Smith & Wesson Model 41
type of semi Automatic Pistol
The Smith & Wesson Model 41 is a semi-automatic pistol by Smith & Wesson introduced after World War II as a competitive target firearm. It was designed with an 18 degree grip angle, the same as the Colt M1911 pistol, to maintain a consistent grip angle.
Production history
In July 1947, two prototypes—numbered X-41 and X-42—were produced, tested, and improved for the next 10 years. In 1957, the Model 41 was made available to the public for sale when Smith & Wesson produced 679 units. At the end of 1958, they had built 9,875 Model 41 pistols. A lighter 5-inch (130 mm) barrel was offered in 1958 for field use. The Model 41-1 was introduced in 1960 and was chambered in .22 Short for International Rapid Fire competition. Only 1000 were made using light aluminum slides necessary for function with the lower powered .22 Short.
In August 1963, the 5-inch heavy barrel version came into the market. Stoeger's Shooter's Bible of 1964 shows a
7+3⁄8-inch (190 mm) barrel grooved for Olympic center weights.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as type of semi Automatic Pistol. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7545014. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1947, 1957, 1958 and 1960.
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This entry incorporates text from “Smith & Wesson Model 41” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.