The N-Frame S&W is one of those guns that I cannot seem to live without. I once owned several and decided they were something I didn’t need. It seems that I was incorrect, because I needed this one.
The big guns feel good in my hands and the ones I prefer have big, jug-sized charge holes in the cylinder. I love the blued ones, best, but cannot turn a cross eye to a stainless or nickel gun. A gun chambered in .45 Colt that had been cut for moon clips was a very interesting proposition for me. It was just such a gun that I happened upon on Gunbroker and it was at a local shop.
When I first laid my gaze on this Model 25, I admired the worn bluing and the nicks in the stocks. The previous owner had painted the upper portion of the front sight orange and it was advertised as having been customized at TK Custom.
When I tried the action, I immediately guessed that it would not pop primers on moon-clipped .45 ACP but I bought it anyway. I figured re-springing it would fix it right up. So far, it hasn’t failed to pop any primer it has been fed, moon clip or not.
My last overseas deployment with the National Guard had gotten me thinking of how efficient a double action revolver is for practice. I know I spent far more time in the police academy pressing through the double action trigger on my GP100 dry than live. Dry and live practice are the same motions, after all.
To put that into practice, I bought and carried a S&W 625JM for 9 months in the 2009-10 timeframe as a night shift patrol officer. Because I was trained to keep 1911s topped up, I had 4 full moon clips on my belt to allow me to do several loads. There is no reinserting a moon clip with empty cases, so all the live ones are lost with the empties when you top up the gun. I did have half-moons in the gun, with four more in my pocket, in case I had time and wanted to partial load the gun that way. I greatly enjoyed my return to “The Wheel” when guns with frames made of steel or aluminum were quickly disappearing from police holsters. Handling this 25 Mountain Gun reminded me of those days.
Of course, it isn’t perfect. .45ACP shoots patterns out of this .45 Colt gun. This gun was made after S&W reportedly moved to the .451-2 throats on all .45 caliber guns and I have not spent any time on trying to solve the accuracy issue with ACP. I have used .45 Auto range fodder with moon clips at 10 yards on steel for the most part. I will see if I can solve this at some point.
Steve liked .44 Special best but he had some .45 Colts and I shot some of his handloaded 255 Keade CSWC over 8.0 of Unique for this post. I have always preferred .45 Colt over the other big bore calibers. A 250-270 gr .45 Colt at 900 fps will do anything that I need to do and loading that same bullet down 150fps is just a joy to shoot.
Steve and I both shot quite a few animals with handguns and were I going to shoot a “trophy” then this would be neck and neck with my USFA Single Action for which one I would pick for the deed. That USFA probably has a lot to do with .45 Colt being my favorite.
I would not hesitate to carry this gun and intend to get Rob Leahy at Simply Rugged to make me a holster for it, in case the need arises. In that vein, I did some shooting with some loads that might stop within a two-legged attacker. Most of these loads are very lightly loaded as the manufacturers stay well within SAAMI due to the antique revolvers which might be fed their ammunition. I also shot a load for “bears” or whatever (more likely a mad bull for me).
The Winchester PDX1 I have had for about 10 years. It went into under 2 inches at 25 yards. I don’t have much of it left and will need to look around to see what else might be available. In the meantime, it looks like a good choice for a carry load. The “Heavy” regular pressure Buffalo Bore load has been in my stash at least as long as the Winchester and I guess it would do if Ursine threats move into my area.
You will see this one again as I find some more “carry” type loads to test and attempt to diagnose the issue with .45 ACP.
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