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LDB · April 14, 2026, 6:02pm

TAFFIN TESTS: THE .41 SPECIAL …JOHN TAFFIN In 1899, Smith & Wesson introduced the .38 Special in the first of what is now known as the K-frame series, the .38 Military and Police. In 1930, the .38 Special was “Plus P’ed" and chambered in the larger sized, now N-frame, Heavy Duty. Five years later, in 1935, the .38 Special cartridge was lengthened and became the now legendary .357 Magnum with the first sixgun being what is now known as the S&W Model 27. In 1908, the .44 Special was introduced in the .44 Military Model better known to sixgunners as the .44 Triple Lock. Handloaders took the new gun and cartridge to heart and left its factory loaded 246 grain round nosed load loping along at 750 feet per second in the dust as they pushed 250 grain semi-wadcutter bullets to a full 1200 feet per second. The end result was the lengthening of the .44 Special to .357 Magnum length and the .44 Magnum became reality in 1955. The world was perfectly ordered and everything was just as it should have been, first came the Special series, then the Magnum followed between thirty-five and fifty years later. We had the .38 Special/.357 Magnum and the .44 Special/.44 Magnum, but where was the in between caliber, the .40 or .41 Special? In the normal turn of events the .41 Special should have surfaced and then been followed in thirty-five to fifty years by a .41 Magnum. Everyone knows the .41 Magnum came along in 1964…

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