Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading .41 magnum shotshells

Has anyone ever constructed .shotshells for .41 magnum using .410 plastic wads/shotcups? It's an idea I've been toying with lately. I'm sure I can figure something out, but maybe shorten the learning curve if anyone here has already BTDT. tx

I have used the .410 shot cups in a 45-70 shot shell.I had to wrap a piece of 3x5 postcard around the shot cup to make it fit nicely in the 45-70 brass. If it fits snugly in the 41, it would work if there is enough shot cup to hold enough shot. I would think an over the powder wad under the shot and a piece of cork or? sealed with wax and a light crimp might work better

I've been using 410 wads in 44 Spl & Mag. Using about 6-8 gr. of Unique under #8 shot, I've never bothered with an overpowder wad, just trimmed the 410 fingers a tad shorter than brass length & used a piece of thin cardboard for a top wad. These are made from single ply cardboard with a sacrificed cartridge case sharpened in & out with a deburring tool & tapped with a hammer on top of a piece of scrap wood. The primer hole was drilled out to be able to push the pile of circles out of the cutting case. A dab of 5 min. epoxy seals everything up up nicely.

The 410 wads are a snug fit in 44 brass. I wonder if they'll fit in 41 brass without modification. There's a good article about this in the 11th edition of Handloader's Digest (1987) if you can find one somewhere.

That is what I was thinking, that it would not fit in a 41. Let us know.

I think I'm going to give it a try. When I googled this, before posting here, I hit a thread on the High Road about it. A guy there had used .410 wads in a .41 mag, but his product looked a little loose and goosey to me. I figured I would get a little more solid advise here and I think I have. I will report back.

It should work. I dug a fired and unsized .41 case out of my misc. box, a .410 shot cup fit with room to spare. When I make them, I use and overshot wad and glue it in with caulk or rtv.

Here's a recent thread on the subject:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...and-45-colt-shotshell-loads#Post17244098

https://www.sagesoutdoors.com/44-caliber-shotshell-wad-kit/

No affiliation, just a satisfied user.

Some years, or decades, ago I fashioned .41 Mag shotshells from .303 British cases.

Lacking sophisticated equipment I chucked the cases in an electric drill and reduced the base diameter to .430", rim diameter to .487" and rim thickness to .050".
Cases were then trimmed to 1.74" and necked down to .408" for a distance of about .325" so they would just fit in the cylinder.
I do not recall which die was used to neck them down and my notes have disappeared. Possibly necked down with a .357 Mag sizer and then run over a .375 expander?

They were primed with CCi #300 and charged with 5.8 gn of Unique.
A card wad was inserted over the powder and the case filled with 195 gn of #9 shot.
A gob of epoxy was smeared over the shot to hold it in place.

At 15' the pattern was even and grouse would not stand a chance.

Altering .303 British cases was not fun but I read somewhere that .303 Savage cases do not require the base diameter to be reduced so are a lot less work.

I may give this a try when I'm out visiting my son and have his lathe available to work with. I won't, however, be cutting up my .303 Savage cases. I'll run down some .303 Brits.
Thanks for the advice.

It’s been a long time since I loaded any but my load was 6 or 7 grains of Unique, a gas check upside down, fill with #9 shot and crimp a gas check over the shot. It would shred a snakes head at 5-10 feet.

Yep. Works well.

This sounds like the easiest way to go. I’d kinda like to keep the shot somewhat separated from the bore although it might not matter. A 5 to 10 foot effective snake load from my 357 PD is pretty much what I’m looking for.

Yes, with gas check loads you’ll get some pellet deformation but at snake head distances it’s a moot point.

https://www.sagesoutdoors.com/gas-checks/

I purchased vegetable gas checks to place between powder and shot, and regular gas checks to cover the shot charge with a light crimp. I have the supplies to do 41 mag, but have not put them together yet.

I have made a quite a few shot shells for the 327 mag using the aforementioned gas checks and #12 shot. It patterns tightly with a 12 inch diameter at 8 to10 paces from several of my revolvers.

Perfect for venomous snakes, or rats.

Oh, yes. Over a light load of Titegroup.

I have made shot loads, aka "forager" for 45-70 and 50-70. Bell case mouth, sharpen with chamfer, cut wads from tablet backers and waked milk cartons