I’m looking to buy a 22 match quality pistol and a model 41 was at the top of my list. However, in checking on several forums there are many posts about problems and lack of support from S&W. Looking for comments on the quality, reliability, accuracy, and S&W support currently available.
Thanks for your help.

Not sure how the current production 41’s are but My 1980 Model 41 has been problem free & have owned it for more than 5 years


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I'd like to know which forums outside of this one would have many model 41 owners.
Get good ammo, standard velocity, and keep them clean and lube as indicated by the manual. IMO

Most of the quality comments are on “New” production found on rimfire central.

I purchased a 5” PC model last spring, I could not be happier. I use it for Rimfire Challenge and serious plinking and doubt I will ever leave my ownership.

What is the difference between standard an PC? What do they do at the PC?

Today I consigned my late A series 41 with my FFL. This one is one of the GOOD model 41's with a 7 inch barrel and custom Herrett grips. PM me if you want to know where it is.

I would NEVER entrust an early or mid 41 to the mother ship. Their craftsmen have mostly gone to their reward, or at least retired. If you want one worked on go to a reputable 41 smith...there are a few still out there. bob

The PC has a picatinny milled into the top of the barrel for optics.

I have a bought new 1981 M41 with 5-1/2" (?) barrel with 15K+ rounds through it. It has been cleaned several times. A Y-shaped spring under the right grip panel is the only repair made. I found the S&W replacement spring at a gun show, bought 3 springs for $15. Second M41 is identical except S/N is 10K higher, again no problems. This one has a Clark barrel from Brownell's with a machined rail for mounting a dot sight.

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S&WHF 366

Mine is from about 1971 and it runs without problems. Most spare parts are still plentiful and usually reasonably priced - unlike .22 ammo today lol

I've got a 1959 Model 41, Itt loves CCI SV ammo. Gets cleaned/lubed regularly and absolutely no problems.

Most of the concerns I hear about having problems are the newer production 41's. Stick with the older models and you will not have
a problem. There are a lot of them out there. Parts are plentiful.

Have owned several Model 41's over the years and cannot recall any issues if kept clean and lubed......CCI Standard Velocity is always a good choice......have had good luck with other target .22 cartridges as well.

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Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Target pistols in general can be a bit finicky as to which ammo brand you use. I've had numerous 41s and a few 46s and all worked well with the correct standard velocity or target ammo and keeping them clean.
Good luck. Nice way to start the new year.

It might be worthwhile if someone were to summarize some of the information that is common knowledge here, for the OP. I don't feel confident to do that myself.

Good chance the people who made negative comments elsewhere did not have all the information that is available here if you search.

I "adopted" one of the older Model 41's last year. (pic 1 below, with new grips) S/N A137xxx, so it is about to turn 50 years old.

It took a little reading here and elsewhere to understand what 22 ammo was best, magazines, cleaning, chamber size etc. I am very happy with it now, but it took some research before I got it right. Until then... let's just say that a look behind door No. 2 tells the story... lol



1971 vintage Model 71, with later NOS grips


...and what happens when you don't take good advice

I have owned 3 or 4 model 41 pistols over the last 45 years and have had nary a problem with any of them. The most recent one, and my current one, is a 2007 manufactured model and it has been just fine. In all honesty, if I were to be looking for another, I would probably be looking for a used model manufactured prior to around 2010. Actually the ones made prior to mid 90's have a better exterior finish. They truly are a pleasure to own and to shoot. If you buy yours, please give us some pictures.

I shot a 1973 pistol that had a jam about every 500 rounds. Ruby Fox loaned me a 7 inch barrel that I shot for 3 years without one single problem, shooting 10K - 13K rounds every year while on the USAR pistol team. At Camp Perry, a military armor used a reamer and removed lead build up from the chamber. He told me only lead was removed, and it would work better. Well, it started jamming regularly.

I picked up a 1970 pistol and it would not chamber Eley or RWS ammo. It does shoot CCI SV. I also have a 5 inch field barrel that shoots best with Aguila.
I shoot a Clark barrel for indoor league, and that barrel has run flawless with any ammo.
I picked up a 1959 pistol with 5.5 inch bbl and 7 inch bbl, tomorrow will be my first range trip with it.

Out of 4 factory S&W model 41 barrels, I only had one that worked excellent. The Clark barrel also works excellent.

I do not own a Model 41. Maybe I will when I grow up. Most, if not all, of the Model 41 problems that I have read about the over the years ended up being ammunition compatibility.

