There is no arguing that newer M-41's have issues, but is the pistol really that bad? Seems to me I have read a lot of posts where owners are having issues with their older M-41's too, so I wouldn't be too quick to burn just the new ones.
Truth is we really don't know what the warranty return rate is for new M-41 pistols and we don't know how many new owners are happy with their purchase. I took the bait once from so-called experts and bought a vintage M-41 and it was one of the worst decisions of my shooting life. It immediately had issues that cost me a bunch trying to correct all to no improvement. I sold that pistol at a loss and swore off ever buying another M-41. But a few years later S&W came out with the PC-M-41 and I fell in love with it and bought one. Unfortunately it too developed a problem and had to go back to the Mothership once and ONLY once. It was repaired and I had the pistol back in a few weeks and it has performed well ever since. I even had the barrel threaded so I could put a suppressor on the pistol and it is without a doubt the most enjoyable .22 pistol I own.
Here's the rub though. Every time some unknowing individual comes to this forum and others, looking for advice on purchasing a M-41 what are they told? Almost universally they are told to "buy old, buy vintage, but never buy new". And then a bunch of others chime in saying the same thing. People, especially people looking for purchase information, listen to this worldly advice and sales on new ones tanks out. How long can a company manufacture a product if it isn't selling to expectation? The only way for the factory to counter this is to raise the price of said item trying to keep it in production. I think I paid about $1,200.00 for my PC M-41 5 or so years ago and now they retail for $2,400.00. Quite an increase over that time, but not unexpected when potential customers are being driven away en-masse by the so-called faithful.
The end result is every time a potential customer is told don't buy a new one, it was a nail in the coffin of the M-41, so there should be many people here happy to discover the M-41 is being discontinued. You got your wish and now people will never be able to buy a new one. Even dealers don't as a rule stock these pistols anymore because they languish on the shelves. And truth be told there are no other .22 pistols made in the USA that compare to a M-41. One can force a pistol like a Ruger to mimic the performance of a M-41, but it will never BE a M-41. I have a Ruger MKIV that has all the mods done to it to make it "better", but it will never match my PC M-41 in feel and use.
I used to counter the individuals that said "never buy new", but after a while I felt like the little boy and the dike. Just too many holes to plug. So I for one will be saddened by the loss of the Model 41. It's a great pistol with a storied history and it is quite possibly the last vestige of a precision .22 cal pistol made in the USA. While the "new" one I bought had an initial problem, the factory warranty took care of it in a reasonable amount of time. Now I can honestly say looking at the Smith and Wesson web site there is nothing to see there.
Rick H.
