Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading 41 Mag loads

What is everyone like for a general packing/hunting load in the 41 Magnum.

Pistol is a 657 stainless mountain gun.

My hunting load is 16.0 gr. of 2400 with a cast 210 gr. SWCHP/225 gr. SWC (same bullet) which runs 1270 fps from my 4 5/8" Blackhawk and about 1330 from my 6 1/2" Blackhawk. Since 2400 is so hard to find I'm switching over to 17.0 of Accurate TCM (VERY similar in burning rate to 2400) which yields just over 1300 fps.
If I were just carrying the .41 Magnum afield and not really hunting with it, I'd go back to my practice load of 8.0 gr. of W231 and a cast SWC which ran 1150 fps.

Don't know what everyone else uses but I've used 8.0 grs of Unique & a 215-230 gr Keith bullet for 50 years now with very good results. You will hear the normal stories about how it burns dirty, so just clean your gun every 6 months & smile because the groups will be small & that load will take deer & antelope easily, I've done it many times. Unique can be a bit hard to find but if you get a can of it, it will last a long time. Stepping up to 17.0 grs of 2400 with either the 230 gr Keith or the 250 gr LBT WFN will put you in the winners circle on deer, elk, bear, moose or african game, I've taken all of them with the 250 gr bullet, it's a winner & breaks both front shoulders without heavy recoil.
How does it compare to a 250 gr bullet in a 44 magnum, less recoil, better penetration & just a tick flatter but not much. No need for a magnum primer. My buddy took a dandy bull moose with his 41 magnum, one shot with his cast bullet, down & out in 20-30 yds with his cast bullet, center chest as it faced us at about 58 yds.

I’ve been loading 18 gr of 2400 with standard primers and about any 210 gr. bullet for over 35 years in the .41 Magnum.

For a stopper load, a max load of 296 or H110 with a gas checked 265 gr WFN, magnum primer, is hard to beat. I wouldn’t give the S&W M57 too much of this one. This load is too long in a Freedom Arms 97, and probably too long in the new medium frame Ruger Flat-Top.

I've been loading 22gr of H-110 and a Sierra 210 JHP in my S&W 57 since I bought it in 1981. Taken WT deer, Black bear, varments.

8 grs CFE and 230 Keith.

11 grains #5 & 210 hp or 215 HCSWC @1200

16 grains #9 with same bullets ~1400

Tite Group 7.4 grains
Fed 155 Mag Match Primer
Sierra 210 grain Sports Master bullets
1040 fps average from the 4-5/8" barrel Ruger Blackhawk .41 Mag

I've loaded them hot & heavy lead bullets, hot & jacketed hollow points. Mid range softer lead hollow points all the way down to soft shooting 41 specials. Can't go wrong with 2400 that's an excellent powder for the 41 Magnum, you can load it up or down. I've shot up in weight to that same bullet as Idaho1945 the 250 LBT gas checked lead and down to the 170 Sierra hollow points. They all work.

H110 WW296 full house loads are a light show in a 4" with interesting recoil. If you go that route try the 210 XTP great, great bullet holds together at high velocity and close range expands to the size of a 25¢.

Just depends on what you want to do with it, what your looking to hunt. Hands down my favorite center fire revolver cartridge.


41🥳

These days my packin' in the woods load is 210 Swift with 20.4 gn of #11FS (1330 fps).
Other successful combinations are:

210 XTP or Sierra - 22.4 gn #11FS (1350 fps)

265 True Shot WFN GC - 14.6 gn #9 (1050 fps) or 19.5 gn #11FS (1100 fps)

Lyman 410459 212 gn (made with 1:1 Lynotype : pure lead) - 18.0 gn 2400 (1300 fps)

Remington cases and Federal 150 primers were used in the above.
With Winchester cases charges had to be reduced by 1.8 to 2.0 gn to prevent sticky extraction. I have never before seen such variance with different brands of pistol brass, but there you go.
Federal 150 primers have given far less velocity variation than Winchester Large Pistol or Federal 155s.

The above recipes are fine in my gun. Reduce 10% before trying in yours.

I have used 2 loads in my .41 mountain gun for the last 25 years. General purpose carry load is 9.5 gr Unique with 210-220 cast swc. Full house stuff gets 20 gr 2400 with 200 gr Speer 1/2 jacket swchp. The Unique load would probably handle anything I would encounter in south AL.

