But Lee....which one? Speer GDHP, Hornady XTP, Sierra JHC?

Boy ... one of those "if you could only have one" questions.

I would have to admit that I have two favorites. The first is a hard cast 220 bullet made with H&G molds. Accurate and can be loaded to a wide range of velocities. I took a deer with this one two years ago at 124 yards (laser rangefinder). Am using a S&W M57 with a 6" bbl and a 2x Leupold on Beuhler mounts. For best velocities I use H-110.

Have taken deer with several bullets, but the one that works best is the Remington 210 JSP. Certainly, it would also make a better defense bullet that the hard cast slug.

The 41 Mag is a great round for white tails! Enjoy your fall hunting season.

Bob,

I usually work with the XTPs and Sierras, but there's no set rule for which shoots the best.

Lee Martin
www.singeactions.com

215 gr SWC, cast bullet with gas check.

255gr WFNGC at 1400+ in my SBH Hunter 41 Mag,had a mould made at mountainmolds.com with a long nose that perfectly fits the SBH cylinder length.
Sean

Ok mstarling...what would your final choice be...the JSP or the cast SWC?

Would you also please expand on your hunting experince with the .41. I have killed deer with a .44 but it seems that everytime I go out with a .41 the deer fail to cooperate...

Bob

Bob,

You're looking for a "one size fits all" and it doesn't exist.....if you're absolutely dead-set on a one bullet answer, I'll go with the Sierras. If I were you however, I'd try a few different brands in your gun to see which shoots the best.

Lee Martin
www.singleactions.com

RJM,

Would have to go with the Remington SP as a game/defense bullet.

The 41 handles very much like the 44 with just a little less recoil. Effect of deer sized game with the bullets I have used is about the same.

The 220 hard cast Keith bores a hole through them with essentially no meat loss but doesn't create quite the trauma that a good jacketed SP can do. The SP seems to have the advantage of some extra energy delivered to the target. I've had more one shot "drop in their tracks" kills with that combination than with any ... including rifles ranging from .308 through 9.3x62, 9.3x74R, .375 H&H, and even heavier guns. Not that they don't kill well because they do ... but relatively few hits result in them folding on their legs.

I don't know what causes it. I'd guess its the amount of energy that gets transfered to the target by a large diameter bullet with a wide flat meplat moving at a moderate velocity. Slower might just be better sometimes.

Handgun hunting is a very sporting endeavor that requires some patience but is immensely rewarding. I really don't see how you could go wrong with the Remington SP, the Sierra HC, or the Keith. (I'd expect the Sierra to expand more violently than the Remington SP.) Find out what your gun shoots well and practice with it.

Then enjoy the fall weather in the field!

As stated above I have used all of the jacketed bullets commercially available and most cast designs from 170-305 grains. My first .41 Magnum was a 4" nickel M58 back in 1973. I have not been without a .41 since and .41s have replaced all the .357s and .44s I have ever owned. Currenly I own 5 S&Ws, 3 Rugers, 1 Gary Reeder Custom, 1 Freedom Arms Premier, 10" and 16.25" Contender barrels and a Marlin 20" Carbine. I have owned 10 other .41s over the years.



Total factory rounds fired have been 1 box of the original 210 grain lead load, 2-3 boxes of the Remington 210 JSP, 1 box of Silvertips and one box of the no longer made Winchester 210 JHP. Everything else has been handloads.



Favorite bullets:



Sierra 170 gr. JHC... Great bullet for self-defense and deer hunting. It expands rapidly with less recoil than the 210 grain bulets. Not a great penetrator.



Speer 210 grain Gold Dot HP....very new to the market the Gold Dot has a plated jacket and shallow dish HP. I have shot this load into water from 1250-1900 FPS and it holds together extremely well. Just the amount of expansion changes. It is also now available in loaded ammo from CCI.



220-230 grain Keith...What can one say, probably the best all around cast bullet made. Not too heavy for target loads and not too light for game shooting. Cuts a beautiful hole in everything from paper to hide.



255 grain CPBC WFNGC.....great bullet for deep penetration and very accurate. A Verl Smith/LBT design I believe only CPBC is marketing this design.