I bought mine in the mid nineties. With the CCI Std velocity it malfunctions about 2% - 3% of the time. The most common failure is the slide will go back far enough to eject the fired round but not far enough to pick up the next. But there is also the occasional stovepipe. It always worked well with full power ammo like CCI Minimags but I heard over time they could damage the trigger guard that stops the slide.

I tried some fixes suggested here such as replacing the extractor with an aftermarket one with any success. I thought about having a gunsmith tune it to work well with standard velocity ammo but decided to shoot Minmags through it and enjoy it as is. It is accurate and easy to shoot well even though the MiniMags seem a little less accurate than the standard velocity ammo.

The S&W is a great shooting gun but can be finicky about ammo. I would say all 22s tend to be finicky about ammo but my 22 compact has proven some guns are much less picky than others. But I would never take the 22 compact to a Bullseye match. The M41 is more picky about what ammo it likes than Rugers and my S&W 22 compact. But it shoots so well it is worth the effort of finding what it likes. If you buy a Ruger Mark most people want to replace the trigger and sometimes make other changes before they take the gun to a match.

I just picked up my first Model 41 yesterday, 02/06/21, and the firearm does not function due to numerous problems. I have tried 5 different 22lr cartridges from Federal blue box to CCI Mini Mag to SK etc.... and have several malfunctions. At first it was failure to eject and the spent case would be jammed with new round entering feed ramp. Then when the gun would eject, the next round would not fire, but no signs of firing pin contact with case rim. Then the safety started partially engaging under recoil, and when I pulled the trigger nothing happens, I disengage the safety (the red dot still visible indicating the safety is only slightly engaged) I can hear the firing pin cycle but no ignition. I have disassembled, inspected and cleaned the firearm numerous times and re-tested numerous times. The problems are only getting worse. I own and collect over 50 firearms so I am no beginner to shooting. I am so disappointed that every time I buy a new firearm it is such a Pig in a Poke. The day before I picked up a Walther Colt 1911 22, and after 500+ rounds of ANY ammo I choose...not a single failure but one misfire that fired when reloaded. What junk Smith and Wesson.

I've owned mine since the 1970's , shot in weekly local indoor NRA Bullseye League Match for nearly twenty years .
Nothing has ever broken and no repairs were ever necessary .
I did treat it to a stay at Clark Custom Guns for a target trigger job and reliability tuning about 10 years ago but that was just to please myself .
The trigger job they do is Wonderful ... I wished I had had the $$$ to get it done when I was shooting in the Bullseye League .
One thing I do is keep it totally and obsessively clean and properly lubed .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Clark Custom Guns
Clark Custom Guns | Established 1950 | Princeton Louisiana
(318) 949-9884
336 Shootout Lane
Princeton , Louisiana 71067

Jimmy Clark's grandsons are running the shop now ... rebuilding model 41's since 1950 ... and worth every penny .
Stay away from the factory if you can ... you wont be a happy camper with their service .

Didn't your Daddy warn you about buyin a pig in a poke ?
You get skinned every time !
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Correct ammo is standard or target velocity. High velocity ammo will malfunction especially in older 41s. I have a early model and a new PC version. I tried hi velocity in the old one years ago and it failed and I stopped using it to protect a fine old target pistol. I have not tried high velocity PC model. Target velocity works flawlessly.


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Quite a few 41 owners on this forum
Model 41 Pistol - RimfireCentral.com Forums

Stu

Easy, the M41 sub forum over at RFC. The good, the bad, and the ugly gets thoroughly hashed out over there.

Rob

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Strange days have found us

Well as one who is on that "other" forum at times and owns a PC M41 I feel compelled to respond to some of the comments here. Last November I purchased a new PC M41. Cleaned/lubed it and shot all of 20 rounds thru it before I started having problems. The slide would not go into full battery, the slide lock lever ceased working and lead was being shaved off the bullets as they chambered. On the 3rd day of ownership the pistol was headed back to the Mothership for repair. I was not happy in the least, but I will add that I had an older M41 with cocking indicator that faired no better than my new PC model, so I don't buy into the older is better propaganda. It is pure luck of the draw when you buy one of these pistols, unless you know the previous owner if it is a used M41.

Anyway, S&W Warranty person told me 6 to 8 weeks to get the pistol back from them. Not much I can do but wait, except in my case it was closer to 12 weeks, but the excuse was Covid of course and the holiday shut down. Must be nice to have a holiday shut down. I never had one as a cop. So after reading all the horror stories about buying new M41's and having to return them and again and again I began thinking this is just an exercise in futility as it will no doubt go back at least once more. Finally I get a message from S&W that my M41 is coming back home. When it arrives I look at it and there is no external damage on it as some have claimed they had and there is ample evidence it had been shot which in my book is a good thing. There is a typed note in the box that reports what was done to the pistol and at that point I clean and lube it.

