New to me S&W 25-5

[warboar_21]

Gents,

I just picked up a new to me S&W 25-5 and am looking for recommendations on loading. I have on hand the Lyman Devistator, Lyman 250gr gas check SWC, Lyman 335gr, Lee 300gr, RCBS 230gr CB, a Lee 230gr round nose, and just ordered a Lee 452-255-RF mold. I'm looking to the new Lee mold for large volume of bullets. Does anyone have any experience shooting the 452-255? Likes? dislikes? Anyone have a favorite load for it?

I know the 8.5-9gr of unique is the gold standard and it's what I mostly use in my other 45s.

Any particular loads that shine in the 25?

Recommendations for a good woods load?

Where can I safely load to as upper limits? I know Linebaugh wrote an article but it's nowhere to be read online and his website only lists loads for Rugers.

Any help would be appreciated.

[scattershot]

Loading info for the .45 Colt is everywhere, but for the best accuracy check your cylinder throats. Mine run .456+, and work best with soft .454 bullets, or jacketed.

[warboar_21]

Thanks.


I will measure the cylinder throats and go from there. Is it common for them to be oversized?

[rintinglen]

Years ago, I sold mine due to issues with large throats and poor accuracy. At the time, I did not know of the relationship between cylinder throats and bullet diameter and was still listening to a certain old time cowpoke who said to size to groove diameter.

[ShooterAZ]

I'm partial to the Lyman 454424. I use it in both the 45 Colt, and the 45AR. Noe has a clone of it as well. Unique is really hard to beat in the 45 Colt, the Lyman manuals show 8.5 grains of Unique as a top end load for this particular boolit.

[TMB]

I been using 9gr Unique with Lee 252gr semi wad cutter sized with Lee 452 sizer. Also just got a Lee 255gr flat nose but haven't made any yet. Have used 250gr RNFP Oregon trail silver bullets in past also with 9gr of Unique.

My 25-5 45 Colt does not have over size throats, my 45acp 25-2's are larger and the 452 bullets will fall thru, but still shoots pretty good with 230gr RNFP.

[Gray Fox]

The Linebaugh load he likes in an S&W 25-5 is 8.0 of Win 231 and a 250-260 grain boolit. I use that load with the Lee 255 RNFP sized to .452 in Starline brass and have had great results. My Rossi and Marlin lever guns shoot it well also. My SASS cowboy load I shot for 10 years was 1.5 grains less and worked great in the rifles and Vaqueros. I lube with LLA or 45-45-10. GF

[30calflash]

IIRC the older 25-5's had he large throats as mentioned. Later ones were better, closer to standard.

It's best to measure them and use a proper fit bullet.

[Bakebfr480]

8.5 grains of Unique with Elmer’s 454424 works great in my 25-5’s.

[Bigslug]

Provided it fits your throats, I see no reason at all why you shouldn't roll with your 6-cavity Lee. If they need to drop a little fatter, add tin. That general nose profile has become my "go to". I'd run Unique up to about 900-1000 fps and call it a day. There's very little walking this earth that wouldn't solve, and it solves it without beating up you or the gun.

[warboar_21]

Just finished measuring the throats of my cylinder and the best I came up with is between .452-.453ish with my calipers and then pushing a .452ish unlubricated bullet through. The coated ones that measured just shy of .454 don't go.
I measured after scrubbing with a brass brush and cleaning patches.

So now I don't have to change anything with different bullets, which is a good thing. Just need time to cast up a bunch so I can reload all of my 45 Colt brass. I thought I had a bunch more stored away than I did. Seems I have been shooting it more than loading it.

I do know that it's pretty accurate since I was able to swing the 3" steel plate with the first six shots at 25yds using some old Winchester 225gr jacketed ammo that a friend gave to me several years ago. I missed once with the 250gr SWC on the second cylinder.

I cut my range trip short as I had my first squib load in almost 30 years of loading. Not sure if it was a bad primer or what because the powder didn't burn but fell out between the cylinder when I pointed the gun downward. Bullet was lodged just inside the forcing cone and I didn't have anything long enough to dislodge it. Now I have to wonder if the rest of the rounds I have loaded are also faulty.

[jreidthompson1]

One of Linebaugh's articles on the model 25

https://web.archive.org/web/20180525063939/http://www.handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=12

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[warboar_21]

Thank you for the link to the Linebaugh article. That was very informative. I didn't know that they could take the Ruger loads. Not that i'll try them in it but it's nice to know they could if it was needed.

Since I still have about 7lbs of Unique I believe I will stick with it and not exceed 8-8.5gr. If for some reason it doesn't shoot i'll look for a different combination.

