CUSTOM .41 Magnum by Bowen Classic Arms
Target fired from 110 yards - 5 shots
- The gun was a Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum. Bowen rebuilt and rechambered the gun to .41 Magnum.
- The barrel is his unique "Ovate Rib" and features Taylor Throating.
- The grips are by Persinger and are hand-checkered Ebony.
- I had QPR install the Bisley gripframe and hammer.
- The trigger is Reeder Custom Guns own design called the "set-back trigger". It stays back at the rear of the trigger guard like a proper trigger should.
- The sights are Bowen's.
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THE STORY OF THE .41
My good friend and fellow Shootist Jack Pender had Hamilton Bowen build the gun for him back in the early '90's. He was looking for a super-accurate sixgun and had high hopes that this would be it. Jack did not know at the time that he had cancer. I visited Jack one December and stayed in his home. He had just gotten the gun back from Bowen and was very proud of it. Unfortunately he never had a chance to find out if it was as accurate as he hoped. A few short months later he was gone.
John Taffin and I went to the funeral. Jack had requested that I do part of the funeral service, which I felt honored to do. After the funeral, as we gathered in Jack's home, his son came to me, handed me the .41 and said, "Dad wanted this to go to you."
I was speechless!
I had never had a .41 and had no idea of its potential. Over the next months I began experimenting with it and found it to be one of the most accurate guns I have ever had the privilege to shoot. From a bench-rest at 25 yards I fired groups around 1/2" for 5 shots at various times!!
I used the gun to take Javelina and Whitetail deer. I found with the 200 or 210 gr. JHP's it was an instant stopper on Whitetail. Over the years I have a taken a number of Whitetail. It has become my favorite deer gun.
When I got the gun from Jack it had the Super Blackhawk grips, hammer and trigger. I did not care for the large grip and eventually decided to have it "Bisley-ized". I sent it to Milt Morrison and he installed the Bisley gripframe, hammer and trigger. Paul Persinger made the grips of Ebony and hand-checkered them.
I was not completely happy with the Bisley trigger from Ruger. The forward travel is so far that it really looks almost like a double-action. In addition it cuts down on the room inside the trigger-guard, especially if you are wearing gloves. When Gary Reeder came out with his "Set-Back Trigger" I sent it to him to have the trigger installed.
Just before I sent it to Reeder, I was shooting it one day with some factory high-performance ammo from a company that specializes in that type of ammo. The 3rd shot felt "funny" and the cylinder became hard to rotate. When I unloaded the gun there was one chamber that was hard to remove the empty from. Eventually I discovered that the cylinder was "jugged" .. bulged at the bolt stop.
(As a side note I tested that ammo in my .41 Magnum rifle and had one load blow the primer and in doing so blow the hammer back to half cock. That load went through the chronograph screens 200 fps faster than the other loads. I boxed the ammo up and sent it back to the manufacturer with a note that they needed to check their stock of ammo for problems. I never heard from them.)
I had Reeder build a new cylinder for the .41 while he was installing the trigger. When I got the gun back I took it to the range and found that it was still just as accurate as ever. I was relieved to find that out! Since then I have continued to use the gun to take game. Two years ago I was setting in a blind and had a nice buck come by. He was 105 yards distant. I had a good solid rest, the deer was standing still. I slipped a 210 gr. JHP behind the shoulder and that was it. He did not go 50 feet.
I hope Jack was watching. He would have been happy, I know that.