going elk hunting is 41mag good under a 100yards. been working up loads h110 265LBT. thanks doug

If you want to chase a wounded elk into the next county, sure. Is it "good" for elk ? NO

You will have no problem with the 41 mag for elk especially with a good lbt bullet. Just pick a good shot just like anything else and you will enjoy elk steak this winter. Good luck

Brian

Hey Centerpunch,

You apparently have never used a .41 Mag. The .41 is a great under 100 yard elk killer. I've taken three elk with one. One through the lungs and two through the shoulders. All three went down just as fast as the ones I've shot with a .30-06 or .338 Win Mag.
Use a good cast bullet and place your shots carefully (as you should with any handgun), and they work as good as anything.

445 supermag I would like to take a my new 41 5.5"freeedom arms to break it on nice elk or muley.I also pick up the 414 supermag srs1 it is sweet shooter. worked well on deer. i would like to take to both but can only carry so many boomers and i have to take old faithful 454 freedom. just want to make sure i use the right bullet. i been shooting 210xtp i think they are to soft. doug

no it's the frist elk hunt

I look at the use of pistols for big game as sort of a stunt. I don't mean this in a bad way as I have done it myself. But your surely limiting yourself when you move away from a rifle.

If this is your first elk hunt do you want to limit yourself in such a way? Do you have the patience to wait for a good shot??

The .41 loaded with good LBT's will surely do the job if shots are taken at a moderate range. Not too tough to double lung a bull with the .41 mag.

FN in MT

old sarge:

quote:

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Hey Centerpunch, You apparently have never used a .41 Mag.

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Given that the M57 I have was bought in 19 and 79, you'd be wrong. Tuned by Andy Cannon, after replacing the 8 3/8 in. barrel at factory (throat shot out) and having them put on a matte finish, a McGivern front w/ the Express rear.

Used it for IHMSA silhouette for a few years. Have shot everything from 170s thru 255WFNGC.

When you have a chance to use a pistol on elk, pick something bigger. I now use the 414 w/ 255WFNGC in an SSK/TC 14 incher at a bit over 1600fps.

After chasing whitetails for years, and tracking them after good chest hits with a variety of bullets� we are going to have to agree to disagree.

Certainly you (and I) HAVE killed elk with the "plain jane" 41M, BUT shooting a game animal and KNOWING you might (!) lose it, is not acceptable� when there are BETTER choices.

No. Don't do it.

I've hunted and killed more mule deer, whitetail deer, axis and sika than I can count with a .41 Mag, but I believe the gun is too underpowered, with any bullet weight, for elk sized game.

Less than 10% of my kills with the .41 Mag went down instantly. Most were lung shot and made 50 yards before running out of air.

The odds of wounding a great animal and having him die days later are quite high. Two years ago I saw a 6 x 6 shot well with a .338 (hit poorly with a second shot) and never found after following a blood trail until about 11:00pm with flashlights, and coming back the next day.

The bright side is that with a non-lethal .41 Mag hit you wouldn't have much of a blood trail and if you didn't deck him, the chances are he'd carry that slug far enough away, fast enough that when he died, he'd be miles, and days away from you.

Even if you came back and told me you tried it and it worked, I'd not be impressed with the risk you took.

For those that have done it consistantly, I don't discount their ability. In the right hands, with good bullet choice, conservative shot selection, excellent bullet placement, I can see it working. But are you that guy? If you have any doubts about the .41 Mag, leave it holstered.

When I start my stalk I want no doubt clouding my mind and no thoughts of needing a fast follow-up, or dreading a tracking job late in the afternoon.

Centerpunch,

quote:

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you'd be wrong

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I've been told I was wrong before. That has yet to be proven.

I agree with you. There are better choices..... a Contender in .375JDJ comes to mind.....however, as I said, at less than 100 yards, with proper placement it works as well as anything.

Sorry to come on strong, but I get awful tired of people telling me a .44 Mag works better or you need a .375 H&H or bigger.

