Experience w/ S&W mod 41 .22LR ?

[j1132s]

Hi,

I'm thinking about picking up the above gun. Not too sure which barrel length I want yet. I'm looking for feedback on other people's experience w/ this pistol; mainly at shooting in the 50 to 100 yard range.

How accurate is it? What ammo does it like for that range?

Which barrel length did you use?

If you've also used Thompson Contender .22LR, how does this auto loader compare w/ it ?

I'd prefer the 5.5" barrel, but would go for the 7" one if it is very much harder to hit w/ the shoter one. If you have experience with both barrels, what' your opinion?

[Norm Lee]

Model 41. Lovely guns! My bride and I both have one. Hers is an older model and it came with both bbls. I see no difference in accuracy due to bbl length but do like the longer sight radius. With these old eyes it can be a challenge to get far enough back to get a thing in focus! Ours are accurate with about any kind of .22 fodder but have a small preference, it seems for the CCI mini mags (HP).

FWIW I think the long bbl is just prettier.

Cheers,

Norm

[Houston1944]

Lots of folks, including myself, consider this the finest production 22 pistol ever made. They do tend to be ammo picky. Most do well with CCI Standard velocity ammo. Some handle a wide range of ammo and others don't. Mine is one that functions 100% of the time with CCI standard velocity and with most of the high end expensive stuff but I have big problems with all the low cost ammo.

If you get it you will love it but you may have a pistol that only shoots ammo that is 25 bucks a brick and up.

[j1132s]

Norm Lee, Houston1944,

Thanks for the response.

Have you shot targets around the 50 - 100 yard distances?
How does the target look?
Shot from a rest or offhand?

Initially, I'm planning to compete in NRA pistol silhouette match where most will use single-shot Thompson Contenders .22LR. (Yes, I know, buy a TC... but in the future, I'd also like to do other .22LR competitions and would prefer to just have 1 pistol (keep costs down) if it won't disadvantage me too much.)

[Houston1944]

I don't shoot competition so I really cannot help with the silhouette match question. I have shot dime size groups free handed at 15 yards, but the limiting factor is me, not the pistol. I have not shot targets at 50 or 100 so I cannot be much help on those questions either. You might get some good info on this at rimfirecentral.com in the S&W section.

[j1132s]

I recently bought a S&W Model 41 (7" barrel). Like everybody has been saying, it is a wonderful pistol and has become one of my favorite guns. I just wished I didn't wait this long to get it, but it's better late than never.

I didn't get any responses regarding it's capabilities at 50 -100 yards, so I tested it. I thought I'll sahre it with you since many of you own one of these nice pistols. (I dont have any 100 yard data, but got a lot of 50 yards. I'll get some 100 yard data this weekend.)

The first thing I did was test different .22LR ammo in my M41. I am surprised at the large differences in group size I get from different brands of the ammo. I went thru _many_ different ammos both cheap and match grade, standard velocity and high velocity. I've settled on the Aguila and CCI Pistol Match; these are th 2 best ammo for this pistol. (The target includes 1 CCI Green Tag shot becuase I really wanted to use it since I bought 1000 of them based on other people's suggestion, but it just doesn't cut it. Even the lowly Aguila consistently beat it.)

The main group size tests were done on a 2-peice rest with a Burris 2-7x scope (set at 7x). I can supply more pictures if there's interest in discussing further. I'd like to hear other input on testing and your results. I'm not too worried about zeroing the scope since I bought this gun for iron-sight competition, so the shots are a bit off center. In fact, after the final group size test yesterday, I've taken it off.

All firings are done indoors on a 100-yard rifle range. I set the 50 yard targets ~2-5 yards further to be sure I have at least 50 yards. The 25 yard targets is set at closer to actual since it's easier to judge.

My off hand shots using iron sights aren't that great, partly because I barely see the target that far out (and mainly my skills). I'm going to try putting shooting spots on it today and see if that helps.

Here's my target from yesterday. I am impressed that a pistol held by me can actually shoot this well. I think i can improve on my 50-yard iron sight shots w/ shooting spots to help see the target.

http://www.employees.org/~ctai/shoots/M41_irons.jpg
(2MB file)

[lrb111]

That is some nice shooting wth a 'fresh' pistol and unknown ammo.

That's the kind of target that makes me want to practice more.

[j1132s]

That is some nice shooting wth a 'fresh' pistol and unknown ammo.

That's the kind of target that makes me want to practice more.

Thanks, but the main credit goes to the scope and rest. The orange target was shot at 50 yards w/ the scope set at 7x from a plastic rest. I hear the M41 is capable of much better groups (around 1"), so there's still a long way to go.

[cxm]

I have three of them and my wife has one... they are absolutely superb, albeit a bit picky about what ammunition they will feed reliably... all of ours seem to like Federal very well... hate Remington (also has a lot of misfires) and is so-so with Winchester new production (the Win T25 made in 1951 works GREAT.)

Anyway, I have found them to be great guns... VERY accurate.

FWIW

Chuck