.41 Mag

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Walkalong

Walkalong

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I always told myself I would get a .41 mag. Well, I did it, I bought a Redhawk .41 Mag off GB. It should arrive Friday. My dies, brass, and shellplate came today as well as some 210 gr. XTP's. Can't wait to shoot some full loads Saturday. :D

My question is.

What kind of plinker loads are ya'll shooting? Berry's makes a 210 FP and X-Treme does as well. That is about it for the cheaper plated bullets. Win or Rem bulk bullets would be the next best bet I guess, and of course lead, which I have mostly gotten away from. What powders as well.

Thanks, Anthony
 
Hey Anthony,
You and I are in the same exact boat, except I've had my .41 for a few weeks now. I got a Ruger Blackhawk, and I also bought a new Lee reloading kit. I started out with Rem. Brass and cci primers, but now I am using Winchester brass and Win. Large Primers. The Rem. brass wouldn't take the primers very good, but the Win. works great. I have been loading Hornady
.210 grain xtp bullets with 2400 powder. Today I found some Hornady .210 bullets at a shop for $14.67. They had 2 boxes and I got them both. They are not the xtp's , but I'm still tickled pink. That beat $25.00 for a box of xtp's I got at another gun shop.

I am using 17.5 gr. of the 2400 and at 12 yards all my holes are a little over an inch. At 60 yards I am shooting inside a 6 inch circle. This is with the factory sights. A fellow member has told me that he is using the Remington .200 gr. bullets with some IMR Trail Boss powder for plinking. I am planning to give that a try.

Well, I hope you enjoy your .41 as much as I have.
 
my 41 plinker's are 210 grain lead at about turn of the last century 45 Long Colt velocity using Unique.
 
I use Winchester 296 for full power loads in the .41 Magnum, and SR 4756 for mid range loads, though my mid range load is pushing 1,225 fps, with a cast 210 grain bullet. My full power loads are with the Hornady 210 gr. XTP, which is an excellent bullet.

My 6 1/2" Model 57 was my duty gun for many, many years. Great gun and cartridge, but it doesn't get shot much these days.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
For plinking and Cowboy Shooting I use Titegroup, 5.0 grains and any of the commercial 210-220 grain cast SWC bullets gives a load that is nice to shoot all afternoon without a lot of muzzle blast or recoil. And you can load three times as many rounds from a pound of powder as you can with any of the full power loads.
For full power loads 2400, Lil' Gun or H110/W296 are all good choices.
 
I am almost out of W296 and really prefer AA# 9 anyway. I have never had any 2400, but hear its praises sung all the time. I have some Blue Dot which may work well. I am going to start with AA #9 for full loads with the XTP's and if they shoot well I will probably stick with it.

I have several powders which should do OK for plinking. TiteGroup, Red Dot, American Select, N320, W231, Trail Boss, Clays, AA #2, AA #5, Universal Clays. (did I forget one?) Too many, I know. That's why I am asking for tips on where to start.
 
For plinking and practice I use 215gr LSWC on top of 7.8grs of Unique of 7.0grs of W231.
I also load 17.6grs 2400 behind the 210gr XTP for full power magnum and hunting. It chrono's at 1,424 fps from my 6" S&W 57.
 
WA: You'll like what #9 will do. I haven't tried Trail Boss, but I see more and more people using it for plinking loads in Magnums because of good load density for the charges used. I've burned plenty of Blue Dot in Redhawks and it does a very good job, but I've never seen anything that works better than #9 and accuracy can be exceptional with the Sierra 170 gr. JHP as well as just about anyones 210. I haven't built any plinking loads with anything in .41 Magnum in some time, but, if you added it, might want to take a look at what True Blue will do for loads in the 1000 - 1100 FPS range. Between there and full Magnums, #7 is worth a look!;)
 
I use 5.0 grains bullseye with a 210 SWC as my all around plinking load. I have used 2400 and H-110 for magnums but have pretty much settled on H-110 and the 210gr XTP for Missouri whitetail.
 
my plinking load is a lee 210gr SWCTL bullet with red dot,
I've got two hunting loads, hornaday 210gr XTP with bluedot,
or I buy gaschecked 265grLSWC from a local shop with a max charge of lil'gun.
 
I have had good results with Red Dot for reduced loads in the .44 Mag. Bulky and burns clean.
 
I loaded up 50 210 Gr. XTP's with 16.0 Grs. AA #9 and a WLP primer with Starline brass at 1.575 O.A.L. I am going to shoot some of them in the morning if all goes well. :)

I might see if I can even come close to .41 magnum man's 3 shot group at 90 yards he posted. Bet I can't. :)

CZ57 - I do have some True Blue now. Have not played with it much, but I like it's makeup for good metering and the little I've have done with it it burns clean, even at the lower pressure I used it at. Potential for sure.
 
I don't have a .41, but I do load for .44 and .45LC. I highly advise W231 for reduced loads. It burns clean and is great for precise metering.

