.41Magnum

[700 LTR 223]

IN 1964, the .41 Magnum was introduced to the shooting world with predictions that it was destined to be the ultimate police round.

People under the age of 40 laugh because they don’t remember a world where the police and self-defense markets weren’t totally dominated by semi-auto pistols. Older folks who remember seeing duty cops carrying revolvers tend to believe the .41 Magnum might have fulfilled its destiny had there not been a mass migration to semi-autos by police departments across America.

The 41 should have had plenty of time to fullfill its destinty as the police mass migration to semi-autos happened well after 1964. I remember cops still carrying revolvers in the 1970s and even well into the 1980s.

 

[armalitesheepdog]

The 41 should have had plenty of time to fullfill its destinty as the police mass migration to semi-autos happened well after 1964. I remember cops still carrying revolvers in the 1970s and even well into the 1980s.

I remember as a young kid the cops with there huge grip .357s Smiths mostly. Some had the Mr yuck sticker on the bottom of the butt....

 

[Leo]

IN 1964, the .41 Magnum was introduced to the shooting world with predictions that it was destined to be the ultimate police round.

People under the age of 40 laugh because they don’t remember a world where the police and self-defense markets weren’t totally dominated by semi-auto pistols. Older folks who remember seeing duty cops carrying revolvers tend to believe the .41 Magnum might have fulfilled its destiny had there not been a mass migration to semi-autos by police departments across America.

I am old enough to have actually used a slide rule for making calculations in school, and still have one. So yes, there was life before calculators. And I still have revolvers.
When I was young we only saw a few 9mm's in gun shops, mostly old Walther's and Luger's, with an ugly old Astra in 9mm Largo for novelty. They were not considered desirable as shooters because they had that funny metric 9mm ammo that was shot by all the enemies that lost the wars. Real Americans shot magnum revolvers and .45acp Colts.

There was even a time before there was polymer framed semi autos.

 

[cavallo]

The 41 Magnum was the very first handgun I ever fired. I was probably about 18 or so and one of my mom's friends had one and let me fire it once. I always remembered that and thought it was cool.

About 30 years later when I got into handguns I looked up the 41 Magnum and was disappointed to learn that the caliber had all but disappeared except for hand loaders. I've actually thought about getting one someday anyway because of the personal nostalgia but it would not be at the top of my list ... yet.

Enjoy for me, though.

 

[Liberty Sanders]

Keith wanted to call it the .41 Police. His fans wanted to call it the .41 Keith. But Smith & Wesson and Remington thought there were dollar signs connected to that magical word "magnum." That term scared civil-rights conscious city officials in the 60's. That and the fact that only Smith's N frame platforms were chambered in .41, which not everyone can handle, put the kibosh on its adoption by law enforcement.