Any .41 Mag loaders out there? Favorite powder and bullets

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Bbear

Bbear

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Just picked up a Model 57 6". A previous owner had treated it rough. The guy I got it from had it cerakoted and put some pachmayer grips on it.
Now I'm looking for some loads to play around with.

Suggestions?

Primary use will be punching paper and a little hunting.
 
I like AA#9 and the Hornady JHP's for full/near-full power loads, and Unique (~8.2-8.5 grains) with Xtreme plated 210's for fun shooting. Those plated bullets are getting a little harder to find, and I've recently picked up some SNS 215 coated bullets to play with, but haven't loaded any yet..

Story time about my "fun" load: Last weekend, I took out a mini-popper steel target to my dad's farm, and set it up 150 yards away from where we were standing to shoot; we also had plates at 220 and 400 yards, and we were mostly shooting rifles. But, towards the end of the day, I decided I wanted to take a few swings at the mini-popper with a couple of handguns - standing, unsupported. First I shot at it with my USPSA limited gun... lots of misses, but I did get a few hits over the course of a couple of magazines and was pretty pleased with the performance. Next, I grabbed my S&W 57, loaded it with the 210/Unique combo, cocked the hammer - and hit the mini-popper on the first shot! I felt like that was pretty good!

Unique is just a sweet, sweet powder for making not-quite-magnum level loads in magnum revolver cartridges.
 
I like my own cast 210 hollow points over a full charge of h110. It barks and let's you know you fired it, but not unmanagable. I like shooting potatoes at 50 yards with that one. This is with a Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunter 7.5".
 
I use H110 for rounds fired in my Henry lever gun and Titegroup for my Model 57 and Contender loads. Trailboss is an alternative for very light plinking loads. Sierra 210 HPs and a similar Speer bullet shoot quit well in the Henry. I have used several hard cast 210 grain bullets. Beware of Remington factory plain lead rounds, years ago I know they were made from either pure lead or a very soft alloy and were a leading nightmare.
 
8.5 gr Unique and a coated 215 gr SWC from Missouri Bullet Co. and you have an afternoon of fun :thumbup:.

Just enough POW! to know it's a "magnum", but not so much that it makes you start flinching.

My .41 is a 7.5" Redhawk.

Welcome to Club .41!

Stay safe!
 
Oh, for a magnum hunting load I’ll brew up a load with 21 gr H110 under a Sierra 210 JSP. These use WLP primers in Starline cases. It’s not a max load, but it’s close enough to the edge for me.

PLENTY of thump with these rounds!

Stay safe!
 
I shoot IMR 4227 almost exclusively with Xtreme lead but do use H110 with jacketed bullets. I use as much 4227 as the cases will hold and it still shoots softer than some other choices.

Don't knock those Pachmayrs. If you try to make a magnum gun pretty, it could hurt you.

p.s. I also have a cowboy load using Trailboss. Easy going target shooting.
 
Another vote for IMR4227; in my case it works very well in my 20" Marlin 1894 .41 carbine, too. I have 1# of H110 left, specifically for the .41, but once I work through that, I'll stick with IMR4227. Like RealGun suggests, it seems to shoot Magnum level loads without all the theatrics of H110/W296.

My go-to load is 9.0grn Unique under any commercial cast 215-240grn SWC.

I shoot primarily cast bullets, but I have had very good service out of Hornady XTP's, and I have some Remington 215grn JSP's that work fantastic.

Cast Performance makes a fantastic 250grn gas checked cast SWC that is primo in my 1894, it's just a lot of bullet for a pistol loaded over H110, although my Dan Wesson likes it, too.

Montana Bullet makes a very nice 230grn true Keith-style cast SWC... loaded over IMR4227, of course...

nMdei0dm.jpg
 
Has anyone tried accurate #7? I also just got a model 57 and am going to start loading for it. I picked up the #7 because the LGS was out of#9 and the Hornady tenth has data for it.
 
I have used AA#7 in a few autoloader applications (9mm and 10mm), but not yet in the .41. It's more dense than #9 and a little faster, so it won't fill the case as well and will likely be 100-200 FPS shy of what you could get out of the truly magnum-range powders, but I expect it should work well for upper-middle loads. It will meter very well. It will be flashy in low light. My recollection is that it starting getting some pretty big SD/velocity spreads when downloaded significantly - no H110-type craziness with failures to ignite, but just a big window of velocities from the same load.

