Reloading the .41 Magnum

...I believed that that was the way single action revolvers were supposed to be shot. I have pictures of Elmer Keith and Charles Askins firing single action revolvers and the guns are tipped up, pointed toward the sky...
George
That would all depend on what you are using the gun for. It helps reduce felt recoil, but if you are using it for defense against a bear attack, it might not be all that good of an idea.
 
8.0 grains for IMR SR-4756 (lime green) behind a 215 gr SWC is a good target load approx. 900 fps. Max load is 12.5 grains around 1200 fps.

Keep in mind this powder IMR SR-4756 is being discontinued in 2015, I have 18 pounds of it on hand, but eventually I'll need to change to another powder.
 
I've been loading and shooting .357 and 44mag since the 1980's, but have never tried 41.

A friend of mine offered to let me borrow with 41.magnum ruger blackhawk.

I'm thinking about buying some dies, and a conversion kit for my Dillon 550B

Plenty of cast bullets out there, but I don't have any 41mag. brass either.

Any body want to trade some 41magnum brass for some 38, 357, 40, 44mag, etc. brass ?
 
I have used 5.0 grains of Red Dot under a 215 grain cast SW with new shooters and have found it an accurate light shooting load. One of my daughters-in-law is very fond of it.

Cheers,

Rick
 
Take a look at the grips Herret's makes for the Ruger Blackhawk. It's designed to be a little longer and shaped to absorb some of the recoil.
The grip design of the Ruger is not the best for magnum's recoil.
Lee has a 195 grain SWC bullet mould for 41 mag. that should be just the ticket for lighter recoiling loads. I got one , cast some bullets, but haven't had the time to test any loads out yet. Going to try some Red Dot and/or Unique.
My 215 gr. cast load is 7.5 grains Unique. But I'm looking for lighter loads also.
Gary
 
George... Pachmayer also makes a very good rubber grip if you are looking to limit rotation and it doesn't have the fingergrooves that the Hogues do.

As to nice wood grips, mentioned above were the Herrett...I believe these are the Shooting Star. They came on this 6.5" .41 and always did a good job with handling recoil with heavy loads.





The gun however now wears these as recoil doesn't really bother me with even full load .41s in a single action...







As to the short barreled gun recoiling more than the longer ones...I had several 4 5/8" Rugers and still have one 4.25" Freedom Arms and never found the recoil objectionable. One of the Rugers had the aluminum gripframe replaced with a steel SBH squareback...it was an excellent shooter...




...that said the top gun is a limited edition Flat Top (119 made) and has the old XR3 gripframe...with those plastic grips it was miserable to shoot anything other than low velocity target rounds.

You could also get a Bisley gripframe as those rotate much less than a standard grip...

And you are correct in your assessment of .41 Special brass..it isn't needed to make accurate target loads. Where it is nice to have is short cylinder guns like the Freedom Arms 97 and Taurus Tracker...

Bob
 
Last edited:
Back
Top