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S&W Model 41 Repair Question

Knotwild

I have a Model 41 that's 40 years or so in age. It always worked flawlessly until one day it started failing to completely extract and eject. I see some smith's offer a service to tune them, but the price is up there in the $300 range.

I've cleaned it thoroughly and wondered if 41 owners that read this would share their experience.

I'm thinking it needs a new extractor spring or maybe extractor.
 
Have you contacted S&W customer service?
Sure, your 41 may not be covered by the lifetime warranty but I'm betting they will help you out.
Especially if all it needs is a new extractor.
What is the round count? Any idea?
 
The Smith performance shop will work it over for you. What ammo are you using? Most 41s are picky with what they are fed. My 41s only like CCI Standard Velocity ammo. Touch of oil on the last round loaded into the clip will also help.

Brownell's has replacement extractors and they are not hard to install.

Bob
 
Assuming you have thoroughly cleaned the pisto, Look for a crack in the slide stop near pivot point. Take it out, thoroughly clean it and look under good light.
 
Walt, I have never looked at that, but I will this weekend.

Bob, it makes sense to send it to S&W, but this day and time I worry about shipping a pistol. The local shipping store personnel get bug eyed when I even say there are gun parts in a package. I do have a local general gunsmith that's pretty good though.

Jepp2, that's a great site. I might be tempted to try replacing the extractor and spring after all.

Shoot for fun. I've had the pistol since I was a teenager and I am 63 now. I imagine it's had at least 3K through it and that's very conservative. If it were still functioning, the count would be climbing. It used to always run through magazine after magazine of whatever was cheap with no malfunctions.

I'm not a competitor, but a plinker. It's a 5" heavy barrel and well worn. I used to like to shoot it at a 100 yards. Sadly I had one with a 5" field barrel stolen from me.
 
Knotwild said:
Walt, I have never looked at that, but I will this weekend.

Bob, it makes sense to send it to S&W, but this day and time I worry about shipping a pistol. The local shipping store personnel get bug eyed when I even say there are gun parts in a package. I do have a local general gunsmith that's pretty good though.

Jepp2, that's a great site. I might be tempted to try replacing the extractor and spring after all.

Shoot for fun. I've had the pistol since I was a teenager and I am 63 now. I imagine it's had at least 3K through it and that's very conservative. If it were still functioning, the count would be climbing. It used to always run through magazine after magazine of whatever was cheap with no malfunctions.

I'm not a competitor, but a plinker. It's a 5" heavy barrel and well worn. I used to like to shoot it at a 100 yards. Sadly I had one with a 5" field barrel stolen from me.
Click to expand...
Again, call S&W CS. They usually will issue a FedEx call tag that will provide you free shipping to them. It is perfectly okay to ship a handgun from individual to manufacturer for repairs and to receive that handgun back from them without having to use an FFL.
Also, the fact you have fired "whatever was cheap" thru it makes me wonder just how good a job you have done cleaning all the lead buildup out of the chamber/throat area. I ran into that issue myself with other 22LRs, both pistol and rifle.

****UPDATE: Please see my PM to you.****
 
shoot4fun said:
Again, call S&W CS. They usually will issue a FedEx call tag that will provide you free shipping to them. It is perfectly okay to ship a handgun from individual to manufacturer for repairs and to receive that handgun back from them without having to use an FFL.
Also, the fact you have fired "whatever was cheap" thru it makes me wonder just how good a job you have done cleaning all the lead buildup out of the chamber/throat area. I ran into that issue myself with other 22LRs, both pistol and rifle.

****UPDATE: Please see my PM to you.****
Click to expand...

I am going to take your advice. After looking at the link Jepp 2 sent, I doubt that pistol has ever been completely disassembled and cleaned. I think your advice is the right answer and it is advice I am going to take.

Thanks,
Jim
 
Don’t forget to change recoil spring. A weak one can cause a lot of trouble. I have a 1959 vintage 41 with light sport barrel and I fitted a new longer Clark barrel. I keep it clean and only use standard velocity ammo.
 
Call first as it may be too old for them to work on. I have an old mod 48 and they said they will not work on it at all. I had to try and find a gunsmith on my own.
 
I finally got it apart and I have to admit that I abused it by not cleaning it properly. All I knew how to do was take the barrel and slide off, hose it with WD 40, blow it off, and put it away.

It has an A prefix and that makes it somewhere around 41-42 years old.

It was filthy full of powder and bullet residue - waxy and hard. No way the extractor could have been working. I had to dig the spring out. I am soaking everything in Ballistol now. I will put it back together and see how it shoots. Meanwhile I will get replacement springs and a Volquartsen extractor ordered.

Maybe I'll be shooting it again soon. If all that doesn't work, I will definitely send it to S&W.

Thanks for all the help.
 
I let everything soak overnight in Ballistol, cleaned it up, assembled it and took it out for a run. Thirty rounds of cheap Remington hollow points and the only failure was that it didn't lock back on empty once. It once you go through 10 rounds, it's easy to see how easy it was to put the thousands through it that I have. Cleaning was actually easy.

Thanks for all the help.

It's an ugly pistol, but it sure feels good and shoots good.

Model 41 Resized.jpg
 
Knotwild said:
I let everything soak overnight in Ballistol, cleaned it up, assembled it and took it out for a run. Thirty rounds of cheap Remington hollow points and the only failure was that it didn't lock back on empty once. It once you go through 10 rounds, it's easy to see how easy it was to put the thousands through it that I have. Cleaning was actually easy.

Thanks for all the help.

It's an ugly pistol, but it sure feels good and shoots good.
Click to expand...

Glad you got it all squared away. To me, a M41 is like a Ferrari. To keep it at peak performance takes a little extra time but the rewards are worth the effort. Oh, before anyone asks, I don't have a Ferrari but I do have a M41.
 
shoot4fun said:
Glad you got it all squared away.
Click to expand...

It was thanks to the help I got here that it is fixed. I have heard that they are finicky and problematic sometimes. But this one has fired thousands of rounds with very few hiccups and you might as well say it was never cleaned because all I did was spray it liberally with WD40. Back then all I knew you did with a pistol was shoot it. I've never handled a pistol that fit my hand like the 41 or had such a great trigger and sights.

I did have one with the sport barrel on it, but a thief relieved me of that one. It was hanging up too, so I hope whoever has it now never gets it fixed.
 
WD40 is likely the worst thing you could put on any firearm. Kroil will provide the same effect without the downside of turning yellow and hardening like shellac. For post-cleaning lube I like ProShot Zero-Friction or MobilOne synthetic.
 
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I don't use WD 40 any more. Sadly, back in those days I really abused guns. I'm not much of a gunsmith either, so I don't normally work on them.
 
Knotwild said:
I let everything soak overnight in Ballistol, cleaned it up, assembled it and took it out for a run. Thirty rounds of cheap Remington hollow points and the only failure was that it didn't lock back on empty once. It once you go through 10 rounds, it's easy to see how easy it was to put the thousands through it that I have. Cleaning was actually easy.

Thanks for all the help.

It's an ugly pistol, but it sure feels good and shoots good.

View attachment 1127339
Click to expand...
They are excellent pistols, do youself a favor and don't use hi velocity ammo . Std vel will get you better accuracy anyway and be less violent on that gem .
 
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