Why so little love for .41 Mag??

Charlie, what's that rear sight on your Marlin. Can't tell from the pic...a Lyman or Williams receiver by any chance?

I've use them a lot over the years, but have a Skinner on my 336 in .44 mag now, like it a lot, but it's a PITA to zero initially. Very slim too.
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It's a Williams... all my lever guns wear them, and I'm working on my .22's right now...

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I bought a 336 that came with a Skinner, I swapped it out for a Williams... I needed the elevation adjustment to shoot out to 600yds. I could see where the Skinner would be a good peeper for hunting, but that's not what I do. I was hitting steel at 600yds with the .41... I had the Williams just about out of the stops to do it, though. For that matter, I was hitting 500yd steel with the same load out of the 4" 57!
 
Well, first off, to have is FAR better than to have not :) .
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I understand that mentality .. but, well, obviously, I see it a bit differently :) now. Shooting my tuned big bore .44 Special and .45 Colt revolvers coupled with the .22LR will keep me busy for the rest of my life. I've found my 'niche' and really enjoy this corner of the shooting world... I don't see owning something I probably will hardly ever shoot. I've never been into safe queens. Then their is always some black powder revolver shooting to be done with ROAs and reproductions :) .

And, for that matter... you find no logic in 'owning and investing in the .41' but you have 2 different .44's, a .45 Colt, and a .357?
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Quite a quandary huh :p . See I started with a .357 BH as a teen (my uncle had one and he though it da best EVER, so of course I had to have one when I was old enough!). Carried everywhere in the woods... Then picked two .44Mags in my 20s (the testosterone thing I guess). Later in life I found the .45 Colt with an original Vaquero purchase... Sold a SRH .44Mag to finance it. Yep, found the cartridge I was looking for all those years. Felt right, shot right, plus all the romance/history/experience behind it ... like coming home... Finally when Ruger offered the .44 Special on the medium frame, that was another ah ha moment (Yes, Taffin, Keith, Skeeter, Pearce, Wilson, and others had some influence here). So yes, investing in the .41 just doesn't fit in the picture... for my use -- that is. Maybe I shouldn't have said 'logic', just didn't and don't have a need for it through my life's experience.
 
I don't consider buying a firearm an 'investment...' mostly because it winds up costing me MORE money... :D

Truth being stranger than fiction... my introduction to the .41 was much like yours... my brother bought a 6" .41 from a friend, and that was the first pistol I ever fired, a love affair that continues to this day. Is it rational? No, not really, with the exception that it has basically kept me away from the .44MAG and, finally, the .357. Like you, I bought a .45 Vaquero, mostly to match with the Winchester Trapper in .45 Colt that I bought my brother for his birthday one year, but I have pretty much given that to him, too... and the .41 remains the only centerfire revolver chambering in the safe.

EDIT: I'm wrong... I have that dastardly .44SPC Flattop in there, too. Very enthused about the .44SPC cartridge when I bought it, it's lost it's luster pretty quickly. Part of that is the pistol itself... typical Ruger with crazy cylinder throats and a barrel bulge. If I ever get it sorted out it might have a permanent home... or not.
 
I have a 657 Classic Hunter. Came about it at an estate sale 26 years ago. It was there with a Colt Anaconda that I was admiring, but I was told the Colt had a deposit on it. So I handled the 657 some and liked the way it felt. I gave $250 for it and never looked back. I have killed many a whitetail with it using strictly handloads. I'd like to find a 41 Marlin to compliment it some day.
 
I reload my 357s and 44s usually with JHP bullets from Hornady and Sierra and the availability of 41 cal. bullets is pretty limited , at least at Midway where I usually order components. A few choices at 170 and 210 grains.

With the 44 I have the lighter weight bullets - 180, 200 , and 210 available which covers the 41 weight range along with 220 , 240, 250, 265 and 300 grain bullets. The 629 shoots them all well and I never really had an desire to acquire a 41.
 
Years ago, I was kinda, sorta fired up to get a Blackhawk .41mag but when I looked for ammo in the same store it was non-existent and this is a large well stocked gun shop.

That pretty much sealed its fate ---for me---never looked at another .41 since.

Do own a Glock 10mm though.
 
I have gobs of 41 bullets--though maybe the weight spread isn't quite that of a 44 mag--it's certainly more than enough. Venture off into hard cast and you can get even more.
 
Why no 41 love? The 32 mag will give you either an extra shot (like lcr) or smaller gun (like single 7). Then you step up to 38/357 with either more power or heavier bullets with reduced fire power or a heavier gun.

The next step up is either very popular 44 or near obsolete 41. The same 6 shots in the exact same size and weight guns. Almost identical bore diameter and bullet weights. Although the 44 will handle 240 grain while 200 grains loads are for either 41 or 44.

The number 41 sounds smaller than the number 44. The actual bore diameters are much closer. But; after 6 pages of replies we already know that.

The real question is not "why is thier no love", but; "why would anyone ever buy one"? At any time now or back in the stone ages. All I can figure is irrational fear of the 44 recoil or for fun to play with something different. Or today, getting a used gun for 50c on the dollar and being an avid reloader. Maybe a 4th reason is a rare collector model, new in box.
 
