Martin
Well I finally got myself a S&W model 41
Moderators: Bullseye, Moderators
Well I finally got myself a S&W model 41
I did some trading and located a nice "A" series model 41, manuf. around 1971. The gun is in near mint condition, like new! I am just starting to do some ammo testing. I have a supply of Wolf MT, Eley Sport, Aguila Golden Eagle Pistol Match.. I wanted to try some CCI Standard, but the local gun shop had none, I will check somewhere else soon.. I am also planing on buying a second barrel for it so I can mount a scope on it, and picking up a few extra mags for it too..
Martin
Martin
mine won't shoot anything high velocity or low velocity 
so any of the "pistol" ammunitions that are below standard velocity don't feed well. In fact that Aguila pistol match with the eagle on the box, I shot about 10 rounds of it and had to manually extract every one. Eley Standard Pistol, Aguila Pistol Match, and CCI Pistol Match ($$$) all shot good groups but about 1 in 3 failed to cycle.
CCI SV cycles perfectly in mine but shoots lousy groups. The Federal Champion standard velocity shoots pretty well with slightly better groups but not great. The Champion high velocity will not cycle properly at all.
I think my next try will be Eley practice or some of the Aguila rifle match stuff. It seems like the 1085fps is the important part in mine.
what a great trigger!!
so any of the "pistol" ammunitions that are below standard velocity don't feed well. In fact that Aguila pistol match with the eagle on the box, I shot about 10 rounds of it and had to manually extract every one. Eley Standard Pistol, Aguila Pistol Match, and CCI Pistol Match ($$$) all shot good groups but about 1 in 3 failed to cycle.CCI SV cycles perfectly in mine but shoots lousy groups. The Federal Champion standard velocity shoots pretty well with slightly better groups but not great. The Champion high velocity will not cycle properly at all.
I think my next try will be Eley practice or some of the Aguila rifle match stuff. It seems like the 1085fps is the important part in mine.
what a great trigger!!
From the picture it looks like you got a nice pistol. These model 41's tend to be ammo picky so your trying out various standard velocity brands is a good idea. All of mine love CCI-SV or Greentag. I have had some difficulties shooting Eley Tenex out of them but that is mostly due to the heavy waxy lube on that brand of bullets. I stick mostly with the CCI and keep my Tenex for my smallbore rifle.
R,
Bullseye
R,
Bullseye
You can get a recoil spring calibration pack for your Model 41 from Wolff Gunsprings for $19. The kit comes with three different weight springs, 6, 6.5, 7 pound springs. This way you can find one that will cycle your preferred ammo by simply changing out the recoil spring - a 30 second task with a model 41.
http://www.gunsprings.com/SemiAuto/Smit ... tml#Recoil
R,
Bullseye
http://www.gunsprings.com/SemiAuto/Smit ... tml#Recoil
R,
Bullseye
Well my barrel came in Friday, along with my Wolf spring pack. I received the scope base, buffer and 2 extra mags on Thursday. I braved the cold Saturday to test the new barrel and get it sighted in.. It was only about 20d with some light wind. I had to scrape the snow and ice off of the bench...
I tried 3 different ammo and the all did well. My first 2 groups were with Eley Sport, 3rd was the Aguila, and final was the Federal. I don't know if the Federal won't shoot as well or if I was too COLD by then, I couldn't feel my trigger finger by the time I was done. I had several FTF's, I appeared that the firing pin didn't even strike the rim. I'm going to strip it down and clean and lube it, as I belive this problem was the cold in combination with a possible lube?? The new 7" barrel is nice, but did require a lot of cleaning to get some very slight surface rust, no pitting or anything like that, just had a slight brown tint to the whole barrel. It is shooting good so far, and I have only put 50rnds thru it so far, including these on the target! I may try switching to the 7# recoil spring and do some more ammo testing. All the groups were shot from 25 yards.
