Accurate CB load for 25-2

[Jtarm]

Anybody got an accurate recipe for a 25-2 with the typical oversized throats? They run about .4545 while the bore appears to be about .451.

Yeah, not a good combo, plus the the shallow rifling.

[Outpost75]

Not for S&W 25-2, but I have three Colt New Service revolvers in .455, .45 ACP and .45 Colt which all have very large cylinder throats. For shallow rifling keep loads mild, around 750 fps with soft alloy. I use 1:40 tin-lead from Roto Metals.

Tom Ellis at Accurate molds made for me two designs which are optimized for the .455 and .45 Colt New Service, as well as the Colt and S&W M1917 .45 ACPs, which typically have large cylinder throats.

The 45-264D was designed especially for the .455 MkII Starline cases. It has a full-diameter front driving band above the crimp groove which reduces "jump" of bullets when the shorter Starline case fired in the longer Colt .455 Eley chamber. Accuracy is splendid!

This bullet also works very well in the .45 Auto Rim or .45 ACP with 4 grains of Bullseye, TiteGroup, WST or 452AA. Its nose length works perfectly OK in the Ruger Vaquero .45 Colts, which have longer cylinders, but is too long for older Colt SAAs or clones. In the .455 I use 3.5 grains of Bullseye in the Webley MKVI, 4 grains in the Colt New Service and S&W .455 HE. I use 4.5 grains of Bullseye in the S&W Model 25-5 .45 Auto Rim and .45 ACP Hand Ejector Military Model of 1950.

The 45-264H has a shorter .375" nose length which fits the cylinder length of original Colt SAAs in .45 Colt and the New Service M1909 and matches factory load velocity with 6.5 grains of Bullseye. It is OK to increase the charge to 7 grains of Bullseye in Gen3 Colts, Uberti and Pietta clones and Ruger New Model Vaquero, but treat the older guns gently.

254034254035254036

[USSR]

I have both a 25-2 and 25-5 with the large throats. I have several MP Mold bullets that I size to .455" and use. With the shallow rifling of the 25-2, cast them hard. I use Lyman #2 alloy a lot for that purpose. Hope that helps.

Don

[Groo]

Groo here
Get some hollow base bullets.[Hornidy,Speer]
Make sure the lead is soft not "hard cast".

[scattershot]

I have had good luck with the Remington .454 bullets. They are very soft, and obturate to fill the chamber mouths. I was going to experiment with some resized 45/70 lead bullets, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

[Patrick L]

My 25-2 shoots my normal .45 ACP load of 3.5 Bullseye and a 200 or even 185 gr SWC into one big ragged hole at 50 feet, and not much more at 25 yards. And yes I have oversized throats and a normal bore. I think that "problem" is really over rated. I size my boolits .452 and concentrate on the front sight.

[oldsalt444]

I have a model 25 no dash that I use in bullseye competition. My 50 yard load is 4.4 gr VV N310 with a 185 gr Remington FMJ SWC in 45 AR cases. 4.8 gr Bullseye also works very well with any FMJ SWC 185 or 200 gr. This is a stiff load for competition use where you're shooting a lot of rounds. Fortunately the 50 yard slow fire stage is just 30 rounds. For the remaining 60 rounds at 25 yards, I use a much softer recoiling load for use in timed and rapid fire. 3.2 gr Red Dot with Matt's 165 gr full wadcutter in 45 ACP cases in moon clips. https://www.mattsbullets.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=71&products_id=296&zenid=gjpnomuft1gjt44539a0pknlc3 I ask them to size the bullets to .454 since my throats pin guage out to .455. Light bullet + light charge = light recoil. Both loads are VERY accurate.