My .44 special load is 7g 231 under a 240g SWC in a magnum case. Same for the .45LC - 7.5g 231 under a 255g SWC.

Shoots true and burns clean.
 
I shot the Redhawk this morning. I shot 4 groups. 7 yards stnding two hands. The first group is terrible, but I got better from there as I got used to the sights and the heavy trigger pull. (It needs a lighter Wolff mainspring like my .44 has). The starting point I picked of 16.0 Grs. AA #9 and WLP did pretty well. I adjusted the sights to bring the P.O.I. up a bit after groups two and three.
It needs a bit more powder and a better crimp. I was dissapointed in the quality of crimp I was able to achieve with the Redding seater. I will remedy that. :)

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Hey Walkalong, I responded to your post under "Handguns: Revolvers" before I saw your post here. You don't have to post the components I asked about again. Now, which one was the 90 yard group?
 
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Walkalong

Get a Redding profile crimp die. I screwed up one time and reloaded 10 cartridges without any powder in them. When I fired them off the bullets never moved; the primer backed out and tied up the gun which was a pain but the crimp held onto the bullet. I just don't think that any other die will ever give me a stronger crimp than that.
 
WA: that's the same revolver I started my reloading experience with, over 25 years ago. Okay, maybe not the same exact one. For my second .41 Redhawk that has the 7.5" barrel, I ordered the colored sight package of 4, the dealer made a mistake and I ended up with the gold bead express sights that are on your 5.5" model. Just thought I'd live with it and knew they would work well for open sighted hunting. First time I tried them at the range shooting rested groups I was surprised at how well they worked. I really like them, but they are a departure from typical ramped or Patridge type revolver sights.

My best accuracy with #9 has come closer to the max load range. There is not a .41 Magnum load in any manual that you'll come across that should cause you any trepidation. The Redhawk will handle them with ease. As far as True Blue, the load range for the 210 XTP is 9.0 - 11.0 grains for 1050 - 1200 FPS but testing was done in a 10" test barrel. The 11.0 gr. load came in at 32,000 PSI and I would definitely consider that mid-range or a little higher for the Redhawk.

The only real shortcoming of the Redhawk is the single spring system. It works and can be very good DA, but who really needs a good DA on a .41 Magnum Redhawk? With the modular trigger system you have two options that will help greatly. You can drill and tap the rear of the trigger for a stop, or you can drill and tap the rear of the trigger guard. That's the way I went with my 5.5" and one works as well as the other. The 7.5" model has the triggerstop on the rear of the trigger. Being completely objective, I'll tell you that lock-time is a bit slower than what you'll find on a Smith, so eliminating any overtravel will definitely shrink the groups. Once you get near to max loads with #9 you should start to see groups around 1" or less rested at 25 yards. If not, keep working closer to the max. I forgot to mention that Enforcer is on my list of powders to try next, and specifically for the .41 Mag. Burn Rate it's very close to #9 and I really believe that this is the optimum burn rate for the round. 2400, 296 and 110 never really excited me like #9!;)

+1 on the REDDING profile crimp die!
 
Now, which one was the 90 yard group?
Click to expand...
Yea right.

I could not shoot at 100 yards because a high power guy was on the 300 yd range and they were shooting BR50 on the 100 yard range. I will though. My fourth group was almost a good one. I pulled the 3rd shot down anticipating recoil... arghhh.

I need to try a bit more powder and a better crimp and I think it will shoot well at 100 if I can do my part. My Redding Profile Crimp die in .45 Colt is not much better than the .41 seater as far as the crimping "ledge" or whatever you call it. It's almost a 90 degree ledge and rough. Enforcer should work well in the .41 and it would be worth a try. I am almost out of my old (real old) batch of AA #9 and I'll be needing to get some more powder anyway.
 
I have the .41 New Model Blackhawk.

Remington 210gr. factory loads are pretty stout.

I bought H110 and Federal primers for reloading.

I am going to work in the 210gr. with 15-19gr of H110.

I am saving for a scope. I am looking at Burris 4x or Leupold FXII 4x.
Not sure if I need the posi-lock.

I had the B-square mount installed.

I am hoping to work up to 100-125yard deer/hog shots.
 
I have always been told to not reduce charges of H-110 very much as it can be potentially dagerous. Don't remember the reason but maybe some one on here can enlighten us. Hodgden lists a starting load of H-110 at 19.8 gr.
 
I have always been told to not reduce charges of H-110 very much as it can be potentially dagerous. Don't remember the reason but maybe some one on here can enlighten us. Hodgden lists a starting load of H-110 at 19.8 gr.
Click to expand...

H110 and W296 are volume sensitive powders. If loaded at mush less than 3% below max you can get squibs from inconsistent or lack of powder ignition. Squibs being where the powder doesn't ignite and the bullet is driven into the bore by the primer. If you are careless and crack of the next round (and it goes off) you can have a catastrophic event due to the bore obstruction.
 
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