Martin
I tried 3 different ammo and the all did well. My first 2 groups were with Eley Sport, 3rd was the Aguila, and final was the Federal. I don't know if the Federal won't shoot as well or if I was too COLD by then, I couldn't feel my trigger finger by the time I was done. I had several FTF's, I appeared that the firing pin didn't even strike the rim. I'm going to strip it down and clean and lube it, as I belive this problem was the cold in combination with a possible lube?? The new 7" barrel is nice, but did require a lot of cleaning to get some very slight surface rust, no pitting or anything like that, just had a slight brown tint to the whole barrel. It is shooting good so far, and I have only put 50rnds thru it so far, including these on the target! I may try switching to the 7# recoil spring and do some more ammo testing. All the groups were shot from 25 yards.Martin
Nice groups.
I had a seven inch M-46 in the shop for the same problem with the firing pin, intermittent light hits. Looking at the picture I see that your trigger's overtravel stop appears out pretty far. Check to ensure that it isn't causing the sear to ride the hammer face or strike the half cock notch because if insufficient clearance. If the hammer is striking the sear you will have a loss of hammer inertia. You may have to turn the stop in a half turn to provide a little more swing clearance for the sear face.
Ensure that the recoil spring is the right weight for your target rounds. Otherwise the slide will not cycle fully and there won't be enough tension energy to fully seat the new cartridge.
Take the barrel off and do a cartridge drop test. Make sure that the rounds you're using are seating completely. A partially seated round will also appear to have a light firing pin strike.
These pistols are very easy to tear down for cleaning and maintenance. But be sure not to mess with the sear or hammer faces, these pistols are very sensitive to changes in the trigger component geometry.
If you have any questions with tear down I can provide some additional assistance.
R,
Bullseye
I had a seven inch M-46 in the shop for the same problem with the firing pin, intermittent light hits. Looking at the picture I see that your trigger's overtravel stop appears out pretty far. Check to ensure that it isn't causing the sear to ride the hammer face or strike the half cock notch because if insufficient clearance. If the hammer is striking the sear you will have a loss of hammer inertia. You may have to turn the stop in a half turn to provide a little more swing clearance for the sear face.
Ensure that the recoil spring is the right weight for your target rounds. Otherwise the slide will not cycle fully and there won't be enough tension energy to fully seat the new cartridge.
Take the barrel off and do a cartridge drop test. Make sure that the rounds you're using are seating completely. A partially seated round will also appear to have a light firing pin strike.
These pistols are very easy to tear down for cleaning and maintenance. But be sure not to mess with the sear or hammer faces, these pistols are very sensitive to changes in the trigger component geometry.
If you have any questions with tear down I can provide some additional assistance.
R,
Bullseye
Bullseye I've got a 41 question for you- I'll upload a picture tonight if necessary.
It appears that the end of the wire in my recoil spring- that is, where the wire was cut off, has been digging into the guide rod and has cut a bunch of long scratches along the length of the guide rod. The cuts were on the top of the rod when I first noticed it. that was after a match when the gun jammed repeatedly on me.
obviously I had something in wrong when I put the pistol back together the previous match, but looking at it, I can't figure out what it might have been. the inside edge of the guide rod hole in the slide doesn't have any scratches, so it seems like it has to be the spring end doing the cutting.
one more detail- i had a batch of federal champion standard velocity, and somebody got me a few more boxes that looked identical but where high velocity. those were the ones i accidentally shot that night.
It appears that the end of the wire in my recoil spring- that is, where the wire was cut off, has been digging into the guide rod and has cut a bunch of long scratches along the length of the guide rod. The cuts were on the top of the rod when I first noticed it. that was after a match when the gun jammed repeatedly on me.
obviously I had something in wrong when I put the pistol back together the previous match, but looking at it, I can't figure out what it might have been. the inside edge of the guide rod hole in the slide doesn't have any scratches, so it seems like it has to be the spring end doing the cutting.
one more detail- i had a batch of federal champion standard velocity, and somebody got me a few more boxes that looked identical but where high velocity. those were the ones i accidentally shot that night.
