I've pondered the 41 occasionally

by bj , Tuesday, October 17, 2017, 19:48 (2531 days ago) @ Jhenry

A lot of cartridges suffer from baggage from the past such as improper bore and throat diameters. I wondered if the .41mag, being a cartridge that started as a "clean slate", might have the advantage of no old baggage.

It also seems that various sixgun platforms are marginal for the .44 mag but perfect for the .41 mag. For instance the S&W N-frame has problems with extensive shooting of full power .44 mag, the airlight model with Ti cylinder can have problems with not that much shooting. The .41 mag leaves a little more meat in the cylinder and maybe allows the gun to be more durable. Occasionally I look at prices of used S&W 57s and get frightened off every time.

The Freedom Arms 97 for instance is just a bit too small for .44 mag so is perfect for .41 mag.

But now consider the large frame Ruger- it handles .44 mag and heavy .45 Colt very well. It would seem to be overkill for .41 mag. If a person was going to buy one in .41 mag why wouldn't they go for .44 mag or .45 Colt instead? Well there isn't that much power difference between .41 and .44 and if a person is not wanting to overtax their wrists the heavier Ruger in .41 mag might be just right.

Having said all that, I've still never owned a .41 mag.