .45 Colt +Ps in big bear country, so never did replace the lost .41 Mag ammo. A buddy sent me a few hundred pieces of .41 Mag brass, though. I'm looking forward to trying it out after all these years. Too neat to just sit on a shelf.

I have always enjoyed cast lead @ special velocities in my model 58 , loaded in 41 magnum cases but loading some in 41 Special cases would be cool to do .
Have downloaded and saved several articles on the 41 Special .
Had a Midway Christmas Gift certificate and birthday discount to get 41 special brass with ... went to place order ... Out Of Stock !!!
Will be watching your thread and get 41 special brass next order .
Question ... can your regular 41 magnum crimping die be used to seat and crimp bullets in the 41 special cases ? ... I was told yes ... but I'm wondering what your experience is .
Good luck with the special ,
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

I have heard you can't get a good crimp on the Specials without shortening the die. I'm not fast to change up my reloading press, so we'll see when I get around to this! I am taking a class in a couple weeks and was thinking I may shoot this 58 if I don't shoot my 627 with .38 Short Colts. I guess I have a propensity for using shorter cases in cylinders than what they were designed for... I've been shooting the fire out of an old Model 18, lately, and am about to take my 34 and the 629 I've been having zeroing troubles with to the range in an hour.

I did not even know that .41 Special even existed. I can understand loading down .41 Mag in mag cases though. If I owned a .41 Mag, I would not hesitate to down load mag cases.
Learn something new every day.
Jim

What powder load would you use to achieve 41 SPL ? Not being a reloaded, what is reduction from 44 MAG to 44SPL ?

Claymore33

Nothing wrong with loading .41 Magnum down to the same velocity, except a little extra space in the case. I think the .41 Special really has an advantage when you build one on a .357-size gun. A few around here have had .41 Specials built:

S&W .41 SPECIAL

I have a few spare 686 Mountain Gun barrels I picked up to make a 696 Mountain Gun, may do one of these, as well.

I'm shooting for a 215gr SWC .41 at about 950-1050fps. Unique is pretty hard to beat for a powder.

Ready For The .41 Special?

Reloading for .41 Caliber Handguns: .41 Mag and .41 Special | Rifle, Handgun, and Pistol Brass

http://www.sixguns.com/tests/tt41spec.htm

.44 just depends on where you're starting. I have used for years what I call my .44 Mag -P loads, which are a 240gr HCSWC at about 1050-1100fps. They're pretty close to hot .44 Specials offered by companies like Buffalo Bore. I have some Ruger .44s that will take very hot loads, but I just haven't loaded them hot. I use some 335gr +P .45 Colt loads in a Ruger Bisley from time to time, but most of my hunting is back in Texas, where that just isn't needed.

I found that using 41 special brass , the 41 magnum crimp die did not work , too long . I have the LEE Handloader kit for 41 magnum , used the crimper in that kit . Since then I just down load my 41 magnum brass to what Elmer Keith called " gallery loads " using Bullseye , 700-X , WST (my favorite) or Accurate #2 for powders . Regards , Paul

No need to mess with the "special" stuff. Just load down magnum cases with a cast swc and 7.0 of Unique.

Max gave you a perfect solution... just load 7.0 of Unique under a cast or even jacket bullet and you are good and don't create a ring in your chamber from a shorter case.

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S&W factory revolver armorer

I shoot Georgia Arms .41mag "cowboy" loads in my 58 when plinking (210 gr. SWC). The package says 800 fps. They shoot great and are easy on recoil. Another option to .41 special.

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Jim
Many K and N Frames

38 short in a magnum cylinder?
Yeah, I would agree with that statement. You must have had access to a good supply of that rare ammo.

I like 7.0 grains of Longshot and any 210-215 lead bullet in magnum cases; essentially a 41 Special without additional cases. I use jacketed bullets for higher performance (1050-1300 fps) loads, so there's no mistaking what's what.

I reload it for my steel matches, or anything else I might need a mild, accurate revolver for. I use Starline brass, which seems to be reinforced like a modern 9mm case in the web, rather than an original .38 Short Colt, .358" diameter 125gr lead bullets, and I think I settled on 3.0gr of Clays. Basically, it's a rimmed 9mm from an 8-shot revolver I had cut for moon clips. Ton of fun for a gaming gun.

I bought 1,000 rounds of that at a show in Georgia a while back. Fun to shoot and very easy on my hands.

Using 41 magnum cases for loads equivalent to 41 special is easy . Use a lighter bullet , say 200 gr or less loaded on top of a light charge of a powder like Hodgdon's " Clays " will produce a very light recoil , accurate and clean shooting round . Hodgdon's shows a load using a 200 gr bullet w/4.0 grs of Clays powder doing 854 fps . But remember , they were using a 10" test barrel , no cylinder to barrel gap so I would think in a 4" revolver you would be more likely to see 775 fps , approximately . There you have potentially a really nice 41 special load using magnum cases . Regards Paul