I'm offically nuts.....

[Cheesewhiz]

Well, if one could claim themselves nuts and it would stand up in court.

A few years back I picked up a pistol (Tanfoglio) in the .41 Action Express caliber. It's a "dead round", no one makes this round anymore.

...but I reload and I figured I would just find some brass and have at it, no problem.

I started looking on Gunbroker to find brass and it was few and far between, it can be made from .41 Mag brass but it needs to have the rim diameter changed to that of a 9mm and then the brass is cut to length. So you can imagine that the brass is a bit pricey anyway you go. I started to find "new old stock" completed ammo on Gunbroker and started bidding on some of these also. Boy, do those guys know how to work up an auction.

...but I picked up a couple of boxes of fifty here and there, all Israeli made (IMI) for about what it would cost for brass and happily went from there. Well I kept looking and bidding, I didn't win a whole lot of them but I did win a few.

Found some very rare stuff too, self defense stuff, odd weights, didn't win any of those, they got real pricey but this really consumed some of my time during the day, sometimes, day after day.

I came across the rarest of rare recently and bid on it, got an alert that I was out bid and just took a look and I rebid a bit more thinking someone would out bid me again but no. So now I'm the proud but lighter in the wallet owner of 20 rounds of Speer Gold Dot .41 AE 180gr factory ammo in box.





I could reload about a thousand 9mm rounds for what this box of 20 cost me.



The offending hole making hardware.

So I admit it, I'm nuts. How can I spend my time and money on something that hardly anyone even knows was ever made and now no one even cares about but me and about 10 other idiots that keep outbidding each other on Gunbroker?

 

[Mike J]

If you can afford it & you're having fun that's fine. Nice looking pistol BTW.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

We all like what we like and there is no explanation, and for those that don't understand, no explanation is possible. The main thing is you enjoy what you are doing. When you change your mind, get a new barrel and mag and move on, but for now I'm glad you are enjoying it. It's a nice gun.

 

[Dan in MI]

I was very close to joining that club when they were new. I just love that redheaded stepchild caliber.

 

[m657]

"I was very close to joining that club when they were new. I just love that redheaded stepchild caliber.""

I was too....then.....came this--><-- close to stepping in to purchase just a few....what ? decades??? ago????

seemed like a good idea.....then.....

 

[reloader]

Had the same gun, the EAA Witness 9/41ae with the wood grips. First time out shooting it with 9mm the trigger broke.
Sent it back to the mfg and got it back about 3 months later. Never really trusted it after that. Traded it to a local pawn shop for a Ruger. It took them years to sell it. Everyone wanted the new 40 S&W.

 

[volshooter]

I don't own any odd calibers, but my best friend does. He has rifles/pistols in calibers popular before 1900. Including a .50 rimfire rolling block. We rarely get to shoot them as ammo and reloading supplies are rare and very expensive. But we do enjoy it when we can. His carry is in .32 short.
So many great calibers are just no longer feasible to own. Only nonstandard calibers I have are 25/06 , 6.5x55 and 45/70. While these calibers are still popular in some regions, none of these rounds can be picked up locally. Shame as they are great rifle/caliber combinations.
Another good friend has a serious collection of rifles, most designed for real big African game, which he does hunt. I enjoy just looking at the massive rounds and the expensive rifles. He has told me that some of the cartridges are pert near $30 each! I sure am glad he has a love for them and allows me to at least look. I did get to shoot a .500 double once.
I would like to encourage all to keep interest in obsolete rounds. Perhaps someone will take up the cause and start producing them again.
Good looking purchase/firearm.

 

[protoolman]

I sold the .451 Detonics barrel and loose rounds I had a few years ago. A guys gotta have something different to whip out once in a while at the gun shows. Sold my 1927 Smith revolver but not my .45 auto rim brass last year too. I am going to start keeping all my oddball brass from now on because you just never know what you might aquire.

 

[blume357]

The only odd caliber I can clam is the 30 cal Luger... of which I have a box of and the barrel and recoil spring for a P89x but then I changed out the slide on that P89 to a decock and it is my woods carry gun.

 

[Kevin]

To the OP, I don't think your nuts at all. Sometimes the best thing about shooting is to show up at the range with something Noone else has or has even heard of. Very nice pistol.

 

[mohavesam]

Not odd at all. The 41AE is an excellent cartridge, marketing always was the problem. Before the 40SW got magazine copy, the 41AE ruled the roost between the 9mm and 45ACP in impact energy.
I have a 41AE kit for my UZI B and three very very HTF magazines. Even thumped a 'yote one crisp morning. I used the Swiss 41AE ammo for years and when it began to be tough to find, I stored (NOT hoarded) as much as I could buy in my regular travels. That wasn't too hard as I passed by 10-12 stocking gun stores every day...
My stock is all hardball now, I'd never use a 41AE for defense (for other reasons) but the Speer GDHP is a nice score!

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Guy walks into a psychiatrist's office.

Shrink says "Welcome, why are you here?"

Guy says "My friends claim I'm crazy."

Shrink says "Why do they think you're crazy?"

Guy says "Well, I like pancakes."

Shrink says "Heck, you're not crazy, I happen to like pancakes myself."

Guy says "Really? Great! Wanna come over and see mine? I have a whole attic full!"

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

And I have some stuff in my safe that some of my friends don't understand at all . . .

:wink: :lol: :wink:

 

[toysoldier]

I have a '96 Mauser, one partial box of ammo, and a few stripper clips for it. I just picked up a box of Sierra .308 85 gr. round nose bullets, and think I might just have to pick up reloading dies and some once-fire Tokarev brass. I really like shooting the pistol.

 

[Cheesewhiz]

Thanks for the support guys, it's appreciated but it is a looney venture to a point, interesting but looney.

Toys, the .30 Mauser is a 7.65 (.311) your bullets will work but the accuracy will not be great, Tokarev brass is correct for the Mauser though.

 

[toysoldier]

Toys, the .30 Mauser is a 7.65 (.311) your bullets will work but the accuracy will not be great, Tokarev brass is correct for the Mauser though.

Lee's Modern Reloading shows the Mauser round having a .308 bullet, the Tokarev, .309. Your reference?

 

[Cheesewhiz]

Lyman 49th, but it is for cast, you are right, they also call out .308/.309 for FMJ. I remember a gentleman who reloaded for his shooter Broomhandles and used .32 FMJ bullets resized down a bit with a swage. I think he said .310 was what he felt worked best and did have proper chamber clearance with that size.

 

[Cheesewhiz]

The responses to my post reminded me of another sort of odd cartridge that I love but only from fond memory, the .35 Remington. I was lucky enough to shoot a fine borrowed Marlin on warm up for a hunting trip many years ago in NE Pennsylvania. We practiced out on a Army friend's family farm and that gun just handled so well and it was one of those things were I just couldn't miss anything I was shooting at. I never have owned a lever gun in a rifle round but if I did it would have to be in a .35 Rem.

 

[VonFatman]

I get it, I go after odd stuff too...but after years of this behavior...I'm now of the opinion that it may be time to sell the gun!!

Bob