Just another 45 ACP...

[Love Life]

There we were (the wife and I) larger than life. We were perusing a sporting goods store in the area when we wandered by the gun counter.

In the case sat this girl. A S&W model 25-2 chambered in 45 ACP. The wife asked to see it from the case, and as soon as she held it in her hand I knew that a purchase was to be made.

I talked the man down a little and walked out with the gun, 50 moon clips, a moon clip tool, and a hard metal case.

This revolver has the cylinders chamfered so it is ready to be tossed in a holster and taken to the firing line!!

A .452 boolit just barely pushes through the chambers with hard-ish finger pressure. I'll get some loads worked up and hopefully find something that works well in this old girl and the bottom feeders.

Now I need to try some of the 454423 cast up in soft alloy and get some S&W target stocks.

[Lefty Red]

Jealous!

[Beerd]

let me get this straight.
Your wife asked to look at it before you did?
Jealous and envious both.
..

[Hickory]

The S&W model 25 in 45 acp is S&W's best kept secret.

[Dale53]

I have a pair of 625's and I have to say that they are two of my most favorite revolvers of all time. They both shoot extremely well (under 1" at 25 yards off a rest) with a variety of loads and powders.

I mostly shoot targets with them and my "go to" bullet is the Mihec correct copy of the H&G #68 (200 SWC) ahead of 4.0 grs of Bullseye or equivalent.

FWIW
Dale53

[Love Life]

The last 625 I had was 625-8 and I have missed that gun ever since I got rid of it. I fed that one a healthy dose of HP-38 under a 230 gr RN.

I have 230 gr plated and cast RN boolits here that I'll load over AA#7 or Bullseye.

[DougGuy]

That is one NICE sixgun! Pinned barrel and all the good stuff! Perfect cyl throats from what it sounds like! I would be totally jealous, but..

I had a 25-2 in .45 Colt that was the last of the big bore snubbies that Magnaport converted, it was super nice, perfect workmanship and bluing. Wish I still had it..

Enjoy that ol' girl, she's a beaut!

[williamwaco]

I have been wanting one of those for at least 40 years.
Never found the gun and the money at the same time.

[waco]

Sweet find Dick. Let us know how she shoots with what loads!

[enfieldphile]

A very cool gun!

S&W has made other flavors of .45ACP wheel guns. The 1917/1937 Military contract guns, the 5" model of 1989.


They also have had several flavors of .45 Colt guns. My .45 Colt fave is the 4" Mountain Gun. I made a 220 yard off hand shot @ a steel ram w/ this one! A Lee 230 TC, Alox lube, over 9 grains of Herco

[Bzcraig]

Sweeeeet

[John Allen]

I have been wanting one of these for a while now.

[jmsj]

Very nice!

[contender1]

Today must be THE DAY for S&W model 25-2 guns! I just bought one tonight at an auction. Mine is also a 6-1/2" gun, and is in excellent condition. Luckily, I have some moons already, and a bucket full of 45 acp ammo. If the rain lets me out tomorrow,,, I'm gonna try mine out!
Love Life,, you & I are the ones SMILING today. And, my wife was with me as I bought this. Actually she watched me buy this gun, as well as a color case hardened Ruger Bisley Vaquero in 45 Colt, in the box, with the icing tonight being 2 pistol scopes. One Burris & one Bausch & Lomb! I spent almost $1400 total after fees & taxes,,, & my wife STOPPED bidding on a nice Baby Grand piano as she felt it was "too much" at $950.

[monadnock#5]

One aspect of owning my 625-8 that I really like is that it gives me the opportunity to try many more boolit weights and profiles in my .45 auto's. If they cause more stoppages in the auto's than the load is worth, the revolver will eat them up with no further drama. Good luck with yours.

[Garyshome]

Great find!

[Pepe Ray]

P.M. coming atcha.
Pepe Ray

[Thumbcocker]

Lyman 200 grn swc 452460? over 6.0 of 231 (max load in lyman manual) makes my model of 1989 shoot like it has eyes.

[bob208]

what is all this great gun i had one wish i had kept it ? if it is good and shoots good. selling would be like selling one of the family or a body part.

[Animal]

Nice purchase! I was looking for a wheelgun in .45acp recently, but I wasn't pleased with the options available to me at the time. I fell back on the old reliable .44 special. It isn't a .45acp, but it has enough of every aspect to please my craving for a heavy, slow boolit!

[GBertolet]

You were very fortunate to find one with .452 cylinder throats. Many are .455-.456.

[square butte]

And many are larger than that. I had one at one time that measured .457 - .458

[daniel lawecki]

Mine is a S&W is a auto rim 25-2 target hammer and trigger late 70s. It only see's 45acp 200SWC same load as my Springfield and Colt 1911s. Enjoy they are really fun to shoot and accurate.

[Love Life]

There are just too many designs to play with!

I plan to start off using the NOE 230 gr RN (H&G 34 clone), the Hardline Industries 230 gr RN grooveless boolit, and I have some 230 gr RN plated bullets as well.

