.41 special

Many years ago I wrote to Guns and Ammo requesting similar load data, recieved the following: With Lyman mould # 410459 (220 gr.) or # 410032 (215 gr.), cast with Lyman #2 alloy mix , over 8.0 grs. Unique and standard primer would give about 900 fps and be accurate.....from no less than Elmer Keith himself. I still have the letter.

I have also found 7.5 grs. of Unique to work well for 850 fps and to be an accurate load.
Ken Waters , in his pet loads for the 41 mag. states these cast bullets with 6.5 grains Red Dot and standard primers are good. I have obtained some Red Dot and will be trying it soon myself. Several other reloaders have written favorably of the Red Dot and 41 " special " load.

If you get a blackening or powder burn around the case mouth, the lower pressure loads may not be expanding the case mouth enough to seal it , my magnum brass was very tough , so I annealed (softened) the case mouth and the problem was solved. Just anneal the half that holds the bullet not any furthur down towards the rim/ web area. I use these only to load "special" level loads and keep the harder ones for magnum loads.
Good luck.

Gary

 

You're better off just leaving them at their full length and loading them lighter. There is absolutely no advantage to cutting the cases down. In fact, if you do you will end up with a built up in the space between the end of the short case and where the long case fits particularly if you use lead bullets. This occurs with people who shoot .38 Spl in .357 Mag and .44 Spl in .44 Mag.

 

Just did a search on the .41 Spl and found that it's a custom caliber made by converting a .357 Magnum revolver to .41 caliber with a new barrel and cylinder. These guns are NOT chambered for .41 magnum because the cylinder web and chamber thickness are too thin to handle the higher pressures of the magnum. So these guns will only chamber the shorter (by 1/8") .41 Spl cartridge. As I stated above, you can save yourself a lot of time and effort by just light loading the standard .41 Mag case. Once you cut down the .41 mag case it cannot be used for .41 mag loads.

I understand the lure of the .41 SPL as my favorite caliber is .44 SPL. I have 4 guns chambered in that caliber and only 2 in .44 Magnum. All of my .44 SPL guns are on smaller .357 mag size frames rather than the larger .44 Mag frames. Makes for a smaller and easier to handle gun as long as I don't load them too hot. If I want a hot load I just pick up one of the .44 Magnums.