Anything to worry about buying a used s&w 41?

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AaronGer

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Hi guys.

I'm considering buying a used s&w 41 from a guy at my local gun club. I know very little about buying handguns and I was wondering if there are any trouble spots I should worry about on this model.

I used it for a bullseye practice today and I had 4 fte out of 50 rounds some were fiocci standard velocity and some were cci sv. The gun and mags were fairly heavily oiled as it's been stored for quite a while, so I'm not sure if that contributed. I've shot another 41 with the same ammo and it had no problems.

I've looked up the 41 and had a few opportunities to shoot them and I really like them. I've also shot a walther OSP, GSP a Unique and a Ruger Mark 2. The Walthers are amazing with a price to match. The unique just doesn't fit right and the ruger is a solid pistol but not in the same class.

He's asking $800 which seems reasonable based on prices I've seen in the EE.

Any advice?

Thanks,

Aaron
 
Could be the ammo. My Colt 1911 .22 doesn't like lead rounds, just jacketed rounds. Didn't find that out till I'd put 1k rounds through it with about 10% FTF. Switch to jacketed rounds, fixed that.
 
I would only shoot CCI Standard velocity in it and the mags should not be very oily..just cleaned if it still fails to eject I'd change the recoil springs for 6 lb ers to start//

How old is it? p.m. if you like I have (2) 41's
 
Thanks. The gun is pretty old but I don't know how old. It's the 5" barrel version with walnut grips. He oiled it and put it away for quite a while. It's his back up 41. The gun and mags were kind of oily.

Hopefully I'll get another chance to shoot it next week. Maybe the excess oil will work out of it and run better. There was oil working out the back of the slide as I used it. The cci sv and fiocci sv has similar failures. I remember reading a post about a 41 having a faulty slide or something that causes failure to ejects and just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything I should be looking out for

It worked most of the time so I wouldn't think it would be anything major. What would a new spring cost?
 
AaronGer said:
Thanks. The gun is pretty old but I don't know how old. He oiled it and put it away for quite a while. It's his back up 41. The gun and mags were kind of oily.

Hopefully I'll get another chance to shoot it next week. Maybe the excess oil will work out of it and run better. There was oil working out the back of the slide as I used it. The cci sv and fiocci sv has similar failures. I remember reading a post about a 41 having a faulty slide or something that causes failure to ejects and just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything I should be looking out for
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Well any 41 owner that uses anything other than CCI Standard velocity in it is looking for issues..you never have oil dripping out the back of SMITH 41 if your conscientious about it's care.. a couple of drops is all that's required according to the manual..

For FE I'd check that the ejector is not full of oil and crud or worn if your only shooting CCI SV

It's a tight tolerance gun and is quite fussy in what it shoots...
 
Thanks. He suggested using cci sv. I tried the fiocci sv because I bought a brick of it and cci sv is getting scarce. They seem to run the same. He oiled it up for storage which would explain the excess. If it's needs an extractor are they easy to come by? Are they expensive? Another club member has some spare parts so I'm hoping I could fix it from his stash if need be. I haven't had the gun apart or anything

Is there anything in particular that you would inspect other than just running the gun? I have no idea if it's accurate because I'm such a lousy shot :(
 
I have bought a few new and used m41 and I like them. If the gun has no issues and looks great, it should be OK.
They are one of the best guns in 22 . Most target shooters look after their guns
 
I have different thoughts on this matter and I will tell you why.

I bought a model 41 that is a two barrel set. The original owner told me the gun could be fussy with ammo. He mainly always shot the gun with the 5 1/2 inch barrel on it and almost never with the 7 1/2 barrel

When I got the gun I used it with the shorter barrel and experienced almost exactly the same thing that you have, but when I install the long barrel on it and shoot it, it works flawlessly just like all my other model 41's do.

To my way of thinking this leaves only one explanation . I think it is probably a dirty or tight chamber or damaged chamber in some way as everything else stays the same.

Just my two cents worth here.

