Why so little love for .41 Mag??

I've seen exactly one handgun chambered in 10 Mag., an AMT that went a long way towards disassembling itself with every shot.

As far as I know, no handguns have been chambered for it in a number of years.
 
I've seen exactly one handgun chambered in 10 Mag., an AMT that went a long way towards disassembling itself with every shot. As far as I know, no handguns have been chambered for it in a number of years.
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Factory guns? No.

Custom conversions of existing revolvers? Yes, quite a number of them actually.

Master wheelgun 'smiths like Hamilton Bowen (probably the best known), Gary Reeder, Clemets Custom, and Mark Hartshone have all done 10mm Magnum 'conversions' to the cylinders of revolvers like the old S&W 610s, the old 10mm S/A Ruger 'Buckeye', not to mention, more recently, Ruger's line of 10mm revolvers, starting with the SHR.

Prior to the 10mm Rugers, the Clemets Custom guy had been converting the cylinders of GP-100 .357 revolvers (fixed or adj sights) to fire 10mm AUTO and .40S&W with moon clips.

:cool:

Attached pic shows a 6.5" S&W 610 revolver converted to 10mm Magnum, making it a 3-in-1 wheelie ...
 

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I'm aware that custom conversions exist and are still being done.
That's not exactly a growth market.
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Don't be so impatient ;) ...

The Ruger 10mms have only been on the market for 10-minutes, and Smith's discontinuance of the 610 obviously hasn't increased the pool of 'base' revolvers needed for the conversion.

In fact, the 610s now enjoy a collectors-market status ... I sold my first-run 6.5" 610 several years ago to a local collector for some pretty nice bucks. Had I not done so, it was going to go to Hartshorne for his 10mm Mag conversion, and some other work.
 
I'm aware that custom conversions exist and are still being done.

That's not exactly a growth market.
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While I believe the context was 10mm Magnum, I will share that my Clements Custom .41 Special cost the base gun + $650. It would be the price that dampens the popularity of conversions. It also took a year to get the gun back.
 
IIRC, the 10mm Magnum was introduced... 1991-1992 time frame.

It didn't make a splash, it made a thud.

If the custom conversion market continues its trend in promoting the popularity of the 10 Mag., it should become a regular factory offering about 15 years after everyone switches to phased plasma weapons...
 
I had a 41 mag in the 90's. I upgraded to 44 mag and never looked back. The 41 is not that much of an improvement over the 357 magnum.
 
But the process included time and experience showing that forcing the caliber into a large frame gun was not acceptable. The .41 Special, in S&W terms, would have required an L-frame for a better chance of being what an LEO might actually want to carry.
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An L frame weighs the same as an N frame. I carried a 4" or 6" L frame on my hip as a cop for 15 years.
 
came along to late as most LE depts were leaving the revolver and transitioning to autos at the time the .41 came along.
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I have seen this a few different times (a couple of different ways) and I have to wonder, where is this coming from, and why does it keep coming up, because it is flat out WRONG!!!!!

The .41Mag came along in 1964, and was around for a couple of decades (20 years+) BEFORE "most LE depts." switched to semi autos.

in the 1960s, 99.9% of the police used revolvers. In the 1970s 98% used revolvers (there was one (1) state police that adopted a semi auto in the 70s. 1 out of 50 is NOT "most)

Police interest in the semi replacing the revolver began in the 80s, and picked up speed in the mid-late 80s, and I wouldn't say "most" police until the mid 90s.

The .41 Magnum came along was examined, tested, and rejected by the police at a time when the police were still virtually "revolver only".

It didn't make the grade as a police round because the police didn't want a N frame magnum revolver firing magnum ammo larger than the .357. Very few police depts. got to test the gun with the "police load" ammo, most only got the magnum ammo, and it was simply not suitable for police use. the few that did get to test the 210gr LSWC load thought it had potential, but didn't want an N frame gun (too big, too heavy).

The .41was NOT "doomed" by the police switch from revolver to semi, it got the thumbs down from police DECADES before that.
 
41 fever

March to the beat of a different drummer.

Love my S&W 57 with an Armoloy® TDC (Thin Dense Chromium) finish bought new 30 years ago.

It remains the smoothest and most accurate wheel gun I own.

Since 41 spcl brass is now readily available I've been reloading for them as
well.
 
