Wow......after seeing the photos of Superman's collection, I feel suitably humbled. I've only one .41, an early '70's M58 which I got back in the '80's, when, it seemed, no one much wanted them, so it was 'cost-effective' so to speak.
As a practical matter, yes, its a handloaders' weapon. The challenge, with the fixed sights of the M58, is to know where to hold when using gentle '.41 Special' loadings for practice, relative to the bullet strike of 'full charge' hot rounds.
I had to get a set of Pachmayr grips (stocks, for a Smith?) as the originals were a bit 'brutal' on my hands with full-charge loadings.
The M58 was involved in one of my 'pet' range stories. This was about twelve years ago, when I was taking my turn as RM at our local indoor range.
Three young hispanic men came to the range, and asked very courteously and politely whether they'd be allowed to shoot there.
I gave them the 'range safety rules' yobble-yobble, and told them they were welcome, so long as they were careful to follow the necessary range practices and procedures.......which included removing their 9MM semi-autos from their pants and clearing them before entering the range, and keeping them in a show-safe condition until they were at the line.
The first one to fire held his 9MM sideways, and didn't even get on the paper of a B2 target at 7 yards.......so I offered them a bit of basic orientation, including explanation of the use of the funny little bump at the front of the slide, and the little square notch at the back.
After they had fired the box of 9 they'd brought, I got into conversation with them (there were no other range users, so I could shut down the line awhile) and heard their story.......they were literally 'from a different world'.
Since I'd brought the M58 to do some practice if no range users showed up that evening, the thought occurred to me.......alright, they had 9MM's, would they like to try firing a revolver, just for familiarisation?
I carefully 'explained' that the generality of the men of the NRA carried either M1911's or the M29 Smith, the .44 mag, and mine was only a .41, so it was considered 'the ladies' model'. I told them I had only a few rounds, so I could allow them two rounds apiece (which was what I had with me, of 'seriously hot' loads)
After a bit of 'dry fire' for familiarisation, I gave the first one his two rounds. He fired, the Smith rose toward the ceiling, he took a step back, and the look on his face was 'priceless'.
After each had fired his two rounds, one of them turned to another and said, with what seemed to be a rather 'awed' tone.......
'Ay, chingao.....es.....es....esta.....una pistola.......de mujeres.....de NRA?'
cheers
Carla
