Smith & Wesson 41 Magnum Revolver

The Smith & Wesson Model 657 is a 41 Magnum revolver. This one has a 7.5" barrel, a cylinder with six chambers, and is drilled and tapped for mounting a scope. I really like the trigger and grip that comes with the Smith & Wesson revolvers. Unloaded, it weighs 3.3 lbs.

Handloading: 41 Magnum

The 41 Magnum is right between the 357 Magnum and the 44 Magnum in terms of power and recoil. It seems like an ideal handgun hunting cartridge. I will be able to use it to hunt whitetail in Illinois (where hunting deer with rifles is prohibited), and I can take it along on hog hunts for backup.

Take a look at my reloading information for the 41 Magnum cartridge.

Recoil isn't bad, even the heavier loads will be fine for hunting, but you can certainly feel the kick. H110 has a lot of muzzle flash. 170 and 175 grain bullets are fairly easy in terms of recoil. The 240 grain bullet and even the 210 with H110 has some notable whomp. I think I'll go with the 210 GoldDot with H4227 for hunting.

I am looking at a Bushnell handgun scope, which should have enough eye relief that I can hold the gun at arm's length. I should also look for some kind of holster to carry this in when hog hunting.

Ammunition

Since this is a hunting sidearm, I have been loading it with 210 grain Hornady XTP bullets, a good expanding hollow point. However, I am also thinking about trying the 265 grain Beartooth WLN. This is an accurate and fairly heavy hardcast bullet with a .320" meplat. It ought to be quite deadly against anything it hits.