Can I shorten my .41 mag cases

Is this possible, practical, safe? My thought is to shorten the .41 mag case, kind of like the .44 Special. They had the .41 Action Express which never took off, but was efficient and potent... I could probably trim the cases down on my .41 mag and make a great, and yet sedate 175 gr load, I am thinking 1/8 to 1/4".. Like a modern .41 Long Colt. Be nice to spark new interest in a classic, and well balanced cartridge. Hunting and defense/offence...
I am going to give it a try, I will give you a report when I do, I am sure it has been done already..

Whats the point? If you want a nice sedate,easy shooting load, just download it.

Its an idea that actually already exists. Its called the .41 Special. Right now its only available as a custom coversion, but they are out there. I have seen pictures of a 5-shot Single Six in .41 Special as well as many other revolvers. I think its a fantastic idea, I'd love something like a SP101 in .41 Special for carry, but in this day of the plastic bottomless magazine automatic, new revolver cartridges are something of a gamble for manufacturers.

At any rate, Starline has done some runs of .41 Special brass in the past and Midway has some (very expensive) .41 Special brass in stock from another manufacturer.

"Whats the point? If you want a nice sedate,easy shooting load, just download it."

1. Because it would be fun

2. Wont I get more efficient powder burn and better pressures with less case capacity?

.41 Special! Thanks I thought so, why couldnt I make my own cases?? I have resized 30.06 to 25.06, this would be simpler I think. I gotta look up the spec's on the special. Thanks Gents

If the only difference in cases is length, yes, trim away. Many cases are based on another (.38/.357 mag) and lengthen only to avoid misloadings. I make 9mm Makarovs from 9mm Luger cases by shortening 1mm..

No you can't trim back 1/4" the wall thickness will be too great and you will not be able to expand/seat and/or get a correct crimp, an 1/8" would be Iffy. Even if you were able to expand/seat/crimp without damage to the case "I" doubt it would chamber as the OD at the bullet base will be too great with the added wall thickness @ 1/4" IMO.

You can decide on the length you want, trim a case to that length and send it to one of the die makers and they will make you a set of dies that includes an "inside" reamer to bring the wall thickness back to normal at the case mouth for proper expansion and crimping.

Experimentation is fun but unless you are going to have a .41 "special" or .41 Long Colt cylinder made for the revolver you have to deal with the carbon ring created the same as shooting .38's in a .357 mag. but in this case, at 1/4" it could be quite a problem where the ring occurs as to cambering full length .41 mags.

I never had a carbon ring in my .357 mag after shooting .38s. At least not after I cleaned the cylinder.

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Originally Posted by OldVet

I never had a carbon ring in my .357 mag after shooting .38s. At least not after I cleaned the cylinder.

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Agreed as long as you brush out the cylinder well after the shooting session. But that round is .135 shorter and extensive use of .38's will erode the chambers short of the .357 length, just a fact that may well cause cambering problems later. The OP however wants to shorten the round by .250 moving the erosion ring further back the cylinder.

Thanks for the useful information. I actually should have researched the topic more before I started the thread, and I could have answered a lot of my own questions. Interesting about the carbon ring, I had never heard of or considered that. Case wall thickness Is something I hadnt considered either... That would be the clincher I imagine for trimming the length down significantly, and making them work with std dies.
Again, live and learn, now I know why shooters are paying big bucks for that Starline brass.:bier: