You might call this a ".41 Special".

I use the Lee case trimmer for my brass, and simply ground .160" off the little feeler tip that fits through the primer hole. This cuts the brass to .44 Special length, without bottoming out inside the case.

My loads were 8, 9, and 10 grains of Accurate #9, pushing a 210 grain copper plated flat point, in a 7 1/2" Redhawk. 9 grains gives 710 fps, and 10 grains gives 835 fps. With the heavy frame revolver, it is almost like shooting a .22--very mild recoil. I haven't fired enough rounds to get a meaningful standard deviation, but the early results are encouragingly tight.

This looks like it might be a cheap, pleasant to shoot target round.

Denton,

I have read several articles in the past few years on the .41 mag cut to .44 special length. It appears to be a fine target, field, and self-defense cartridge that provides good thump in a portable package with more tolerable recoil than full-house magnums. Please keep us abreast of your load development experiences.

I suspect that Universal Clays and Unique may be the best general purpose powders for this cartridge, though the standard Bullseye/Red Dot/WW231 should work well in target loads. Your AA9 should be a good heavier-load powder, as would Blue Dot and 2400. I'd bet 800X would work well in that role also. Just my 2 cents.

BigIron

[This message has been edited by BigIron (edited 10-02-2001).]

I have been using a load in standard length brass for approx. 12 years. In my 6" S&W it is a real shooter. It also works well on small & medium size game. I have a buddy that once used this load to dispatch a cow hit by a car (head shot).

6.0 grains of WW231
210 hardscast bullet
OAL 1.590

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NRA Life Member