Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 41 Special - will there be any future offerings?

I would think this round loaded w/light HPs at modest speed, between a 40 and 10mm would be a nice factory round for a lower recoil ammo, a women could handle, yet the same gun if in a Mag chambering, could handle other duties outside '2-legged' self defense.

Thinking a 170 @ 1,100 or so in a 3.5-4" mid size revolver.

Thoughts?

Sounds good

My 41 Special Ruger Single Six does fine with 215 grs at 800 fps.

Thinking back to the birth of the .44 Magnum we had Elmer Keith touting the virtues of such a thing and shooting heavily loaded .44 Special revolvers until Remington and S&W introduced the cartridge (and Ruger slid into the mix after some industrial espionage). Folks can buy a .41 Magnum now, and load their own .41 Special level cartridges, even shooting shorter case loads if they want.

Who is the writer (or group of writers) performing the Elmer Keith role?

To date the .41 Special is a cult cartridge. The .41 Mag's lack of market success probably limits any appeal for the .41 Special. I would buy one, but then I am not a "market predictor".

jim

OK, how about a .375 Special? Always wondered why there never was a true .38 cal handgun cartridge. Would accomplish the same thing a .41 Special would, and would fit in a smaller frame gun.

John Taffin is a strong adherent and advocate of the 41 Special, but he's not the zealot that Elmer was. I've been known to champion the round (and the 250 Savage) to companies at SHOT, but as a "hobby" writer I'm virtually unknown to most industry types.

If the 40 Shorter & Weaker made sense for the semi-auto crowd, then I believe the 41 Special would be equally sensible for revolvers. But again, mine is a small and lonely voice.

To the gun industry, there's a huge gulf between "makes sense" and "makes money." That's the key issue.

My CCW is a 44 special. and it works fine , also have a 44 mag for heavy duty work.

My Uncle credits you with helping him decide to load 41 specials. I think he ran into you at a gunshow or SHOT.

I love a .41 Magnum. My Black Hawk is my favorite hunter. I also have a SS Taurus 2 1/2" ported 5 shot belly gun in .41 Mag. I use it for pocket carry in bear country with 250gr Federal CastCores. Now I have found the 170gr Sierra HP's in .41 Special from Reed's in OK City. Makes it a nice truck handgun.

FWIW, Reed's have proper headstamped .41 Spec brass for $34 per 100. Good luck.

A fellow had Starline make him a large run of properly headstamped brass for the 41 Special. I don't have his name handy at this moment, but I think he can be Googled. His rates are reasonable. Edit: Yes, it IS Reed's. REED'S LINK

280shooter, I hope your uncle enjoys the round as much as I do!

Now all we need is the FBI (or other large agency) to buy a flock of guns and issue a contract for a bizmillion rounds of ammunition: that will launch it for sure.

jim

Not a 41 fan or follower, but I seem to recall when it was introduced there were two loadings, a "heavy" JHP at max velocity and a lighter lead bullet at 45LC velocity or something similar....?

Yeah, there's the rub.

You can always load down Magnum revolvers and that's what most people recommend. But you're still toting a gun that has to be big enough to handle magnum loads.

The great thing about "Special" revolvers is that they only need be big enough to handle Special pressures - generally about 14,000 to 16,000 psi, so they can be built on smaller frames to be lighter and handier. But most of them will handle +P pressures up to say 23 to 25 kpsi. So you get a handy firearm that can still throw standard weight bullets up above 1000 fps, even up to 1200 fps.

The Ruger Flat Top is an excellent example of this. You can load 250 cast bullets up close to 1200 without undue strain. And that's all Elmer really wanted, his 429421 at 1200.

A 6 shot GP-100 or K-frame .41 Special would be a great revolver. Heck, if they can chamber the J-frame for the .357, with modern heat treating they could give us a Model 15 or 67 lookalike in .41 Special. You could keep it down around 36-38 ounces unloaded, throw 210 grain bullets at 950 fps with ease and probably drive a 215 cast up well over 1100 if you wanted. What the heck, make it titanium and around 18 ounces and go for it - but those little fly weight revolvers are a bit more fun than I like to have with one hand.