IIRC, the 10mm Magnum was introduced... 1991-1992 time frame.
It didn't make a splash, it made a thud.
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No, the one and only pistol chambered for it - IAI's AutoMag IV - was junk, and that's what 'made a thud.'

Don't blame the cartridge because of the gun. :rolleyes:

Certain folks tried that with the 10mm AUTO, due to the Bren Ten's quick demise, proclaiming it officially a "dead round." Wonder of wonders, the 10mm is still here and getting stronger. ;) And those certain unfortunate folks are still trying to wipe the egg off their faces. :rolleyes:

Had IMI/Magnum Research chambered the Desert Eagle in 10mm Magnum (they had a .41 Mag DE, remember?), and then made a "switch" upper-barrel assembly for it in 10mm AUTO as a '2-for-1' package, it would've sold very well. Better than the .41 DE.

Factory 10mm Mag ammo:

https://shop.reedsammo.com/10mm-Magnum_c17.htm

http://www.doubletapammo.net/index.php?route=product/category&path=125_395
 
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I'd really like to know if that 135 grain 10mm Mag is specifically built for 1900 fps or if it's just a .40 S&W bullet that's being driven 1000 fps faster than it was designed for.
 
"Don't blame the cartridge because of the gun."

Yep! Because, even though the gun sucked, the cartridge was such an incredible item that NO ONE picked it up after IAI went belly up.

THUD.

Even after Dornhaus & Dixon went belly up and left the 10mm Auto cartridge an orphan there was interest enough in it that Colt, Glock, and other manufacturers picked it up and made it a standard chambering.

How many companies have done that with the 10mm Mag?

<crickets>

I guess gun makers were so stunned by the 10mm Mag's magnificence that then went deer in the headlights and couldn't break free of the reverie...


"Had IMI/Magnum Research chambered the Desert Eagle in 10mm Magnum (they had a .41 Mag DE, remember?), and then made a "switch" upper-barrel assembly for it in 10mm AUTO as a '2-for-1' package, it would've sold very well. Better than the .41 DE."

Really? And had Ronald Reagan been a nuclear powered automaton he could be emperor of the world by now. Imagination is a wonderful thing, in which things that never happened can come true...


Finally, I'm not sure that two relatively low production ammo makers quality as factory.

Winchester, Remington, S&B, Fiocchi, PMC, Aguilla, Federal, Wolf, Tula, Norma, RWS or any of the other MAJOR manufacturers load it?

No?

OK.

Sorry, but we're still at THUD level 5, or damned close to it.


The only saving grace is that Starline manufacturers 10mm Mag brass.
 
The 41 Mag. is a fine cartridge, but so are the 357 Mag. and 44 Mag. If you want something in the middle, I suppose it fills the niche. It might have caught on more if Dirty Harry hadn't made such a splash with the 44 Mag.

Not sure why the writers in the early 60's thought a 44 Special level load in 40 or 41 caliber was just what was needed at the time. But it's clear that the 41 Mag., as released, was generally more than what was suggested.

Since it never caught on well, it's pretty much been a handloaders cartridge for many years. I've shot a few, and even handloaded it some. But the 44 Mag can be essentially be handload to 41 Mag levels, so there isn't really a desire to have one on my part. The niche just doesn't appeal to me that much.
 
BBarn said:
The 41 Mag. is a fine cartridge, but so are the 357 Mag. and 44 Mag. If you want something in the middle, I suppose it fills the niche. It might have caught on more if Dirty Harry hadn't made such a splash with the 44 Mag.

Not sure why the writers in the early 60's thought a 44 Special level load in 40 or 41 caliber was just what was needed at the time. But it's clear that the 41 Mag., as released, was generally more than what was suggested.
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Pretty sure it had to do with getting a larger caliber in a smaller frame revolver and the simplest way to accomplish more power with a smaller revolver is to find the middle point between .357 and .44 and build a revolver around that middle ground caliber.

At the time the .41 was being pushed, the Charter Arms Bulldog didn't exist. When it finally did get released, the Bulldog was one of, if not the smallest, lightest .44 Special revolver in production and while it was only a 5 shot and with strong loads had a heavy recoil, for the purposes of being a "stopper" it did that well. One selling point to the Bulldog and .44 Special is you can shoot the .44 Special in the .44 Magnum revolvers and rifles many already owned.

The .41 can't compete with that versatility, it couldn't back then and it sure can't do it today.
 
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