So my choice for "one bullet"...none of the above. The one I chose and do most of my shooting with is one of a pair of bullets designed and marketed by Speer Bullets back in the 60's. It has a cup type jacket that doesn't allow the lead to touch the bore but doesn't extend up to the bullets nose like most jacketed bullets do. It is basically a Keith style bullet who's shank is jacketed. There are two weights available, 200 and 220 but I have used the 200 grain hollow point version the most.



For target work 7 grains of WW231 or 8.0 of Unique gives 950 fps out of a 4" gun with very controlable recoil. With 13 grains of SR4756 velocity runs 1250 fps and works well for self-defense. Usuing 23 grains of H110/WW296 velocity runs 1500+ fps from a 5.5" barrel.



Accuracy with this bullet has always been excellent. It cuts perfectly round holes in paper like a Keith bullet does. The small hollow point will expand but only down to the shoulder. Once it expands that far it just becomes a jacketed wadcutter and keeps going.



Penetration is all out of proportion to it's weight. I recently shot some one gallon jugs of water. The JHP bullets stopped in the second jug. Hard cast bullets would run through 6 jugs, two sheets of 3/4" plywood and into a 4x4" post I had backing everthing up. The Speer ran through 3 or 4 (can't quite remember) jugs, one sheet of plywood and 1/3 of the way into the 4x4" post. When it was dug out the nose was melted off but the shank could have been loaded into another case and fired.



So that is my choice and why. Thanks to all who have answered and if there are more .41 shooter out there who have a favorite "one bullet" please add to this...



Bob

RJM: Interesting choice...I settled on the 225 gr version of that bullet for my all round .44 mag load. It doesn't seem to stay together as well as yours in .41, but has been a very satisfactory load. I am currently playing around with Nosler PHG (which I like in .45 cal) to see if I can improve on the hunting performance...more from a continual search for improvement perspective rather than inadequacy of current performance. Will miss those nice round holes in paper if I switch. dvnv

dvnv....when I had .44s the three bulets I narrowed down to were the 225 gr. Lyman/Thompson GC, the 180 Sierra and the 225 Speer. A lot of .45 shooters have complained that they wish that Speer would make a .45 version of those two bullets.

Bob

ps...you really shoud get rid of that nasty hard kicking .44 and get a .41......

Aw...the .44 doesn't kick so much once you shoot the 454. I always thought the 225 gr in a stiff .44 special load would make a very good man stopper...dvnv

RJM, I have a box of those .41 Speer 200 Grs JHP bullets of which you wrote. I've used 8.5 Grs. Unique, for 210 grs. bullets, cast and jacketed, but have a bunch of Blue Dot powder on hand. I've liked Blue Dot for heavier .41 Mag. loads, but not used it for 200 grs.

Have you used Blue Dot with that Speer 200 Grs. bullet, and if so, what wieght?? I shoot S&W 57 6", RBH 4 5/8", and Marlin 1894S.

Thanks. L.W.

L.W., Blue Dot is supposed to be an excellent accuracy powder for the .41 Magnum. The only time I have loaded any I shot 13 grains loads as follows:

220 Speer JSWC/1110 fps

210 Sierra JHC/1150 fps

210 Hornady JHP/1080 fps

Work up from 10 grains as the Speer book says that max for the 200 is 12.1 grains.



Found a little more...just the guns you have....

210 Hornady JHP with 13.0 Blue Dot. This was a lot loaded many years after the above but the velocities are not too much different. It was also a different chronograph:

S&W M57 6"/1060

Ruger 4 5/8"/1025

TC 14"/1450

Marlin Carbine/1416



and the 170 Sierra 4" M57:

14.5 gr./1250 fps

15.0 gr./1270 fps

15.5 gr./1287 fps

16.0 gr./1305...max load caes stick.



Very accurate powder for what I would consider "mid-range" loads. These loads were all from a 4" M57.....Bob

MY Mountain Molds 305 grain round nose flat point cast of water quenched wheel weights! Works great at 900 fps and 1300 fps