[Larry Gibson]

I've had quite a few M1917 S&W and Colts along with a couple M25s. I never shot competition with the 45 Revolver though. I did do quite a bit of accuracy testing with several cast bullets in a M1917 and a M25 using a Ransom rest back in the '70s. I found a hard cast (Lyman #2 or linotype) FB'd cast bullet of 190 - 205 gr sized .452, lubed with Javelina and loaded over 5 gr Bullseye proved to be the most accurate load in both revolvers. I tested bullets Lee, Lyman and H&G 68s sized .451, .452, and .454. I also did extensive testing of commercial hard cast H&G 68s comparing accuracy of both FB'd and BB'd over the same load sized at the same 3 sizes. The FB'd always proved more accurate with 24 shot groups (4 times around the cylinder).

[Catshooter]

What I did with mine (.455 throats) was bought a 454424 mould. Mine would drop 'em at around .456 + and I sized 'em in a .456 die. Worked very well.


Cat

[azrednek]

Years ago I surprised my self using the Lee mold intended for the Ruger black powder revolver # 456/220 (I think) as as dropped rolled in Lee goo and dusted with motor mica. Shot it in an old and worn rough bore 1937 Brazilian contract S&W 1917 revolver. I’m guessing, been a lot of years ago 4 or 4.5 Bullseye. I can’t remember the range but likely 15-20 yards but I do recall my loud expletive after looking at a tight cluster. Along the way I discovered the PIA to use Lyman 450 hollow base was also impressive. I can’t even speculate of the lead mix. It was so long ago and I had more clip-ons that at the time thought I’d never run out. My best guess would be straight clip-ons.

That old revolver didn’t do to well with either factory FMJ’s or the various other home cast or store-bought jacketed bullets. For some reason the molds intended for C&B revolvers worked great.

[35 Whelen]

Both of the S&W 1917's I bought had over-size throats and the two things I found that helped. One was using RN or RNFP-type bullets, as they seem to align with the forcing cone more easily than bullets such as SWC's, and the other was to water drop the bullets, hardening them, which would allow bullets in the .452"-.453" range to work.

https://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/1917%20Smith%20and%20Wesson/1917%20SampW%20Handloads%20group%20labeled-a_zps83cxvttf.jpg (https://s60.photobucket.com/user/308Scout/media/1917%20Smith%20and%20Wesson/1917%20SampW%20Handloads%20group%20labeled-a_zps83cxvttf.jpg.html)

As far as loads for your 45 Colt, as long as you're not wanting any heavy loads, I'd look no further than Red Dot or 700-X. I was loading 6.5 grs. of either and getting 850 +/- fps with bullets from either the 454190 or 454424 mold. I backed off the Red Dot load to 6.2 as 6.5 was actually about .3 over max, although I never had a single problem in any of my Uberti's or my USFA. Anyhow, either load is very accurate.

https://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/Single%20Actions/Uberti%20Frisco/Frisco%2050%20yds.%20MBC_zpsxyczyz2g.jpg (https://s60.photobucket.com/user/308Scout/media/Single%20Actions/Uberti%20Frisco/Frisco%2050%20yds.%20MBC_zpsxyczyz2g.jpg.html)

https://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/Single%20Actions/Uberti%20Frisco/250%20gr%20RNFP%2075%20yds_zpsaibbgrty.jpg (https://s60.photobucket.com/user/308Scout/media/Single%20Actions/Uberti%20Frisco/250%20gr%20RNFP%2075%20yds_zpsaibbgrty.jpg.html)

https://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/Single%20Actions/Uberti%20Frisco/Frisco%2075%20yds%20454424%201%20edit_zpsu7qgbxu6. jpg (https://s60.photobucket.com/user/308Scout/media/Single%20Actions/Uberti%20Frisco/Frisco%2075%20yds%20454424%201%20edit_zpsu7qgbxu6. jpg.html)

https://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/Single%20Actions/Uberti%20Frisco/Frisco%2075%20yds%20454424%202%20edit_zpsot849fme. jpg (https://s60.photobucket.com/user/308Scout/media/Single%20Actions/Uberti%20Frisco/Frisco%2075%20yds%20454424%202%20edit_zpsot849fme. jpg.html)

35W