I have a S&W 25-2 .45 Acp,

I can shoot .45 ACP with out the moon clips correct?

Or do I need to buy the .45 Auto rim fire ammo. Or the moon clips.

Thanks

I like moon clips and ACP's, but I suggest you have cylinder chamfered if you go that way. Auto rim will function like normal revolver ammo.

You can shoot 45 ACP with out the clips but the ejector will not extract them from the cylinder. They need to be pushed or picked out individually. I prefer full moon clips which can be easily found on the internet. You'll want to get some type of de-mooning tool to unload them too.
John

i shoot regular 45 auto in my guns just for practice as most of the time the fired shells will just fall out when you hold the gun up with the cylinder open, i carry 45 auto rim in the gun, and carry full moon clips loade for a fast reload.

The 25s are some of my favorite guns. I have two pre-25s that I shoot often using full moon clips. Timetripper is right, you will a need de-mooning tool but they are easy to find. I have a friend that does not use a clip in his cause he thinks clips are too much trouble. He just uses a pen or pencil to poke the spent brass out. Either way, they're fun to shoot.

Superpelly;
Just to be clear, .45 Auto Rim is NOT a rimfire cartridge. The name indicates that it is the same as .45 Auto, but with a Rim for use in revolvers. It cannot be used in an automatic. Hope this helps.

Larry

Thanks, I was just wondering what would be the most efficient and easiest to use, the 1/2 moon clips, full moon clips, the .45 Auto rim ammo or just use 45 ACP and just push them out. I would be firing the gun for just target shooting mainly.

Get a buttload of moonclips and the necessary tool to remove the fired cases. While there are times at which the 45AR makes sense, such as loads that would probably not feed in an autopistol anyway, for most uses the 45ACP loads and moonclips will do just fine. If I were to carry a revolver again for serious use, the cylinder would probably be loaded with a nice hard SWC of substantial weight and modest velocity, and reloads would be done with moonclips.

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NHI, 10-8.

Older guns will work fine with ACPs without clips, those made in the past 6 or 8 years may not.
Denis

Doug's right, and .45 ACP moonclips are cheap and easy to find, sometimes .45 AR is hard to find. I am not sure about model 25s...my old 1917 will fire .45 ACP without moons and they will just drop out, although I understand some must poke them out. Moonclips are the greatest, even thinking about converting my .357/.38 to use them. Fast handy and compact. Brownell's (and others) sells mooners/demooners which really make it easy and helps make your moons last longer (i.e. helps keep them from getting bent during loading/unloading).

You would be better off using moonclips to insure reliable ignition.

superpelly,
Lots of good advice here already.
I don't have my holy grail yet but I do have a 625 that I absolutely love.
I use nothing but full moon clips. Half moons are ok but twice the bother. Very easy to dump all six rounds together and drop a loaded full moon in the cylinder and off you go. Very easy and very quick. Much faster than a speed loader IMO.
As far as the "demooning" tools go, they are nice but you can save some $$ and do what I did.
Get a 6 or 7 inch piece of 1/2" copper tubing. Mine happens to be 6 1/2" long because it was laying around.
Cut a notch on the end about 1/4" deep and a little over 1/2 way through.
This with a little twist of the wrist will empty those moon clips in a zip. As far as loading them, I just hold the clip and push the rounds on. Do it while watching tv or doing something that doesn't require your entire attention and your hands are free. (set the beer down. But just for a minute!) then when you're ready to go to the range, you're already set.
Take a look at the pics. Hope this helps.

Jim

Attached Images

	Demooner1.jpg (89.1 KB, 177 views)
	Demooner2.jpg (115.4 KB, 196 views)
	Demooner3.jpg (72.6 KB, 223 views)

j357p,

That seems easy enough ( demooner) , I see a bunch on ebay (moon clips) I wonder if there any good?

Thanks

Timely thread. I got hooked on the big bore revolvers (many thanks to Allen-frame's recent pics on the 25/625 thread!) and went shooting late this afternoon using my new to me 625-2. I used full and half moon clips and then shot a chamber full without any clip at all. I had just purchased a demooner tool from Midway and was glad to have it. It took a little getting used to, but once I figured it out things went really smoothly. As a beginner with a revolver requiring moon clips, I'd definetely recommend lots and lots of full moon clips. There's just something very satisfying about dropping a fully loader moon clip into the cylinder and watching it slide home! Then let the fun begin...

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Isaiah 55:8-9
Phil. 4:13

20-Pack .45 Acp Full Moon Clips - 92137, 1 - 10 Rounds at Sportsman's Guide

I got a 20 pack of these blue steel ones for under $10. They're great. As someone above said, better than a speedloader.

Josh P

The 25-2 revolvers will shoot perfectly without the .45ACP cartridges being snapped into moon clips. I do it all the time while plinking with my custom & chopped (to 3 1/4" barrel) 25-2 . . . my most favorite revolver of all time.

For self-defense and for match duty, I use moonclips of course for their incredible speed of reloading (which for me is as fast during a match as it is to reload my 1911s)!!!

BTW, I also keep a few hundred .45 Auto Rim cartridges around, and the wider rim of the AR cartridge ejects via the ejector star like any conventional revolver cartridge. Frankly, I don't care for 'em that much . . . for I simply use the cheaper and more common .45ACP cartridges in my 25-2. No need for the Auto Rim!

BTW, in my 625 made in the mid-90s the loose .45ACP cartridges USUALLY headspaced ok in it too . . . USUALLY, though there were a few "clicks" when practicing double action. In newer 625 versions there seem to be complaints that the ACP ammo doesn't reliably headspace properly and this causes misfires a bunch in double action practice.