Basically what you'd have with a .41 Special is a modern .38-40, and that's a pretty good comparison.

I doubt we will ever see a commercial .41 Special as the .41 Magnum is such a limted seller. But Lipsey's gambled on a .44 Special and it paid off so well that Ruger made them a standard catalogued item. So who knows?

Gambled? They sold out all the K1As that Ruger never made in std. runs. EXECPT the 250-3000 that they promised a few years back and have YET to produce, since offering OTHER models. Their response - Ruger is behind on #1 production. Not sure I am swallowing that, the 77 RSI came in 250, but I wanted a K1A.

Anyways back to the 41, the GP100 would mnake an OUTSTANDING mid sized frame Mag platform as would the L series like a 5shot 686 IMO.

No doubt, history DID have a LE load at sedate speeds, modest recoil, but WHO wants to tote a lead SWC in 41 at slower speeds, when you can get a load w/MORE expansion/shock value, of equal recoil, w/a lighter 170 gr i.e. .40 S&W ballistics?

I am not fond of a 40 in an auto, they work, but I'd rather a 10mm or 45, but in a revolver, I can see the versatility of a small/mid sized 41 mag that has a factory special or downloaded mag load w/light JHPs but not at full speed. Something like the 10mm 175 ST at 1200-1250 is a KNOWN mankiller for defence. A 41 wheelgun could be loaded around 1100-1200 w/170 giving similar TERMINAL performance IMO.

No dout, the 44 special HAS and likely will be a continued success, perhaps a gamble if you asked the industry, but perhaps that very success is a prime case example of the industry being out of touch w/what shooters will buy and use, when given the chance.

Custom handgun smiths have done many a conversion's to 44 sp over the years.

Economics rule, but hey it would be a LOT more fun if these companies would start offering more options, inc. ltd. runs in niche rounds.

If I were to arm my lady w/a handgun for PD, it would be preferable a revolver for simplicity. As nice as a 357 stats are on stopping power, it's not ideal for recoil/blast/flash. On the other hand, many 38 loads like 9mm, in my opinion leave much to be desired if you want that first shot to drop someone. Without having to use moon clips, a 41 sp would be a good option, but I won't argue the old 696 3' was a DANGED good handgun in 44 sp.

But, when thinking on a handgun round to stop someone quick, mass is good, but shock effect/value on a soft target is often enhanced it seems w/lighter faster bullets. So it is the 357 has a better record for instance w/125s than 180s.

Just a Loony thinking of progress......new ideas

+1 on a Ruger GP 100 in a 5 shot .41mag. If Taurus can do it in their small frame SS 28oz ported revolver, I think that Ruger would have no problem chambering the .41mag in a 3or4" sighted GP 100.

I believe that Ruger may be protecting their big bore market. A .41mag GP100 would definitely cut into their short barreled big bore Redhawk market, for a sidearm in bear country.

I don't own a .44mag anymore. I have two .41's, a Blackhawk and a Taurus stubnose, a .45LC Ruger Bisley, and a Glock G20 in 10mm. If I need a larger handgun, I go to a carbine. OK, I'm a wimp.

The GP100 got my attention when Wiley Clapp shot his 4", w/best load of 140 Hornady into IIRC, under 1/2" at 25yds from a Ransom Rest, impressive.

The bigbore RH is fine for bear, but not everyone needs bear protection...as we know. No doubt the GP100 is built like a tank, had one and it was a tough DA.

He's enjoying the heck out of it. Shoots it in his Redhawk for a fun load.

I own a Freedom Arms Model 97 in .41 Magnum that I load down to .41 Special velocities. 210 grain cast bullet at 975 feet per second is a very pleasant and quite accurate load. And the Model 97 is small enough and light enough to be a pleasant carry gun with that load.

That 97 is a JEWEL of a sixgun, no doubt. My last cast loads in 41 were using 1.5 gr less than Unique loads, using Universal Clays - much cleaner burning and better metering than the old stand-by Unique IME.

Let's not forget the great old 38 WCF, the original 40 and a dandy when built on a mid-frame Ruger and loaded using Starline brass.