Hi All.
I was wondering what the going rate for a 25-2 in mint condition would be worth if it was a jovino. Thanks Boats

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Fair Winds & Following Seas

Hi All.
I was wondering what the going rate for a 25-2 in mint condition would be worth if it was a jovino. Thanks Boats

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The answer is......Whatever your willing to pay.

Seriously, I passed on 1 for $600.(not my caliber) & I've seen then go at auction for $1000.

A real Jovino should have Effector stamped on the barrel and a decal on the box. Notime2

In addition, a 45 Colt would not be a 25-2, it would be a 25-5. It would appear that someone had converted your revolver from 45 ACP to 45 Colt after it left the factory. I probably would pass on a caliber conversion unless it was pretty cheap or I knew who it was from.

As to what a true Jovino 25-5 would go for is somewhat dependent on how complete is it? Do you have the box, papers, etc? And of course the condition. You mention it is Mint. I would say it should be somewhere from $650-$900.

Why do you believe that your revolver is a Jovino? There were at least half a dozen really good gun smiths making snubby N-frames in the 80s. Not to mention some bad ones as well. Most of the revolvers had no markings on the, Jovino used to roll mark the barrels on his cut down S&W revolvers as Effector just as Notime2 has already pointed out.

This revolver was not sculpted in NY by Jovino. It is a Behlert

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I was mistaken it is a 25-5. Here is a picture.

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colt_ssa
How do you confirm your Behlert is a
Behlert?
I have one that looks exactly like yours.
I think it's a Behlert,but I don't know
how to tell.
Thank you for any help.

As for the 25-5,THAT is a fine looking gun.
If it checks out and the price is $600 or under
I would buy that beauty in a flash.
Don't you have a very fine cut and rounded
25 already?

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I cheated. The original owner told me who did it.

He had an impressive collection of Clarks, Secamps, Behlerts, Hoags, Swensens, Pachmayrs, ASPs, Devels and others I can not think of at the moment.

boatswainsmate,
I guess someone reshaped the original target stocks for this revolver. That rear sight is not original either. It is a Millett. If I bought the gun, I would put a S&W rear sight back on. As a 25-5, I would buy it.

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I've been kind of looking for a thread like this. I've got an .. unusual model 28-2 that has been customized. Where would I begin to look to find out if it was a Jovino .. Behlert ..etc. ??

Yes,seems like the only way so far.
He sure liked modified handguns,thats
almost the full who's who.

I have asked this question before where
it was part of a thread topic.

So far,nobody has stepped up as having
any info. other than Jovinos having the
Effector rollstamp on the barrel.

I am attracted to these modified N frames
and hope the topic will be expanded someday.

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This is my 28-2. As you can see, it has a lot in common with the guns shown above. It also has some obvious differences ... namely that its a 28-2 ( .357 ) and not .45's like the others shown and mentioned.

One of the other members has the exact same gun. They are the only 2 I've ever seen or heard of.

There are no rules. No fast and simple score card to look at. No secret code written under the grips (though some gunsmiths do sign their work under the grips).

Jovinos are the easy ones to spot. Aside from the roll mark, they will usually letter as being shipped to Jovino.

Nothing else is that easy since most folks buy the gun and then send it out to be customized at a later date.

Unless the seller gives you the pedigree of the firearm and either has proof to back it up or the seller is known to you so you trust his word, assume nothing more than a nice customized gun of some sort.

There are hundreds of great gunsmiths that have been doing work for decades. There are thousands of mediocre gunsmiths that have been copying that work for those same decades. Then there are the tens of thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of do-it-yourself home gunsmiths. The third category has grown larger as the internet has become more popular over the past decade or so. No longer does the DIY guy have to buy and read books, now he can come to places like this to ask how to swap his barrel, do a trigger job, and of course the question, what is this last part that I have left over after putting my gun back together. OK, digital cameras have helped spur the DIY revolution as well. The DIY does not usually tackle the tougher stuff like re-countouring a square butt N-frame to round butt K-frame dimensions, but there is no reason why one couldn't.

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I think you are right.
It appears I either have a very close and well done Behlert copy or the real deal.