I will be pm'ing a member here to try the 453423. I really want to try the H&G 68 and H&G 130, but alas I have to take baby steps here.

Ideally, it would be great if I could find a really good load that the revolver and the Glock like and shoot accurately.

[daniel lawecki]

I shoot the H&G 68 SWC that's my go to bullet. Shot thousands and thousands of these with Clays 231 Red Dot but my fav is good old Clays. Clean burning no smoke and high mileage a little goes a long way. Now lube with Randy's Rats new Tac X my new lube for all my handguns.[smilie=w:

[Love Life]

There is a matched pair of H&G 34 moulds for sale on Ebay...

[Coyote3]

That is quite a find. The wife and the pistol, that is.

[Love Life]

The Mrs. has an eye for these things. I was on the way to the combat Tupperware counter when she saw this one.

Years ago her dad said I could have her if I took care of her. Sheeoot, best deal I ever made!!!

[MtGun44]

Two good deals . . . . . the Mrs. and the S&W, both gems, although the
Mrs. is likely more irreplaceable. Lucky man.

Bill

[earplug]

Sweet revolver, prior owner set it up for DA shooting. Your lucky. The wide target trigger is a hinderance to DA shooting. I enjoy several 625-8's but there not as pretty as yours. Check out RIMZ moon clips if you get tired of messing with demooning tools.

[Shooter6br]

Love mine . Wanted to get one for a long time 45 acp is a great pistol load115805

[jeepyj]

Very nice find. Also nice to have that spousal support! Interestingly the same day you posted this I shot a "New to Me" Thunder Ranch model 22. It seems to shoot really well now I have to fine tune the Boolit that satisfies my plinking needs. I'm not sure how I feel about the fixed sights.
Jeepyj

[Thumbcocker]

If you decide to load .45 AR on a Dillion you can turn teh .45 colt shellplate upside down and save having to buy an AR shell plate.

[M-Tecs]

You were very fortunate to find one with .452 cylinder throats. Many are .455-.456.

The one I had had one chamber that went .459" The rest .455"-.456. Replaced it with a 625. Great finding one with proper sized throat.

[Pepe Ray]

So--- Lovelife,
You're not interested in my offer
OR
You don't pay attention to your P.M.'s
Which?
Pepe Ray

[Char-Gar]

I have had four 25-2s over the years. Before they went to the model numbers, it was the "1955 Target Model" which was just the "1950 Target Model" with a heavy straight barrel.

None of these had .452 cylinder throats. They all are larger than .455, most often .456 and a tad more. They will do their best with cast bullets larger than .452. On most molds for the 45 ACP or 45 Auto Rim that means unsized for as much diameter as you can get. I run whatever bullet through a .454 sizing die just to lube the bullets.

A good all purpose load is the old Elmer Keith/Skeeter Skelton load of 452423 240+ grain SWC over 7.5/Unique. I load produces 925 fps out of a 4" barrel and 1,080 out of a 6" barrel. For just fun shooting 4.5/Bulleye is just the ticket.

I am down to just one of these sixguns now and it has the barrel chopped to 4". It is a wonderful all purpose sixgun.

[Love Life]

So--- Lovelife,
You're not interested in my offer
OR
You don't pay attention to your P.M.'s
Which?
Pepe Ray

I don't pay attention to my pm's.

[Love Life]

I have had four 25-2s over the years. Before they went to the model numbers, it was the "1955 Target Model" which was just the "1950 Target Model" with a heavy straight barrel.

None of these had .452 cylinder throats. They all are larger than .455, most often .456 and a tad more. They will do their best with cast bullets larger than .452. On most molds for the 45 ACP or 45 Auto Rim that means unsized for as much diameter as you can get. I run whatever bullet through a .454 sizing die just to lube the bullets.

A good all purpose load is the old Elmer Keith/Skeeter Skelton load of 452423 240+ grain SWC over 7.5/Unique. I load produces 925 fps out of a 4" barrel and 1,080 out of a 6" barrel. For just fun shooting 4.5/Bulleye is just the ticket.

I am down to just one of these sixguns now and it has the barrel chopped to 4". It is a wonderful all purpose sixgun.

Great information and beautiful gun!! I'd love to have one with 4 inch barrel, but I'll leave this one alone.

It's hard to tell from your picture, but did you roll crimp the 452423?

[Char-Gar]

Yes, a roll crimp.

[Love Life]

Thank you.

[Love Life]

Sweet revolver, prior owner set it up for DA shooting. Your lucky. The wide target trigger is a hinderance to DA shooting. I enjoy several 625-8's but there not as pretty as yours. Check out RIMZ moon clips if you get tired of messing with demooning tools.

When I picked it up, the overtravel screw was adjusted to where you could not cock the hammer and fire the gun in SA.

I turned the screw out a bit so now I have SA and DA.

[Love Life]

I got the 25-2 to the range yesterday and was pleased. Chews out bullseyes at 25 yds with cast LRN, and plated rn boolits. I have some 452423 cast up to play with next.