Why I No longer Own A .41 Magnum

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Electricmo said:
Why did the .41mag fade away?
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It didn't...
I have four of them that get shot regularly.
An old model Blackhawk, a new model BlackHawk, a S&W Model57 and a Dan Wesson Monson gun.
Always looking for a good deal on another .41Magnum revolver.

And...yes, I do have multiple revolvers in .357Mag and .44Mag as well.
Vive la difference...
 
Well, the reason I no longer own a .41 Mag is because i did not shoot it enough to justify keeping it. I imagine many gun owners of any stripe can identify with this reasoning.
FWIW, .41 Mag is a great cartridge (esp if you are a handloader, and I am, BTW).
But I also own .357 and .45LC, and could not justify owning the .41 Mag if I was not shooting it. So, I sold it to someone who will appreciate it and enjoy it.
 
Oddly enough, I have a similar story...

My bestest buddy, that grew up 2 houses down from me... He bought a .41 after he shot my brother's, even carried it on armored car duty over a college summer. He sold it to me when he got married... he thought he had to sell his guns, his dirt bike, and his 4x4 so he could be a 'responsible' married man. Years later, after having lamented selling everything off, I gave him my old Browning HiPower to assuage his sorrow. I did not give him my dirt bike, or my 4x4, however... he's on his own there. He still has it, and used it to introduce his three boys to shooting as they grew up, and even *gasp!* bought more guns.

Everyone has their favorite... my favorite revolver is the .41, I have 3. The only other revolver I own is a .45 Colt Vaquero, and I'd sell it tomorrow if I could find a reasonable replacement in .41. I've never owned a .44MAG, nor do I intend to. I have owned a single .44SPC... which I did not find to be particularly 'special,' even given the hoary internet lore. I am no longer in the .38/.357 business.

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JCooperfan1911 said:
More meat in the barrel, more meat in the chambers, more weight overall. Not an efficient package.
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Kind of like the 1911, eh?
 
Charlie98 said:
Oddly enough, I have a similar story...

My bestest buddy, that grew up 2 houses down from me... He bought a .41 after he shot my brother's, even carried it on armored car duty over a college summer. He sold it to me when he got married... he thought he had to sell his guns, his dirt bike, and his 4x4 so he could be a 'responsible' married man. Years later, after having lamented selling everything off, I gave him my old Browning HiPower to assuage his sorrow. I did not give him my dirt bike, or my 4x4, however... he's on his own there. He still has it, and used it to introduce his three boys to shooting as they grew up, and even *gasp!* bought more guns.

Everyone has their favorite... my favorite revolver is the .41, I have 3. The only other revolver I own is a .45 Colt Vaquero, and I'd sell it tomorrow if I could find a reasonable replacement in .41. I've never owned a .44MAG, nor do I intend to. I have owned a single .44SPC... which I did not find to be particularly 'special,' even given the hoary internet lore. I am no longer in the .38/.357 business.

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Kind of like the 1911, eh?
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You didn’t read my post or your reading comprehension fails you.
 
JCooperfan1911 said:
You didn’t read my post or your reading comprehension fails you.
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That's OK, I was waiting for your knee-jerk reaction.

I did read your post.. and while I generally agree with your points, it does not make the .41 a more or less efficient package. Like a steel-framed 1911 in .45ACP, the .41MAG is what it is... you either find it adequate for your needs, or you do not.
 
For me, I have never needed a practical reason to own a gun. Nor have I needed it to be 'shot enough.' If I like it and the price is right and I can afford it I buy it. I don't worry too much about whether or not it overlaps too much with something else I own. In fact it never crosses my mind. And some get shot a lot and some I have never shot and probably never will.

I own a Model 57 because it is pretty and I got a good deal on it.

In fact cartridge, especially when it comes to S&W and Colt revolvers, is my last consideration.


Quick edit- the obvious exceptions to that are my SD handguns, deer rifle, and shotgun. That's four total guns. And those four have been with me for a long time and will probably never change.
 
JCooperfan1911 said:
While the “Forty-One Cult” will constantly try and defend this caliber as the greatest thing since pre-packaged mechanically divided pieces of grain based baked foods, the truth of the matter is it does a great many things that any other caliber such as the magnum .44 or even a warmly loaded Colt’s .45 in a full strength Blackhawk can do, but in lighter packages. Nearly all .41 guns are built on .44/.45 frames. More meat in the barrel, more meat in the chambers, more weight overall. Not an efficient package.
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The difference in a .44MAG revolver with identical dimensions to the same revolver in .41MAG is roughly 1-2oz, an equivalent .45 Colt revolver is approximately 5oz lighter. While you are correct, a .41 pistol is technically heavier... even if by just 1oz... you could just as easily argue that the additional weight dampens recoil more, making it more efficient.
 
People fight over whether it's a justified caliber or whatever else, but the reason I never bought one is because ammunition is a bazillion dollars a box. There are a few pictures in this thread of revolvers I'd be proud to own.

.357 does it for me, but I'd buy a .41 if it was a good deal in a revolver design I liked and came with reloading supplies.
 
