Which S&W Model 41

[Mountain Man]

I'm considering the purchase of an older S&W Model 41 to see if it is more reliable than this new one I have been struggling with. So, I'm looking for a shooter, not a collection item.

What period of years would be the better choice for shooting reliability? Did all models, from the beginning, have the trigger adjustment? Were there any improvements made in some year? Do I recall reading that the ejector was enlarged?

The folklore is that quality has declined. When did that start?

Thanks for any thoughts!

[stork]

Mountain Man,
Having never had a 41 I can't speak from personal experience. However, the armorer that builds my 45's and tweeks my Rugers, has owned and has worked on a lot of them. So my info comes from his sharing of knowledge of them, and my buddy that shoots BE with me that owns one.

In the 70's they were a very problematic semi auto. My smith tweeked, called S&W, visited with other smiths and finally gave up. His would not go through the 22 stage of a 2700 (90 shots) without malfunctioning. The smiths at S&W were not sympathetic to his problems and basically let him know that he was expecting too much out of such a fine target 22, to go 90 rounds without a malfunction. He ran into a 41 collector in a local gun store & was giving him an account of his malfuntions when the guy looked at him and said he had over a dozen 41's and not one of them would go even 50 rounds without a malfunction and what was he complaining about, my smith sold his that week and went back to his HS Citation and Rugers.

Watch out for those 41's made while Bangor Punta owned S&W.

Now on to more current 41's. My BE buddy has one that I do not know the era of its build (I think late 90's-early 2000s), but as long as he feeds it CCI SV, Eley brown box, or Federal 711 it runs great. If he feeds it anything else, jam-o-matic.

Moral of the story, if its a used one I'd make sure the owner was ok with me running at least 500 (five-hundred) rounds through it to thoroughly test its reliability. If it's a good one, grab it. If not, pass it by because it will cause you to pull out your hair, go prematurely grey, advance the onset of male pattern baldness, develop jitters, become surly and uncommunicative, the family dog will cower and run when you come back from the range,,, and then it starts getting really bad.

You get my drift.

[Mountain Man]

Thanks for being straight! Not a very favorable report!

[Baldy]

Since I got into shooting the .22's everybody around here acts like the M-41's are the greatest things since slice bread. The few I have seen are nothing but jam-o-matics but their owners love them. I guess that's all that really counts. I got one MK-III with over 3,000rds before it had a jam on Blazer ammo. I have a MK-III .22/45 that is working on 1,600rds without a jam and same Blazer ammo. When My buddies say I need to get a S&W M-41 I just smile and say I can't afford to......

[stork]

Baldy,
Believe it or not, last night I had 2 failures to feed on my MKII stainless slab side.

The first time I had to double check to make sure I wasn't shooting one of the Hi Standards. But no! So I racked back the slide to eject the faulty round and chamber a fresh one. Da*^^, did it again. So now I'm thinking (yeah, a new and novel experience) the case of Blazer I picked up is going to be a PITA with duds.

But!!! Did you know that if you don't seat the magazine fully, the bolt can't pick up the next round!!

You'd think Old man Ruger would have engineered something into the pistol to give an alarm to newbies like that.

Oh well, on a brighter note my area of hold is getting smaller every week. Mostly 9's & 10's with an occasional flier out into the stratosphere (one 4, 3-5's and 3-6's on about 60 rounds of slow fire practice) two of the 6's were just a poorly timed sear release when I was at the far edge of my wobble area. That happens, the 4 and 5's however happened in the third & fourth slow fire. I need to work on better trigger finger placement from the start.

I thought of this last night & was wondering if Bullseye or any of you other shooters have seen or had modified a stock trigger to have a straighter profile? My fingers are on the large side and I am wondering if the movement straight back would be more natural if the trigger had less curve to it.

Just mad thoughts meandering through my mind.

FWIW

[Mountain Man]

I must have missed something! Did I ask about Ruger's?

[ruger22]

I thought of this last night & was wondering if Bullseye or any of you other shooters have seen or had modified a stock trigger to have a straighter profile? My fingers are on the large side and I am wondering if the movement straight back would be more natural if the trigger had less curve to it.

My Mark III bull barrel has the newer stainless steel trigger that Volquartsen makes. It is significantly less curved than a stock Ruger trigger. It seemed to help me not pull shots to the side. My fingers are fairly slim, and I wear a size large glove. It still made a difference.

Here's a link for just the trigger. It's also part of complete Mark II and Mark III kits.


https://www.volquartsen.com/products/10 ... -stainless

[Mountain Man]

Mountain Man,
...clipped

Watch out for those 41's made while Bangor Puta owned S&W.

...clipped.

When did Bangor Puta own S&W?

[Medicine Hat]

As near as I can find, Bangor Punta bid to buy Smith & Wesson in Oct, 1965.
They were a holding company and ownes several busisnesses mostly in watercraft, RV type trailers, and airplanes (Piper) besides S & W.
They were in turn bought out by Lear... in Dec. 1984 And by 1984 Bangor Punta no longer existed.

[Bullseye]

Bangor Punta/Lear Seigler owned S&W from 1965-1987, the last three years were under the LSI corporate name.

R,
Bullseye

[Mountain Man]

So, following some advice and violating other, I bought an older Model 41 over the weekend. Serial# *******, cocked indicator, lazy S&W. Guess it must be around 1971. I felt comfortable with the description. The seller was the second owner and knew the first. I liked the history and the condition sounded good.

[Hakaman]

I've got a 617 that I really like, and it is very accurate. That, and my 686 are my two favorite guns to shoot, period.
Haka

[Mountain Man]

The older (1971) Model 41 arrived and it truly is like night and day comparing it to the new one. For example, pulling the slide back is like a roller bearing feel compared to the new one which feels like pulling a cart over a gravel road! I was looking forward to seeing where it had worn down and, guess what, there are no wear/friction points. It only makes contact on the rails! What an interesting concept!

I was surprised to learn that my new magazines - those that came with the new 41 and those I have purchased from Brownell's and Midway - will not insert into the older 41. Investigation with my digital caliper shows that the new magazines measure .020 wider across the tubular section (part that contains the spring) than the two mags that came with the older 41. That has the upper right edge of the new mags contacting the flat underside of the magazine catch. If I push the magazine catch button in slightly, the magazine goes right in.

I understand that the magazine catch on the 41 is adjustable?? How is that adjustment made??

[Bullseye]

I discussed how to adjust the M-41 magazine catch in this thread:

http://www.guntalk-online.com/forum/vie ... adjustment

Depressing the magazine release button a little to lock and seat the magazine is normal.

R,
Bullseye

[Mountain Man]

I discussed how to adjust the M-41 magazine catch in this thread:

http://www.guntalk-online.com/forum/vie ... adjustment

Depressing the magazine release button a little to lock and seat the magazine is normal.

R,
Bullseye

As usual, thanks a million! I have it all copied and filed with other instructions.

I am surprised at the guidance to depress the button a little to insert the mags. On the older gun, the older mags slide right in with no depression of the button. And, on the new gun, the new mags slide in easily. But, I can also see that dragging the catch along the mags will scratch them.

Off and running!