Who likes the .41 Magnum?

[Adam Helmer]

I have a Ruger SA 6-inch barrel .41 Magnum that I reluctantly bought off a friend years ago to help him raise cash. Since then, I have acquired a set of RCBS dies, a 195 grain SWC double cavity mould and a chronograph.

LESSONS LEARNED: I have been too soon old and too late smart. The .41 Magnum shot well with my 210 JHP reloads and much better with my hard cast bullets. The chrony told me Cast Bullets were better and faster.

A .41 Magnum is a fine gun all by itself. It is a better Bear Country gun than my favorite .357s and flatter shooting than my .44 Magnums. I roam my farm and nearby woods with this .41.

Adam

[wrenchman]

I like the round I have never got one but it is on my lst

[Adam Helmer]

wrenchman,

RUN, DO NOT WALK to a .41 Magnum!

As a Seminarian, allow me to tell you that once the lid closes on your coffin, you ",missed the bus on a .41 Magnum."

How Sad? Now who ever saw a Luggage Rack on a Hearse?

Adam

[popplecop]

I too have a Blackhawk in .41 with the 6 1/2" barrel and like it very much. That being said also have a Blackhawk Combo 45 Colt & 45 acp with a 4 5/8ths barrel. Suddenly find myself shooting this more with 45 acp cylinder, but use the 41 for deer hunting.

[skeet]

I actually sold a 1st year 41 mag BlackHawk today. Serial 13XX. It was seriously in new condition. I just couldn't bring myself to shoot it. I also have a New model BH in 41 4 5/8 inch a 6inch M-57 in Nickle and another 6 inch in Blue..Still lookin got a 4 inch. I carry it in b'ar country. Fun to shoot with cast and a use a 250 gr wide flat nose gas check loaded to over 1300 for my bear loads.

[Adam Helmer]

skeet,

My chrony says my 195 grain cast SWC bullets clock about 1,400 fps at the muzzle and are very accurate; more accurate than my JHP accuracy loads. I like my Ruger SA .41M and want an older S&W .41M with adjustable sights.

My favorite propellant is 2400 in the .41M and the .44M.

Adam

[Gil Martin]

It is a fine handgun cartridge that should be more popular. All the best...
Gil

[skeet]

I have a Lee 195 gr 41 mould..SWC and it is accurate but too light for my taste except for plinkin round the ranch. I truly like the heavy for the serious work. I cast some of the 250 gr GC bullets out of a mix of Lino and mono so they were really kinda hard. I added enough lead to get 'em up to weight and to make 'em size right in the mould. Mono cast bullets at around .407 the mix of mono and lino got to .410 and with the added lead they got to .4115. That hard stuff shrinks a bit when it cools but the last is about perfect for all my guns so far. I only cast about 300 so a thousand gas checks will last me a long time While I like the lead based bullets for much shooting..when I push 'em hard I want a gas check. In the 44 I have a couple 429 244 gas check bullet moulds and they are about perfect for 44 mag shooting at almost 250 gr. That mould is no longer made I think

[Adam Helmer]

skeet,

I like the 195 grain SWC and if the first shot fails to do the do, I will fire again. LOL.

I am curious: Are you retired or independently wealthy? I love reading all your sales posts about buying "a ton of this" or "45 moulds, umpteen guns bought and sold" and such like.

I could do all that given an opportunity, but you get ALL the good sales.

Adam

[skeet]