Western/Accurate's load data is available here: http://www.accuratepowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/WPHandloading-Guide-7.0-Web-REV.pdf
 
I use Accurate 4100 powder for hunting loads (exact same powder as Ramshot Enforcer), and will do anything H110 or 296 will do, with less flash... 20.5 grains under a 210 XTP bullet produces 1,500 fps from my 6.5" Blackhawk according to the Magnetospeed.

Accurate #9 is very good too, especially for long solid copper bullets (CEB, Barnes).

Unique is a little dirty, as it has always been, but makes great practice ammo that is a bit under full power, but FAR from weak... Upper end of published Unique loads will exceed all Remington, Winchester, Federal, and Hornady loads in power.

9.5 grains of Unique under a 210 XTP matches factory Hornady ammo in my pistol.
 
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Unique is one I've found can be safely reduced in this cartridge. My personal "max" is 9gr with various cast, coated or plated 210gr, any hotter I reach for IMR 4227 or H110 in hardcast or jacketed. I've found the 9 of unique to be very accurate with the 210 Berry plated and good medicine for Field Pistol silhouette to 100m. I do shoot it lighter in the back yard, around 7 grains. Accuracy still good but bullets are chugging along at about 45acp speeds. Very mild shooting.
 
Nosler 210 with H110 for me, deadly accurate at 100 yards. I've always used Fed 150 primers as well, over 30 years now
 
Back when we were heavily into backpacking in the Idaho wilderness, I carried my Taurus 41 Mag loaded with 250gr Cast Performance WFNGCs over 18grs of Lil'Gun. I was getting 1,200fps+ (chronographed, not conjecture) from my revolver's 4" barrel, with no signs of excessive pressure.
Now that we're old and can no longer hike 20 miles into the Idaho wilderness with heavy packs on our backs, my (also old) Taurus 41 Mag sits in a desk drawer loaded with 210gr Hdy XTPs over 6.8grs of TiteGroup. I've never chronographed it, but I suspect I'm getting a little less than 1,000fps...it's a mild to mid-range load.
 
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Bandit67 said:
Has anyone tried accurate #7? I also just got a model 57 and am going to start loading for it. I picked up the #7 because the LGS was out of#9 and the Hornady tenth has data for it.
Click to expand...
I think you'll like it. #7 is for great for moderate magnum loading.
 
Random 8 said:
Unique is one I've found can be safely reduced in this cartridge. My personal "max" is 9gr with various cast, coated or plated 210gr, any hotter I reach for IMR 4227 or H110 in hardcast or jacketed.
Click to expand...

Pretty sage advise. Back in my early reloading days, I pushed Unique well beyond book values... when I should have been reaching for a different powder instead. Thing about it... the harder I pushed it, the more accurate it was, but in the end, we wore out my brother's 6" model 57.
 
Another Unique and IMR4227 fan here as well. For a great fun, plinking or practice load 8.0 gr Unique with a 220 gr plated ( Ranier or Berry’s) bullet is accurate and offers very low recoil. For my hunting load 19.5 gr of IMR4227 with 210 gr Hornady XTP is my go to. Very accurate and recoil is very manageable. I shoot these out of my Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunter w/ 7.5” barrel.
A lot of other great suggestions have been made. I’ve had an interest in W296 for awhile, just haven’t got around to trying it.
 
Charlie98 said:
Unless you just have to have maximum velocity, you aren't missing much... besides singed eyebrows.
Click to expand...
I do pull it out for toppling 200m rams and throttling Bambi or Yogi. Otherwise it's a lot of shock and awe, and quite unpleasant in a 6.5" Blackhawk. It's also the only powder I routinely buy in 1lb cans...every 3 years or so, but it is very good in it's preferred application of punishing the shooter and target.
 
Also an Accurate #9 fan for .41, except for Sierra 170 JHP-I use #5 or 7 for those depending on how heavy a load I want.

But with the #9, for 2 3/4” Redhawk, I load a pretty formidable True Shot gas checked WFNP 265 gr. load over 14.5 gr, chrono 1091. This round is too long for my carbine.

For Henry carbine, I load Hornady FTX 190 gr. over 15.6 gr. chrono 1641 (midrange load), and Swift A-Frame 210 over the same 15.6 gr., also not max load, chrono 1518. All could be sped up some, but fine for me.

The FTX leverevolution gives me better results than the XTP 210 in terms of power factor and runs very well in the carbine.

Y’all be careful, Mark
 
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