I'm curious if anyone has harvested a Pronghorn with a Herters 401 Powermag. I'll be giving it a try this fall with my newly acquired revolver and home cast bullets. I told a friend I might be the only guy to try antelope with a 401 Powermag in Wyoming this year. Then I thought maybe I should say, "in the world" this year. Tell me some stories!

There's an oldy. Good luck.

I'm sure it will be entirely underpowered, and will be happy to take it off your hands

Got any pics to share??

sorry, but I'm not computer literate enough to post a picture. I'll try to post something after the harvest.

I forgot to mention I use your white label 50/50 lube in the loads I'll be hunting with.

"The .401 Herter Powermag shoots with no more recoil that a .38 Special. It is definitely not a natural leader like the .357 Magnum so accuracy keeps up even with prolonged shooting. Has sufficient bullet diameter for police and military work and for big game hunting. Here is the ideal large caliber revolver cartridge. Ammunition is available from Herter's, Waseca, Minnesota. A rimless round has already been developed for self-loading pistols and the drawing dies will be soon started. Reloading dies, cases, bullets, barrels, and revolvers in this caliber are available from Herter's.

Before World War II, it became very apparent that a new revolver cartridge was needed and I made a number of experimental .40 caliber revolver cartridges. After World War II, I again made a number of experimental .40 caliber revolver cartridges. In 1961 I finalized the .401 Herter Powermag and started making the dies to draw the cases.

The need for a .40 caliber revolver cartridge was apparent for a great many years. The .38 Special has proven too light for police and military work. The .44 magnum is an excellent accurate round but simply has too much recoil for accurate military or police work or for targets and hunting.

The .401 Herter Powermag shoots with no more recoil that a .38 Special."

George Leonard Herter

He showed load data for 160, 180, and 200 grain bullets.

What kind of performance are you getting out of your handloads?

The best I'm getting so far is 2-3 inch six shot groups at 25 yards. As expected it shot 5-6 inches at a target I paced off at 65 yards the last trip out. I've decided to use this gun mostly for antelope/deer hunting (using W296 at 1350fps), so haven't played around with the Unique/Bullseye lower velocity loads that some have said to be very accurate in their guns. I've only cast the RCBS 180gr bullets (actual wt 182gr). They drop air cooled wheel weights as cast at .403 and I use a custom .403 lube/sizer die with the 50/50 lube. I suspect with an experienced handgunner and more load development time it could do much better. I won't be shooting at critters anything more than 100yds and will keep practicing with this load until I'm comfortable with my abilities with it. I lucked out and found a holster that will handle the big front ramp this weekend, so I'm almost ready for antelope season.

Good luck! It's sounds like great fun to take such an oldie out hunting again!

pharm,

Have you slugged your barrel to check the diameter of bullet you need? I may be wrong, but it sounds like you may need to play with bullet diameter a bit.

Although the .41 Magnum is my favorite revolver cartridge there really was no need to go reinvent the wheel as Herter already had the cartridge in hand... It is funny that I never once saw Elmer Keith or any other gun writer of the time ever even mention the gun/cartridge... Would have made a great round in a S&W revolver....

http://www.gunblast.com/Fryxell_Herters401.htm


Bob