Today, while at the gun range, I spoke to an older gentleman who worked there asked me what gun I planned on shooting today. I said the model 41. He asked to see it and I showed it to him. I said that I was having some issues with it jamming and stove piping every 3-4 rounds using SV ammo, including the recommended CCI SV 40 grain 1070 FPS lead 22LR. He looked at it and asked me how many rounds I shot through it. I said about 300 rounds. He asked if I cleaned and oiled it when I first bought it 4 weeks ago. I said no. He said that the manufacturer only places grease on the gun parts before they ship it out…..that it does not take the place of oil and cleaning. He advised me to always clean and oil every gun that I buy before ever shooting it.
Then he used a bore snake to clean it and well as to clean the chamber and then oiled it. Well, amazingly, I shot about 200-250 rounds almost flawlessly through it using CCI SV ammo as well as Norma and Aguila SV ammo. I was sooo happy since I thought that the gun was a $1600 dud. I mean, $1600 is a lot for a gun in my book and it should be ready to go right out of the case as a newly purchased gun. Or so I thought. Well, I only had 2 jams after those initial 200-250 rounds today. Then I put it down to rest. After about 7-8 minutes, I picked it up and proceeded to shoot more SV ammo…..CCI, Aguila and Norma. It began to jam and stove pipe again, just as it had when I first bought it. Moral of my story……I think that it needs to be cleaned and oiled after 200-250 rounds since it it a “precision instrument” with a tight chamber and barrel (in order to maintain accuracy). Also, the older gentleman told me that the lead nosed 22 LR bullets are very dirty and that I should use copper nosed bullets. Hmmmm. Made me wonder! Just want to share my findings with everyone!

After a thorough cleaning, my M41 and Nelson Conversion need a few rounds to "condition" the chamber with some bullet lube and soot to lubricate extraction.

"...the older gentleman told me that the lead nosed 22 LR bullets are very dirty and that I should use copper nosed bullets."

This would be news to serious target shooters. The high end match .22s are normally lubricated lead.

Does it make sense that the model 41 needs to be cleaned approximately every 200-250 rounds to prevent jams and stove piping? Could it be possible that after I placed it down for 7-8 minutes that it cooled off and that contributed to the malfunctions that I experienced? I used the same ammo that was shooting flawlessly before and now after “resting” the gun, it began to jam and stove pipe after every 3-4 rounds. Why?

Congratulations on your purchase of the
S&W Mdl 41 .22lr and sharing your story.

My 1979 S&W Mdl 41 .22lr is the one pistol
that I have to keep the cleanest.

One special thing I do is, keep the chamber
oil/grease free as possible.

I too have found that the cooper washed .22lr
hollow point cartridges work best and are
accurate.

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SD social distanc'n since 1889

I got news for you. Any gun should be stripped down and cleaned before shooting. Used or new.
I had a embarrassing thing happen to me when I was a kid. I had gotten a new K22 on a trade. Did clean it before it was fired. After a session of maybe 300 rds, it was cleaned again. Was shooting again into 200rds when gun became hard to cock. My dad says quit, we would take to gunsmith later that week when he picked up his shotgun. Turned out K22 had build up in front of yoke. After that cylinder comes out after every session. It’s not hung up since then, back in 60s.

Wow. Interesting and informative learning for me! I thought that my model 41 would jam and stove pipe because of the ammo……when I went out shooting initially, the HV ammo ran very well. When I switched to SV, it began to jam and stove pipe every 3-4 rounds. I thought there was a problem with ammo selection. Now that I look back, perhaps (?) I shot 200+ rounds of the HV (1200—1435 FPS) ammo and then switched to SV, about the time a cleaning and oiling was due! So perhaps it is a gun that just needs cleaned much more often than my Ruger 10/22…….this Rutgers eats any ammo, NEVER had it jam or stove pipe and I ran 400-500 rounds before I cleaned and oiled it.

I've experienced the same over the years. Auto loaders are much more finicky than revolvers.

I've had the same issue with my Colt Match Target. I only shoot HV ammo that have copper nosed bullets. I save the lead bullets for the K22's and M18's but still clean those afterwards.

My experience differs. I Broke-in my 1978 41 with Stingers. Switched to Federal 500 round bulk boxes of 40 gr HV (Walmart closeouts for $7 or so). I kept the rails lubed but never had to clean for 6 boxes (3000 rds) or so. Lately I have been been shooting CCI SV and experienced failures to extract after 2000 rds. The SV is much dirtier with a buildup at the slide face but easily removed with a stiff toothbrush.

It pays to listen to old guys at the range.

An experienced Model 41 owner demonstrated the effectiveness of adding a very small drop of gun oil to the top of first round in the magazine. This has greatly improved proven my gun’s reliability. A word caution: After shooting about three or four magazines, you should do this less frequently because it leaves noticeable deposits inside the action.