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RC20 said:
Not familiar with 41 special so will look into it…
41 Special is an example of retrofitting history, sort of.
The 357 and 44 Magnums were developments made by loading up 38 Special and 44 Special to magnum velocities in heavy frame revolvers that could withstand the pressure. The commercial loads were made using slightly longer (0.135" and 0.125" longer, respectively) cases, not because more powder capacity was needed (the performance had already been worked up to in Special cases), but because incautious people would put such hot-loaded Specials into guns that couldn't take the pressure and blowups and injuries would happen. So they lengthened the cases to make sure the hot loads couldn't fit in Special chambers.
The 41 Magnum, of course, had no 41 Special predecessor to load up. It was a from-scratch magnum. You don't generally see mild commercial loads in 41 Magnum for the same reason you don't see mild commercial loads for 357 and 44 Magnum. People are expected to buy 38 Special and 44 Special when they want milder commercial loads to shoot in their magnum revolvers. It seems the same attitude has dominated handloading data, though you can find examples of mild loads in the 357 and 44 Magnum cases.
The 41 Special is unique in that it is a post-Magnum wildcat developed to fix the 41 Magnum's development history retroactively. Except for custom guns, there are no 41 Special guns available to buy, but as with the 'Specials fired in magnum revolvers, the shorter case and different headstamp is a good way to keep your mild loads sorted from magnum loads.
I see some online articles and information on the Special,
but loaded hot. It can be so loaded safely because all the guns that it chambers in are magnum revolvers.
The case capacity being an accuracy issue is conflicted. Yes, better case fill reduces velocity variation, and the slower the powder, the more advantage good case fill will give you because slower powders are intrinsically more case position-sensitive. A quick powder, on the other hand, burns so fast the bullet can't move much before the pressure peaks, and that means small time differences in ignition due to case position have less overall effect on the pressure curve they produce.
On the other hand, having a big jump to the throat of a revolver allows more gas bypass and, with lead bullets, this will do more base gas cutting that can unbalance bullets and will splatter metal fouling near the mouths of the chamber throats, which can lead to accuracy drop-off. When I shot my Dan Wesson 357 in bull's-eye matches, I always loaded magnum cases with wadcutters and a taper crimp to avoid the fouling issue. Yes, you may need another couple of tenths of a grain of powder to get the velocity you want, and, again, it is best to use a quick powder like Clays or N310 to limit the effects of position sensitivity.
The bottom line, like so much in shooting, is that you will have to try loading both case lengths with your powders and your bullets to learn which one does better on paper.
IME, generally, jacketed bullets care less about case length, matching throat diameters, and perfect cylinder timing than lead does. All those things upset lead, but copper jackets are tougher and can handle a little course correction without distorting like lead does.
I tried out Unique with a 210-grain Sierra JHP in GRT, allowing a 0.006" barrel/cylinder gap. It suggested that 3.9 grains was the lowest load that would not stick a bullet. Take that with a grain of salt. 5.6 grains produced target pressure (about 12,500 psi and almost 800 fps from a 4⅝" revolver barrel). If I switched to the 41 Special case length by seating the bullet 0.125" deeper, I needed to take 0.6 grains (about 10%) off the charge weight to get the same velocity. The peak pressure increased by about 1,000 psi. The loading density went from about 44% to about 51%. Higher peak pressure from lower loading density is another advantage in getting slower powders to burn well, but with quick ones gets hard to see.
