GUNS & AMMO
Smith & Wesson Model 41
Review
C
onventional Pistol or “bullseye” shooting doesn’t
get a lot of publicity these days, but back in the
dark ages when I started, it was the only game
in town. That’s no longer the case, but learning how to
shoot an accurate handgun well with one hand remains
an essential skill for any handgunner. The Smith & Wesson Model 41 in .22 Long Rifle is a perfect example of
the pistols designed to develop these skills and this test
sample proved just what a classic design this pistol really
is. The Smith & Wesson Model 41 came out of a project
in the late 1940s to develop an extremely accurate .22
cal. target pistol, but it wasn’t until 1957 the first production gun was introduced. The response at the time was
overwhelming and S&W found they couldn’t produce
enough guns to meet demand. That first year of production they produced 679 examples and the first gun bore
had serial number 1,401 with no prefix. The first pistols
featured a 73⁄8-inch barrel and a muzzle brake, as was
popular in the 1950s. By the end of 1958 the factory had
produced 9,875 Model 41 pistols and they still couldn’t
satisfy demand. In 1959, Smith & Wesson introduced
the lightweight 5-inch barrel version that duplicated the
sight radius of a Model 1911. I’ve had a Model 41 for
several years and my personally owned example was
manufactured in 1958 according to its serial number and
it came with two barrels; the 73⁄8-inch iron-sighted version with the muzzle compensator and the short, lighter
weight 5-inch model. I had a red dot sight mounted on
the 5-inch model years ago when I shot regularly in a
winter indoor league. I had to have the barrel drilled and
tapped to mount the battery powered red dot sight; that
isn’t necessary with this newest version of the Model 41.
Why One Handed Target Shooting?
Today’s shooting community places very little importance on traditional one-handed pistol shooting, and I
believe this is an error. Not only does formal one-handed, stationary target shooting develop skill (great skill if
you become good at it), such endeavors also reinforce
the fundamentals needed to properly shoot a handgun.
Shooting a pistol one-handed is difficult when com-
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