Retired I am. not hardly wealthy. I don't really owe anything though. The bullets I bought in the trailer were truly worth what I paid. Some broken or opened boxes. But I made a profit and didn't even really have to mess with them. I cherry picked some stuff out of the trailer and sold the rest to a guy that used to be a friend...LOL!!He's cleaning it all up. And will certainly make a good profit. I truly do buy the stuff I post about. At the present time I have a large amount of reloading items. Nowhere near as many guns as I used to have but mostly better quality which means more value. I keep many items out of the things I purchase and sell the rest. I have more than 150 presses of all kinds..but am surely thinning the herd and hope to be down to 30 or so very soon. A collector is coming to buy many of the ones I have. At the gun show this last weekend I bought approx. 25 moulds..Sold many. Typically I double what I pay for moulds..quite often much more profit in fact. One of the other vendors at the show came over to my table while I was setting up. Had 2 moulds I bought them for 50 dollars and within 25 minutes of the opening of the show I sold them both for 110 bucks At the last 4 shows I have one customer who has purchased 1600 dollars worth of moulds. The next show I do will be in a small town in Wyoming and I usually sell 30 to 40 moulds there. These are not Lee moulds now. I also sell and buy dies of all kinds and sell powder primers some ammo..just got into brass in a big way and some bullets Usually don't sell 22s but have sold a few thousand in the last 6 months. Before the SHTF I was in Cabela's and they had a sale on 22 ammo. 4 525 packs in an ammo can for 65 dollars. I bought 50. Figured I could make a small profit on the ammo and have 50 free 50 cal ammo cans. Then the SHTF and ammo prices have gone berserk. I have sold some 22 ammo but the cans are almost all gone for 15 dollars each. Have more than half of the ammo left and have shown a small profit or a bit more. And the way things are now I should just dump the rest of the ammo for 40 bucks a brick and buy something else..but things are hard to get and I do need more things to sell. An older fellow from just north of the State line is coming by on Thursday with, as he said, about 40 moulds he wants to sell. As well as some older reloading items. He is just getting out of the hobby. As I guess we all will at some point in time. I am hoping to purchase his extra lead too. but will have to go pick it up

[skeet]

He said he has 31 moulds he is bringing. I hope they are worthwhile. He had one mould with him the other day ie a 45 cal LBT . My friend who is legally blind that I take to shows bought a RCBS powder measure from him for 20 bucks and he is bringing that also. So we will see later what he has. One thing I did get from him at the show was a Lyman hollow point pin. Paid 5 bucks for it but it doesn't fit any of the moulds I have with missing pins. I buy them all the time without the pins. People lose 'em So I generally make pins with my little Unimat lathe. About the only thing I use it for now days. Evidently it didn't fit anything he had either.

[Adam Helmer]

skeet,

Many thanks for the clarification. You must have a big barn, like I do, or many sheds to house 150 presses and such like. It seems there are a lot more reloaders out West than here in the East.

Thanks for the kind reply. Be well.

Adam

[skeet]

Adam I really don't have a big barn out here in Wy. I do have one on the farm back east. I have a lot of stuff there..much of the presses etc I have were bought in the east. I have bought many at estate sales ...quite a few in Pennsylvania in fact. I bought 4 at one sale near Lebanon one day..just riding down the road and there was an estate sale going on at a house. Bought one of my RCBS A3s there in fact for 40 dollars I couldn't believe I got one of the rarest presses made by RCBS with only one bid . The storage barn back east has to be closed. It costs just too much to keep it heated and cooled. So will come back again probably in June and pack all the guns and reloading stuff up and move it out here. I still have a couple tons of lead in there too. I have 2 of the most rare presses I have back there. 2 Herter's improved model 3 presses. One is still new in the box. They probably only sold a hundred or so before closing their doors. I have actually been offered 1500 bucks for the new one..Think it has to go. In years back I bought quite a few guns in estate auctions in Pa. My sister is going to an auction In W Va this weekend to try to buy a shotgun for me. It is a 10 ga so..hopefully.. won't go too high. LOL! Yeah..I keep telling myself that.

I do have a vault in the basement that has more than 70 presses in it and the un attached garage that we can't park a car in though..LOL. It is heated with in floor heat too.

[skeet]

For some odd reason 41 brass is very hard to find. I do have a couple thousand pieces of new and quite a bit of fired. If I don't push the envelope too much the brass for the 41 lasts a long time. I have a friend that loads for other people and he is als=ways looking for 41 44 mag and 45 Colt brass. I am no longer selling any of those calibers. 357 Mag is also getting harder to find...brass and ammo. High end 20 rounds to a box is on the shelves locally. about 2 dollars a round or more.