Looking at another M41

tlawler · Thursday at 11:48 AM

I’ve had a Model 41 for a couple of years now and love shooting it and wouldn’t mind picking up another one. I found this one from 1979 locally and thought it looked pretty good for a $775 asking price. I’m surprised that someone went to the trouble of getting it Nickel plated, but to each their own, and I think it makes it look pretty cool.

How common was Nickel plating of normally Only blued firearms, like the 41? Was it done during a certain era as a vanity thing? I think I may have seen one other chromed or Nickeled 41, but can’t really remember.

huthike · Thursday at 2:04 PM

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a nickel 41. It sure is pretty.

Goony · Thursday at 3:32 PM

Grips look to need a little freshening, and the magazine is of a slightly later vintage. It appears that care was taken to retain the front sight blade's blued finish. All in all, I've seen worse work.

wproct · Thursday at 5:44 PM

I would love to have that, or even better would be hard chrome for me.

chief38 · Thursday at 10:24 PM

I have not seen any M41's Nickel or Electroless Nickel plated. I will not say never so maybe S&W did a small special run - who knows. To rule that out you could call S&W and actually inquire from the serial number. While I doubt it was done at the factory when new, stranger things have happened.

tlawler · Friday at 11:47 AM

The gentleman replied to my inquiry, so I’m going to go pick it up this afternoon. He mentioned that he had a High Standard Supermatic target pistol also that I’ll take a look at. I posted some pictures of it he sent me in a thread over in the other brands section requesting some information on it since I know next to nothing about High Standards. Please go take a look at it and educate me on it.

tlawler · 2025-06-28T11:10:23-0400

I did end up getting it along with the High Standard he had for sale. I would have posted on it earlier, but I’ve been playing with the HS all morning.

It’s a gorgeous pistol! I wish S&W had produced the M41 in Nickel because I think it would have been a hit. It just looks so classy with a bright finish, and I’m not really a fan of Nickel or chromed firearms.

I ran a mag through it a few minutes ago with some SV Kleanbore I had on hand. Function was flawless and my grouping was even better than I did with the HS, though intrinsic accuracy is subjective and I’m probably just more familiar with the grip on the 41.

One of the mags it came with was interesting in that it is “in the white”. I surmise that the original owner (I’m the third owner) stripped the blueing so that it would be a closer match to the Nickle finish on the pistol.

I’m definitely happy with it. I assume the Nickel finish would hurt the collector value, but I’m not worried about that. I think I got it at a fair price; he was asking $775 for the 41 and $825 for the HS, so I offered $1400 for the pair and took them home.