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Old June 28, 2024, 09:22 PM   #1
Open45
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SW 41 mag love it or leave it

I have a mdl 57 with target trigger and hammer with the big coco grips, I shoot the 210 hard cast FNGC about 250 a night a couple nights a week , the 4 inch gives me good velocity and power snd is good fit in my iwb suede holster, everything is more expensive but 44mag snd 40corbon are eating my lunch.
How do I find the new member I have a mdl 57 with target trigger and hammer with the big coco grips, I shoot the 210 hard cast FNGC about 250 a night a couple nights a week , the 4 inch gives me good velocity and power snd is good fit in my iwb suede holster, everything is more expensive but 44mag snd 40corbon are eating my lunch.
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Old June 29, 2024, 06:11 AM   #2
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Time for you to learn how to reload. My 6” no dash I bought 44 years ago is why I’ve been handloading for 43 years. I picked up my 4” about 8-9 years ago and prefer it to the 6” except for real heavy loads. I also added a Henry BBS when they first came out and with the real hot loads it feels like a rifle when you shoot it. I’ve actually worked up loads ranging from mild to wild pretty easy. Mild recoil about like a medium .357 and wild I’m guessing are nipping on the heels of a substantial.44mag.
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Old July 2, 2024, 06:55 PM   #3
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I just recently sold my 57s. 2-6” blue, 2- 83/8”, one blue- one nickel. Had 45/8” Ruger BH too. Found that wasn’t shooting them much, least of all calibers. Next to go are 1/2 dozen M27s and 2 M28s.
In revolvers 38sp, 44sp, and 45Colt & 45 Colt are most used.
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Old July 2, 2024, 09:14 PM   #4
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41’s are still bringing great prices at online or the few live auctions still around. I haven’t seen a Model 57 go for less than $1000 (including buyer’s premium) in years. Ruger New Model Blackhawks fetch $800. I lot of people still love 41 Magnum, although it appears some are just happy to own one and not shoot it. I never owned one but I reloaded it for a friend, however, not since he died a few years ago.
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Old July 2, 2024, 09:32 PM   #5
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I shoot the 210 hard cast FNGC about 250 a night a couple nights a week
Am I reading this right, you're shooting 500 rounds a WEEK, ??
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Old July 2, 2024, 11:49 PM   #6
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Along with a 4” N frame holstered inside the waistband!
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Old July 3, 2024, 06:36 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by 44 AMP View Post
Am I reading this right, you're shooting 500 rounds a WEEK, ??
How could you miss it? He said it twice. In the same paragraph.
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Old July 3, 2024, 09:46 AM   #8
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$$$$$$$

And apparently with store bought ammo. That will make for some expensive evenings.
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Old July 3, 2024, 03:27 PM   #9
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Learned that lesson 50 years ago. Shooting that volume of factory ammo means you have spent several times the cost of setting up a reloading bench.
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Old July 4, 2024, 11:10 AM   #10
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Shooting that volume of factory ammo means you have spent several times the cost of setting up a reloading bench.
Shooting that much factor ammo means spending several times the cost of a new gun, in fairly short order.
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Old July 4, 2024, 10:22 PM   #11
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If you aren't reloading .41 then you shouldn't be shooting it more than a few times a year, let alone a week.
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Old July 5, 2024, 12:42 PM   #12
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It's a lot of money.......but who's counting?
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Old July 5, 2024, 01:56 PM   #13
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I had to have every caliber in every frame size and barrel length when I was young. Just in last 3 yrs decided first to sell all NIB guns. Mostly S&W from P&R era and 3screw Rugers.
Then when got that almost done I decided to off guns that I shot very little. To tell the truth I never did much care for .41s. They are like a 16gauge shotgun. They are fine if that’s what you have. Thing is the 44mg will cover anything they do and more.
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Old July 5, 2024, 07:37 PM   #14
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Love my Model 58.
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Old July 5, 2024, 09:24 PM   #15
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Shooting that much factory ammo means spending several times the cost of a new gun, in fairly short order.
I figured out a long time ago that the initial purchase price of a firearm was peanuts compared to everything that came after. Dies, powders, bullets, brass, optics, accessories, etc.
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Old July 6, 2024, 05:54 AM   #16
jetinteriorguy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Drm50 View Post
I had to have every caliber in every frame size and barrel length when I was young. Just in last 3 yrs decided first to sell all NIB guns. Mostly S&W from P&R era and 3screw Rugers.
Then when got that almost done I decided to off guns that I shot very little. To tell the truth I never did much care for .41s. They are like a 16gauge shotgun. They are fine if that’s what you have. Thing is the 44mg will cover anything they do and more.
Funny you should mention it, I do also shoot a 16gauge. It’s an old Stevens double barrel, my first gun I purchased when I was 13 years old. I bought it for $35.00 and it came with four boxes of shells. It still resides in my safe along with my.41 magnums.
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Old July 6, 2024, 07:17 AM   #17
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Bought a 6" model 57-?2? some years ago from a friend's widow. Mostly for the sole reason she sold me anything at great deals on everything. It is still NIB. LGS buddies are more than eager to consign it for me (not). Apparently, a demand for them around here. Probably the same few guys making the same rounds?

Never had any experience with the .41. It was kind of blown off by my Dad when I was young. Only recently have I begun educating myself on its ballistics.

Wish I'd have paid more attention years ago. Would like to take a deer with it this fall.
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Old July 6, 2024, 11:50 AM   #18
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Back in 79 I got a Ruger Blackhawk in .41 Mag. The three screw model. Sweet gun, lots of fun with the 210 LSWC loads, and a fire breathing dragon with the JSP/JHP loads.

