I have been looking for a Smith model 25-5 in a 4" in .45 LC. A buddy told me of one in a neighboring town. I called the shop and of course he had just sold it. Imagine that! but he said he did have a 625 in .45acp. So I figured what the heck I'll go look at it. It wasn't what I wanted but I never turn down an N frame.
I came home with a Model 625-2 with roll mark "45 cal Model 1988 " with a 5" barrel and red ramp front.
The question is, I see in the Blue book it says only 1500 were made, is this correct?
Is this a fairly rare gun?
There seems to be a following for this gun on this forum. I placed it in the buy/swap section to see if there is any interest in it.
I'll post a pic as soon as my wife gets home with the camera

Gordylew, nice find. Don't know if it is rare or not, but it is rare in these parts. Congrats on the find.

Jerry

There were only 1500 of the 625-5 in 45 colt with the 5" barrel produced. I am fortunate enough to have two of them.
I just missed out on a 625 5" 45 acp, series 1989 at the Tallahassee gun show today. It sold for $425.00. I can't believe I missed that one.

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NRA Benefactor/Cert Instructor

I believe there were quite a few more than 1,500 Model 625-2's made. Notes I made at the time I bought mine (1989) say there were 5,000 of them. The blue books are full of bad information on S&W guns. There are better sources of information.

These are good guns. With the full underlug barrel, they don't kick very much and can be quite accurate. The .45 ACP is also an excellent revolver round.

S&W has stated repeatedly that they don't actually know how many 625-2s were produced. This was during S&W's "Gun of the Week" days and they were just flooding the market as fast as possible. I have heard 1500 and 5000 units produced. No one seems to know. I have one and I will never sell it. Only problems were the 88 Models came with the floating had (works OK but has caused some problems and there really was no reason to change the old part and they immediately dropped the floating hand and went back to the old solid part the next year) and most 625-2 of 88s had very tight chambers. Tight enough that a moon clip would only "drop in" if the gun had just been cleaned. Can't do a decent Jerry Miculek impression like that. (he's my hero) During a match I would have to run a brush through each chamber after about 40 rounds or the next moon clip didn't want to drop in unless pushed firmly. I finally ran a finish reamer through all six chambers and it's much better now. One of S&W's better ideas.

All I know is that I have had 3 of the 1988 versions and they show up often.

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May God Bless The USA

Thanks for the info guys. I'll have to locate some moon clips and give it test go before I decide to keep it. I'm sure it will be cheaper to shoot then a 25-5 but I'm still on the hunt for an affordable 25-5.

I own the 'Model of 1989' version of the 625...mine's a 3" .45acp. I believe it's a 625-3

Excellent revolver by the way.

The Model of 1988 was intended for the pin-shooters, which was all the rage in the 80's.

Smith had rumored the 625 for a couple of years, and when it came out it had Pachmayrs, ramp front, 5-inch full lugged barrel.

Initially, mine shot pretty well, then the small problem of reloading started. Polishing the chambers solved that one for me.

The first year run was roll marked in the Smith tradition, after that, etched. I have the 5 and a 3-inch, both accurate enough ring rams at 200.

Here's mine.

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I have one of the 625-2 (model of 1988). It is my most accurate revolver. I have never had any problems getting any rounds to drop in but after about 5 moon clips of shooting the empty moon clip of shells can be a bit tight to get out. All that is required is a quick cleaning of each chamber (takes about 30 seconds).

I just picked-up my 625 last week. I bought a .45ACP model. The guy actually had a .45Colt model also, but I was too late. That .45Colt model is a rarer piece than the .45ACP. If I had known that at the time I would have bought both. I had no intention of using .45Colt, my mistake! When he told me he would sell his 610 I jumped on it.