The Forgotten Magnum

The weather is supposed to settle down a bit in the next few days, and I've been playing with the idea of going out and doing a little work with my 41 Magnum, since I probably don't shoot it often enough.

Many of the newer shooters have never even HEARD of the 41. While the 357 remains the most popular magnum handgun going......and the combination of Clint Eastwood and the late Elmer Keith have put the 44 magnum solidly on the map, most people don't know that there was/is a magnum caliber in-between.

In 1964, Remington devloped a 41 magnum cartridge, and Smith & Wesson wrapped a new revolver around it....followed shortly by Ruger. It was meant to bridge a power gap between the 357 & the 44, and it was hoped that the police might find it to their liking as well.

But Smith & Wesson built the new gun on the same large "N" frame that they built the 44 on, so the weight and bulk was not desireable for all-day police wear.......although the slightly lighter 41 loads produce a little less recoil through that same-weight frame than the 44 does. Being slighter narrower in diameter, the bullet trajectory is a bit flatter in the 41, making it a touch BETTER if you had to make a long-range shot. At 210 grains, the bullet is only 30 grains lighter than the standard 240-grain loads in the 44, so there is more than enough killing power when the bullet reaches its destination.

I also need to say at this point, that the 41 is also a "truer" caliber than the 44. Most people think the 44 magnum is a "44" caliber gun. No it isn't. Bore diameter is actually .429-----not quite a 43 caliber. I think they just CALL it a "44" as a hold-over from the old days.

I'll bet most of you didn't know that.

The barrel of a 41 magnum is exactly .410......it IS what it says it is.--------so is the .357

But the 41 came along too late in life, By 1964/65......the 44 magnum had been around 20 years, and the 357 had reached 30. Well, the 41 was more comfortable to shoot than the 44, it had nearly as much power, and while shooters DID buy them......they never put a dent in 357 or 44 sales, so not all that many were made each year.

The 41 Magnum IS still being built, as we speak, Ruger still makes them (I'm not sure what Smith & Wesson is doing at the moment), but you won't see one very often at a gun store, because while there is still "41 clientel" out here, it's never been enough to "up" the production numbers.

Correspondingly, ammo isn't overly plentiful each year either, and it's usually only availiable commercially in one bullet weight----210 grains. If you own one, you're almost better-off reloading for it yourself (which I don't do anymore). Because the 357 & 44's are so much more popular, it's been profitable for the ammunition manufacturers to offer each caliber in a variety of bullet weights, for both factory ammo, and bullet reloading components.

Over these many years, the 41 Magnum has become sort of the "Rodney Dangerfield" of the handgun world. It's been practically forgotten about. I'M no exception here either. I've owned so many various 357's and 44's over the years, I TOO had forgotten there was anything else worth having.

Well....every now and then, you have to do SOMETHING different, just to say you've done it. The gunshop out there on Airbase Road, took in a MINT condition old Smith & Wesson Model 57, 41 Magnum last year. As always, I just glanced at it as I did my "routine walk-around" whenever I'm out there.....(oh yeah----pretty gun but it's one of "THOSE"). Our late gunsmith buddy Sam Beach was still with us, and at one point, I'd asked him to let me see that thing, as I'd never handled one, so he opened the glass case and handed it to me.

Well, there wasn't anything special about it really......I already owned an "N" frame 44....and one felt like the other. I always trusted Sam's advice on guns and I asked him about the 41 caliber in general. he said it was a BETTER caliber in many ways, than EITHER the 357 or the 44.........but it never really caught on with the public, so the sales weren't there. The 357's & 44's were the "Kings of the revolvers" (and they pretty much still are).

"The 41 Mag is a SUPERB caliber Mike, but it's never gonna be a household name with people."

"What about ammunition?"

"Several companies still make it", he said........"Always WILL.....because there'll always be a demand for it....but not the same demand that there is for the OTHER Magnums....so sometimes you might have to go to Boise, or we can just order you some."