Unfortunately, I needed a deer gun, and the state, in their infinite wisdom wouldn't allow the 4 & 5/8" gun (that I had) but would allow the SAME gun with a 6" barrel, and none was available so I wound up trading off the Blackhawk for a .30-30 lever gun.

A few years later, when I was a bit better off and went looking for a big bore revolver, I skipped over the .41 and went to the .45. Got a New Model Blackhawk .45 convertible, because it had the spare cylinder for the .45ACP, which was important to me, at the time. Turned out the joy of the .45 Colt, in the Ruger New Model Blackhawk were much greater than the ability to shoot .45ACP. A decade or so later, I actually got a .44 Magnum, as well, but never went back to the .41, as I had it well covered, both above and below.

Its a fine round, does what it does well, but not quite as well as the big .44s and .45s. I understand why some people love it, and why some are ambivalent about it. Don't understand why some people seem to hate it, but there are a lot of people who do things I don't understand. I try to avoid those folks.
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Old July 6, 2024, 01:53 PM   #19
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Dad always called it the answer to a question nobody asked. In many ways I suppose it is. Why do we need to fill a slot between .44 and .357? We really don't, bit variety is the spice. Not like we don't have several different rifle calibers each doing something just a little bit different that the last.

I still look at 350 legend, .458SOCOM and a host of other new aged calibers like this. You look at the ballistics and it really isn't doing anything better than another already is. Whats the point?

Maybe it comes down to what is legal to use in different states? I kinda got excited over .35 Remington for a while after acquiring a Contender chambered for it. Thought I'd buy another firearm in that caliber. Comparing it to .30-.30 that idea didn't last long. Fun gun, but not building an armory around it.
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Old July 6, 2024, 02:58 PM   #20
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You look at the ballistics and it really isn't doing anything better than another already is. Whats the point?
The point is to market and sell new guns and ammunition.

Sometimes new rounds are to fit into a specific legal niche. Sometimes they are to fit into a specific rifle action. Sometimes they're just done to be something new and different, with some claimed improvement (real or imaginary) over the "old stuff".

There's at least 4 different 6.5mm rounds on the market today that (at best) match the performance of the old 6.5x55mm Swede. Everyone seems to be promoted as the best thing since sliced bread, canned beer, and girls who smell nice.

They all work, but none of them works significantly better than the Swede does, but they can do it in some semi autos, and short action bolt guns the Swede case won't fit into. Sometimes, that more than enough to keep a round commercially viable.

Quote:
I kinda got excited over .35 Remington for a while after acquiring a Contender chambered for it.
There's an old joke, "how do you turn the .35Rem from a100-150 yd deer rifle into a 200-250 yd deer gun?"

"Put it into a Contender!!"

Don't be mislead by the paper comparisons between the .35Rem and the .30-30. I can tell you from actual field experience that the .35 Rem (and other .35 cal rifles) perform much better in the field than their paper statistics indicate.

Much has been said about the .41 mag, and in particular how it is (approx) 15% less energy, and recoil than the .44 Mag. Having shot both a bit, I can't tell the difference, and I seriously doubt any game animal can, either.

Since the felt recoil is about the same to me, and the energy is more than adequate, I'll go with the .44 because of the larger selection of bullets and the more readily available supply of components, generally.
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Old July 6, 2024, 07:51 PM   #21
gwpercle
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If you want to own and shoot a 41 Magnum ...
It is best if you reload your own ammo ...
And ... cast your own bullets ...
The 41 magnum is perfect for shooting cast SWC anbd WC bullets .
NOE has a great selection of 41 magnum bullet moulds .
Gary
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Old July 6, 2024, 08:08 PM   #22
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The .41 was supposed to be what the 40 was to police back in the day with its 210 WC load.
I remember when a friend of mine bought her husband a M57 who was in the SAPD.
Was and still is a good useful round. Kinda like the 40.
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Old July 7, 2024, 01:33 PM   #23
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The story of the .41 Magnum is a sad mixture of poor decision making and missed opportunities as the result of bad timing, and misreading the market.

During the 50s and 60s, when the revolver was king of the police market, several of the influential gun writers, who had been law enforcement officers, pushed the idea that the ideal police gun would be a 40/41 caliber revolver, pushing a 200ish gr bullet in the 900fps (ish) range. They eventually got that, but it came out too late. What they wanted was a ".41 Special" what they got was a Magnum, which wasn't what they were looking for.

S&W brought out the .41 Mag in 1964. The N frame models 57 and 58 were big heavy guns, but not an automatic deal breaker at the time. What killed the .41 Mag as a possible police round was Remington.

The people running Remington at the time saw the .41 Mag as a hunting round, and focused on producing the 210gr jacketed magnum load, over the lower velocity lead bullet "police" load.

At the time most police agencies tested the .41 Magnum, the only readily available ammo was the magnum load, and that was (properly) deemed unsuitable for police use. By the time the police load was commonly available, most police groups had already made up their minds, and sales to police never amounted to much. Sales on the civilian market have been enough to keep the round and its guns on the production list, but never were enough to put it in the top of the list, as most people wanting magnum power, opt for the .44 over the .41.
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Old July 9, 2024, 10:03 PM   #24
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My opinion only...but if the OP is shooting 500 rounds of full house .41 Magnum loads, per week, he's going to have wrist and thumb joint problems in short order, not to mention hearing loss even with plugs/muffs. That's an enormous volume of shooting, and consider the expense...best regards, Sir and good luck. Rod
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Old July 12, 2024, 05:37 PM   #25
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I would love to pick up a Model 57 some day, but right now I make do with a Blackhawk.

Gets a lot of .41 Special run through it, with some full power stuff thrown in here and there.

Used it on antelope, rabbits, squirrels, and the occasional rabid Coke can.
It’s not necessarily better than my .357 or .45’s, but it’s different, and I kinda like the oddball/less popular stuff.
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