deer hunting with a 41 mag

My son is thinking about buying a revolver to deer hunt with. He is thinking about a 41 mag. Who hunts with a 41 mag and what brand and model do you hunt with. Is factory ammunition hard to find?

Michael

I just bought a FA 654 41 mag and will be hunting deer with it this coming season. So far, I love it! In these time, anything dealing with 41 mag (ammo and components) is hard to find; but it can be found. Things that start with 44 are readily available.

I love the 41. Haven't tried to buy factory ammo for one in years. If you run across any of the old platinum tip ammo, it's great stuff. My favorite 41 in the old days to deer hunt with was a standard ruger hunter. It was incredibly accurate and recoil was basically non existent.

ruger blackhawk with a bisley grip frame and 2x leupold scope. dont know about factory ammo, but 41 maggie is my favorite deer cartridge in a handgun.

I have a S&W model 57. Have not bought factory ammo for it in years. Federal produced a 250 grain cast load designed for hunting. Nothing wrong with standard 210 grain JHP ammo. I believe Remington produces a hunting round as well

http://www.handgunhunt.com/promo/membership/features/readNewArticle.php?oid=33

Redhawk1954,

I have a 7.5" FA M97 that I acquired during a drought of .41 components some years ago - came across a case of factory Speer 210 GDHP (now Deep Curl Hunting) that it loves, and deer and hogs hate.

Since that time, have accumulated a bunch of 210 XTP's which perform well in the gun too.

Recently picked up a Redhawk in .41 that will get some time afield this year, most likely with the 230 Keiths or 250 WFNGC's.

My first practical handgun hunting revolver was a 8 3/8" M57. Go 6" or longer barrel and in whatever action you prefer. But a single action Ruger is just fine as it is pretty much a one, or perhaps two shot deal.

As far as factory ammo is concerned, at first you get what you can find at whatever the going price is. Although expensive, the Remington 210 gr SPs are good. (Remington loads them seasonally.) I suggest 210 gr SP's or the XTP's for deer. As time and interest allows, you begin picking up ammo and build up a bit of a cache. Then you probably start reloading.

I just picked up a 6.5" Ruger Blackhawk a few weeks ago. I bought 100 cases, 200 210 grain XTP's, and 100 cast hollow points for load development.

I didn't have dies yet, so I found an old box of 240 grain platinum tips. I only fired a few rounds through the old girl, but it seems accurate at 50 yards. I do like it, and providing I get a chance to work up loads, it will be on my hip this season.

I believe a 41 is a good round to start with. Recoil is minimal and muzzle blast isn't bad either. You will need to start reloading unless you find a pile of ammo.

Brenden

I have a pic somewhere of the platinum tip I recovered from a doe I shot at 95 yards. Plowed both shoulders up so bad, it took me longer to find buet than it did to skin the deer. The slug retained 100% weight basically and expanded perfectly to .72". Looked like an advertisement. The platinum tip is basically the old black talon slug updated and coated silver rather than black

My 41 mag handguns and some of the critters I have taken using the 41. I was late to discover the 41, but once I did I found that she is a medium game handgun that is the equal of the 44..... My 41 handguns are a S&W 657, S&W 58 1/2 and a Freedom Arms model 83. I have used the 210gr XTP bullet in handloads to great effect along with the 210gr Swift. Nosler also makes agreat 210gr JHP. You can add Remingtons 200gr JHP to the list. Ihave have taken game using Rem. 210gr JFP ammo that proved very accurate in all my guns, however, the expansion was not the great. In my experience the 41 is just an accurate gun no matter what make it is. Good luck and good hunting....

Thanks for adding all of the photos. Is the 41 mag a flatter shooting caliber than the 44 mag? What is the longest shot you have made on game and what was it?

My longest shot with my 41 was 125 yards on the critter pictured above. However, that was with my Freedom Arms model 83 that allows extra heavy handloads that can only be used with that gun. Let me add that member SChunter made a very long shot on a Texas whitetail with factory 41 ammo. I`am sure he can quote the actual distance.... I believe there`s not much difference between a factory 41mag 210gr load verses a factory 44mag 240gr factory load at midrange....

SChunter, Dur, What was the distance of the shot you made on your Texas whitetail with your 41mag???

I doubt you'd ever notice the difference in a 41 and a 44 loaded to each ones potential.

JFJ, the long poke came with the 357 and the Federal Barnes load. But I have taken game out to just under 100 with the .41 Speer 210 Gold Dot in my 7.5" M97.

One of my most favorite calibers.

Dur, Don`t get old......

James,
Well, you've got me. What is a S&W 58 1/2?

I recently sold 2 FA mdl. 83 .41 Mags., but I really like the caliber. I'm down to just 1 now, a custom Ruger Blackhawk. I think one of the reasons .41's are so accurate is that everything has always been sized to accomodate .410", as opposed to a range of .426 to .434" or .450 to 456" for .44's and .45's.

Ken, Your the first one to pick that up... My S&W 58 1/2 started life as a model 29 that suffered from the problem of unlocking when fired and the next shot was on the fired case. When I saw a model 57 cylinder and a model 58 barrel for sale, I figured I will make the problem 44 into a 41. The finished gun has 58 barrel with the adjustable sights of a 57 hence the 58 1/2. I know... a little crazy.
I agree 100% .410" sizing. All my 41`s are accurate. The model 83 shoots like a "secret weapon"....

REDHAWK, I've taken deer and hogs with the .41 mag in several platforms. I have a 10 ccontender with a 2x leupold on it that broke a doe's neck at 95 yards a couple of years ago, and it will give a coffee can or milk jug hell out to about 150, at which point I'm pretty sure that I'm the week link. This year will be devoted to my tricked out 4 5/8 blackhawk wearing a Burris ffiii. Factory ammo is hit or miss on availability. And it is always a hit to your wallet due to seasonal production and limited supply. That said, it is my go to hunting cartridge and kills Texas whitetails as well as anything I've ever used. Components are typically competitively priced and it is an easy cartridge to reload. The consistent .410 sizing mentioned earlier makes projectile selection simple, chances are whatever you pick will at least be fair. I seldom deviate from the 210 xtp over H110 these days. Every.41 I've owned shoots a hot xtp better than I can, and while the big boomers are a hoot, you can't kill a deer deader than dead.

nuclearweasel, what is a Burris ffiii. Is that a scope, reflex or red dot?

FastfireIII, it is the little reflex sight from Burris. It weighs about an ounce and has a 3MOA dot. I don't have any pics on the web, but if you pm me an email address I will send you some photos.