I have a long history with both rounds and guns carried for self-defense. Back in the 1980s when I was with Dallas PD we could carry either round as well as handloaded ammo. I was also a commercial loader/reloader and made up ammo for LEOs in the Dallas area that mirrors what CorBon now produces.

In the early to mid-1980s when S&W brought out their 24s and 624s I had a full set of each...4", 6.5" and the Combat Special 3". I carried the 3" 24 on duty in a specially made holster from G. William Davis. Also got them for several dozen of the guys I worked with. On duty I carried a handload with a 180 grain HydraShok (this was the original HS Corp. before they sold out to Federal) bullet with enough SR4756 to run it 1320 fps from a 6.5" barrel...or about 1200 from a 3". This bullet would turn inside-out when it hit water filled 1 quart paper oil cans. It also penetrated well as when the HP petals broke off the HS point just kept going. I still have some of these bullets and one of my friends has the 3" 624...all the rest were sold off when I went to .41 Magnum in the early 1990s.

Also carried both a Model 58 fixed sight and 57 adjustable sight 4" guns in .41 Magnum. The load was a 220 grain Keith bullet made of linotype that was as hard as steel... 8.0 grains of Unique ran the bullet at 950 fps from a 4". It duplicated the original 210 lead police load but with a harder bullet. The factory police loads would totally lead up the rifling in about two cylinders full.

The big problem with the .44 Special is that most factory loads do not expand in human bodies. A friend bought one of the Model 21 TR Specials and ran every round he could find into gallon jugs of water. None expanded to any degree including the SilverTip and the Gold Dot HP. If it won't expand in water it won't expand in a human. He went over to a 3" 629 PC and I gave him some Speer .44 Magnum 200 grain Gold Dot HP Short Barrel rounds and that are only doing 1080 from a 4" barrel and they expanded and petals broke off every time. He also liked the Remington 240 SJ HP...an old standby.

A problem with the .41 Magnum as a SD round is the lack of really good expanding bullets made for people...lots of them for hunting but most don't expand well on skinny humans... The best going right now are the Speer Gold Dot HP, Winchester 175 Silvertip and any round that is being loaded with the Barnes 185 solid copper HP (Barnes, Federal and CorBon). These rounds run in the 1300s and expand rapidly on contact.

Was talking to Peter Pi of CorBon at the SHOT Show two weeks ago and he is also a .41 person having carried a 58 on duty when he was an officer. His round of choice now is the CorBon DPX that uses the Barnes bullet....

Both are great rounds...just get a bullet that will run at least 1100 fps and will expand....

Bob