The .41 Remington Magnum, also known as .41 Magnum or 10.4×33mmR (as it is known in unofficial metric designation), is a

center fire Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike rim ...

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

cartridge Cartridge may refer to: Objects * Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition * ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device * Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators Other uses * Cartridge (surname), a ...

primarily developed for use in large-frame

revolvers A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...

, introduced in 1964 by the

Remington Arms Company Remington Arms Company, LLC was an American firearms manufacturer, manufacturer of firearms and ammunition, now broken into two companies, each bearing the Remington name. The firearms manufacturer is ''Remington Arms''. The ammunition business ...

, intended for

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...

purposes.

Development

In 1963,

Elmer Keith Elmer Merrifield Keith (March 8, 1899 – February 12, 1984) was an American rancher, firearms enthusiast, and author. Keith was instrumental in the development of the first magnum revolver cartridge, the .357 Magnum, as well as the later .44 M ...

and Bill Jordan, with some help from Skeeter Skelton, petitioned

Smith & Wesson Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" in 1856 ...

, Remington, and

Norma Norma may refer to: * Norma (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Astronomy *Norma (constellation) * 555 Norma, a minor asteroid *Cygnus Arm or Norma Arm, a spiral arm in the Milky Way galaxy Geography *Norma, Lazi ...

to produce a

pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...

and

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

in .41 caliber which would fall between the extant

.357 Magnum The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR as it is known in unofficial metric designation, is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...

and .44 Magnum cartridges in ballistic performance, and at the same time address perceived shortcomings with those loads."Smith & Wesson's .41 Magnum"
Free Patriot Web site. Accessed August 6, 2008. While as early as 1955 Keith had suggested a new, medium-powered "

.41 Special The .41 Special—also commonly known as .41 Spl (pronounced "forty-one special"), .41 Spc, or 10.4x29mmR (metric designation)—is a wildcat (non-standardized) cartridge designed for revolvers, made to be a less powerful variant of the establish ...

" cartridge, this idea was passed over in favor of the higher-powered "Magnum" option, and the Special survives only as a custom

wildcat cartridge A wildcat cartridge, often shortened to wildcat, is a custom cartridge for which ammunition and/or firearms are not mass-produced. These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic (such as the power, s ...

, bearing roughly the same relation to the .41 Remington Magnum as the

.38 Special The .38 Special, also commonly known as .38 S&W Special (not to be confused with .38 S&W), .38 Smith & Wesson Special, .38 Spl, .38 Spc, (pronounced "thirty-eight special"), or 9x29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & ...

does to the

and as the

.44 Special The .44 Smith & Wesson Special, also commonly known as .44 S&W Special, .44 Special, .44 Spl, .44 Spc, (pronounced "forty-four special"), or 10.9x29mmR is a smokeless powder center fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1 ...

does to the .44 Magnum. The .357 Magnum suffered from restricted terminal ballistic effectiveness in the early 1960s, as

jacketed hollow point upright=0.2, Cross-section of a hollow-point bullet; proportions are those of a .22 Long Rifle cartridge Jacketed soft point (JSP) round. Right: Jacketed hollow-point (JHP) round. JSP is a semi-jacketed round as the jacket does not extend to ...

bullets were not yet commonly available, and the manufacturer's standard loadings consisted of simple

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. Bullets are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax. Bullets are made in various shapes and co ...

s. The powerful .44 Magnum, primarily a heavy hunting round, was considered overkill for

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

use, generating too much

recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force requ ...

for control under rapid fire. In addition, the revolvers chambered for the .44 were considered too large, bulky, and heavy for police to carry.Smith, Clint
"The .41 Mag: If only we could do it over"
''Guns'' magazine April 2005. BNET Web site. Accessed August 6, 2008. Keith's original vision called for dual power levels in the .41, a heavy magnum load pushing a JHP at a

muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately to i ...

of 1,300–1,400 feet per second (ft/s), and a milder police loading which was to send a

semiwadcutter A semiwadcutter (SWC) or flat-nose is a type of all-purpose bullet commonly used in revolvers. The SWC combines features of the traditional round-nosed bullets and the wadcutter bullets used in target shooting, and is used in both revolver and ri ...

downrange at around 900 ft/s. These plans went awry due to an ongoing fascination in the firearms community with high-powered cartridges; Remington was swayed by this community's influence and instead of following Keith's

blueprint A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets. Introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842, the process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number ...