BUT . . . your 25-2 should be good to go. If it isn't spend a few bucks and get a few moon clips . . . they are cheap . . . and you can never have too many of 'em!!! LOL

Mr Turner, beautiful Model 25! Is the bluing really that deep? Who did the work on it?

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Proud anachronism

Hi, and thanks!

As told to me when I bought it around 1995, the gun was modified by a then-deceased Savannah Georgia gunsmith who specialized in revolvers back in the early '80s (mine was made in 1980).

It has the most jaw-dropping single AND double action trigger jobs I've ever experienced . . . truly amazing. It also has my favorite proportions for an N frame . . . the 3 1/4" -3 1/2" barrel length of the Model 27.

The revolver still thinks its a target revolver too, and will put all five rounds into one ragged hole each time at ten yards if I do my part and I've won a bunch of matches with the fast-pointing, quick from the holster and fast reloading 25-2.

THE FINISH . . .
It's a shooter for sure. There's some freckling on the frame (not bad though) but the barrel bluing is thin in spots, and a little worse on the right side. Still looks good overall though . . . for me!

It still sports it's original target hammer of course, but I radically narrowed, smoothed and rounded the original target hammer for use as a fast, double-action revolver. I'm a lefty, and I removed the original cylinder latch for this later MIM cylinder latch which is more lefty-friendly for use in steel match competitions. I can reload this revolver as fast in competition as I can my 1911s!

The front sight his been filed sharp, as a fighting revolver should be. If something goes bump in the night, having a short barrel with a very sharp-edged front sight makes it harder for a perp to grab and retain the gun . . . this thing will slice ya!

I have a friend whose brother was surprised one night . . . awakened by an intruder in his bedroom. The homeowner grabbed his gun but the thug was on him instantly. For twenty horrifying minutes the two men struggled viciously to see who would win control of the owner's S&W revolver . . . and which one would lose his life.

During the fight the original S&W wood stocks were busted off the .357 in the vicious fighting. In the end, the homeowner won . . . and the perp died in a bloody mess. The homeowner also went through a lot of counseling!

Bottom line . . . I've set this one up as my main home defense revolver, and done the things that I think will make it better for that purpose.

Glad you like it too!!! It's not absolutely "perfect," finish-wise but still looks great . . . but it IS absolutely perfect in my eyes as an ultimate, big frame fighting revolver!

Here's a newer shot of my favorite handgun of all time, now sporting a Tyler T-grip . . .



And . . . here's a couple of typical targets shot with this 25-2 (standing/unsupported @ 10 yards) . . . and you can roll tin cans all day long with it at 75 yards. Great wheelgun!!!



PS: Obviously the targets with the tiny holes were shot with a .22LR pistol . . . in this case an (unpictured) Ruger MkII Target Model I own. I don't know why I put the Model 36 in the photo . . . except that I was mainly shooting it on that day in the fall of '07 when I bought the vintage M36. In the photo, the M25-2 is pretty dirty too!!!

I bought my 45 wheel gun in 1962 when I was a Marine recruiter living in San Berdo. calif. I joined the Gun Club and in the club we had a machinist. I asked him to modify my cylinder so it would act like my
python. He put a small coil of spring wire around the ejector and it has
worked perfect for all these years. six acp rounds in ad 6 out with the push of the ejector rod. It is easy enough to do if you can find a friend like mine. I still shoot 2-3 times a week in competition. I am over 80 now. This S&W is also my bedside gun.
Ho-Ra!!!!
SARGE

I guess I'm swimming upstream. I've had a 25-2 and still have a 1917 S & W and a 1917 Colt. I found a spare set of dies and a shellholder in a gunstore junk bin (total cost: $6.00) and I bought 100 auto-rim on sale. Use the same load as my 1911(s). Just use lead bullets because my older guns have softer steel. I keep some half-moons around just in case but I'll use my 1911s for defense, as a rule.

Alot of good info posted already.

I really like shooting my 5" 625-2 Model of 1988 in .45ACP

For serious purposes I load the ammo into the steel clips, but because they are such a pain to load and unload for the range I use the RIMZ polymer moon clips. Cheap and easy to load and unload. I got mine here:

S&W REVOLVER RIMZ SPEEDLOADER | Brownells

Full moon clips are the most convenient for any competition or plinking. Be aware that many 25-2's have oversize cylinder throats and don't seem to like cast bullets too well. I have found that the "plated" bullets seem to shoot as well as jacketed in my 25-2 which has .455 throats and doesn't particularly like cast bullets.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

My 25-2 was made in 1980 when the throats were the correct size. It absolutely loves 200gn. LSWC bullets, based on the groups it consistently shoots with them.

Indeed, I believe a lot of the older year revolvers did have large throats though.

The best solution is to buy enough full moonclips to load them at home so that you don't have to fool with them at the range.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Maybe I did not make myself clear.

I do load the Rimz moonclips at home prior to taking the 625 to the range. For shooting 100 + rounds at a time, the Rimz plastic moon clips allow you to easily load and unload the clip by hand without a tool. The steel clips are a PITA to load and unload.

The steel clips hold the cartridges VERY firmly, witch I think is great for self defense, but the polymer clips are just so much easier to use otherwise for the range where I may be pulling a lot of brass out of them after a range trip.

I suppose you could invest lots of money on steel clips and loading/unloading tools. I choose to spend $6 for the plastic ones at Brownells and have the ability to easily load and unload them.

When they break, they are cheap and easy to replace.

I've had my 25-2 since 1978. I don't mess with the clips. If I shoot 45ACP I just pull the hulls out of the cylinder. Same with my 1917. To me the clips are just a bother. I can load the gun faster than I can load a clip. The exception is my early Colt 1917, with a straight through cylinder. If you use ACP ammo, you have to use clips.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed