Hey all, it's been a long time since my last post but I got busy with life, career, fiancée, etc. At any rate, my father is showing interest in a 45 caliber wheel gun and I think a model 25 is the best path to take. What should I look for/at in these guns? I know they are known for having over size throats in some models but are they known for any quality control issues or anything like that. Thanks in advance and mods feel free to move this post if its in the wrong spot

Welcome back. As far as I know the throat issue was about the only known problem.

you might find a stainless 625 in 45 colt.

From what I understand the throat problem was pretty much limited to the .45 Colt, and mostly in the 25-5 (correct me if I'm wrong!). If it's a self defence gun I'd look pretty closely at the Jerry Miculek model. I have a 25-13 in .45 Colt and it is a fine shooter!

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Even older, even crankier....

First of all, there are a couple of questions raised by your post. Is your Dad looking for .45ACP or .45Colt? Does he want a nice blued gun, or stainless? I'm a fan of older, blued N-frame revolvers- so I've got a nice 6-1/2" 25-2 (.45ACP) that uses moonclips. Nothing wrong with .45Colt wheelguns, they're just later models that shoot a little stouter round, and no moonclips required. Then there is the 625 route- the more modern SS guns. Kind of depends on his taste, and what type of shooting he'll be doing.

FWIW, the posts you see here make it seem like all 25-5's have a throat problem. Mine has .4545" throats, I size my bullets to .455" and all is well. Love .45 Colt N frames!

Don

And many have perfect .452 throats...... But a blind man must have regulated their sights -- too short front or too tall rear.

WILDPIG

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I ain't from around here.

I have a 25-3 in 45C, 4 inch barrel it is one of my favorites, love the 45C cartridge. I wouldn't throw rocks at one in 45ACP either but I really like the 45C better.

Had a 25-2 that was one of my most accurate pistols. Wish I had never got rid of it. Also, a 25-7 that was OK but I'm a SA kinda guy-traded for a Ruger 3 screw.

Going by reading many reports, I was under the impression that the throat problem was solved BY the 25-5s. I have a 25-5 that shoot well. Once I compared it to a colt single action I have. The cases dropped right out of the smith and I had to pound them out of the colt causeing me to send the colt back for another clyinder. I shot my 25-5 against my 24-3, both in new shape in 4" and the accuracy was the same.

My 25-5 has ..456-.457 throats, but it shoots well with big, soft bullets. Think swaged .454 bullets, or factory loads from Winchester and Remington. Great pistols, your Dad will like it.

He's got a bad right hand so moon clips probably aren't the best option for him. And he's old school (think Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino) so I'm thinking blued steel. It's really more of a political statement so he can piss off the liberals he teaches with than a self defense gun lol

In which case I'd go with either a 25-2 or 25-5 with a long barrel. Either are beautiful guns with a big hole in the end

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Even older, even crankier....

I never saw a Model 25 that I didn't like.

It has been posted many times that 25-5 throat diameters were reduced to the diameter of modern bullets round about the same time pinning barrels was discontinued. The forum’s .45 Colt man, Allen-frame, and others have posted that 25-5 throats were reduced to about .452” before the start of the alpha-numeric (ABC1234) serial numbers started.

A friend’s early 25-5 had huge throats but S&W replaced its cylinder with one that had .452” throats under warranty. S&W never went out of their way to advertise that they’d do that for free.

So N serial prefix 25-5s have to be measured to know what your buying and three letter prefix serial 25-5s can be counted on to have tight throats.

Incidentally, one of the first things the British firm Tompkins did after buying S&W in 1988 was reducing .44 throat diameters a few thousandths. Along with the endurance package that was an attempt to recover S&W .44 magnums’ good reputation after they failed in silhouette competition.

I’m sorry to have to say it Jimmy, but I didn’t just not like my 25-3 .45 Colt, its accuracy with all cast pistol bullets stunk. Its .458” throats only produced acceptable accuracy with 340 grain 45-70 rifle bullets.

scattershot and others report “good” accuracy with .454” to.455” commercially swaged soft bullets fired through their large 25-5 throats. I admit I never tried those. While I owned my 25-3 I had zero interest in firing any bullets that I did not cast myself. I find it hard to believe that soft bullets .004” under my 25-3’s throat diameters could have produced accuracy sufficient to please me.

It's that big hole on the business end that he wants more than anything lol. He's in the mood to exercise his rights now with all this talk of bans etc from D.C.

I can only speak of the 6.5 inch 25-2 I have and it shoot lights out accurate and is a hoot to shoot with moon clips. You just need the right tools to load and empty the moon clips.