Graydog
 
I would try two things:

1. Get a few different recoil springs from Wolff. My 41 seems to prefer the reduced 6.5 lb spring with CCI Standard Velocity.
2. If this doesn't work, try a new extractor. Brownells lists them for $12, but are out of stock at the moment. You could also try Murray Charlton Enterprises. I would buy the extractor as a spare even if swapping springs solved the problem. Many of these pistols have a lot of rounds through them and the extractor will eventually wear.

Also, make sure the chamber is thoroughly cleaned. A crud ring can build up, which can cause light strikes as the slide comes to rest slightly out of battery. Pull the barrel off and make sure that the rounds you will be using drop freely all the way into the chamber.
 
My 41 would only shoot high end target ammo (stuff around $15 a box of 50) or Remington standard vel target. Once I found the Rem, I bought about a dozen bricks of it.
 
I used to work in R & D of CIL ammunition division. We had a "library" with a sample of just about every gun in common use. When we planned to change something (like the shape of a 22 bullet) we would first try it in the guns to make sure it would still function.

If I was in a hurry, i would just try the ammo in a 41. If it would work in it, it would work in anything.

Yes, a fussy gun. Make sure it is clean. I use brake cleaner and a toothbrush. Find the ammo that works in it and buy a case of the same lot #.
 
Yep, owned a few 41's and High Standard Hamdens. Both are fussy on ammo.
The 41's I owned loved CCI SV or Green Tag. The same would not feed properly in my HS.
The HS loves Remington SV cheap target ammo, so it's only semi .22 I own and is what it gets fed now.
 
i've had my 41 since the late 60's , cases of ammo through it . the clean chamber & extractor are the most important parts . i use cci std vel , now & found i needed to clip 3 coils off a new std s&w recoil spring for it to eject & slide lock 100% . i belive it's as good as the walther gsp expert , which i also shoot , but with a totally diff feel , balance , & trigger .
 
Thanks guys. It's seems like a good purchase then if problems can be tuned out. I like the 41 and I like that there are several experienced shooters at the club with the same pistol.

A guy at my club bought a Mitchell high standard and broke his only mag. Nobody else around here has parts or knows much about them so he's SOL. Being new to pistols I could use the help.

I'll try shooting it again and as long as it runs well and check out the chamber and extractor I think I'll go for it. Now just to figure out the long term ATT business :(
 
nada said:
i've had my 41 since the late 60's , cases of ammo through it . the clean chamber & extractor are the most important parts . i use cci std vel , now & found i needed to clip 3 coils off a new std s&w recoil spring for it to eject & slide lock 100% . i belive it's as good as the walther gsp expert , which i also shoot , but with a totally diff feel , balance , & trigger .
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I changed from the standard 8lb spring to a Wolfe 6 lb and it resolved some FE's that cropped up after many moons of shooting ..a 1971 gun go figure
 
AaronGer said:
Thanks guys. It's seems like a good purchase then if problems can be tuned out. I like the 41 and I like that there are several experienced shooters at the club with the same pistol.

A guy at my club bought a Mitchell high standard and broke his only mag. Nobody else around here has parts or knows much about them so he's SOL. Being new to pistols I could use the help.

I'll try shooting it again and as long as it runs well and check out the chamber and extractor I think I'll go for it. Now just to figure out the long term ATT business :(
Click to expand...

I can't see why that mag couldn't be repaired. It might have a scar, but would be fully functional.
 
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Marcel B. said:
I can't see why that mag couldn't be repaired. It might have a scar, but would be fully functional.
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There's a crappy plastic piece on the bottom and you would have to take the mag apart to fix it. I think he was going to try and bend it into the right position and then epoxy it back. I don't know if the glue will stick though. He tried several original high standard mags but they aren't the same as the Mitchell ones. He ended up buying a walther GSP with .22 barrel and .32 center fire barrel so the Mitchell is kind of a useless paper weight that he'll sell if he can get the mag fixed.
 
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