Need a huge favor from a S&W 625 owner (measurement)

[.45Cole]

Can someone please post the dimension of the chamber in your cylinder, preferable with a plug/pin gauge; but I'll take whatever you can supply. Thanks in advance!

Horror Story:
I have a great 625-4 I took to a local smith that seemed proficient with revolvers with instructions to do an action job and chamfer the charge holes. Got a hefty bill and great trigger pull (with some FTF's) but he bored out the chambers rather than chamfer the chambers:groner:

Recently got out my handloads with WLP primers and couldn't get one to touch off (even in single action). That with the smoked cases and difficulty in loading SWC moon clips pushed me over the edge. I'll take the difference in an original chamber to my plug gauge chambers and request another cylinder be ordered.

[BK7saum]

Man, that stinks. I have a set of pin gauges but no S&W 625 revolver. I'll ask around but don't know of anyone who has one offhand. Bump for your search and best of luck on your repair. Brad

[Outpost75]

625 requires clips for ACP brass to headspace properly. If you use ACP brass without clips it WILL misfire!

Alternative is to use Auto Rim brass or trade it for a 1955 Target which headspaces ACP brass properly without the clip. My 625 Model of 1989 had .455 cylinder throats and needed .454 bullets because rounds wuth .455 bullets would not chamber. Sold the gun and bought a 1950 Military with which I am happy. Good luck.

[M-Tecs]

I have two 625's Model of 1989. I don't have chamber measurements but I do have throat measurements. One is .4525 to .453. The other one is .453 to 4535. One headspaces ACP brass properly without clips. The other has three chambers that are too deep. Both always fire without clips but the one with the three deep chambers leaves a nipple on the primer in the deep chambers that will sometimes lock the cylinder rotation.

Your smith needs to fix this. Good luck getting a new cylinder out of S&W.

[1845greyhounds]

I'm not sure if this is what you need, but my 625-4 cylinder length is 1.5395" long and the forcing cone-to-frame gap is 1.644". If you need something different, post exactly what it is (maybe include a picture of a sketch).

157488

[BK7saum]

He is asking for the internal diameter of each chamber of the cylinder. The smith made them larger and or deeper and he is trying to ascertain exactly how much.

[.45Cole]

BK7saum is right on the money. He actually only bored the chamber and a .45auto still correctly headspaces on the rim and fires (if it has soft primers!).
I need the diameter of the holes at the extractor end of the cylinder (the chamber) probably 0.5" into the chamber.


1845greyhounds-because I can tell you're an engineer!-thanks for the drawing!
157496157497
D1= chamber diameter (measured a little into the chamber) What I need
D2=throats, critical for cast boolit accuracy (0.453"ish)

[.45Cole]

Have any of you guys had work done by S&W performance center? I am wondering if they will really produce a light trigger pull on the pistol. Any recommendations? I was also looking at Clark Custom.

[Boolit_Head]

In the late 80's I had a 686 that was worked on my our department Smith. Long story short he was investigating why one cylinder was a stiffer trigger pull than the rest. Hit the star on the extractor a few times with a stone before we noticed the extractor rod had a slight wobble to it. After the rod was straightened it started skipping. Off to Smith it went and when I got it back I found that since they knew it was a LE pistol they had run it through the custom shop and fit a new star. It also had the best trigger we had ever seen on a floating hand revolver. They didn't lighten it but it was as smooth as butter. I still have that pistol in my safe to this day and it's still my favorite revolver.

I'm off to the garage to load a few 357, I need to get to the range with it for old times sake.

[Artful]

Nelson E. Ford is a good wheel master.
He's been in business at that same location for over 25 years and enjoys a hard-earned great reputation.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-smithing/271813-need-az-gunsmith-phx.html
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-smithing/71298-nelson-ford-gunsmith-inc.html

http://thegunsmith.com/


The Gunsmith, Inc.


10210 North 32nd Street


Phoenix, AZ. 85028


602-992-0050

[1845greyhounds]

1845greyhounds-because I can tell you're an engineer!-thanks for the drawing!

D1= chamber diameter (measured a little into the chamber) What I need
D2=throats, critical for cast boolit accuracy (0.453"ish)

Lol, is it that obvious!?

I measured my cylinder with a caliper (it has sharp jaws, so the cosine error should be negligible). My D1 values with the caliper jaws fully inserted (about 1/2" deep) ranged from 0.476-0.477".

My D2 values were all 0.452".

Also, my ejector star does not obscure the chamber diameter at all. It's slight recessed (larger radius than chamber). https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160107/9da8170d33155b18218f97bbb5aa1c44.jpg

[.45Cole]

Thanks 1845greyhounds! Takes one to know one (and there are a lot of engineers on here)- chemE. Nice sixgun!

Artful-I had been looking at Nelson a long time ago forgot all about him. I think I'll go with him.

[M-Tecs]

Using Federal primers should help with the FTF. Just boring the chambers is very odd. Honing chambers for easier extraction is very common. Properly done honing only removes a couple of tenths. The smoked cases indicate the lack of sealing. This could be from too low of a pressure load or a large chamber or both. Did you shot the loads that are smoking before the work was done?

[Char-Gar]

My 625 will not fire with ACP cases unless they are in clips. These revolvers were made for rapid reloading with clips, for several shooting sports and the forcing cone has a very pronounced taper/chamfer to it, to allow quick reloading. These are quite different from the broad headspace ledge in the 1917s, 1950 and 1955 Target Models.

[Groo]

Groo here
Get some good blackhills 45AR or match 45acp
put it on a rest and test it.
Ps, you may need to put a longer firing pin [Cylinder & Slide $15]
as the length is lawyer proofed and some are a "hair" short.

[.45Cole]

I called Nelson Ford today and he says he can take care of it, if the chambers are too big we'll replace the cylinder. He can do an action job and he test fires every gun so he'll have a trigger pull weight he can get down to and reliably fire primers to his satisfaction (which I'll have to rely upon until I get it back). I'll post results so you all can avoid my pitfall.

[M-Tecs]

What are your chamber diameters?