About 4,000 units were made with 7- or 5-inch barrels. Air Force for basic marksmanship training. The year it was introduced, S&W offered a no-frills version of the Model 41 designed as the Model 46. In 1963, a heavier barreled version was made and a 7-inch barrel version was introduced in 1978. 22 Short for International Rapid Fire competition, though only about 1,000 were made. Variants include the Model 41-1 introduced in 1960 that was chambered in. The trigger also features an over-travel adjustable stop screw for fine-tuning to the shooter’s needs.
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With a 5-1/2-inch barrel and a weight of 41 ounces, nobody would ever mistake the 41 as a carry gun, but that extra weight and barrel length, along with its crisp 2.7 to 3-pound factory trigger pull, make it a tack driver out of the box. An example of the S&W Model 41 (New Model).
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The grip angle on the Model 41 is deliberately made to feel like a 1911, with a grip angle that’s almost identical and the slide release and manual safety in about the same locations.
With the trigger guard pulled down and the slide locked to the rear, the barrel simply pulls out and then the slide can be removed. Unlike the earlier Rugers, the Model 41 is easy to disassemble. The Model 41 is an old-school wood and steel pistol designed to operate and feel like a 1911 (without the external hammer). Though it hasn’t been constantly produced since ’57 and didn’t attain the widespread popularity of the Ruger Mark series, the Model 41 is still made today and is used by national level competitors for acute precision in competition. The guns were tested and improved for an entire decade before the Model 41 was finally made available to the public in 1957.Īfter that long in R&D, it’s not surprising that S&W produced what many consider to be the best. 22 LR by introducing two prototypes, the X-41 and X42. In 1947, Smith & Wesson began working on a new semi-automatic competition pistol chambered in. Ruger wasn’t the only company after WWII looking toward civilian hunters and target shooters to support their firearms sales. The Mark III was also produced in the 22/45 configuration with its own variants, and the 22/45 Lite was introduced in 2012 with a lightweight, fluted aluminum receiver.
Mark III models with adjustable sights came drilled and tapped for a Weaver-style rail to mount optics, and a magazine disconnect was added (meaning the gun cannot be fired without a magazine inserted). The 22/45 model has a grip angle like a 1911, which many shooters prefer to the more acutely angled Luger style grips. The magazine release on the Mark III was relocated from the more European-style location at the heel (bottom of the grip) to a spot more familiar to American shooters, behind the trigger guard. A plastic loaded-chamber indicator was added to the left side of the gun, the addition of which made jams notoriously difficult to clear by cluttering up an already small chamber. The changes included tighter fitting parts, which most shooters agree made the Mark III exceptionally difficult to disassemble and reassemble. 22 revolvers, the cartridge has also seen massive popularity chambered in autoloaders, beginning with John Browning’s Colt Woodsman. While its generous rim made it a natural for. 22 pistol shooters, whether as a less intimidating way to learn to shoot, as a high-end competition gun, or as always ready varmint hunter. The light kick and excellent short-range accuracy of the popular rimfire cartridge has long made it a great choice for.
22 continues to be one of the most popular gun chamberings ever. It’s a 159-year-old cartridge with puny ballistics that’s no good as a self-defense round-yet the. It predates most firearms today’s shooters have ever handled, let alone shot, yet it’s still as popular and useful today as it was when it was invented-in fact, because of modern manufacturing techniques and materials. 22 LR cartridge has been loaded into all kinds of pistols, rifles, and revolvers through the decades.