howdy , can someone tell me what Police Deptments issued .41 magnums in the glory days of sixguns in police service

I knew a N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper who carried one back then. I believe it was dept. issue but have no evidence to support that.

At least two Texas police departments used the S&W Model 58, .41 Magnum, usually with police level, not Magnum ammo.
One, as I recall was Amarillo.

What killed the .41 for police use was the large size of the gun, just as women started to come into law enforcement, and that there was a misunderstanding about the difference between Magnum ammo and police load ammo.
Too many departments and individual officers mistakenly bought Magnum ammo, and it was just too much for most officers to shoot well.

San Antonio issued the S&W M58.

Mike

The Nevada Highway Patrol issued the M58 for four years before they switched to a .357 Magnum. San Antonio and Amarillo, TX have already been named. I understand that Ventura, CA issued a .41 Mag, but don't know which model. A lot of departments allowed it as a personally owned weapon. At one time, San Francisco, CA allowed officers to carry either a .38 Special or a .41 Magnum.

I remember an article about .41 magnum police use in a Gun Digest from about 1982 or so.

Many years ago I had the privilege of firing a S&W Model 58 that was stamped SFPD. My friend who owned it was quite adamant about not selling or trading it.

I recall an article in Gun World by the late Tom Ferguson about 20 years ago where he talked about SAPD's adoption of the Model 58. They had been displeased with the performance of the .38 Special for a while, and this came to a head when one of their officers was killed, with his last six desperation shots richocheting harmlessly off his killer's rear bumper.

According to Ferguson, the .41 was sort of an "end run" around an anti gun administrator who had hoped to keep the .38 by stipulating that they couldn't adopt either the .357 or any semi auto. The guns and ammo they ended up getting were pretty poor quality (probably due to unexpected demand, Ferguson guessed), but their armorers got the guns working OK and they lived with the leading problems of the ammo, and ended up liking the cartridge and gun a lot.

Years ago, I read an article in one of the annual gun publications the Blackhawk County (Iowa) Sheriff's Department were using Model 57's. This was waaaaaay back - and they were using a powerful Magnum load rather than the police load. It must've been too much recoil as well as a heavy holster full of whoop-*ss. But then, this was before the 175-grain Silvertip load, which is far more suited for taking down bad guys than the Whitetail loads. The State Patrol had been using .357's, and many troopers wanted to hang onto them when they were transitioning to the .40S&W's.
Personally, I consider the Model 57/58 S&W .41 Mag w/Winchester Silvertips an ideal combo for LE revolver use as far as energy vs. recoil. Obviously, I'm in the teensy-weensy minority, but you get a lot of bite with the bang.

There's an article I read by Wiley Clapp about the .41mag, where (IIRC) the .41 was the brainchild of Bill Jordan. The original intent was to cross the .357 and .45 in a revolver. However, the ammo was loaded to compete with .44mag and was too hot for police use. Of course the .41mag has become a competitor to the .44, rather than .357.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.41_Magnum

Actually there were two loads, one a full magnum JSP or JHP, and the other a more moderately powered lead semi wadcutter, intended as a "police load". The problem with it was that its soft swaged lead bullet leaded barrels badly.

You also have to remember that in those days many, if not most, LE agencies used .38 Special mid-range wadcutter ammunition for training even if .357 Magnum ammunition was issued for duty. Qualifications scores plummeted when they switched to the .41 Magnum police load, or worse, the full-power loads.