41 MAG 45 LONG COLT

[Calaveras Slim]

To me, a 44 long Colt would be a 44 special, which is my favorite calibre. However, I do reload for the 44 Colt as well as the others you mention.

For ease, the 44 special and 45 Colt are the easiest. Nominal straight wall cases and the lead bullets are easy to find.

The 44 Colt takes the same bullet as the 44 special and the 44 mag. 41 Mags stuff is getting a little easier to find.

Now if you want a great round for plinking and defense, the try to find some 41 special cases. John Taffin did some testing for loads and these are just as nice to shoot as the 44 special.

All in all, any you mention, while following load books, are easy to load.

 

[robocop10mm]

I prefer the .41 Mag. I have three. Can be downloaded with a cast bullet for general plinking or made to SCREAM with h-110 or W-296. # 2 choice would be the .45 Colt. more versitile than the .44 Spl. IMHO

 

[Nygma]

If you're a handloader (and caster) the 41 would be (and is) my personal choice with the 44 Special in an N frame gun as second choice. I however have lots of guns to choose from.
Your post asks about versatility of the 45 Colt, 44 Special, and 41 Magnum. Why not consider a 44 Magnum?
It has all the versatility of the the other two, and the power of the 41 when necessary. Factory 44 Mag. ammo is much cheaper than 41 Mag., and reloading components are a lot easier to find.
The 41 is right near the top of my favorite handgun cartridges, but if I wasn't an avid caster and handloader, and was limiting myself to one N frame gun, I'd take a hard look at the 44 Magnum.
That said, my 41s see far more field use these days than my 44s or 45s. Aside from special cases when I go to a 454 Casull or 357 Maximum, a 4" 41 will handle any job I do with a handgun, and is just plain cool in an understated sort of way.

 

[wxl]

As stated in other replies, if you intend to hunt also, the 41 mag would be my choice in a S&W. Second choice is the 45LC but in my Rugers at near mag level for hunting

 

[YogiBear]

Aloha,

I was lucky enoguh to find all 3 in Mountain guns.

Started out win M57/58 41s, then got a 696 and TR 44 spl finally a 45 Colt MG.

I find that shooting the same weight lead bullets, the 44 shoots a little softer than the 41 and the 45 Colt shoots the softest. Relatively speaking.

Love the big cases, so easy to grip for reloading.

If you have a 41, Reloading is a Must. I bought out a local gun shops entire supply of 41 jacketed bullets when they had a close out because it wasn't selling. Now I have a lifetime supply. Not to mention gas checks....

 

[sheriffoconee]

As a new owner of a Model 58, I can assure you that owning a 41 is a reloading proposition. I am fortunate enough to have access to a Dillon set up for 41 mag, and can keep a supply of ammo for mine. I no longer own a 44 special, but own a 45 Smith 25-5, and I have access to the same loading equipment for it as well.
With the popularity of the "Judge" revolvers, and the cowboy shooters, 45 Colt is likely the best proposition if you want to handload for any of these calibers, 45 Colt brass, bullets, dies, etc are readily available compared to the 41...at least that is MY experience...

 

[skipr77]

Hey sheriffoconee,

What year was your Model 58 made? I have never fired a 41 mag or even picked one up. How does it shoot and how is the recoil?

Skip

 

[perrazi]

the obvious solution is to buy one of each and start reloading if you don't already. the wonderful world of big bore handguns await.

 

[6pack]

Love to have one of each but I recently added a .41 Rem Mag first. I wanted a gun in the various Rem Mag calibers first...then start looking at other calibers.

.41 is a sweet shooter......but then again, my favorite round ever is the .44 Rem Mag.

45 LC is a nice round with some hot loads out there as well as some cowboy action loads that are easy to handle.

I don't see how you could go wrong in any scenerio....just buy a quality wheelgun and enjoy it.

 

[sheriffoconee]

Hey sheriffoconee,

What year was your Model 58 made? I have never fired a 41 mag or even picked one up. How does it shoot and how is the recoil?

Skip

My 58 is my grail gun, I have wanted one for years. I love it. According to SCSW 3rd ed, mine was made toward the end of production, around 74-75....mine is an easy 98% gun....I am still trying different loads in it, and the full power hunting loads aren't much fun to shoot, but that isn't why I own it....I like self defense loads, right now I have handloads loaded by a friend who owns a gunshop, 210 grn Gold Dot at 950 FPS, shoots to point of aim ...

 

[Engineer1911]

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

At the indoor range over a period of 6 months, I picked up 1,200 44 mag cases, 300 45 Long Colt, and 18 41 mag cases. No one wanted 41 mag because it is truely an orphan round. The 45 Long Colt found a loving home. I now have enough 44 mag brass to feed 5 S&W 629s and only reload every 7 months.

