Posted on 09/04/2016 5:45:27 PM PDT by w1n1
Despite hitting harder than the .357 Magnum (with a bigger bore), and shooting flatter (to a slight degree) with less recoil than the .44 Magnum, the .41 Remington Magnum has been unfairly overshadowed since hitting the American landscape back in 1964. But the truth is, it just might be the best of a pretty good bunch.
Let’s be honest. The .44 Magnum is a fraud, being a .429 in true caliber, while the .41 Magnum is the real McCoy. With comparable loads, the .41 Magnum can do anything the .44 Magnum can do, and it is a real survivor.
The popularity of the .41-caliber Magnum seems to ebb and flow, but those who have stuck with it make it as versatile a choice as its siblings. I’ve carried the .41 Magnum for personal protection, killed a couple of deer with it, shot long-range targets (it’s a favorite among silhouette shooters) and had it in the backcountry as a utility gun. Read the rest of the story here.
Great article about a fine chambering.
Great article about a fine chambering.
This is my favorite hunting handgun caliber, and it has been somewhat neglected. Load some 250 cast bullets for serious work, and some 215 cast at about 1000 fps and you’ve got things pretty well covered.
I had a model 57 which was as good a revolver as I ever had.
I could not tell the difference between it and a model 29 tho they say the .41 mag has a little less recoil. I probably would have preferred it to the .44 especially in the N frame Smith but it is just so much easier to find ammo for the .44 mag.
The cylinder in the model 29 just seems a tiny bit thin and the model 25 is even worse but I will have to say that I have never had a problem with any of them.
A Ruger Super Blackhawk or Redhawk are so beefy that I would rather have them in .44.
In 1990, I had to sell my beloved .41 S&W, because I had just retired, had no job yet, and a new baby.
She needed diapers (and a mortgage payment and an electric bill and food and, well, you know) more than I needed the gun...but I have missed that gun nearly every day since.
I related the story to my daughter a couple of years ago, and she has made several attempts at finding me another one.
(She's pretty darned well off, now, 26 years later.)
No luck with a decent gun for a decent price.
Plenty of them out there, just overpriced or overused for the price.
Oh, well...not the first one I had to give up...but it was damned sure the last one.
I have a S&W Bodyguard, which an absolute dog, but I will not trade it or sell it and it is the only one of my guns that I truly can not stand to shoot.
But, nowadays, once a gun comes into my house, it is here for good.
Anybody know any strays that need a good home?
If I had 41 mag stuff (dies, brass ,bullets) I could understand. The 44 guys claim a much higher muzzle energy and more energy at 100 meters. I am not dissing the 41, if all things were equal I would opt for the 41. But they are not. 44 components are much more widely available at a much lower price. The difference in bullet diameters is only 0.019”.
I still heart me that giant S&W model 29 .44 from Dirty Harry.
Owning that is definitely on my bucket list.
Figuring out how to successfully conceal carry it might be a challenge, though.
As far as "flatter shooting," I could be wrong, but given similar velocities and sectional densities, aren't the magnums all going to deliver pretty close trajectories? The way it was explained to me years ago was that a (relatively) hotter, faster .357 load - the bullet and powder weights being lighter than the other two - gave a slight trajectory advantage due to a slightly reduced time of flight, and the average shooter could handle that recoil better than they could with an equivalent .41 or .44 load.
Mr. niteowl77
I have both 41 and 44 with dies for both. I don’t have a preference, I like them both.
In their hottest loadings there is basically no difference between the .41 and .44 mags. The .41 shoots just a little flatter but overall there is little to choose between them.
They both beat the .357 but a hot .357 (and most modern .357 loads are not) is more powerful than most people realize.
In their hottest loadings there is basically no difference between the .41 and .44 mags. The .41 shoots just a little flatter but overall there is little to choose between them.
They both beat the .357 but a hot .357 (and most modern .357 loads are not) is more powerful than most people realize.
A 629 with a 5 1/2” barrel is my standard woods carry.
I can’t think of a better one but personally I think I would carry a Glock in 10mm. I can’t recall the model number but the full sized one.
If memory serves, it’s the Glock 22.
Ted Nugent carries one.
Oops. I just looked it up.
It’s the Glock 20.
Funny you mention that. My 18 year old mod 20 is my alternate woods carry. And winter concealed carry.
I don’t recall ever seeing .41 magnum ammo. Maybe I just overlooked its tiny space on the shelves.
Yeah, that 629 is awful pretty.
With a 240 gr jhp sitting on top of 9 grains of 2400, if you miss, the flash will scare em to death.
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