I've done some pretty extensive penetration testing and killed dozens of deer and elk with the .41, .44 and .45 Colt and couldn't tell any difference between the three in expansion medium or the animals. The animals never knew the difference either.

Kensco,

quote:

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Less than 10% of my kills with the .41 Mag went down instantly. Most were lung shot and made 50 yards before running out of air.

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I'd be extremely happy if all my kills expired within 50 yards. I've killed literally hundreds of whitetails, dozens each of mulies and elk, a few caribou and a couple moose with rifles ranging from .223 to .338 Win Mag and have witnessed hundreds more shot by others and I doubt if there were 10% that went down instantly no matter what the game or what the cartridge was or what bullet was used. The only cartridge/bullet combo I've ever seen to consistantly make instantaneous kills is the .25-06 and 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips on whitetails - but that is another story.
Fact is, with elk, I have only seen one that dropped instantly. I shot a small cow that was quartering away at about 80 yards with a .30-06 and a 165 grain Speer Grand Slam. All the others ran at least 200 yards, regardless of the caliber used.

I hunted a few years with a guy from Penn. who used a .338 Win Mag and wounded and lost 3 elk in three years. He concluded the .338 wasn't big enough, so the fourth year he brough out his .458. I watched as he shot at a bull at about 75 yards. He closed his eyes and yanked the trigger. He missed the first two shots and finally broken his hind leg on the third. It took me all day and close to five miles to follow him up and finish him off. I quit playing quide after that.

[ 09-22-2002, 20:16: Message edited by: Ol' Sarge ]

I've carried a single action 41 mag as a truck gun since 1969 and carried a M-58 as a duty gun for 5 years.

I've killed 30 odd whitetails, 2 turkeys and uncounted wild hogs, and a three gators with the 41 in Florida.

After moving to western Colorado I used the 41 on road crippled elk and mule deer and one load of wrecked Herfords....well over 200 animals all together.

I started using quenched 255 wheelweight LBTs in 1984 and have yet to lose anything ...but have needed a second shot several times when I missed the high spine shot.

Penetration is absolutely amazing when velocities are kept down around 1100 fps. In fact I've shot them into 9 feet of water and it chips paint on the bottom of the pool! It would HURT you bad!!

An elk shot through both shoulders goes straight down and you'll see the dust fly behind him when the bullet hits.

My current 41 is a completely rebuilt, rebarreled, stoned polished, rust blued, 357 Blackhawk, that was found in the Colorado River, with a shortened Super BH grip frame, steel ejector rod housing, intergral front ramp, and big horn sheep horn grips. The two leaf express sights are zeroed at 75 yards and 175 yards. All the trick stuff was done to the action, of course. Built in 1989.

Belk 41 Magnum

Nice Blackhawk, Mr. Belk. - Dan

If nothing else we've got an impressive body count.

A trophy elk deserves better than a .41 Mag. I'll keep using mine for deer sized game, inside 75 yards; and shoot my .308 Win (165 gr.) or 300 WSM (150 gr.) for elk.

No one questioned your ability MSSmagnum. I applaud your shots on the buck and the turkey.

At 100 to 125 yards a .41 Mag isn't carrying a whole lot of energy. I probably wouldn't have taken either of the shots you mention.

I've shot a lot of turkey with my .41 Mag. but at 125 yards it would be hard for me to say I could hit a turkey without blowing out one or both sides of its breast.

"If Elmer could use a 44 Mag. at 700 yards on an elk..."

To be serious, some of the old "legends" would be embarrassed by some of the stunts they pulled, if they were alive today. Either that or they would be the poorest role models in the world.

For Elmer (Keith or Fudd) to shoot at an elk with a 44 Mag. pistol at 700 yards is nothing short of criminal.

Assuming a 240 gr. bullet leaving that 44 Mag. muzzle at 1400 fps; zeroed at say 200 yards, you would have a holdover of 62.9 feet, not inches, feet.

That 44 Mag. slug would hit that elk with 239 ft-lbs of energy, midway between a 22 Long Rifle (140 ft-lbs) and a 22 Win Mag (338 ft-lbs).

