41 Magnum Model 58

[Jim1247]

Any experienced model 58 owners who could share what loads they run in their 41 magnum would be greatly appreciated-- mainly off the shelf stuff when it can be found.

I thought I recalled San Antonio and SanFrancisco may have had some issues with frame cracking at 1300fps? Is this true?

In any regard I have included a photo with the model 27 (which runs hot stuff great). However after hearing agin about staying under 1100fps to prevent cracking with the 58 I was hesitant to let em rip.

Thanks for any advice upfront.. Jim

 

[SuperMan]

Welcome to The Cult....

The 'unofficial' 58 Club

Don't worry about cracking anything on a 58...you can use the full Magnum loads and they will wear you out before they ever break anything on a 58...

Ammo wise, the most pleasant to shoot would be a round down in the 900-1100 fps range. If you check Midway they have the HSM Cowboy loads with a 210 grain lead bullet. Also check Reed's Ammo as they have both .41 Magnum and .41 Special ammo.

If you reload the standard which most people try is a 210-220 grain hardcast or plated bullet with 8.0 grains of Unique. This is 950+- fps which is what the original Police loadings were from Remington and Winchester. Their bullets however were soft swaged lead and leaded the bores VERY badly.

Some more reading...

1964-2014...The .41 Magnum


Lots of good posts and links here...

.41 Magnum / 41 Special Load Data Center


Enjoy your new gun...Bob

 

[rubiranch]

Congrats on you new awesome M58.




I bought this to shoot in my M58. I had to have a friend re-seat the bullets and re-crimp all 250 rounds. I wont but from them again.

Since purchasing it I found it for the same price somewhere else. It was only $108 for 250 rounds. Free shipping for orders over $150.



My same friend is reloading 400 rounds for me. Here' the first 100.

I can't wait to go shoot it.

 

[ken158]

No frame issues with a model 58. Reloading is the way to go for 41 mag ammo.

 

[22/32 JDF]

Very nice men. I just got a presentation case for my 4" 57 today. I like .41's. JIM

 

[scout II]

Hey rubiranch, where else did you find 41 magnum ammo besides LAX for that price?

 

[rubiranch]

Hey rubiranch, where else did you find 41 magnum ammo besides LAX for that price?

It looks like it must have been on sale.

I'll end up with 650 rounds and I'll never shoot that much.

 

[Jim1247]

41 magnum

Thanks for all the helpful insight into 41 ammo and reloads, articles-much appreciated

 

[Narragansett]

Congrats on you new awesome M58.




I bought this to shoot in my M58. I had to have a friend re-seat the bullets and re-crimp all 250 rounds. I wont but from them again.

Since purchasing it I found it for the same price somewhere else. It was only $108 for 250 rounds. Free shipping for orders over $150.



My same friend is reloading 400 rounds for me. Here' the first 100.

I can't wait to go shoot it.

Reseat?? Were they too long or something?

 

[rubiranch]

Reseat?? Were they too long or something?

I posted this in the ammo forum and received several comments about the crimp and how far they were seated.

They measured the max length as they were.

When my friend "fixed" them he felt that the majority of them the bullets would have moved forward from the casing from the recoil and locked the cylinder.

Personally I felt they were a safety issue and LAX was very lax in responding to my emails.



This is how they looked after my friend re-seated and re-crimped all 250 rounds.

I was told they originally had a tapered crimp but it wasn't a very good crimp at all.

 

[Art Doc]

You reached your conclusions without actually shooting any of the ammo? Call me kooky but I would have tried them before going to all that trouble. May have fixed a nonexistent problem.

 

[Marshal Kane]

I see from a previous picture LAX ammo seated the bullets with most of the crimp cannelure above the case mouth. What your friend did was seat the bullets lower to where the cannelure just showed and roll crimped the rounds. I roll crimp on my jacketed revolver bullets too just like your friend did. I never taper crimp my magnum bullets either. Revolver bullets, roll crimp. Semi-auto bullets, taper crimp. That's the general rule. YMMV

 

[rubiranch]

You reached your conclusions without actually shooting any of the ammo? Call me kooky but I would have tried them before going to all that trouble. May have fixed a nonexistent problem.

Why take a chance? Several people told me they were not done correctly so I had them fixed before finding out they could have caused a problem.

 

[cowboy4evr]

Actually it's pretty hard to find a load the 41 doesn't shoot well . Many of us have our favorites , after some load testing . I cast my own bullets in weights from 210-240 gr . My 58 is the 41 magnum that gets carried most . Regards, Paul

 

[Jim1247]

41 magnum

Thanks Paul

 

[gwpercle]

You heard wrong about frame cracking in the model 58 ...no problems , somebody just posting "Fake News" . Don't believe it .

I cast bullets and handload all my ammo , if you want to reload I can help you .

Not much factory loaded ammo to be found on the dealers shelves .

Gary

 

[Qmark]

I use 8-10grs

of Herco with home cast bullets ranging from 170-240. For easy plinking I have the discontinued Lee full wad cutters, 170 and 210. I load those with 5grs of Bullseye for gentle on the wrist but accurate shooting. When I had a business some times requiring me to work nights. My M-58 was loaded with pure lead 240gr slugs with a hot load of 2400. The hot load without gas checks would lead the barrel. After testing the soft lead load on partially bad dry wall mud bags. The bags literally exploded while a soft nose factory 210 left an expanded hole.

Never had to use the hot load but did have to show it to a street bum that refused to leave unless I gave him a free pair of shoes. The idiot pulled out one of the small dollar store type tubes of pepper spray as I physically removed him.

 

[SuperMan]

rubiranch .....any range report yet??

 

[rubiranch]

rubiranch .....any range report yet??

Nope. But I do have 450 .41 Mag rounds.

I have been busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest lately.

 

[Doug M.]

In the revolver only calibers (.41; both .44s; .45 Colt; even .38) the loads I think are most useful on all around basis are medium velocity heavy for caliber hard cast lead SWCs. In my .41, that's a 210 grain round at 950 or so.

Exceptions: I got a decent deal on a few hundred rounds of the Blazer .44 Special Gold Dot HP; I carry those in my 296. It was as much a matter of ease as anything else. I also have some of them in my 629-4 MG. Same reason. In .45 ACP revolvers (I have two) the load of choice is any good .45 ACP service round on Gary Roberts' list. I stick with Gold Dot 230 grain standard velocity because that was my issue round the last couple years at the SO and I bought a ton for myself.

These loads are chosen for all around use, mostly personal defense. For some hunting, or defense against large critters, I would likely carry something hotter. In general, still a hard cast SWC. I am not a fan of J frames and the like, and only have one. If it were a .38, I would carry standard WC, with SWC as a reload. I have a 940, which is loaded with standard velocity 147 grain Gold Dot, which I chose on purpose.