I loaded a few .41 mags today.

[Drycreek]

I’m about to scope my Ruger Blackhawk so I loaded enough to hopefully get it on paper and close to zero. Powder was AA No. 9 and the bullet is a powder coated 220 grain Hammer cast and coated by a friend.

 

[Native Hunter]

Looks good Drycreek. Post us some target pics when you shoot it.

 

[Drycreek]

Got my revolver back from the ‘smith this afternoon. He drilled and tapped the topstrap for a Wiegand rail. I’ll mount my scope tomorrow and shoot as soon as Dr. appointments and weather permits. The red dot is no longer on it.

 

[1100LT20]

Got my revolver back from the ‘smith this afternoon. He drilled and tapped the topstrap for a Wiegand rail. I’ll mount my scope tomorrow and shoot as soon as Dr. appointments and weather permits. The red dot is no longer on it.View attachment 29683View attachment 29684

It’ll put venison in the freezer fosho!

 

[Drycreek]

Well, right after I started this thread I realized that I had read the wrong line in my print out of .41 mag loads. I used 11.5 grains of AAC no. 9 as a starting load when it should have been 14 grains. I tried to pull the bullets with a kinetic bullet puller but after three sharp raps on my oak reloading bench the bullet failed to move. Decided to just shoot ‘em out. I mounted the Weaver 2X6 scope this morning, torqued the screws to specs and gathered up my possibles. I was a little surprised that the scope was very close.
This is my group at 25 yards shooting off a bipod and sitting in a hunting chair. Pretty sure I can beat that with a better rest, and pretty sure the fliers are me.

 

[Drycreek]

I loaded up a few more rounds this morning. Thirty rounds at three different charge rates. Started with 14 grains, then 14.5, and finally 15 grains. Ten of each. Chasing the most accurate load. I have to wait a few days to shoot though, raining today and tomorrow, plus doctor appointments ahead. I really want to smack a hog with one of these

 

[Mennoniteman]

Forgive my revolver ignorance, does half a grain of powder really make a difference in accuracy? I'd always imagined that pistol accuracy to the quarter inch wasn't important due to the much larger margin of error in the human holding the grips?

 

[Drycreek]

Well MM, it’s like this. You shoot for accuracy off of sand bags on a bench at like 25 yards. You also do the very best you can under the circumstances. Some bullet/powder combinations do better at certain speeds, and you chase the best groups shooting your chosen bullet (because the bullet performance is what kills). Performance can change in three tenths of a grain if the shooter is good enough to take advantage of it. I may or may not be that shooter ! Some bullets like to go fast, some like to go slower, and with this particular powder a couple of grains can be 150 to 200 fps. Pistol powders tend to be hot because you can’t stuff much in that case. I’m usually looking at a medium weight bullet to push at about 1200 fps, but I’ll go higher if the groups get tighter. Standard weight for a .41 mag is 220 grains but I loaded some 215 grains bullets because they have a big hollow point. They are still long, and long bullets stabilize better. I also loaded up some 250 grain bullets with gas checks. I can push them faster if I need to. Once I get a load I like, I won’t shoot it much. I’m not a shooter, I’m a hunter, so I won’t mind shooting a “rocks and dynamite” load while hunting, I just don’t enjoy a steady diet of them. The bigger bullets are in the back four rows.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Well MM, it’s like this. You shoot for accuracy off of sand bags on a bench at like 25 yards. You also do the very best you can under the circumstances. Some bullet/powder combinations do better at certain speeds, and you chase the best groups shooting your chosen bullet (because the bullet performance is what kills). Performance can change in three tenths of a grain if the shooter is good enough to take advantage of it. I may or may not be that shooter ! Some bullets like to go fast, some like to go slower, and with this particular powder a couple of grains can be 150 to 200 fps. Pistol powders tend to be hot because you can’t stuff much in that case. I’m usually looking at a medium weight bullet to push at about 1200 fps, but I’ll go higher if the groups get tighter. Standard weight for a .41 mag is 220 grains but I loaded some 215 grains bullets because they have a big hollow point. They are still long, and long bullets stabilize better. I also loaded up some 250 grain bullets with gas checks. I can push them faster if I need to. Once I get a load I like, I won’t shoot it much. I’m not a shooter, I’m a hunter, so I won’t mind shooting a “rocks and dynamite” load while hunting, I just don’t enjoy a steady diet of them. The bigger bullets are in the back four rows. View attachment 29711

I'm primarily a rifle shooter and I can identify with that "I'm a hunter not a shooter", and that's why I don't reload anymore. I don't do a lot of extended shooting sessions, but I find that if I go a couple years without shooting much I tend to loose my shooting proficiency in hunting situations, but I'm guessing you'd put me too shame very quickly with that .41 Blackhawk.
I do find that I can group better with my .44 super redhawk than I can with my sp101 4" .357 that I shoot the most, as the lighter revolver in .357 Magnum has a really sharp punch to it. The back of the trigger guard gives me a sore knuckle on my middle finger if I'm not holding it tight enough and I never had that problem with the redhawk.
Do you find that you can shoot better with an automatic? I can shoot much tighter groups with a Beretta 96 Inox in 40 s&w than I can with any revolver.

 

[catscratch]

I shoot the .44 Mag Super Redhawk really well. It's a favorite.

