.41 Action Express

Pistol cartridge designed by Evan Whildin .41 Action Express 41aeand9mm.png 250px A .41 AE cartridge next to a 9×19mm Luger cartridge for size comparison. United StatesIsrael Handgun Evan Whildin 1986 Action Arms 1986–2005 Rebated, straight .410 .434 .435 .394 .045 .866 1.17 21.60 1 in 14.2 in mm on Small pistol 35000 170 JHC 940 334 180 HP 890 317 210 XTP 797 296 Hodgdon ".41 Action Express (Pistol) data https://web.archive.org/web/20071111143616/http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp 2007-11-11 " from Hodgdon The .41 Action Express is a pistol cartridge developed in 1986 to reproduce the performance of the .41 Magnum police load (which is a reduced load) in semi-automatic pistols. Barnes Frank C. Skinner, Stan Cartridges of the World 11th 1965 2006 Gun Digest Books Iola, WI, US 330, 338 0-89689-297-2 History The .41 Action Express was designed by Evan Whildin, vice president of Action Arms, in 1986.Q105321496 DBI Books 7Q105321498 Gun Digest Books 353– It was based on the .41 Magnum case, cut down to fit in a 9×19mm Parabellum frame, and using a rebated rim. Performance was compared to the ballistics of the 41 Magnum police load. The .41 AE was thought to be a very attractive concept, as the rebated rim allows a simple change of barrel, mainspring, and magazine to convert many 9mm guns to 41 AE. The powerful 10mm Auto cartridge, which had been suffering from poor acceptance from its start in the early 1980s, was eventually accepted by the FBI in a reduced power, subsonic loading. Smith & Wesson then decided the 10mm Auto was too much cartridge for the reduced power loading, and that the .45 ACP sized guns that chambered it were too heavy and bulky; out of this came the .40 S&W, a shortened 10mm Auto case, designed to fit in a 9mm-sized gun, with a reduced pressure loading that allowed a lighter, easier to shoot gun.Speer Reloading Manual Number 12 (1994) pp. 534–542.Nosler Reloading Guide Number Four (1996) pp. 529–534. Because most ammunition manufacturers backed the .40 S&W, there was little use for the very similar .41 AE, so production of both firearms and ammunition was soon phased out; it was designated as an 'inactive' cartridge by SAAMI in January 2005.Jones Allan May 2017 The .41 Action Express Shooting Times Outdoor Sportsman Group New York 58 4 18–19 0038-8084 The .41 AE was less commercially successful than the 10mm Auto, and was soon discontinued 15 years later.Barnes Frank C. https://books.google.com/books?id=bjhy8uv196IC&pg=PA353 Cartridges of the World: A Complete Illustrated Reference for More Than 1,500 Cartridges 5 October 2012 Gun Digest Books 978-1-4402-3059-2 Iola, Wisconsin 353 The calibre was doomed by circumstance to obscurity, but the concept of using a rebated rim to allow easy cartridge interchangeability was not lost. The .50 Action Express, developed by Magnum Research for the Desert Eagle pistol, uses a similar rebated rim that is the same diameter as the .44 Magnum.Hendrick Hal W. Paradis Paul Hornick Richard J. Human Factors Issues in Handgun Safety and Forensics https://books.google.com/books?id=6xXxsyxVAm8C&pg=PA100 12 December 2010 CRC Press 978-1-4200-6297-7 84 This allows a caliber change with replacement of just the barrel and magazine. Ballistics The .41 AE can be ballistically similar to the .40 S&W, to the point that many reloading manuals suggest using .40 S&W load data in the .41 AE. Original IMI factory cartridges are much higher powered, approaching 10mm levels, pushing a 170 gr (11.02 g) bullet at 1215 ft/s. The .41AE actually outperforms the .40SW by a significant amount. Current (April 2018) production cartridges from Reed's Ammunition and Research lists the following:170 grain JHP at 1230fps; 185 grain JHP at 1180fps and 210 grain JHP at 1150fps. Old Speer reloading manuals also list 210gn JHP at 1150fps. The .40 S&W can duplicate this performance. The .41 AE uses 0.410 in mm on bullets, whereas the .40 S&W uses 0.400 in mm on bullets. However, as it lacks the backing of ammunition manufacturers in making .410 caliber bullets suited for semiautomatic pistols, the .41 AE has not achieved widespread popularity.http://www.leverguns.com/articles/saami_pressures.htm SAAMI Pressures 2007-11-29 https://web.archive.org/web/20071014041459/http://leverguns.com/articles/saami_pressures.htm 14 October 2007 dead http://www.accuratepowder.com/data/PerCaliber2Guide/Handgun/Standarddata/40Cal(10mm)/40%20Smit%20Wesson%20pages%20116%20to%20118.pdf .40 Smith & Wesson/.41 AE 2007-11-29 https://web.archive.org/web/20080216044120/http://www.accuratepowder.com/data/PerCaliber2Guide/Handgun/Standarddata/40Cal(10mm)/40%20Smit%20Wesson%20pages%20116%20to%20118.pdf 16 February 2008 Comparisons with the 9mm A key feature shared between 9mm and .41 AE is that the Action Express cartridges have rebated rims, which are the same diameter as the less powerful rounds, but the case is wider, providing more capacity and potential for more power. This allows these pairs of calibers to be used in the same firearm with only a change of the barrel, recoil spring, and magazine.Lewis Jack Jack Lewis (screenwriter) The Gun Digest Book of Assault Weapons Campbell Robert K. Steele David 26 September 2007 Gun Digest Books 978-0-89689-498-3 Iola, Wisconsin 242–243 From uzi to Cornershot https://books.google.com/books?id=P75lJjon9yoC&pg=PA242 Usage in firearms There have been several firearms chambered for this cartridge, most notably the Israeli Uzi submachine gun and the Jericho 941 pistol. The potential for success for the .41 AE was sound, and for this reason, other manufacturers offered firearms chambered at the factory for this round. Additionally, aftermarket conversion kits were available as well. Factory chambered Uzi Carbines and pistols Jericho 941/Baby Eagle Early imports had the ability to switch calibers from 9mm, 41AE and .45ACP through kits that had magazines and whole slide assemblies that were marked for each respective cartridge. TZ-75 Taurus PT92 Beretta Cougar Aftermarket conversion Colt M1911 Browning Hi-Power this was only offered for the MK-I series. Variants In 1988, IMI also developed a 9 mm Action Express, which was a .41 AE necked down to 9mm. It offered a much larger case capacity than the standard 9 mm case, allowing velocities that matched that of the .357 Magnum, when loaded with lighter weight bullets. This move anticipated the parallel development of the .357 SIG from the 10mm Auto in 1994. See also Table of handgun and rifle cartridges References External links Taffin Tests the .41 Action Express Description of the .41 AE Description of the 9 mm AE Category:Pistol and rifle cartridges Category:Magnum pistol cartridges Category:Action Express cartridges Category:Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1986