your Dardick pistol?

--
Of the Troops & For the Troops

A lot of cartridges suffer from baggage from the past such as improper bore and throat diameters. I wondered if the .41mag, being a cartridge that started as a "clean slate", might have the advantage of no old baggage.

It also seems that various sixgun platforms are marginal for the .44 mag but perfect for the .41 mag. For instance the S&W N-frame has problems with extensive shooting of full power .44 mag, the airlight model with Ti cylinder can have problems with not that much shooting. The .41 mag leaves a little more meat in the cylinder and maybe allows the gun to be more durable. Occasionally I look at prices of used S&W 57s and get frightened off every time.

The Freedom Arms 97 for instance is just a bit too small for .44 mag so is perfect for .41 mag.

But now consider the large frame Ruger- it handles .44 mag and heavy .45 Colt very well. It would seem to be overkill for .41 mag. If a person was going to buy one in .41 mag why wouldn't they go for .44 mag or .45 Colt instead? Well there isn't that much power difference between .41 and .44 and if a person is not wanting to overtax their wrists the heavier Ruger in .41 mag might be just right.

Having said all that, I've still never owned a .41 mag.

41 caliber guns in my safe than any other. Everything from old model 357 conversions to full blown customs to TLAs and 414 Supermag.. There is just something about that caliber that rings my bell.

I own two - A Freedom Arms 97 6" and a Ruger Redhawk 5" blue (a relatively rare version of the Redhawk). The 97 is a joy to shoot with 210 grain cast at 1000 fps, but a bit of handful with full house loads. The Redhawk will handle anything I've ever fed it.

I wouldn't turn down a Marlin 1894 in .41 Magnum, were someone to offer me one. It would be a great Pennsylvania deep woods deer rifle.