Anyone ever load or shoot the .41 Avenger?

[DFrame]

I once read an interesting article about the 41 avenger. Seems it was simply a 45 acp necked down to 41 and using bullets intended for the 41 magnum. Can't remember what magazine I saw it in but the review was very positive. Haven't heard of it since. Soooo I'm asking has anyone on this board ever loaded or used this round?  If so can you share some experiances?

[Reed1911]

No direct experience with the cartridge, but I do have a lot of experience with the .400 CorBon (45 necked to 40). The .41 Avenger is pretty limited by the amount of useable bullets available. Good idea, just enough support to keep it on the shelf. On the 45 necked to 40, the .400 Corbon is by far the most popular, but not necessarly the best. I believe it is this board that the member is on......has a cartridge that by his words is much better than the .400CB. His design has a shorter neck and handles the heavier bullets with greater ease. The .400CB is limited (for the most part) to 165g bullets. Not that it won't handle them and shoot them, it just cannot keep the pressure down and get them up to speed to open up. The .41 Avenger is also so limited, in that the only commercial jacketed bullet (widely available) that will really fit the bill is the 170g SIE and even with it cannot be pushed fast enough to open it up much.

[DFrame]

The inability of many semi-autos to deliver higher velocity seems to be an ongoing problem. I recently bought a 400 Corbon barrel for my 1911. I'm looking foreward to trying out this cartridge myself.

[Reed1911]

The .400 is great little number, you've got pleanty of bullets from 105 to 165 that will work great and a few of the 180's will run as well. Powders from the HS-5 range up to HS-7 range all work great.

[iiranger]

If you look real close at the standard 1911 you find that at the bottom of the chamber, to allow for feeding, the brass is very poorly supported. And with warm loads, cases bulge... Some become un reloadable... but the military don't care...

When I was very young, there was a push to use the .45 case necked to .358 for the "38" stage of competition. Powder puff loads and the same frame to practice with, just different slide/barrel/magazine(??) assemblies.

First "big power"  fix was to cut down .30/'06 mil surplus brass(I said this was an old game) and neck ream to make a case with alot stronger "head"... Called .45 Super" or .451 Magnum... or smaller calibre... .308 cases work fine too. (Or any other .473 Mauser head.)

At the same time, there are custom barrels and feed ramps where the case is fully supported all the way around. Better for "big power."

You want 41? O.K. (Or .40). There was a 'smith in TX doing the .451 for law dogs. No good idea where to look for other calibers. Do you want the fullest power, or just a smaller bullet and standard .45 preformance? It just takes money. Do some web searches and look in the back of Gun Digest Annual at the directory and you might find someone doing what you want. Just takes money. LUCK.