I then proceed to put 30 rounds thru the pistol rather quickly as I am not concerned one bit with accuracy, only function. No problems what-so-ever. Take the pistol apart, clean and lube it and check for lead being shaved off the bullets. No evidence that the bullet is contacting anything other than what it is supposed to. Put it all back together and fire off another 30 some rounds a bit more slowly but still not concerned with accuracy only function. No problems at all.

Since that time I have probably put 200 rounds thru the pistol with no failures of any sort and no evidence of lead shaving. It's too cold in my area to go out to the range for any real distance shooting and I won't pay the outrageous indoor range fees in my area, to shoot inside, so I will have to wait until it warms up to do any real testing. At this point I am more than happy with my PC M41. It should have come right from the factory in fighting shape, but that didn't happen. I wasn't really inconvenienced much by having to send the pistol back to S&W because it is winter here and I am not shooting anyway. Clearly S&W does have some people working there that know how to at least repair these pistols, but they may lack a bit in initially building them.

Obviously if we all only look for older M41's to buy the supply will eventually dry up and many will become worn out hulks, or they will be relegated to the dark corners of gun safes. I drank that Kool-Aid several years ago and ended up buying a piece of junk M41 that I could have used better as a tent stake. Right now I have no regrets buying my PC M41 as it functions flawlessly. Should that change in the future I guess I will have another bridge to cross, but right now I am happy with the pistol I bought. The real bonus for me is being to slap an RMR on it or use the iron sights. Happy Days are here!!

To keep things honest, after shooting my M41 the last time I felt a little "hitch" in it when pulling the slide back. It felt like a hard spot just before the extractor exited the extractor cut. I couldn't see anything out of sorts with the extractor, but I had a Volquartsen M41 extractor on hand so I installed it. No hitch no more. Slide moves super smooth now. I will test fire it today to make sure it works.

Rick H.

I already had my M41 11 years before joining RFC in 2002.

Had zero problems with the pistol using CCI SV, but it did seem to gunk up fairly quick with the wax coated CCI.

Then, someone finally convinced me that Wolf MT was not Russian made junk, but quality ammo made in Germany by SK.

It was like the 41 had found a 5th gear when you thought it only had a 4 speed.

It just did everything better. Smoother function, better groups, everything improved from a already high degree of performance. Way longer before needed cleanings of gunk build up. Bought 2 cases just for the M41, but use it in all my .22 LRs. They all perform better with the SK Standard Plus.

Now, if they just could be persuaded to open a factory in the USA like CZ is doing and avoid import do da.

Rob

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Strange days have found us

Can anyone recommend where to get a new extractor spring?

In general the M41 has proven to be an accurate, well made, reliable Target Quality Pistol with a choice of barrels. Some M41's are a little finicky as to which ammo they like but again in general terms the vast majority of them seem to love the CCI Standard Velocity ammo - I know mine does.

IMHO the weakest part of the M41 is the Factory Extractor (stamped out part) that sometimes causes issues and hang-ups but thankfully replacing it with a Volquartsen version costs a whopping $13 bucks and takes less than 20 minutes to do. Other than that, I see no real downside to the M41.

Some may prefer new ones however my preference lies in the vintage models from the 1970's and 1980's. Oh - I would also recommend buying used vintage Magazines as they are far superior to the new production, IMHO.

Another GREAT RF Target Pistol to consider would be a High Standard in one of their quite similar but slightly different models. I would stay clear from new production as they don't hold a candle to the vintage models and the "new" HS Company is not what the original was.

BTW, many of the higher end Target Pistols are more finicky about ammo than most of the less expensive "plinkers" - but that is probably due to tighter tolerances for greater accuracy and again, CCI std. vel. usually saves the day!

Here's one. Smith and Wesson Model 41 S&W Extractor & Spring | eBay

Thanks for the link!

Where is the ejector on these model 41's??

As a followup, I recently passed the 500 rounds fired mark with my PC Model 41 and have had no problems with it at all as long as I run suitable ammunition thru it. The pistol is a joy to shoot especially since I put a Trijicon SRO optic on it. If I use sub-par ammunition I get sub-par results in operation. There is no doubt the Model 41 is ammunition sensitive. Right now the only limitation on my PC M41 is.....me.

Rick H.

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