[jreidthompson1]

Also

https://web.archive.org/web/20170531173355/http://www.customsixguns.com:80/writings.htm

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[TheDoctor]

The heavy loads, while they can take them, would use them sparingly, if at all.

[StrawHat]

I used the Lee boolit cast from 20/1 and sized it to .454. Loaded that boolit over 8.5 grains of Unique for a while and then switched to 3f black powder. Both loads shot well and accounted for several Ohio white tailed deer.

Kevin

[HWooldridge]

A friend of mine has owned one of the early pinned barrel versions for about 20 years. It is a tack driver, and he has killed a multitude of feral hogs and a few coyotes with it. I don't know what the bore ID is but he shoots a .452 Keith style at 255 grs with 15 gr of Blue Dot. From what I've read, it appears he got lucky since many of the old ones won't shoot well.

[warboar_21]

Mine is also pinned so i'm guessing i'm lucky as well because the cylinder throats are not oversized and the gun shoots well with bullets sized at .452 that I was using from my other 45s.

I tried looking up the date on S&W website and it came back with an error and didn't show anything. So i'm thinking it's early 80's.

[scattershot]

Try the 250 grain bullet with 6.5 grains of Red Dot. I didn’t notice any difference between that and 6.0 grains, so that’s what I shoot now. Glad your chambers are in spec. Happy shooting!

[warboar_21]

My mold came in today but won't have the chance to do any casting for a couple of weeks. Looks like it's going to be a nice bullet.

[DocSavage]

I wouldn't run real heavy loads thru a mod 25 45 Colt cylinder walls are thin and the cut for lock up are in the middle fo the chamber which means even less support.
I had a 25 in 45 Colt at one time and ran warm loads in the 1000fps department. Any hotter than that get a Blackhawk,Redhawk,Super Redhawk or Freedom Arms.

[jreidthompson1]

Linebaugh states
"It may surprise many but the cylinder on the S&W .45 Colt is the same diameter as the Ruger Blackhawk. The webs (between chambers) and outside chamber
wall are also the same. So basically the Ruger and S&W cylinders are identical in strength and dimension." His biggest issue with the s&w is the frame strength and small parts in the mechanism

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[Dan Cash]

Where can I safely load to as upper limits? ===========

Do not exceed standard .45 Colt load for the 25-5. You will bend your gun. An inadvertent "Ruger" load surely fixed mine.

[Crow_Eater]

I've loaded thousands of rounds, almost all cast bullets, for my M-25-5 with pretty consistent accuracy. By that I mean 2.0 - 2.5 inches at 25 yards offhand. For me the best loads with 250 - 255 LRN or SWC were 6.0 - 6.5 of Red Dot, 7.0 - 7.5 PB (burned very clean; unfortunately Porous Base is no longer being made), +- 18.5 gr of H-4227 (now the same as IMR-4227, check info for that) and bringing up the rear, about 11.0 of HS-6 or AA #5. These are all pretty much standard pressure loads. I've generally preferred the big SWC bullets.
It seemed to help accuracy if I ran the brass into a 45 ACP die (after normal resizing) just enough to squeeze the cases down to grip the smaller bullets (.452 or less) more firmly. Sometimes an unsightly bulge resulted, but unsightliness doesn't cause cancer.
I've shot some 225 - 235 FP or LRN lead ACP bullets, with varying degrees of success (best was with 233 LRN over 6.6 gr Red Dot). A 240 gr AutoRim SWC over 18.5 gr 2400 showed some promise.
I have never once loaded Unique or Bullseye for the .45 Colt, just because when I got my M 25, those were the only powders and loads (Unique 8.0-8.5 or Bullseye 5.4-6.0) all the gun hacks recommended, blah blah blah, ad nauseam (they continue to be recommended, so I will defer to those with experience of them). All this was years before CAS resulted in a new wave of popularity for the old Colt, and new loads and bullets.
I'd say resist the impulse to push your M 25 too hard. They're great guns and mine is a real favorite I want to continue to be around to shoot for a long time to come.

[rkcohen]

scatter hit the nail on the head first when he mentioned measuring your throats.

blade type measurement may not be as accurate as plug (or pin depending where/who you talk to) gauges.

i have a couple of s&w 45 colts but have no use for trying to push those guns..

i've run the gamut from the keith-lyman 454429 mold thru the 270gr hunters supply bullet before finally finding my current "goldilocks" bullet, a rcbs 45 270saa slug that typically weighs in at 280 and is a dandy load when shot over 9gr of unique or a load of 11gr of longshot. both of these loads are over the 14k saami standard for the 45colt but well below the 21k psi saami standard for 45acp - the recent brian pearce article addresses this power range specifically. the bottom line is that this load/bullet driven 950-1000 fps is an outstanding balance of accuracy and power in my smiths without the concerns about how much they can take before the guy to my left or right picks pieces of steel out of his face....