By the look of your guns I'd say you know what you are doing, but Elmer using a 44 Mag on elk at 700 yards doesn't tell me anything except that Elmer wasn't too bright.

Sounds like a story that grew bigger with the re-telling, or maybe you just had to have been there to believe it.

I keep coming up with more questions than answers. How does a guide and a hunter run out of bullets for their rifles? Must have been some fine shooting on the front end of this story.

I'm not sure I've met anybody that can see bullet strikes in the snow at almost a half a mile.

I'm surprised he still had rounds in his pistol what with all that banging away they must have been doing.

No point in second-guessing them any more than I already have. Must have been an embarrassing situation.

I'll let some one else take it from here.

Unless we accept the fact that "more deer" are killed by poachers (with 22 Long Rifle rounds)than by legal hunters, I don't see what facts back up your statement.

Just to keep this conversattion going this is a copy of an email sent to me from Paco Kelly about 265Gr LBT's in a 45 Colt.

richard...i have used this bullet extensively...i would if i were you start with 18.5 grains of 2400 and work up....till you find the power base you want...i have gone to 22 grains (IN MY GUNS) but be careful....velocities with my tight gapped barrels run from 1100 (18.5) to 1300 fps(22grs)....good shooting...paco......p.s. at 1200 fps i put this bullet thru a small elk from side to side....

I don't see why you couldn't do the same with a 41 mag good load & lbt bullet as long as you can properly place the shot with enough velocity.
Rich Jake

[ 09-27-2002, 16:38: Message edited by: Rich Jake ]

I'm not going to argue the pro's and con's of using a .41 because I don't own one. I do however like those grips JBelk. Any idea where I can find a pair for a Vaquero.

Fisher---

I made those grips from a 3/4 curl ram's horn that I found in a rockfall. One horn was destroyed and the one left was in pretty bad shape but I got enough for the grips.

BTW--- That's a Super BH grip frame that I shortened by about 5/16 inch so my little finger can curl underneath.

Outstanding job JB. They look sharp. I wish I could do work like that.

When you say you shortened the frame. Did you grind the 5/16" off of the bottom of the frame, or actually cut the frame ?

[ 09-29-2002, 02:41: Message edited by: Fisher ]

Fisher---

I cut the grip frame below the hammer spring strut support, removed about 5/16" and TIG welded it back together. Ruger's 8620 welds very well, but it warps some if you don't skip weld and fixture solidly.

I have a Dan Wesson 741 stainless in .41 (8 inch barrel) that I plan to use for elk this year as well. I shoot 265 grain Cast Performance backed by 18.4 grains of Lil' Gun.
Haven't chronographed it yet but judging by the way stuff disintegrates (and the craters left behind) when I shoot it at 75-80 yards I have no doubt it will do the job on elk at open sights ranges (for ME that's under 100 yards).

While I am a dyed in the wool .41 lover -- I have no clue as to effect on an elk --I have not seen any here in West Tenn. but if you go sixgun.com and look the back articles of Paco-- he claims to have shot 1500+ pound wild cows he shot completely through them no problem as well as no problem in killing them. I would guess that if you can kill a 1500 pound cow it should be up to the task for an elk. I do know it works well on whitetail deer -- and with a heavy cast bullet will go through a lot of wet paper several feet worth - which is more than enough for a broadside shot. They also leave decent holes toward the middle and end of the bullet tract, you really can not tell weather the bullet was an expanding one or not -- I like flat nose cast --especailly Keith style. good luck

Josh Tharpe,

sixgun.com is a CRAP link! POP UP menus, bull$h__, etc.

I had to reboot my PC to get out of that $hit.

SIXGUNS.COM is the correct link everyone!

thanks, Mike

[ 10-01-2002, 06:27: Message edited by: Red Label ]

Sorry about that --I guess it was not paying enought attention my apology-- still a good site

If you go looking for the article on the .41 and the big cows-- look under back articles and it is under heavy .41-- you will also see there a number of .41 articles.