I was hoping for the secret handshake.

Thank you for the info. and pictures.

Thats a baddass 28.

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I am the other member who owns a 28-2 Jovino???
I researched Jovino's a bit and found that they not always were roll marked on the barrel. They also had the serrations removed from the trigger, a tear drop hammer installed, the ball detant for the extractor rod, and re formed grips from square to round. Jovino's also formed the grips to accept any "K" frame round grips. I saw one at the Phoenix show, and he had it priced at $795. It also was a model 25 with no roll mark. I have turned down $850 and will hang on to it. Does your Belhert have the same customized features I am refering too??? It's interesting that these customs are out there. Maybe we should nail it down.

All of the short barrels that have the forward locking bolt removed have a ball detent lockup on the crane.

Mist all of the snubbies also have tear drop hammers no matter who did them.

All of the guns that were round butted, were reduced to K-frame round butt dimensions. Remember there was no N-frame round butt yet. So no N-frame round butt grips to use.

Most all of the snubbies had smooth combat triggers as well. I changed mine back to a .500" serrated trigger.

We have the likes of Jovino and Behlert to thank for the revolvers that Distributors like Lew Horton started to demand from the factory in the mid 80s. Today we can find almost any caliber available in nice compact configurations.

A year or so ago, I was getting ready to convert a 4" 25-5 into a 2 5/8" round butt snubby when the Performance Center released the 2" fixed sight 625s.


The only thing is that I wish they were blue.

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Well Colt SAA........How are we to determine what we have???

The only way to determine what you have is if it marked, if the previous owner can provide a pedigree or by requesting a factory letter.

If none of those three methods yield an answer, then all we are doing is guessing.

But let me ask, does it really matter? If you have the revolver, are pleased with what you paid for it and like the way it shoots, will your attitude change if you learn that it is a Jovino, a Behlert or a John Q. Gunsmith? Will you enjoy it less if you can not track down who made it?

I have several custom 1911s and S&Ws that I have no idea who did the work. However, when I saw the guns I liked them. They shot well and the price was agreeable to both parties.

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I am with you on this colt_saa.
A name does not change what the guns are.

I guess I am just curious and interested.

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I agree, we need to just enjoy what we have! I recently got a 25-2 snub and LOVE it.

I'm glad you spotted this thread and chimed in. ... sorry for starting this tangent and then stepping out, but had to go to work. I drive truck, and it takes me a few days to get back.

Can't speak for Mulehide, but I ( for my part ) am interested in my guns history and origins. I've noticed that lots of people here get letters on their guns ... and I'm sure it doesn't really affect how they feel about them. I also noticed a reference to an " impressive collection of Jovinos and Belherts ". If you don't investigate the origins of the guns ... how would you know they are Jovinos and Belherts ????? Would said collection still be " impressive "????
I think we're all glad to learn new things about our guns as well as those of the members.
Finding out where and when my gun was customized will change how I feel about it. I'll most likely have a lot more appreciation for it in a historic sense rather than monetary.

The gun at auction ended up going for $865.

I was wondering if they were in 45 acp too? If the brl is not marked with Effector but has all the other stuff including the box, what would be a fair price in 98%

Thanks

My 25-5 is an Austin Behlert.



When he was active on Gunsmith.com I chatted with him a few times, but he did not remember the gun. It was a shame to see him go, he had his own section on the forum ad was full of stories.



bob

Can you repost the picture boatswainsmate?

I just bought a .45 Colt Effector and I want to see how they compare.

ML

Guess not.

Back in the day, I had Austin Belhert do a S&W target sight on my ex-GI 1911A1. It is inset into the slide but also dovetailed lengthwise at the front with a round head allen set screw. I only sent him the slide & it is unsigned. The work is very fine & distinctive.

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I think 25-2's were found in 45 Colt occasionally (?)

Smith target sights on a 1911?
That's an "old-school" upgrade, from Roy Dunlaps day.
I LIKE it!!

I was going to call it a modification, but it's a huge upgrade from the GI sights. Smith and Wesson target sights are hard (impossible?) to beat.

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