[nicholst55]

Measuring chamber throats with calipers is bound to give you inaccurate readings. You would do best to either use pin gages, or slug them. Measure the slugs with a micrometer, not 'very-near' calipers.

[murf205]

My 25-5 was born in 1988 and consequently it is one of the tighter throat guns at .451 and a .451 barrel, so I size .4505, thanks to a Lyman .450 die that is .0005 larger. I have not shot the 255 RF but my best load for that gun is a 252 SWC Lee. It is really good with 7grs of Green Dot, 11grs of HS-6 and 9grs of unique. My gun does not particularly like heavier boolits or Accurate #5 powder but for the way is shoots the normal velocity and boolit weight 45 loads, I will not try to force feed it. I do have a 253 gr mold by Accurate Molds that my 625-3 really took a shine to and I suspect that it will hit pretty hard judging by the meplat.299585299586

[murf205]

You can pretty much count on the barrels of 25-5's being .451 but I would get some pin gages for the cylinders for sure. I was surprised at how handy they were/are and the Meyer Gage co sells individual pins for under $5 each. In fact I have the 2022 catalogue and the individual pins in class "Z" are $4.06 each for sizes under .505 and they have a tolerance of .0001. I bought .450 through .458 and that will pretty much cover 45's. A lot of people have great success pushing soft boolits through the throats and micing them but I am a tool junkie and just love knowing exactly what the measurement is. Good luck with that 25-5 and let us know the progress.

[oldhenry]

At one time I owned 3 of the pinned bb. 25-5: 8 3/8", 6 1/2" & 4". I probably shot more of the 452374 Lyman 230 RN through those guns over 7.0 of PB. Now I use 7.0 HP-38 (I really miss the PB). I use the same powder charge with the Lyman 452488, H&G 068 & recently with the Accurate 45-200E.

I only have the 4" now & heavy loads are not fun. With the 8 3/8" I used the Lyman 452424 over 8.5 of Unique for bowling pin matches only (the long bbl. tamed down the recoil). In the '90's I shot IPSC with the 4". At that time PB was available & 7.0 over the 230RN did the job & speed loaded perfectly.

I'm of the opinion that moderate loads are best.

Congratulation on acquiring a great handgun.

[R-71]

I had a 25 mountain gun 20 years ago and ran some ruger loads through it from time to time. It handled them just fine. Mine was cursed with oversized throats and would give mediocre accuracy with anything but the fattest lead bullet I could find. At the time Remington sold the 250 grain pointed bullet like the factory load, the diameter was .455 and is shot great.

[30calflash]

I wouldn't run real heavy loads thru a mod 25 45 Colt cylinder walls are thin and the cut for lock up are in the middle fo the chamber which means even less support.
I had a 25 in 45 Colt at one time and ran warm loads in the 1000fps department. Any hotter than that get a Blackhawk,Redhawk,Super Redhawk or Freedom Arms.

I concur, you don't want to push it hard with heavy loads. They're not that easy to find and parts are drying up. Get a Ruger for Linebaugh level loads.

You may find some older 25-5's around with correct size throats. S&W offered a replacement cylinder option if you sent the gun in for the update. I didn't with mine, just loaded it accordingly. I would think S&W marked the cylinder if it was replaced, like they did on some 624's from years past.

[Ziptar]

Pinned barrel 25-5s with serial numbers starting with the letter "N" followed by six digits will have oversized throats unless they've been corrected after leaving the factory. A production change in 1982 deleted the pinned barrel and the throat size was corrected to .451 at that time. Beginning with that production serial numbers also changed and begin with the letter "A" followed by two more letters and 4 digits, ABCnnnn. Examples of each.
300007

I have a 6" 25-9, it's basically a 25-5 that got the same "Endurance Package" the Model 29s received. deeper cylinder locking slots, improved bolt, improved/strengthened trigger & hammer (but not the MIM hammer and trigger). I have a Mihec clone of the RCBS 45-270-SAA I bought in a group by here a dozen years ago or so, it drops ~285 grains with range scrap. Sized to .452 with 9 grains of Unique it's perfection in the 25-9.

Technically Model 25s will handle Ruger only loads and I've tried a few. I wouldn't feed it a steady diet of them over the long term, it's just not up for it. Don't beat a fine old S&W to death, get a Redhawk. :-P