45 ACP Revolvers

[dale2242]

Are there any current production revolvers in 45 ACP? If so, will they need half moon clips?----dale

[beagle]

There are loads of new and good, used Smith's out there and probably a few Colt M1917s. My favorite's the Ruger Blackhawk convertible .45 ACP/.45 Colt. It don't need half moons and both cartridges shoot really accurate in it./beagle

[imashooter2]

S&W makes Models 22, 25, 625 and 325. All are designed for use with moon clips (full or half). Charter Arms is coming out with a revolver that does not need moons to positively extract the spent cartridges. First examples will be 40 S&W to be followed by .45 ACP.

http://www.charterfirearms.com/products/CARR.html

[Shiloh]

Love the .45 Auto-Rim brass. Does away with the loading and unloading of Moon Clips.
They are a minor inconvenience.

Shiloh

[Bass Ackward]

Probably the best kept secret in shooting is the 45 ACP in a revolver.

Probably the best kept secret in cast bullet shooting is the 45 ACP revolver.

It is the epitome of an efficient cast bullet set-up that meets all needs. Power that's proven for defense or game.

If you need speed for defense or games, the clips are there. If you want load flexibility to shoot or burn almost anything you want from as close to an ideal cast bullet cartridge ever made, the Auto Rim brass is the way to go. Great ignition from pipsqueek to maximum loads

I define efficient in that there is no disadvantage to shooting cast in preference to copper. Much the same as the 30-30 or 35 Remington is for rifles.

[Bret4207]

You won;t see me getting rid of my '17 Smiff anytime soon. 6.0 gr Unique and the BD45 in AR brass make a nice paper punching load. More powder makes it a nice field gun. Full power loads make it a great all around trail gun.

BTW- I added a Wondersight to mine. Makes all the difference in the world!

[ktw]

The Freedom Arms and USFA single action 45 colt revolvers can be purchased with extra 45 ACP cylinders from the factory.

It makes a lot of sense to shoot 45 ACP in them rather than load down 45 Colt for practice. The brass is cheaper and the powder goes a lot further.

-ktw

[wallenba]

I just purchased a real straight shootin' S & W 625JM. Don't forget to get a moonclip reloader, saves time, keeps you in a good mood, as getting them in and out is a b%&#h! And get lots of clips and load them before going out to the range wherever.

[wallenba]

Ain't she purty, I took the stock wood handle off the butt, went with the squishy. The loader/unloader is a CCW product. I bought mine through Dillon Precision, it's the best functioning type I've found.

[softpoint]

I have a 4" and a 5" 625. Two of my favorites. Accurate with cast or jacketed, clips or auto rim, target loads or .45 Supers, I have a 45 convertible blackhawk that has had the ACP cylinder modified to accept Auto Rim brass, still shoots the regular ACP too. I've long thought that if your maximum load requirements could be met with 250 grains at 1000 to 1100 fps. ,the .modern .45 ACP revolver is the most efficient way to get there. Yup, even beats the .44 special (which I like, too)in that respect. And, although I own and enjoy revolvers through the 454 casull, a warm loaded .45 ACP, or loaded to .45 Super specs in Super brass will do 99% of what needs to be done with a handgun, with the exception of very long ranges, or very large critters,IMHO...

BTW, full moon clips are easier to deal with than the 1/2 moons, and are the best revolver speedloader ever made, IMHO.

[wallenba]

Ditto the best speedloader softpoint. Used to shoot pins, it will cut your time well under a shooter using a conventional speedloader. And picking up MY brass is a snap. No sorting necessary.

