Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Survey - 41 RM vs 44 Sp in Blackhawk

Curious about folks pros/cons on the 41 vs 44 Sp or even 45 LC. I know the LC can be loaded to surpass the 44 Mag.

45 Colt if you handload, 41 Magnum if you don't.

The 41 Mag and 45 Colt loaded hot will make expanding designs perform more consistently.

The 45 and 44 will usually have an edge with frontal diameter and bore diameter. With solids and similar shaped bullets, the larger bores can be driven at lower velocity and less pressure to do the same lifting as a smaller bores.

Since we are talking Rugers, the 45 will need throat modification to shoot cast bullets to perfection. Ruger 44 Specials and 41's are generally ready to roll. 41's from about every maker is usually king for having consistent dimensions and tend to shoot the best of all three cartridges without modifications.

Get a Flattop in .44 Special.

It's the closest thing to perfection being produced at a reasonable cost.

Spot on.

Indeed so.

If I had the choice, I would choose the 45 convertible for a couple or five of reasons. BIG holes, ammo price and availability, the 45 long colt cool factor, and some other stuff.
But I'd likely buy whatever I stumbled across a great deal on, which I doubt would be a 44 special or 41 mag. Maybe a 357 though as I've seen more than a few of them.

I've used several of the Ruger Single Actions. The Old Model Flattop .44 Magnum was a favorite (gifted to a Son). Over the years I ended up keeping my Bowen tuned Ruger Old Model .45 and .41, which are both excellent revolvers. Several years ago bought a New Model Flattop .44 Special and find it to be very well made and accurate. They all work but that newer Flattop platform is sized just right for the .44 Special and my current needs. Real handy carried in an El Paso Saddlery Tanker holster.

I would rank the three ( for me) as :
#1. 44 special. ( everything you need in a cartridge and easy recoil). I have a 5.5” Ruger flattop Bisley. A beauty. I need to lap out some thread choke though.

#2. 41 mag. ( great cartridge. Used to own a 6”. S&W 57 , and 7.5” stainless Redhawk. No issues if you reload. Much better than a 357 mag for hunting). Not sure why I sold them. I know I wasn’t shooting much back then due to work. Probably just thinning the herd. Nothing against the guns or cartridge.

#3. 45 Colt ( used to own a 5.5” stainless Redhawk. Never really felt the love that other people wrote about the 45 Colt. Did NOT like the tapered case. Carbide dies works the case too much, taking the taper out of it. Got split cases. Did NOT like the tiny rim. Just too old of a case design).

45 Colt hands down. Biggest and best. Can be loaded up or down more than the others as need be. Including 44 Mag.

.44 spl..

Great info, thanks all. Others welcome to add their experience.

I was not familiar with the taper of the 45 LC case, but did hear about dimension variances, which can affect all. Good to know the 44 and 41 seem to have less issues. No doubt bigger can be better, but a lot of work can be done it seems with the 41 and 44 Sp properly loaded.

Question - between the 4 5/8 and the 5.5" - what flavor do you folks gravitate to?

Thanks folks.

Good reply... For no particular reason other than long experience with it, I'll take the .41 magnum. In a 5.5" Bisley while I'm wishing.

If cast is the bullet choice, the 45 will probably be most difficult (throats, Ruger is disgustingly ignorant of certain quality issues), but a 4th with a good cast bullet at 1000th is a bad mofo. Without terrible blast or recoil. And 1000 is all you really neec. It will cut a big hole the whole way through darn near anything you will shoot at.

Jacketed bullets? Most 44's are designed for the 44 mag, but useable in the special. The 41 has enough, but limited choices, same as the Colt.

Every time I take out my 5.5, I wish I had gotten a 4 5/8. Just an aesthetic thing.



45 colt is hard to trump for a fun, “do all” handgun. All kinds of loads available even if you don’t load your own. My NM is plenty accurate with near everything I have run through it.

Handloader?

41 mag hands down. I run 165s at 650 fps and 250s at 1300 fps. You can not beat that for versatility.

The 45 Colt will toss heavier lead, and it will toss em pretty fast if loaded to 454 pressure levels in select firearms. I will let you guys tell me if the 45 can match the trajectory of the 41 loaded to the nuts either with a 250 gr cast or 210 gr JHP.

Trajectory does not matter much to most handgunners, unless you are looking at a deer out at 115 yds.....or is it 95 yds?

I think I'd like shooting the five and a half 45 convertible best.
Although if I were to carry around in a holster the 4.62 would be nice, and maybe in a 44 special.

I don't think I'm a good enough long range pistol shot to take advantage of the 41's trajectory on live game, and would likely choose the ease and versatility of 357/38 over the 41 if I wanted the option of long range target shooting to go along with plinking and shorter range small game.

But 45 and single action just feels right to me. The big cartridges plunking down in the cylinder. The big holes and smack on targets. I could just imagine reloading for it on a large rock in the desert outh of my leather pouches of powder and lead. Maybe even black powder.

I really think if I wanted strictly 44 special I'd look high and low for an old Outdoorsman. I think those came chambered for it. But probably cost at least an arm and maybe a foot too. I don't know as I haven't really priced them. Although I'd take a 29 in whatever length and shoot both mag and special out of it.

I like the looks of the 4-5/8" and the balance of the 5.5" What can you get the best deal on. Less than an inch isn't that big a deal one way or the other.

My choices in order of performance
45 Colt Very flexible cartridge.
44 Magnum You can shoot mags, and specials out of them
44 Special Will handle virtually anything in the lower 48 loaded correctly.
357 Mag


41 mag of which I have none and don't care.

I own & like all of them. Set a 250 gr WFN 41 next to the grand old 44 Keith bullet & you'll swear the 41 is the 44......... The 44 is always my favorite, the 41 is my second favorite because of easy, everyday, out of the box accuracy.

Dick