What is the significance of the orange follower in the 41 mags? I just saw some magazines for sale at $90.00 each! That just sounded crazy to me.

I believe the 12-round mags had an orange follower.

I have one with an orange follower. It holds 12 rounds.
Frankly, I suspect the follower on the 10 round mags could be shortened at the bottom to permit 12 rounds.
There is no real reason to covet the 12 round mags. Most competitons limit you to 10 rounds per magazine.

It does offer less resistance to getting the 10th round in though, so even if you don't use/need the extra capacity, there is a plus side.

__________________
So many S&W's, so few funds!!

That all makes sense to me now. My 12 round mags have an orange follower, and I know that they bring a premium. I just think that $90 is just a little high. The photos that I saw on ebay had been photoshopped to remove the number 12 on the slide. They were advertised as 10 round in the title.

I don't really need more mags. I've got 5 of the 12 round mags, I was just surprised by the $90 each on ebay.

If you are gonna buy extra Mag's you might want to consider the vintage ones with the metal followers rather than the plastic version. They are available if you look. I also have one with the plastic follower and it does work fine, I just think the older versions were built a little better.

If the M41 was a defensive pistol, then yes a 12 round magazine would obviously be advantageous but since 10 rounds is standard for Target Pistol Shooting, I see no real reason for the 12's. Most guys I know who have the 12's only load 10 anyway..........

When I was on the pistol team way back in college ("drafted" more as armorer than "top shooter"), we only loaded 5 per mag., even in slow fire. (Timed and rapid were fired in five round strings, so no reason for more rounds there.)

Haven't shot any formal Bulleye since then, and have forgotten why the restriction.

I don't really need more magazines, but being in California I need to do something before July to either get rid of the 12 rounders or block them to 10 rounds.

I'll swap you up to 5 of the 10 round mags for the 12's. (Located in IN.)

Of course there are valid reasons for the 12-rd magazines, sheesh. For a minute I thought Bill Ruger was posting from beyond the grave.

The 422/622 and later the 2206 came with 12-rd magazines and none of those pistols were designed for strict Bullseye and competition work, they were designed and marketed as plinkers, field guns and fun handguns. And yeah, 12 rounds of .22LR flung at empty cans and fruit is more fun than 10rds.

There's only one reason in the world why any manufacturer would take a perfectly designed 12-rd magazine and limit it to 10-rds across the board and that's for simplicity of parts stocking, supply, and end product shipment. Far easier and cheaper for S&W to have a product legal for all 50 states rather than having two distinct sets of products, "most" of which can go to 42 or so states and other product that meets the specifications of dumb and totally pointless gun laws.

It's anecdotal evidence if you know people who only load 10-rds in to 12-rd magazines. I would suggest that most people load a .22 pistol magazine until the thing stops accepting ammo.

The model 41 magazine that has the orange follower is the 12 shot magazine from 1992 ~ 1994.
The 422 coming out in 1987 and the 622 in 1989 came with the 10 shot mag.
The 2206 came out in 1990 also with the 10 shot magazine.
The 2206, 422, 622 and the model 41 came with the 12 shot mags from the 1992 ~ 1994 period.
The bulk of the 12 shot mags are found with the 422, 622 and 2206 pistols.