Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires smith and wesson 41

will this target pistol shoot high velocity 22 LR cartridges with no problems? Are the newer ones pretty decent?

I wouldn't shoot anything but standard velocity out of a 41, or a High Standard. They'll last forever if you shoot SV thru them, but high velocity stuff will accelerate wear. You can shoot a few HV, but I wouldn't make a common practice.

Then there is not a spring kit or something to facilitate shooting the HV. I had one back in 1979, cannot remember what I paid for it but it was a lot less than they are now. I shot HV out of it back then but probably shot the gun only 4-500 times before I had to sell it to pay for something else. Always regretted losing that gun.

I have not shot anything but good quality SV ammo thru my 41 and most likely never will. I’m sure you could but I don’t want or need to.

The newer 41’s are very nice guns and if you find one for a good price don’t hesitate to jump on it

I am guessing that nothing currently made for instance the SW Victory will not come close in accuracy to the 41, thus the $1100 price tag.

I don’t think that’s true. I’ve been very pleased with accuracy and function from SW Victory’s, and Ruger Mark’s. Hope to someday add a Browning Buckmark. I’ve added upgrades which I like and likely improved my shooting but none were absolutely necessary. Ammo is another variable. The SW 41’s are great pistols. Others though can shoot with it accuracy wise.

Rob

You can buy several different weight recoil springs for the 41. You can also install a buffer. That being said the 41 is designed to shot
SV ammo. Hasbeen

I don't own a SW 41, wish I did. I've got a Buckmark, Ruger and SW22. The Victory just plain shoots with a really good trigger out of the box. Probably a little better than the Buckmark, but probably the extra weight helps that. Got it for $304 including shipping from Whitney's Outdoor about 2 weeks ago. Really nice pistol, except heavy. It is completely Stainless Steel. Might try one first before spending that much on the 41. I'm sure the 41 is in another class, but they may be closer than you think. Watch 22Plinkster's YouTube review on one, I did before I bought one. Easy to take apart and clean also. I've been shooting HV thru my SW22, it has a really substantal buffer in it, looks like it belongs in .45.

Why would anyone WANT to shoot anything BUT regular SV loads in their S&W M 41's...? That's what they were designed to do - shoot targets. Running any 'hot' ammo through one just does accelerate wear on it, just as ratsmacker and several others have suggested.

If I desire to shoot HV, Stingers, etc. through a .22, I'll use a revolver, not my old M 41. My opinion.

Brittman

Fhuqk yes.

Hint...…………………………...

Please shoot only SV ammo through your 41. A steady diet of HV will lead to cracking of the slide.
I disagree with the statement about other rim fire pistols being just as accurate as a 41. Go to a bullseye match and take a poll of what pistols are represented, paying attention to what the winners are shooting.
There are two factors in a competitive pistol, mechanical accuracy and shootability. Many Rimfire pistols have the necessary mechanical accuracy but the 41's balance and excellent trigger make it very easy to shoot accurately.

I like the S&W 41 so much I purchased a second one even though you can purchase different size barrels separately. My thinking was why would I want to pay for a separate barrel when I could take that and put it towards another gun. I also have a Ruger Mark IV and S&W Victory which I purchased previously to the S&W 41s and now wish I had just purchased the S&W 41s and never purchased those two beforehand. Thing is the S&W 41 works so much better for me with regards to ergomnomics, elegant design, much better trigger, and recoil or muzzle flip.


Of all the reading I have yet to find any evidence where HV ammo would be an issue with regards to doing any actual damage to this pistol unlike what it would and has done to many a High Standard pistol back in the day. However with regards to accuracy you would do a lot better with Standard Velocity Ammo.


Some will favor one over another and ergonomics or grip angle and other elements people may differ but personally among the three the S&W 41 by far is my favorite. Do a quick search and you will find many enhancements for the Ruger Mark IV and the S&W Viictory, but you will find no trigger replacement necessary for the S&W 41. Amongst the three the best out of the box by far is the S&W 41. You"ll pay for it but then again it delivers. I highly recommend if you get the opportunity to at least test fire one if possible and try it on for size.

A "lowly" Marvel Unit One Sleeper,will hang with or surpass a 41...though I've only a coupla each.

Hint................

KP,

Please get better info before posting.

When I was young and we shot a lot, my dad had at least 2-3 M41s. All got shot a lot but his primary was a 5.5" bull A series that had an absolute minimum of 100,000 rounds and probably closer to 200,000 of high velocity ammo through it with no cracking. At the time, we exclusively shot the better Winchester HV 40-grain solids because that is what shot best at the time for silhouettes and plinking. My memory is a little shaky because this was over 30 years ago but it seems Best Buy in Lubbock handled ammo then. Whether Best Buy or otherwise, I do remember he would drive to Lubbock and buy five cases at a time when he saw the circular in the paper that they put the good Win HV on sale for $0.89 per box. This happened a couple of times per year and every time led to a trip to Lubbock. During this period, I wore out a Ruger Single Six but his S&W M41 kept going strong other than a little edge wear and some of the finish wearing off the wood grips, but he was meticulous about maintenance. Additionally, we both wore out a few .44 Mag revolvers shooting IHMSA and other stuff at the time.

Regarding accuracy, I've been around a lot of M41s, and don't think they're the most accurate pistols out there. I've generally found the Ruger Mark series of pistols to shoot better off a bench rest. In fact, I ran a test a few years ago and shot a M41 against one of the heavy barreled Buckmarks and Ruger 1, 2 and 3 with the 2 being an original Government Model. I used a variety of ammofrom cheap and up to and including the old hollow case head Federal Gold Medal from long ago. The Government Model spanked them all. The M41 was probably last in pure benchrest accuracy but not by far and 41s sure balance well and have good triggers.

My Dad just pounced on two Model 41s. One is a gun show "find" although it was not a steal, it's a cherry. Then, the one he ordered two years ago finally materialized.
Depends on what shoots best, I guess, and what you want to do. If you will be small-game hunting, I don't see why you couldn't shoot relatively wimpy HPs like the American Eagle, or subsonic small-game HPs. But for targets, slow and steady wins the race.

I put the 41 and the 52 in the same class for shoot'n small.

The paper work that came with my new 41 back in the 70's says SV only. I'd go with that.

I believe you may be thinking of Best Products, which may have started as a membership store like G.E.M. I bought a Sako .223 at the one in Rockville, MD, as well as a Swift 7x50 bino that still gets used (but not carried!) a lot. Still have a SS Breitling watch that they sold me that needs serious refurb.

The owner of a small gun shop once complained that Best sold .22 ammo for less than he paid his jobber for the same stuff.

I bought my first big game rifle in 1976, a Ruger M77, from Best Products in Concord California. I have not heard that store mentioned in decades.

I've had a 41 since the mid-70s. I've shot 10s of 1000s of HV rounds thru it (mainly Federal) and it has not been injured by the experience. Several years ago, when I was told that I wasn't supposed to do that, I called S&W and talked to a tech. He said that 41s are "set up" for CCI Green Tag but that he hears from owners all the time who have shot truckloads of HV thru theirs without damage. He couldn't remember seeing a damaged 41 due to HV but he said damage was possible, peening mostly.

41s are target pistols. My targets are Richardson's Ground Squirrels, Rock Chucks, Jack Rabbits and the occasional Badger.

Roger that.

Check my avatar, stick that in a nice belt holster, load up a couple of clips with high velocity hollow points & go for a walk in the woods. No finer way to spend the day.

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