41 MAG 45 LONG COLT

[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.