S&W 41

[alchemist]

I've been having alot of trouble with different ammo in my S&W 41, does anyone compete with this pistol? what ammo is best for practice- competition?? which spring weight is best?? thanks

[Tony C.]

I've been using a M41 for a couple of years now, mine is not very picky about ammo , it shot well with T22, Federal Auto Match, CCI Blazer, Lapua Club and so on, not hving much luck with Remington, too many duds, Also Federal 711 don't have enough power to cycle the action reliably.

You can order a 6.5 lb. spring from Wolff to replace the factory 7 lb. spring, before you do that you should give the pistol a good cleaning, get rid of all the crap around the breech face, mag well, inside of the slide etc. etc. Lubricate the slide lightly. Check your mag, be sure they are in good shape.

Some people hardly ever clean thier pistol and claim it shot better this way, may be for them, since I've yet come across a self cleaning gun, I gave mine a good clean every 500 rds. or so, otherwise, it will fail to feed, fail to eject, short stroke action ...... becoming more prone to failure as it getting dirtier.

Keep the pistol clean, I don't think you should have problem with any of the ammo I mentioned above, my M41 shot best with Lapua Club, with CCI Blazer a close second.

[RickP]

Alchemist,

Is the gun brand new? If it is, give it a few hundred rounds, a thorough cleaning/lube, and then try it again. After purchasing mine, I added some gun oil around the slide area/spring then burned up a few hundred rounds of PMC Scoremaster. After this I gave it a good cleaning and did some ammo testing. I found Fiocchi SM300 extremely accurate and cycled perfectly (I use it for Bullseye Matches). For practice I've had good results with the following:

CCI Standard Velocity
Wolf Match Target
Aguila Pistol Match
RWS Target Rifle
PMC Scoremaster

The CCI,Wolf are just cutting it! by this I mean that an occasional failure to eject occurs. The RWS cycles well. The Aguila cycles well and groups nicely but is a bit dirty. The PMC cycles and groups well and is the cheapest of the lot.

This is all with a stock spring and 7" bbl. It is quite an accurate pistol.

[Guest]

CCI Standard Velocity is considered a consistent performer in most M41s, at least in bullseye circles where it is most commonly encountered. The wolf spring kit is a great investment. It might be all you need! It is worth considering a few other things:
1) S&W used to (still does??) make replacement breech blocks to fit the slide which are designed with different cuts in order to correct for any chamber/breech alignment issues. I think Clark Custom Guns use these as part of their reliability package for the SW 41.
2) The recoil spring is only part of the picture regarding the reciprocal motion of the slide. The mainspring (aka: hammer spring) is often too heavy and can often use some careful coil clipping to ensure reliable functioning. Be careful! No more than a coil at a time or the rearward slide velocity will be too fast. A certain amount spring tension is needed not only to detonate the primer but also to provide resistance to the slide during recoil. This spring is sometimes a bit too heavy, (which, given the inevitable misfires and battering that would occur, is better than too light).
3) The Clark barrels are great, and often improve reliability. They are drop in barrels.
(No, I do not work for Clark!!) :-)
Best Wishes!!

[alchemist]

The S&W 41 is from the mid '80's; 5.5 inch barrel, thanks for the input!!!