657 Mountain Gun...one of my all time favorite Smiths....

Going with Dick on this one...if you have UNIQUE, 8.0 seems to be the magic number. Stick anything in front of it and drive tacks... 4" velocities run between 950-1025 depending on the bullet used. Have used everything from a 200 grain Speer HP to a home cast 300 from a Mountain Mold...just works.

If you want no smoke, no leading and cheap...the 210 Berry's plated set in place near the top of the shank with a Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die is super accurate.

Currently using a MP 220 Keith mold that has HP and PP pins for 213 + 215 grains for hunting and general carry in 4" Smiths...
8.0...975
9.0...1100
10.0...1180

The 250 LBT WNFP-GC with 20.0 H110 runs 1300...and will shoot through anything. Recoil is up there. 9.0 of Unique with that bullet is much more pleasant to shoot and a lot more control for followup shots...

If you CC for 2-legged pests try the Barnes 180 XBP...I tried the Federal loading and in was mid-1300s, not a lot of recoil and bullet expansion/penetration was EXCELLENT.

Bob

This just goes to show you the beauty of the 41 magnum, with all the different shooters having such good luck with different loads. The 41 magnum will shoot anything you put in it because they have always been made with correct specs. It's actually hard to find a bad load compared to some other calibers.
With 17.0 grs of 2400 & a 230 gr. or a 250 gr cast slug I've broken both front shoulders of large elk & African game with exits. Even though this isn't a maximum load it's easy on the back end & a beast out the front end, making it easy for any shooter to handle, that's the key to good shooting. The 8.0 grs of Unique load is the same way on deer size game.

Dick

Yep.

Groove and throat dimensions rarely exceed .002 and most bullets fit those parameters as well.

Bullet molds also exhibit a minimum variance in the cartridge as well.

Easy button.

I recently discovered Accurate TCM which is just a smidge slower than 2400, widely available and fairly inexpensive (I just bought a 5lb. keg for $110). So my new load is 18.0 gr. of TCM and the same 225 gr. SWC I mentioned in my previous post. MV now averages 1310 fps with the same accuracy as the 2400 load. I swatted this boar with this combo just this evening.

17gr 2400, WW LP primer and 210 XTP. bang flop on whitetails.

My favorite brother just handed me 5 boxes of the 200 Half Jackets, Lucky Me!

Dang! That is a nice score! I neve see them around here anymore. I found 1 box of the 1/2 jacket 220 gr soft points couple years ago. They don't open as well at handgun velocity but do well in the rifle.

..is that the old original Speer bullet...they also made a 220 SWC-SP.

They really are not 1/2-Jacket as with 1/2-Jacket bullets only half the bearing surface is jacketed...on the Speer the whole shank is a jacketed cup so there is no leading.

The lead core is pretty hard and that jacket doesn't disrupt much at all. Put one of the HPs through several gallons of water, several sheets of 3/4" marine plywood and then burried into a 4x4 post. The recovered slug just melted off the nose and the little ashcan just kept going...one of my favorite bullets.

Loaded up the last I had with 9.0 grains of Unique so they are running 1100-1200 fps depending on the barrel length.

Believe in the Speer #13 Reloading Manual there is a picture of cougar taken by one of the 200 HPs with a Taurus Tracker...read the whole story somewhere years ago...

The reason they stopped making that whole line of bullets is that there was one machine at the factory that made them in .357/.41/.44 and when it wore out they decided to drop the line...sad.

Bob

My 1st post on this thread was pretty vague, so here are some details on my loads


Everyday woods bumming load is as follows

GT Bullets 215gr LSWC Hollow Point bullet
Starline 41 Special brass
Unique (enough to get me to 1000 fps)
Rem 2 1/2 primer.

Hunting/Defense load
Montana Bullet Works LBT 240 WFN-GC
Starline 41 Magnum brass
H110 or WW296 @ 19.0 grains
Federal 155 primer

I have 2 carry 41 mags

#1 Tarus Tracker 4" compact five shot
#2 S&W 657 3"

Both loads work in both guns, thou the Heavy load is a handful in the lightweight Tracker, the porting helps.

My older 6" S&W Model 57-1 just sits around looking pretty.


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