Now explain again why you want a 41 magnum. Brass is really expensive and scarce. Light loaded 41 mag = heavy loaded 357 mag and heavy loaded 41 mag = light load 44 mag.

Just my opinion and worth exactly what you paid for it.

 

[Sixgun Southpaw]

I would say get a 44 magnum. You can still shoot specials, but If you wanted more power you could shoot magnums. I've been reloading for a while, and 41 stuff is a bit harder to come by and more expensive. Also, if you reload, the 44 can be just as soft shooting. Another advantage is ammo is easy to get versus the 41, which even when I worked at cabelas I rarely saw. I've just never seen the point to the 41.

 

[Missionary]

Good afternoon
I cast and reload both .41 mag & 45 Colt. 41 mag is by far my all time favorite revolver caliber... but it does have limitations. A 265 grainer is about as heavy as you can go and still keep velocities in Magnum range. Plus a .454 hole is way bigger than a .411 hole. The 45 Colt in a good strong modern revolver can push a 300 grainer to very respectable speeds with a long barrel and use of the slower burning pistol powders.
44 mag is really a .43 mag so falls smack dab in the middle of the .41 and .45 so I got rid of mine years ago. Only 44 I still shoot is the Russian in my old S&W´s.
Now if you really want to get into a HARD SMASHING 45 caliber go to the 454 Casull and you now have the 45 magnum. It will move a 300 grainer like a 41 mag does a 220 grainer. I would not hessitate to hunt any critter in the lower 48 with my 454.

 

[Nygma]

I've just never seen the point to the 41.

Plunk a 454 Casull in your collection and the 44 Magnum becomes pointless.
The 44 then gets relegated to 'middle magnum' status.
THEN the point of a 41 Magnum becomes more obvious.

 

[hastings]

I've owned 357, 41, and 44 mag, and 45colt revolvers in both S&W and Ruger, and 454 casull revolvers in BFR and Ruger. I've also owned 460 and 500 mag Smith revolvers (and 500 bfr). I honestly see the appeal of each of them, and they each have strengths and weaknesses.

The smaller diameter of an L-frame 357 makes it easier to pack, and when it has 7 rounds to boot, that's mighty appealing. I think the 41mag has the edge over the other cartridges accuracy-wise, but that may be because the rifling twist rate of the S&W 57 is pretty well suited to the relatively small range of bullet weights available in that caliber. When you get into the stout 45colt or 454 you are going from the 180gr to 350gr + range, with the length of bullet varying accordingly. The 500 obviously goes from 250-300gr to 700 grain. In my experience, that broad a range of combinations of velocity, weight, and length require some real fine-tuning to find the best loads. With that broad a range of projectiles, and velocities, the twist rate is not going to work perfectly with all of them. 44mag has a smaller weigh range, and is longer for the weight, which often seems to be an inherently more accurate arrangement, all things being equal.

I think the cartridge we favor often reflects how we view ourselves to some extent. I think it cuts both ways. We may begin to identify ourselves with a certain cartridge by chance, or we may choose a cartridge fits our self image, but for many people the attachment seems to run pretty deep. I enjoy the variety of personalities, as well as the cartridges. If we are honest with ourselves, most of these cartridges overlap the others quite a bit and the differences blur so much that they don't matter all that much. I say, shoot what you like, and stay open to trying new things so you don't miss out on something great just because it isn't what you usually prefer. Often, our preferences are based on a fairly narrow range of experience, and would change if we experienced more.

Just my 2 cents, and not even worth that much.
Hastings

 

[borderpatrol]

One of the posters so far has aluded to it, I'm going to say it outright, I don't like shooting full power loads from any magnum revolver. Never have. Once the first six rounds have been fired that's enough for me. I guess I could save a lot of money by just shooting full house loads.

I own a bunch of handguns and all the magnums get fed reduced loadings. As such any large caliber handgun will work well for me. Loads moving around 950 fps are fun and accurate and don't make me stutter. I bought my Ruger .41 Magnum in the mid 80's just for fun. I also purchased 2000 new Remington .41 Mag cases and have been reloading them ever since. None are even close to failure yet.

I went to the new gun store in a neighboring city last week and was brousing their ammo section. They had a box of 50 .41 Magnum 210 grain Remington SP's for sale, the sticker price said $62.50. I bought had a heart attack, then I smiled reflecting that I had close to 1800 rounds loaded at home. I left the store feeling quite rich.

All ammo prices have become borderline obscene. Quality ammo is $1.00 per round on average. Thank God I reload my own and have a considerable stock of supplies which allows me regular outings without any major economic repercussions.

 

[jlynch34]

Here are my .44 and .41 mag Blackhawks. Shot the .41 for the first time two weeks ago and now wonder why all these years I've been shooting a .44 mag. The 41 is now my choice for hunting deer.