 

[Drycreek]

MM, I rarely shoot my semis beyond 20 yards, but I did shoot a hog about a month ago with my 9mm carry gun. It’s a Rost Martin, (new gun manufacturer located in Dallas), and it wears a Holosun red dot. He was probably 60/70 yards away and I aimed at the middle of him. When he turned and ran into the woods I could see a red spot on his opposite side so I hit about where I aimed. I was actually surprised that the Speer Gold Dot made it through him, so maybe not the ideal bullet for self defense ? I can make it hot for a human being at 100 yards if need be with that red dot on my carry gun, but with iron sights I’m a ten yard hero.

I will be shooting tomorrow so if I don’t post any targets you’ll know who is put to shame ! If they have powder burns on them you’ll know I cheated !

 

[1100LT20]

MM, I rarely shoot my semis beyond 20 yards, but I did shoot a hog about a month ago with my 9mm carry gun. It’s a Rost Martin, (new gun manufacturer located in Dallas), and it wears a Holosun red dot. He was probably 60/70 yards away and I aimed at the middle of him. When he turned and ran into the woods I could see a red spot on his opposite side so I hit about where I aimed. I was actually surprised that the Speer Gold Dot made it through him, so maybe not the ideal bullet for self defense ? I can make it hot for a human being at 100 yards if need be with that red dot on my carry gun, but with iron sights I’m a ten yard hero.

I will be shooting tomorrow so if I don’t post any targets you’ll know who is put to shame ! If they have powder burns on them you’ll know I cheated !

I’m shocked any 9mm bullet made it through a pig at 60+yards! Awesome shooting!

 

[Drycreek]

I’m shocked any 9mm bullet made it through a pig at 60+yards! Awesome shooting!

I thought about that a little, and I fully believe that it probably hit him in his liver or thereabouts and missed both ribs. I would have loved to see the bullet ! I think the operative word here would be lucky !

 

[Mennoniteman]

@Drycreek I guess that shooting session didn't go well because we're still waiting to see the punched holes? We now use Milwaukee cordless hammer drills to drill holes in the construction industry and they look exactly like bullet holes if you want to borrow mine with a 13/32 bit? .
I've always been intruiged by the .41 Remington Magnum, and John Barsness describes it this way "The .41 Remington Magnum is in many ways the handgun equivalent of the .280 Remington and 16 gauge, a cartridge regarded by a relatively few True Believers as a perfect combination of ballistics and recoil. Like the .280 and 16, the .41 refuses to die, but all three rounds lag far behind the popularity of the dominant cartridges in their categories, the .44 Remington Magnum, .270 Winchester and 12 gauge"
The .280 and the 16 gauge? To me that's some pretty rare air to be associated with. My first scoped rifle was a .280, and I occasionally get out my dad's 16 gauge Ithaca 37 in memory of him. So maybe I do need .41???
John goes on to say that the first Smith&Wesson .41's were heavier than the .44 and he attributes that to the relative obscurity of the caliber.

 

[Mennoniteman]

@Drycreek I guess that shooting session didn't go well because we're still waiting to see the punched holes? We now use Milwaukee cordless hammer drills to drill holes in the construction industry and they look exactly like bullet holes if you want to borrow mine with a 13/32 bit? .
I've always been intruiged by the .41 Remington Magnum, and John Barsness describes it this way "The .41 Remington Magnum is in many ways the handgun equivalent of the .280 Remington and 16 gauge, a cartridge regarded by a relatively few True Believers as a perfect combination of ballistics and recoil. Like the .280 and 16, the .41 refuses to die, but all three rounds lag far behind the popularity of the dominant cartridges in their categories, the .44 Remington Magnum, .270 Winchester and 12 gauge"
The .280 and the 16 gauge? To me that's some pretty rare air to be associated with. My first scoped rifle was a .280, and I occasionally get out my dad's 16 gauge Ithaca 37 in memory of him. So maybe I do need .41???
John goes on to say that the first Smith&Wesson .41's were heavier than the .44 and he attributes that to the relative obscurity of the caliber.

As an eight year old in the mid 1970's as soon as the new Montgomery Ward catalog came out I would lay on the living room floor on my stomach looking at the guns and fishing rods and all the other goodies that were not affordable in our household. As I recall, Dan Wesson offered a .41 Magnum revolver back then?

 

[Drycreek]

My deer rifle is a custom .280 Rem. , but I’ve never owned a 16 gauge shotgun. I do however, have a couple of .44 Remington Magnums and a .45 Colt. I have owned several more in the past as well as some more .41 Mags, but as I’m getting older I’ve pared my guns down to the essentials and the nostalgic. The .41 mags in double action revolvers are generally heavier than their .44 mag counterparts as the bore and chambers are smaller in a gun of the same configuration. A .41 mag will virtually kill anything that a .44 will kill, and shoots flatter with the standard 210 grain bullet vs the .44’s 240 grain bullet. I tend to want to shoot heavy for caliber bullets at slower speeds. I don’t shoot at game any farther than the 40/50 yard range with a revolver. As Clint said, “a man has to know his limitations”.

And the reason you see no targets is because I was busy yesterday burning a brushpile and watching it just in case. Any time I burn, the wind exceeds the forecast ! Oh, and while I was waiting I mowed that acre of weeds with my new zero turn mower !