Gary Reeder
Many years ago I was hunting a lot with the 41 GNR and still
Saturday, June 15, 2024, 11:38

had a lever gun in 44 Magnum for those times when a rifle was needed. I was hunting on the Ft. Campbell base with a couple of military friends and I kept finding myself mixing up the brass for the 44 mag with brass for the 41 GNR. So I thought I would be smart and make it easier to tell them apart. I bought 500 rounds of nickel brass for the 41 GNR. I loaded up all 500 and took a hundred of them to a small range just outside Nashville. I loaded up the 41 GNR in my S&W model 57 and found it rubbed against the face plate a bit but not too bad. Then the next round was worse and from then on it was downhill. I ended up pulling all 500 rounds of the nickel brass as the rims of the nickel brass were about 10 thou. thicker than the rims in the standard 44 mag brass.
Since then I have checked the 44 mag brass before I used it as 41 GNR. Some brands of 44 Mag brass were as much as 20 thou thicker rims than normal, especially foreign brass like Norma.
So if any of you are loading 41 GNR, check the rims before you start. I have found 15 to 20 thou. variances in the rim thickness even in the same lots of brass, so it pays to check them first. Thank the Lord we only have to go thru the checking of the brass the first time we load them.