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 established
.41 Remington Magnum
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 firearms cartridge primarily developed for use in large-frame revolvers, introduced in 1964 by the Remington Ar ...
. The cartridge was intended for police work, security and personal defense, using a 200 grain bullet at 900 feet per second.
While proposed as early as 1955, it remains a niche, custom cartridge.
History
In 1932, Colt researched a proposed ".41 Special" cartridge, but that shared only a name with the modern wildcat, having different measurements and even different bore diameter (.385).
The concept of a .41 Special was later brought up by gunwriter
Elmer Keith
Elmer Merrifield Keith (March 8, 1899 – February 14, 1984) was an American rancher, firearms enthusiast, and author. Keith was instrumental in the development of the first magnum revolver cartridge, the .357 Magnum (1935), as well as the la ...
in his 1955 work ''Sixguns'', where he proposed the .41 special as an analog to the
.44 Special
The .44 Smith & Wesson Special, also commonly known as .44 S&W Special, .44 Special, .44 Spl, .44 Spc, or 10.9×29mmR, is a smokeless powder center fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1907 as the standard chambering f ...
cartridge, but the idea did not gain ground.
Keith and
Bill Jordan later proposed the
.41 Magnum cartridge, which was formally adopted by
Remington Arms
Remington Arms Company, LLC, was an American firearms manufacturer, manufacturer of firearms and ammunition. It was formerly owned by the Remington Outdoor Company, which went bankrupt in 2020 with its lines of business sold to several purchase ...
in 1964. Thus counter to common practice, a "magnum" offering was standardized before a weaker "special" variant was ever introduced.
In the late 1980s pistolsmith
Hamilton Bowen
Hamilton may refer to:
* Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
* ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda
** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
revived the idea of a 200gr bullet at 900fps in his custom designs.
Firearms
While large-scale production firearms have not been produced for this niche chambering, custom gunsmiths have adapted existing firearms to use it, generally by machining a new cylinder and expanding the bore of existing
.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. ...
revolvers.
[
]
Ammunition is not commercially produced, but boutique runs of brass for
handloading
Handloading, or reloading, is the practice of making firearm cartridges by manually assembling the individual components ( metallic/ polymer case, primer, propellant and projectile), rather than purchasing mass-assembled, factory-loaded com ...
, with proper .41 Special
headstamp
A headstamp is the markings on the bottom of a cartridge case designed for a firearm. It usually tells who manufactured the case. If it is a civilian case it often also tells the caliber: if it is military, the year of manufacture is often added ...
s, have been issued.
Among the first gunsmiths to make a purpose-built firearm for this chambering was Hamilton Bowen, who modified the .357 caliber Ruger
Security-Six and
GP100 revolvers to accommodate the .41 Special,
as well as a Colt revolver and a
S&W 586 S&W may refer to:
* S&W Cafeteria, a defunct restaurant chain in North Carolina, United States
* S&W Premium, a brand of canned fruit by Del Monte Foods
* Schwartz & Wade, an imprint of the publisher Random House
* Smith & Wesson, a U.S. firearms m ...
.
[
]
See also
*
.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 9×29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & We ...
*
.40 S&W
*
.44 Special
The .44 Smith & Wesson Special, also commonly known as .44 S&W Special, .44 Special, .44 Spl, .44 Spc, or 10.9×29mmR, is a smokeless powder center fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1907 as the standard chambering f ...
*
.41 Long Colt
*
.41 Magnum
*
10 mm caliber
This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the to caliber range.
*''Length'' refers to the cartridge case
Case or CASE may refer to:
Instances
* Instantiation (disambiguation), a realization of a concept, theme, or design
* ...
*
List of rimmed cartridges
Below is a list of rimmed cartridges (R). Although similar, rimmed cartridges differ from rimfire cartridges (list). A rimmed cartridge is a cartridge with a rim, whose primer is located in the center of the case head; the primer is detonated by ...
*
List of handgun cartridges
This is a list of handgun Cartridge (weaponry), cartridges, approximately in order of increasing caliber.
Table of handgun cartridges
Other cartridges used in handguns
Although not originally designed for handguns, several rifle and shotgun ...
*
Table of handgun and rifle cartridges
This is a table of selected pistol/submachine gun and rifle/machine gun cartridges by common name. Data values are the highest found for the cartridge, and might not occur in the same load (e.g. the highest muzzle energy might not be in the same ...
References
External links
''Inventing the .41 Special'' L. Neil Smith
Lester Neil Smith III (May 12, 1946 – August 27, 2021), better known as L. Neil Smith, was an American libertarian science fiction author and political activist. His works include the trilogy of Lando Calrissian novels, all published in 198 ...
. Libertarian Enterprise, July 31, 2006
''TAFFIN TESTS: THE .41 SPECIAL'' John Taffin
John August Taffin (May 2, 1939 – March 10, 2025) was an American author from Boise, Idaho who wrote several columns for gun magazines including ''Guns'', '' Gun Digest'', ''Sixgunner'', ''Shoot!'', and '' American Handgunner''. A math teacher ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:41 Special
Pistol and rifle cartridges
Rimmed cartridges
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1964
Wildcat cartridges