will shooting High Vel ammo in my Model 41 damage it

[earthquake]

New guy here.
I picked up a Model 41 from my old bosses widow for $400.00 and would like to know if shooting high velocity ammo will hurt it? I have only run a couple boxes through it before some body said not to.
It a older made 5" gun with a serial # in the 94xxx range, best I have been able to find it was made in 1967-68, I bet he did not put more then a few boxes of ammo through it.
It is very accurate almost as good as my 5 screw K-22 Masterpiece, Thanks for any help.

Casey

 

[chief38]

Well my M41 is 34 years old and that's mostly what I have shot through it. I'll take a guesstimate of a minimum of 8,000 - 9,000 round of the Winchester Wildcat & Federal Champion high velocity 40 grain bullets have gone through it with no hiccups what so ever. When I first bought the gun I would fire standard velocity target loads through it but found that the Hi-velocity stuff worked much better.

Chief38

 

[stumper]

I think you are ok shooting the hi-vel stuff, although usually it groups very poorly in a M-41. I did a bunch of Ransom rest testing years ago with mine when I was shooting bullseye and most of the hi-vel ammo had groups that were 5-10X the size of standard velocity. I also recall some feeding issues. If you plan to shoot a lot of the hi-vel stuff though, I would check with Brownells to see if you can get a heavier recoil spring. It would probably help with feeding and also keep the slide from getting beat up.

 

[johngalt]

I used to, until I found CCI SV.

I started shooting HV because I was having trouble finding ammo that would function reliably. I eventually sent it back to S&W for repair. It came back with a note that they replaced several worn parts and the message "Quit shooting HV in it".

 

[S&WIowegan]

My short answer is NO. My longer answer is it would be a good idea to put new springs in it. Many of the old ladies here will tell you no but I run .22 LR Blazer exclusively without problems. The HV probably accelerates wear but still these guns last decades either way.

Enjoy!