[captaint]

Don't see any mention of the S&W model 1955. Have one at home that I have never shot. Niether has anyone else. Nobody lives forever and I'm shootin the darn thing. Thinking I'll get some AR brass & try that. Enjoy Mike

[softpoint]

Don't see any mention of the S&W model 1955. Have one at home that I have never shot. Niether has anyone else. Nobody lives forever and I'm shootin the darn thing. Thinking I'll get some AR brass & try that. Enjoy Mike

I had a model 25, (25-2,If I remember correctly.) It was every bit as accurate as my 625's,if not more. It was either a 6" or 6 1/2, I don't recall. In a moment of insanity years ago I traded it away for a GP100

[JW6108]

Don't see any mention of the S&W model 1955. Have one at home that I have never shot. Niether has anyone else. Nobody lives forever and I'm shootin the darn thing. Thinking I'll get some AR brass & try that. Enjoy Mike

I'm afraid that Smith has gotten stale, capt; send it on down to Georgia and I'll see if I can get some use out of it..........

[captaint]

JW - I had bought this piece when a friend passed away about 10 years ago. His wife just auctioned all his stuff off. Anyway, I took it home & put it in the safe. After all this talk the other day about .45ACP wheelguns I thought "I have one of them but i don't know exactly what model it is". So I take a look & swing the cylinder out and look at the frame and I'm like "my Gawd, this has never been fired". However I'm past the point of keeping these perfect for posterity. I can't take any of it with me, so it's gettin dirty. Hope it shoots well. Think I'll call S&W and see exactly when it was made. It has 5 screws, so maybe in the 50's?? Well see. Enjoy, Mike
I

[20nickels]

[QUOTE=softpoint;596742] I have a 45 convertible blackhawk that has had the ACP cylinder modified to accept Auto Rim brass, still shoots the regular ACP too. QUOTE]

Hello,
I have been thinking of doing this. Did you just countersink/recess the chargeholes to accomodate the thick AR rim (kind of like the old S&W's) or did you face off the whole back of the cylinder minus the ratchet? tks.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

The Smith & Wesson Model 25. Its one of the straightest shooting/best grouping guns I own. I feed it cast only; WC's, SWC's and RN's and it delivers performance all the time with either 45ACP or 45 Rims. I don't even bother with half-moonies, altho I have them, as I either pull the ACP's out with a fingernail or poke them out with a short twig. The other "brother" is a 1917 from around War 1 time. It has only 4 digits in the serial #, but is in pristine shape. I took off the original military grips and put a set of N wood grips on it. It shoots to point of sight all day long with the same food that goes into the M25. I keep them very clean and well oiled and no one else ever gets too close to them. LLS

[GLL]

Here are a couple of old S&W 25-2 models ( one 6" & the other is 6 1/2").

I did not wipe them down before the snapshot so oil made the finish look strange !

454423 Group Buy & Cramer #4 in AR brass is their favorite food !

Jerry

[Uncle R.]

I have an old 25-2 that's a joy to shoot. Very smooth and accurate and not terribly fussy about what you feed it. I agree that full-moon clips are the fastest revolver speedloader by far. I used them in that gun back in my pin shooting days with good results. My load was with the 454190 sized .452 and I'd put a hard roll crimp on the cartridges to bury that case mouth in the groove so it didn't catch on the chamber edges. Kind of a "backwards" way of chamfering the chambers - without cutting on a sweet old gun. A loaded full moon clip would just about jump into the cylinder by itself...

Those 454190s over a stiff load of powder would smack bowling pins with authority. It was a great pinshooting combination. I don't use the old Smith much any more but that 25-2 is a permanent keeper and has a place in the safe for as long as I last.

My 25-2 has the 6-1/2" barrel and I noticed that the blue book shows a premium for 6-1/2" over 6" guns. I'm no S&W expert or collector, but I'm hoping somebody on this board can tell me when the 6-1/2s were made, how rare they are, and why they're (supposedly) worth a premium.
Uncle R.

[sargenv]

I can say that the 6.5" barrels are sought out by USPSA action shooters to graft onto the more modern 625 frames since recently they have only been available in 4 and 5 inch versions. I know someone who uses the 6.5" version as is a master at USPSA Revolver with it. The other barrel (slightly off topic) is the 6.5" model 27 bbl that people these days graft onto 627 - 8 shots for extended sight radius in ICORE action shooting. Same person has one of these 627's with the model 27 bbl on it.