.41 Long Colt in a rifle

Klondiker

Klondiker

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Alberta for now, back to the Yukon someday
I've been looking I but can't find anything about the .41 LC being chambered in any rifles. Is it fair to say it hasn't ?

What would be involved in re-chambering a lever action for the .41? Has any one done it?

I have a few antique Colt pistols chambered for it and thought it would be nice to have a rifle as well.

Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
No one that I am aware of chambered .41 Colts in any rifle, lever or S.S. back then . The .41 was a Colts proprietary cartridge & them & the lever gun manuf. didn't get along at all back then, same reason the .45 Colt wasn't chambered in a rifle altho it was a U.S. govt. designed cartridge & manuf. by Springfield. Winchester & Marlin couldn't qualify through multiple trials to acquire a military contract ultimately never were allowed to use the .45.
 
The rim diameter will let you know if it's possible or not, and direct you towards the correct rifle for a new barrel. Note that new barrel, and services required to install it, will most likely cost as much as the rifle.

R.
 
A .357 action could easily accommodate .41 LC with minor modification, as the rim diameter is only fractionally larger and will fit in many .357 magazine tubes. You may have to team the magazine tube slightly.

The barrel would be relatively easy, a .400” groove / 10mm rifle length blank. I’d personally build this idea on a Win 1892, or a Marlin 1894. I like the 1892 idea though.

Chamber reamer would be simple, due to the heel base bullets, as you could use a straight reamer and not require a “real” chamber reamer. Basically just need to ream the lands out of the chamber end, and bevel the transition to the rifling, a home job by hand turned reamer.

I thought about it when I was really into .41s, wrote an article on the .41 and loading it back when. Got it to shoot as well as a .38, but eventually moved out of collecting and shooting antique SAAs. The .41 is an odd duck, as the super soft bullets required to expand the skirts render it pretty useless for anything real compared to even the .38 Special. But, it could be done quite easily.
 
Thanks for that Ardent. Very Interesting. I measured the .41 cartridge rim against the .38 and it turns out the rim of the .41 is .003 smaller than the .38. the .38 has a smaller body and larger rim in comparison where as the .41 has a smaller rim compared to the body of the cartridge, much the same as a .45 "long Colt".

I tried to gently chamber a .41 into the cartridge tube of a .38/357 Winchester I have and it was almost accepted through the loading gate but hung up right at the end, about a 1/16" to go.

I'm using 195gr hollow base soft lead, not the heel base style. I realize there is no cost benefit to doing this but the idea of making it work and work well and having a unique rifle is very appealing.

Thanks for the input guys and please keep it coming!
 
Yea I’d love to see it done, I was actually very interested in “fixing” the .41 at a time and building it on a proper .385 bore. Even found a barrel maker who’d make one. Then it would perform as well as any other round and fall into its own niche as a true .38, with hollow base bullets as yours you could still shoot the same ammunition in the larger original bore handguns, or the tight bore / modern setup carbine.
 
It was a US fellow I met on another forum who was a hobbyist cut rifle barrel maker. We decided to use a .38-55 cutter (.3775”) run just shy of 4 thou deeper. I can search my email and see if he’s still at it, but what put me off was getting it across the border. If you can talk Bob Jury into giving it a try that’s what I’d do, he’s great to deal with and up for a challenge, he somewhat recently did a .375 rebore for me. You could likely have the .38 Special / .357 barrel on the factory lever rebored by Bob, and just press the .375 cutter deeper. You’d only ever shoot cast and it would work swell for that.
 
Hi elimsprint, yes I read the original post.

I have Venturino's " Shooting Sixguns of the Old West ", and page 124, II. RELOADING, .41 Colt Data Section.

With so many off the shelf combinations, in .38/.357, .44-40, 45 Colt, etc, available, it seems there are easier and quicker solutions.

Custom firearms can be a big pain.

I wonder if this is a " carry in the woods " ?
 
On the contrary, custom firearms are a great joy, respectfully I can tell by your choice of words you aren’t familiar with that. Pretty well everything interesting and unique in life isn’t defined by easier and quicker, from friendships, to hunts, to hobbies like firearms, or even sailing if I read your location and handle right. If it was all about easier and quicker there would be no classic cars, no woodworking, no sailboats inshore, no books written, no families raised.

Customs are really the only thing that keeps my attention in firearms anymore. If you don’t understand that, and are content with run of the mill options and letting a factory decide what’s interesting or get your spice of life in other hobbies, I can respect that. Others enjoy the journey and something new. What Klondiker proposes is mild compared to many of the custom rifle project pursued, hell I have several cartridges I have to make my own brass for as the cases don’t exist. And that’s a great joy believe it or not. ;)

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I am familiar with high quality firearms, but unless you are a qualified gunsmith with a proper shop, they are very expensive.

I have watched people walk into a gunsmith with all sorts of wonderful ideas, but no concept of the time and cost to achieve those ideas.

Quite different from writing a check for a ready made, high grade firearms.

Nice rifles by the way, I really like the Mauser.

What is the story on the two rifles pictured ?
 
They’re just a couple recent builds of mine. Left is a Hagn action fitted with a 1:8 Ron Smith barrel that comes in under 4lbs, chambered in 5.6x50 Mag, stock I made from Oregon black walnut. Right is a M98 Oberndorf I had Bob Jury rebore from a dark bore .30-06, still making its new stock. Chambering on the M98 is my wildcat spawned from grizzly guiding experiences, .375 Kemano. Have to make and headstamp the brass for that one, makes even a tight bore .41 Colt project very simple in perspective. All Klondiker would have to do is send Bob a .357 lever action for a $500 rebore, chambering can be done by hand at home.

Very expensive is relative, I’m into this M98 full custom for $2000, $2500 once done the stock for the cost of the stock blank to carve. I couldn’t buy anything half as interesting to me off the shelf for the same. You don’t need to make your own stock to hit that budget either, plenty of presentable $500 Mauser stocks available. For the record I don’t have a shop, I do this in my garage with the most basic of tools, it’s not difficult.

I’m completely of the opposite mind on custom rifles and don’t own a non-custom unless it’s a work gun or classic. Frankly custom rifles are a cheap hobby compared to sailing or classic cars, or any other number of welcome diversions. And I admittedly struggle to grasp your confusion at why Klondiker would be interested in doing something different and new, that’s the spice of life. To each their own. :cheers:

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I'm no gunsmith, but has the o.p. thought about the 38-40 Winchester? They were built in Winchester model 92's. Guys back in the day would switch the cylinder out of their 41 Colt s.a.a. for a 38-40 when 41 Colt cartridges dried up...
 
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