Hey guys. Today at a SASS match a guy showed me a .45acp S&W M25-2 with a 2" Pinned barrel and N-serial number. The side of the barrel had no markings. It was a round butt. It had a wide, smooth, target size trigger and target hammer.

I've looked at Blue Book of Gun Values (I keep an online subscription), Standard Catalog of S&W (3rd ed), Gun Broker, Auction Arms, and can't find any mention of this ever being manufactured.

I looked closely and couldn't see any evidence that the barrel was cut down and/or re-blued. Gun was about 80%, with some slight pitting. He was interested in the value and asked me because I'm a collector.......I'm stumped.

Anyone know what this might be?

Sounds like a chop job.

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S&W Accumulator

John Jovino cutdown some .45 revolvers to 2" and rounded the butt.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

So...I googled John Jovino. Came across a thread on the Calguns.net forum. In the thread was a photo of a Jovino M57....I'm a 41 guy and I now have a new quest for the safe....that looks exactly like the 25-2 I saw at the match, right down to the smooth target trigger. Grips were identical as well. I actually asked the gun's owner whether he had the original wood - which it may have never sported as it turns out.

Real shame the gun wasn't properly cared for. Could have been a real jewel.

A number of 'smiths were cutting down big bore N frames back in the day and they can look very similar. I have an Austin Behlert 25-2, beautiful gun, very nice work. The "package" was the chopped barrel, grip frame modified to K round butt size (I read a post by Austin Behlert that said he would cut and reweld them to M15 dimemsions), smoothed target trigger, trimmed target hammer, and, of course, an acion job. Some Behlert guns got rear sight of his own design.

Here's a link to a .41mag Behlert gun that recently sold on gunbroker. This one was actually marked as a Behlert gun, not many guns are marked so unless the seller has a good history you don't always know who your gun was built by. I was the second highest bidder on this one, hated to miss out on it but someone else had more money. There are several pics that are worth looking at, here's a link to the completed auction page - Smith & Wesson Model 57 .41 Magnum "Behlert Custom : Revolvers at GunBroker.com

This is my gun-

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Don't kiss smiling dogs!

BTW, Mag-na-port still offers a similar package for N frames, I'm sure they'd do it without ports if you wanted-

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Don't kiss smiling dogs!

WC, my mouth starts watering every time you post pics of that gun. Very nice.

Many moons ago, I remember a distribitor in the shotgun news selling a limited edition of a M25 short barrel revolver. I think it was Hortons . Does it have a smooth target trigger?

A lot of folks back "in the day" desired the revolver S&W wouldn't give up . . . a stout little N frame revolver in moon-clipped .45ACP. At the time they only offered the Model 25-2 .45ACP target revolver (6 1/2" barrel, then some 6" later) and they came with the super wide, serrated target triggers and target hammers. NOT at all what a lot of folks wanted who had a vision for a handy, accurate personal defense revolver loaded via moonclips!

So, gunsmiths began turning out the revolvers S&W refused to make . . . and that included requests for those handy revolvers too in .41 Magnum, .44 Magnum and .45 Long Colt of course.

BTW, some of the custom guns had their grips changed from the square butt-only offered N frame of the original, to the rounded K FRAME sized round butt. IIRC, the Jovinos had their grips reduced to accept the popular K frame (and identical L frame) round butt grip size! Remember this if you ever buy one and need grips for it.

To answer the op's question . . . no, many don't have Smith and Wesson markings on the barrel. The gunsmiths would sometimes remove these markings since they wouldn't look right not centered any more on the sides of the barrel after the barrels were cut. In the photo below, you'll see mine w/o the "Smith and Wesson" rollmark on the left side. On the right side (not pictured) it once said .45 CAL MODEL OF 1955. After the chop it was reduced to simply .45 CAL because it would look "ok" that way.

MY FAVORITE REVOLVER OF ALL TIME . . . and the last one I'd ever get rid of, is my chopped 25-2 with its barrel cut down to 3 1/4" . . . almost the exact length of the 3 1/2" barrel of the S&W Model 27 .357 revolvers built for years on the N frame. Why S&W failed to see the market still escapes me!

S&W later corrected this oversight of course.

Here's my later (1980) 25-2, converted by a long deceased Savannah wheelsmith "back in the day."

He retained the stock square butt, which I like on a fighting handgun, and retained the wide target trigger and hammer. I later radically narrowed the trigger, smoothed it and rounded it for fast, double action competitions. It is as fast out of the holster, and as great pointing as my S&W Model 65 with a 3" barrel . . . and with equally as great pointing attributes that makes it really, really fast shooting steel matches.

It is one awesome "little" N frame indeed, and I can reload it as fast in competition as I can my tricked out 1911s. Heck, I once won a special match with it, with a "winner take all pot," against over 30 fine competitors.

It was a steel match with 18 steel plates spread out, and ranging from 10-35 yards away. Rules:
1. Any iron sight centerfire handgun
2. Guns start EMPTY
3. One mandatory reload (favored high-cap autos of course)
4. Fastest time to clear the 18 plate course won the money.

I got a lot of kidding when I put away the 1911 and came to the line with my chopped 25-2 with several moonclips on my belt.

Heck, I had to load, and then reload TWICE more IF I didn't miss even once . . . and I'd have to shoot and reload a revolver twice!

They couldn't miss fast enough . . . and I shot blazingly fast and didn't miss at all. The 2nd place guy was over two seconds behind me. They weren't laughing at the wheelgun guy when I took all their money! A really fun, special day indeed!

Yep . . . the revolver S&W SHOULD have made . . . and no one told mine that it isn't a TARGET revolver anymore . . . it shoots like one!

Love the Jovinos . . . but the 3 1/4" barrel means I've got a full stroke to eject the moonclips with great ease . . . and it is REALLY fast to do so!

Yep . . . the last revolver I'll ever part with . . . I think it is perfect for my needs/tastes. Hope this helps . . .

First, just back from a typical day at the range wearing Hogue "rubbers" like I use in matches . . . shooting full cylinders into ragged one inch holes, standing/unsupported at 10 yards . . .



And in its more "civilized" attire as usual. Note: I'm left-handed and the the late model S&W cylinder release latch makes it perfect for really fast reloads against the clock in competition. The magna-style Elk stags were made for me by Patrick Grashorn, of Grashorn Gunworks in Colorado. He's a forum member here who does GREAT work, and goes here by his SASS (cowboy-style single action shooting sports) nickname of "Executioner."