Author Topic: 41 Special?  (Read 7610 times)

Offline King Medallion

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41 Special?
« on: January 02, 2016, 05:35:32 PM »
Howdy. I was wondering if any of the Italian makers chambered their SAA in 41 Special? Or if it was possible and who would make one?
King Medallion

Offline pony express

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2016, 06:04:44 PM »
Is there such a critter available(commercially, not wildcat)? I've herd of people shortening .41 mag, but never as a commercial round. And .41 Long Cold is pretty much defunct, too, for commercial chambered guns.

Offline Black River Smith

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2016, 06:54:31 PM »
King M,

After several month of internet searching about the 41 Colt, I would have to state that no-one really actively produces a 41Spec.  I am not even certain that Ruger stilll offers a 41Mag (just because I did not search for that subject).  Now the 41Spec did interest me until I started doing my searches.

The only useful info was from John Taffin who appears to have had one custom produced.  Also Hank William Jr. (info via Mike Venturino) had one done up on a Colt SAA.

Here is the write-up Taffin did on his 41 development, if this helps you.
http://www.sixguns.com/tests/tt41spec.htm


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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #3 on: Today at 05:11:55 PM »

Offline Pettifogger

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2016, 07:27:31 PM »
Why on earth would any manufacturer make guns for an extremely unpopular wildcat cartridge?

Offline King Medallion

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2016, 11:02:14 PM »
I have a Ruger 41 Mag, and love it. I got some 41 Special brass and was doing some research to find if there were any 41 specials on midsize frames. 41 special is no different than a 44spl or 38 spl, just the shorter version of the Mags. Any reason I can't ask about it, Mr. Pettifogger? I'm well aware it's not a popular round.
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Offline Rowdy Fulcher

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2016, 11:20:11 PM »
King
What about a 38-40 ? I know it's not a 41 but there are 38-40 out there ?

Offline pony express

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2016, 07:38:19 PM »
There's no reason you can't ask, but I'm afraid the answer will be-you'd have to get one custom made. Re-chambering a .357 cylinder wouldn't be a problem, but I'm not sure where you'd get a barrel. Maybe get a .44 or .45 barrel relined?

Offline Pettifogger

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2016, 09:11:01 PM »
I have a Ruger 41 Mag, and love it. I got some 41 Special brass and was doing some research to find if there were any 41 specials on midsize frames. 41 special is no different than a 44spl or 38 spl, just the shorter version of the Mags. Any reason I can't ask about it, Mr. Pettifogger? I'm well aware it's not a popular round.

You can ask anything you want.  When you ask questions on the internet you will get answers.  The .41 Special is more than just a none popular round, it is basically non-existent.  It was a wildcat very few people messed with years ago.  No manufacturer is going to chamber a gun for a round no one makes and which has a virtually zero percent following.  Heck its hard to get them to manufacture single actions in .44 Special or .38-40 and those rounds are still made.  There has to be a market.  There is none for the .41 Special.  Does that mean you shouldn't ask or want one?  No.  You will just have to go the custom route.

Offline Fox Creek Kid

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2016, 11:31:39 PM »
...You will just have to go the custom route.


"Just fill a 50 gal. barrel with $100 bills & I'll make you anything you want!!".   :D  ;)

Offline Professor Marvel

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #9 on: January 04, 2016, 12:00:57 AM »
The hard part is likely to be the barrel. Green Mountain only has a few .41 pistol blanks left on closeout, and I can't find *any* .41 barrels from any of the usual sources! . Seems the .41 mag turned into another orphan caliber, taking possibilities of the .41 special with it.

One can find .400 ( .38-40 ) and .429 ( .44 spcl/mag ) but no .410 ....

It really doesn't help that the .41 , being .410 in diameter, is only barely larger than the .38-40 and only barely smaller than the .44's .

betwixt and between, thus forgotten by most everyone.

yhs
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Offline King Medallion

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2016, 08:25:04 AM »
Thanks for the replies.  :)
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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #11 on: January 04, 2016, 12:34:36 PM »
smith & ruger appear to still be offering the .41 mag, and magnum ammunition is available.
but I fear custom seems to be the only venue for .41 special ,and only if a barrel should turn up.
of course with a barrel of dollars, a custom bored and rifled barrel is always possible...

sorry for the bad news
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Offline King Medallion

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2016, 04:02:15 PM »
This is about what I expected, I really was wandering IF a Uberti SAA had been converted to 41 special or if I needed a Ruger OM 357 to convert.
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Offline Black River Smith

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2016, 04:22:15 PM »
King M,

Did you read the Taffin article? ??  It does answer your queston:

so that I handed over a Colt Single Action .45 Buntline Special to be made into a five and one-half inch barreled .41 Special. My idea was a sixgun that would handle 200 grain bullets at 900 to 1200 feet per second or about the same as heavy loaded .44 Specials with 250 grain bullets.

Bowen returned my Colt with a five and one-half inch Douglas barrel and custom .41 Special cylinder and everything else is stock. In fact except, for the non-fluted cylinder, it looks like an ordinary Colt Single Action Army. But ordinary it is not as it is one of the finest shooting single actions I have ever come across in a thirty-five year love affair with the old thumb-buster.


The 41 special can be built on a standard SAA frame but it is a custom build because of barrel diameter/bore.  Why the Bowen cylinder was not fluted I do not know.

PS:  Check out Mike Venturino book 'Shooting Colt Single Actions' page 70-72.  Hank Jr's 41 SPEC created on 2nd gen Colt SAA 357Mag.  The cylinder was reamed to 41 spec and a new 0.410 barrel was bough and installed on the Colt.

As stated:  My info did answer your whole question.

The 41Spec would be too costly for me to venture into.  But it still is an interesting cartridge / caliber with a straight walled, rimmed casing.
Black River Smith

Offline King Medallion

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #14 on: January 04, 2016, 05:51:33 PM »
Yep, just read it. Good info.
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Offline Black River Smith

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #15 on: January 05, 2016, 08:05:31 PM »
Another  interesting article about a 41Mag on a SAA frame.
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/41magnum.htm
Black River Smith

Offline pony express

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #16 on: January 05, 2016, 08:46:40 PM »
This is about what I expected, I really was wandering IF a Uberti SAA had been converted to 41 special or if I needed a Ruger OM 357 to convert.
Probably the OM Vaquero would be "easiest" if you could find a Blackhawk .41 barrel to use, since(I assume) they would have the same barrel threads. Of course, since the Vaquero is big enough, and strong enough, you could just make it a .41 Mag.

Offline Blackpowder Burn

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #17 on: January 08, 2016, 05:04:36 PM »
I just got an email from Starline brass today stating they now have 41 Special brass available.
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Offline yahoody

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #18 on: January 08, 2016, 10:14:44 PM »
Speak of the Devil :)

http://mailman.305spin.com/view/?cid=57&sid=47&uid=18839&ue=rdburns@cnw.com&lid=43

Makes me what to rebarrel and rechamber a .38!  It would be a handy little K frame and a soft shooting SAA.
But nothing any better than a .44 Special.



Anyway now you have the works for a "project"!
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Offline King Medallion

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Re: 41 Special?
« Reply #19 on: January 09, 2016, 08:38:32 AM »
Yep, got my order delivered a couple weeks ago, kinda the reason for asking around who would do this conversion.
King Medallion

 

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