Out of sight---out of mind for awhile. Life went on, and whenever I had time to stop by the shop, I always did my little "walk-around" and whenever I'd spot that 41, I'd always think to myself..."Gee, that IS a pretty gun, but nobody's ever gonna buy it, while it's SURROUNDED in this big glass case by all these other guns that you CAN get ammo for, even up at Wal-Mart!------but one thing's for sure-----I'M never gonna buy one.

Then, one "fateful" day, I walked in there, and as I walked past the 41, I glanced behind the counter to the ammo shelf, just to remind myself that ammo WAS an issue...........there sat TWO BOXES of Speer, 41 magnum, 210-grain Jacketed Hollowpoints.

I felt myself beginning to WEAKEN. Before I did anything "foolish", I walked back out, went home and called a few of the shops in Boise. A couple of places had a box or two....a couple of stores were OUT, but said there was no problem ordering ammo and having it there in a couple of days. "We just don't keep very much ON-HAND because not that many people shoot it."------and that's just good business sense-----you don't need to keep an ABUNDANCE of items in your inventory that doesn't "move" all that often.

I went to lunch and thought about it. Then thought about it some more. Maybe I'd better hurry back out there before someone ELSE buys it...............hmmmmm................no.......not likely, nobody really wants a 41.......

I drove back out there and asked Sam to show it to me again, so he got the case keys out, opened it up and handed it to me (for the SECOND time now).......I opened the cylinder, looked down the barrel, checked the chambers and the cylinder ratchet timing, hammer let-off, etc......(as if something had drastically CHANGED since the LAST time I looked at it a few weeks earlier!)........

Sam just stood there and chuckled.......and said "Holler at me when you get ready to do the paperwork..........we BOTH know you're taking it home!" I knew that. So did he.

So, I filled out the paperwork.........as USUAL (seeing as how I still couldn't find any of these "loopholes" we're supposed to have), and of course bought BOTH boxes of ammo.

It was a nice day, so I went home, tossed my target stand in the truck and went out to MY "little spot." I loaded up a "cylinder of 6", of those 210-grainers, and proceeded to put all six "into the black circle" at 25 yards.

Recoil was crisp but not quite "44-ish", the gun was controllable and the bullets were "re-arranging the landscape" behind the target with authority. As I recall, I had to make an elevation adjustment on the rear sight after the 1st or 2nd round-------then all was pretty much centered.

I reloaded it, but opted not to go a 2nd time around. The sights were dead-on, the gun felt perfect, so there was no need to just stay out there and burn through a box of ammo as I usually do, in a caliber that you cannot replenish at Wally-World......(as a matter of fact, my most RECENT 2 boxes of it came from Boise just last Thursday).....and they were the last two boxes HE had, before now having to re-order. I've got a couple of hundred rounds for it here at home. That'll be enough for awhile, for no more often than I shoot it.

It really IS a great gun..........but the 41 will most likely always be....the "forgotten magnum."

PS.......fine thing......I'm sitting here wrapping up a story on the fairly rare 41, paying "homage" if you will, to a handgun caliber that should go down in history as one of the best ever,-----but WON'T.....and I've got one of my 44's resting here beside the laptop, and had a 357 with me most of the day yesterday.

The only reason I DON'T carry the 41 on my person, is that its 6 1/2" barrel length makes it difficult to carry concealled, and a little "TOO obvious" to carry openly in this warm weather.

Additionally, ammo is only commercially available in the "hunting velocities, which makes it a bit dangerous for "social work" as I call it. if you had to drill some guy coming at you with a knife, a "full-house" 41 load (even a hollowpoint) would go through him like a hot knife through butter,and possibly hit somebody BEYOND the "bad guy" that you hadn't INTENDED to.

Owning a gun is a right....but WITH that right comes a serious social responsibility, so my "carry guns" aren't chambered with the same loads I carry up the woods, where a bear is a lot harder to stop than a thug is.

But the 41 Magnum. Excellent caliber, in one of the "cosmetically prettiest" Smith & Wessons I've ever owned. Never been sorry I bought it.