For me, I'll skip over the .357 and grab the model 57. It's not a niche thing, I just love shooting it. Feels good in my hand and shoots right where I aim.
I still use my .44 SBH for deer hunting but I sold my .357 Trooper basically for the same reason you got rid of your .41 mag. Still have 2 other .357's but they mostly just sit in the safe.
 
I don't think I have ever seen or handled a .41 mag. However I do own a .44 SBH. Once in a while I stumble across some "range pick up" brass for it. At the range I shoot at never a piece of .41.
 
For me, it’s how you come into the guns. My first revolver was a 41 mag Blackhawk. Because I have the 41 I have little need for a 44mag. Same as you boys who had the 44mag first and have little interest in the 41.
Also it’s not always about need, I own a 44spl flattop Blackhawk and a 357 gp100. I could tailor handloads in the 41 to approximate those others cartridges, but where’s the fun in that.

I’m not sure why people argue one vs the other when it comes to 41vs 44 but I do know that most people who are the loudest about one being crap and the other great have never spent much time with or studied both cartridges very thoroughly.
 
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Barbaroja said:
For me, it’s how you come into the guns. My first revolver was a 41 mag Blackhawk. Because I have the 41 I have little need for a 44mag. Same as you boys who had the 44mag first and have little interest in the 41.
Also it’s not always about need, I own a 44spl flattop Blackhawk and a 357 gp100. I could tailor handloads in the 41 to approximate those others cartridges, but where’s the fun in that.

I’m not sure why people argue one vs the other when it comes to 41vs 44 but I do know that most people who are the loudest about one being crap and the other great have never spent much time with or studied both cartridges very thoroughly.
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This is a good point. Had I gotten into .41 Mag first, I would likely have then bypassed .44 Mag (for which I load almost exclusive 300gr projectiles), and gone straight to the .454 Casull. But being as a big bore (we'll count the .41) revolver is mainly a woods gun for me, and as I have a couple .44s, I've yet to justify the .454. But I do have some room for the .357 Mag.

I guess we don't need every rung in the ladder.
 
Barbaroja said:
I’d go as far as to ask who the heck is letting their 41 brass hit the ground to begin with!?
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.41 Desert Eagle shooters... ;)

WrongHanded said:
Had I gotten into .41 Mag first, I would likely have then bypassed .44 Mag
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I've made that point as well. Just so happens I started centerfire with the .41MAG, things may have be very different if it would have been a .357, a .44, or a .45. Then I'd be here saying '.41 what?' Same goes for the .45ACP... if I would have started with 10mm or .40S&W, etc, etc. Everyone has their unique perspective.
 
WrongHanded said:
I guess we don't need every rung in the ladder.
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When I first started shooting in earnest, I wanted one of everything. These days, not so much... mostly because I have to feed and clean them. As I mentioned, I'm completely out of the .38/.357 business, and the .44SPC, too. I'd sell my .45 Colt in a heartbeat if I could find a .41 substitute for it... although I would still handload .45 Colt for my H&R. My desire to own a .32 is gone, or anything bigger than the .41. I was even done with 9mm... until I discovered the Kahr pistols for carry, so going back into the 9mm served a very real purpose. I don't even seriously entertain getting a 10mm anymore.
 
WrongHanded said:
I certainly enjoyed it for a good while. I think once I got a 10mm, the practicality of choosing the .41 over the 10mm for woods wandering reduced somewhat. Not the the 10mm is as powerful, but if I thought I needed the extra power enough to deal with reduced capacity and speed of followup shots, I could see no practical reason not to go straight to the .44.

I do still like the cartridge, but I don't have the "room" for it amongst all the others. And yes, my friend's need was a big part of the reason for the decision. I was not going to put it on consignment, or sell to someone I didn't think would make good use of it.
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Oh, I see...another 10mm thread.
 
RealGun said:
Oh, I see...another 10mm thread.
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Not really. The more time I spend with 10mm, the more I reinforce the fact that it simply is not the equal of the .41 Magnum. And whilst I see that it can compete with the .357 Magnum very well, when it comes to hardcast bullets with wide flat meplats, you have to work a bit to find a 10mm load that exceeds a heavier .357 mag for a woods gun.
 
I am a prince of overlap, but I really don’t mind. Every gun has its strengths and weaknesses, as does every caliber that changes with every different load.

The three .41’s I have are overlapped by the .32 H&R and the flock of .38/.357’s I have on the lower side, and the .44S/.44M, & .45C/.454C on the high side. No matter, I still like it. So much so I bought 500 Starline .41 Special cases and load ammo for that caliber, too. :)

Ya the .41 Magnum is certainly a niche caliber. But so is my 6.5x55 in the CZ 550, the BPS 28 gauge, the 4” Model 48 .22 WMR, etc. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
DR505 said:
I will keep mine.
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I had one of those early 6.5" Classic Hunters... I had to send it back to S&W because the barrel looked like it was cut with a dull hacksaw, but when I got it back... boy, howdy! that thing would shoot! I stupidly sold it to buy an M1a some years ago... and it remains The One Pistol I Regret Selling to this day.

...that was the first 5 rounds out of it, shooting 25' offhand...

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