The real question is not "why is thier no love", but; "why would anyone ever buy one"? At any time now or back in the stone ages.
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If you really look at all the cartridges extant, you could probably nix half of them with the very same argument.
 
To me the real reason to have a 41 mag over the 44 mag is noticeably less recoil and muzzle blast with virtually no reduction in performance. If that is important to you, then the 41 is a great choice . . . especially if you reload.
 
noticeably less recoil and muzzle blast with virtually no reduction in performance. If that is important to you, then the 41 is a great choice . . . especially if you reload.
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Actually if you reload, you can reduce the recoil and muzzle blast of the .44Mag. So not a valid statement. :)

The most 'logical' reason to own a .41 Mag is 'Because, darn it, because I want to'! Good a reason as any that I've heard!
 
The 41 Mag was my very first Big Revolver . I shot it for 5/6 years and found it cost to shoot and it was not a 44Mag . I still have 41 Mag ammo but unless I find a 41 Mag very very cheap I have more then I need .
 
If you really look at all the cartridges extant, you could probably nix half of them with the very same argument.
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WAY more than half, in my opinion. Which is a very good thing, or I would not have enough money or space to deal with the guns and ammo I would need otherwise. :D
 
KEYBEAR said:
I still have 41 Mag ammo but unless I find a 41 Mag very very cheap I have more then I need .
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I've given up on .41 mag. Was thinking of a used 'Smith but I really wanted a 7"+ barrel length. Seems everyone on Gunstroker that owns an older used .41 Smith thinks they will fetch $1300+. Nope, not me, got plenty of handguns to fill any and all shooting moods within my current collection.
 
noticeably less recoil and muzzle blast with virtually no reduction in performance. If that is important to you, then the 41 is a great choice . . . especially if you reload.
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Actually if you reload, you can reduce the recoil and muzzle blast of the .44Mag. So not a valid statement.
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Actually, since you can shoot .44 Special out of a .44Mag, you can get to the same energy result without having to reload for it.
 
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It seems like, after going through this thread... that there are 3 kinds of '41' people.

1) People like me, that just treat it like any other firearm they have/had/might have... realizing that it very closely mirrors the .44 and nearly the .357 (when downloaded, etc) and that every platform had it's own advantages and disadvantages.

2) Others that have found it really isn't for them, or prefer a different cartridge and/or firearm, or just don't like it as much as their trusty .357/10mm/.40/.44/.45, etc.

3) Others that, if not hate, well... lets just say realllly dislike the .41 for myriad reasons.

I've been loading for the .41 for almost 30 years, I never really had a problem finding something to load for it. I don't need esoteric bullet weights or construction. I don't need them at 3000fps. I don't need specialty trimmed-down brass to run light loads. I don't have a problem finding firearms to shoot .41 in... while not as plentiful as some other chamberings, they are out there and are still in current production.

The .41 is not the .44, nor the .357, but you can load all 3 of those (and, for that matter, the peripheral cartridges) very nearly to the same level, the only exception would be to the limits of the cartridge itself. I don't think there is any difference between the recoil of a .41 and a .44 loaded to the same velocity and the same weight bullet... none that I can detect, and I don't subscribe to the notion that a full-house .41 kicks less than a full-house .44... there just isn't that much difference, physics being what they are.

The cost of loaded factory ammunition is roughly the same, comparing apples to apples. Availability might be a factor, but I'll argue that ammunition and components are just a click away. No, you are right... you probably won't find factory .41 at the 7-Eleven in downtown Dallas... you got me there.

There is the argument of versatility... being able to load Specials in the .357 and .44, vs the single 'Magnum' loading in the .41. If you are looking for a lightly-loaded pistol cartridge, I would probably just eschew the .357 and .44 in it's Magnum loadings altogether and find a nice .38 or .44SPC and call it a day. Beyond that, I have no problems loading my .41MAG brass to '.41SPC' levels (however arbitrary they might be.)

You love your .357's...? Great! It's a fine round. 10mm...? I think the 10 has serious potential as an autoloading cartridge. 44MAG...? Another fine cartridge, steeped in legend and lore. The .41MAG...? It may not have the fame or notoriety the others have, but it's out there, everyday, getting it done.
 
rclark said:
Actually if you reload, you can reduce the recoil and muzzle blast of the .44Mag. So not a valid statement.
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You left out the important part of my post:

. . . with virtually no reduction in performance
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I'll be more specific. If you compare MAX loadings of 41 and 44 mag cartridges using bullets with the same SD at the same velocity (220 gr 41s to 240 gr 44s @ 1,500 fps), the performance would be virtually identical. If you lower the bullet weight or velocity of the 44 mag load to equal the recoil of the smaller, more efficient 41 mag, then performance would no longer be equal.
 
I'm not sure where you live, but it doesn't come anywhere close to matching my experience. When I had a 10mm (EAA Witness) I had no problems finding multiple flavors of ammo.
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I am not in an urban area, but could go to Greenville and shop around, if I didn't shoot reloads. It's just that the common store selling ammo for handguns is unlikely to have much besides 38 Special, 357 Magnum, 44 Magnum, 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP, and maybe not sold out of 22 LR.
 
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