, chose to emphasize the performance of the new cartridge. As a result, the .41 "Magnum" load was released at an advertised 1,500 ft/s, and even the "light" police loading was introduced with a 210 grain lead semiwadcutter "warmed up" to about 1,150 ft/s. However, the police load as delivered was regarded as overpowered by most

law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws. Jurisdiction LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction. LEAs ...

, many of whom were still using .38 Special revolvers. Additionally, Smith & Wesson had simply adapted their large N-frame revolvers for the new cartridge, which did not address size and weight concerns. The Model 58, targeted for the law enforcement

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

, was introduced on July 10, 1964. Weighing 41 ounces, the Model 58 compared unfavorably with other revolvers available at the time, such as Smith's own 34 ounce Model 10 in .38 Special. These combined factors mostly eliminated the .41 Magnum from consideration for its intended market as a law enforcement firearm, although it continued to be touted as such and was adopted by a few law enforcement agencies. Ultimately, the greater round capacities of most semi-automatic, magazine fed handguns has eclipsed the traditional six-shot revolver for law enforcement work. Smith & Wesson produced a high-end, premium revolver in .41 Magnum, the Model 57, identical to the .44 Magnum-chambered Model 29.

Magnum Research Magnum Research Inc. (MRI) was an American privately held corporation based in Fridley, Minnesota which manufactured and distributed firearms. The majority owners, Jim Skildum (President and CEO) and John Risdall (Chairman, COO), had been with t ...

Desert Eagle The Desert Eagle is a gas-operated, semi-automatic pistol known for chambering the .50 Action Express, the largest centerfire cartridge of any magazine-fed, self-loading pistol. Magnum Research Inc. (MRI) designed and developed the Desert Eagle. ...

division produced a .41 Remington Magnum in their semi-automatic Mark VII. Sturm Ruger began producing their

Blackhawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to: Animals * Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856 * Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus'' * Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii'' * Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus uru ...

series single-action revolver in the mid-1960s in .41 Magnum and is still in production today. A couple of manufacturers have produced lever-action rifles chambered in .41 Magnum.

Marlin Marlins are fish from the family Istiophoridae, which includes about 10 species. A marlin has an elongated body, a spear-like snout or bill, and a long, rigid dorsal fin which extends forward to form a crest. Its common name is thought to deri ...

produced four variants of its

Model 1894 The Winchester Model 1894 rifle (also known as the Winchester 94 or Model 94) is a lever-action repeating rifle that became one of the most famous and popular hunting rifles of all time. It was designed by John Browning in 1894 and originally c ...

, including the 1894S (20 in barrel, blued, straight stock), 1894FG (20 in barrel, blued, pistol-grip stock), 1894SS LTD (16 in barrel, stainless steel, straight stock) and 1894 CCL (20 in octagonal barrel, blued, straight stock.) However, they no longer offer any model chambered for it.

Henry Repeating Arms Henry Repeating Arms is a firearms manufacturing company. As of 2019, Henry Repeating Arms ranked in the top five of U.S. long gun manufacturers, and eighth overall in total firearms production, manufacturing over 300,000 firearms annually. H ...

introduced a .41 Magnum variant of their Big Boy Steel model in 2016.

Market reception

The .41 Magnum never enjoyed the popularity and success of either the .357 Magnum or .44 Magnum cartridges, but is still prized by handgun hunters as some feel it generates somewhat lighter recoil and slightly flatter bullet

trajectory A trajectory or flight path is the path that an object with mass in motion follows through space as a function of time. In classical mechanics, a trajectory is defined by Hamiltonian mechanics via canonical coordinates; hence, a complete traj ...

at long range than the .44. Nevertheless, the .44 Magnum still catalogs a greater variety of heavier bullet weight offerings which are more effective on larger game, and boast a slight edge in power when using the heaviest

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

loads, or if pushed to the edge by handloading (heavier bullets or bullets of different types). Marshall and Sanow called the .41 Magnum "one of our most unappreciated calibers".

References

External links

Ballistics By The Inch .41mag results

Smith & Wesson Model 657
{{DEFAULTSORT:41 Remington Magnum Pistol and rifle cartridges Remington Arms cartridges Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1964 Magnum pistol cartridges

Development

Market reception

See also

References

External links