Wondering what those of you who own or have fired the 625 think of this gun as a home defense gun. The low velocity and limited penetrating power of this round might make it ideal for use inside a home.

Vito-A very good choice in my view. I have a 625-8 that has had the master revolver package done at S&W, and a 25-2 with a good tune, etc. Both have had the cylinder bores chamfered, and I have a bunch of moon clips loaded on hand. Great defensive guns IMHO.

An awesome choice, actually.

A slow hard hitting almost 1/2" diameter slug X6, what’s not to like.

PS I have a 625 but my primary for home defense is a 9 shot Mossie 12 gauge!

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Excellent choice!

I have a S&W Model 25 Mountain Gun in .45 Colt. My nightstand weapon is a Mossy pump with 20" barrel and 8 round capacity. The tubular magazine ends exactly where the barrel ends in length. It was a former Alabama State Trooper shotgun. It has wood furniture and is in great condition mechanically and appearance wise.

If I catch the low life who is stealing gas out of my pontoon boat and my bass boat, it might come into use. I have lost over a hundred gallons at over five bucks a gallon at marina prices for ethanol free fuel. Think I am going to put my trail camera in service in my boat house.

I agree with your choice of caliber, but not your choice for an indoor home defense weapon.

Revolvers are great, but I carry one outside the home for the simple reasons that mine is close to 100% reliable and doesn't scatter brass all over creation.

Inside the home, scattering brass doesn't matter. A revolver will generate more noise and flash because of the barrel/cylinder gap, and you are limited (in the 625) to six rounds before having to reload, which unless you are very skilled is a bit awkward, even with 6-round clips.

My personal solution in the home is a hi-cap .45 ACP semiauto, the HK USP. The manual of arms is simple - just pull the trigger. It's totally reliable - never had a jam or misfire. Multiple assailants are no problem with 13 rounds on tap. Anyone in my home without permission is worth shooting multiple times, anyway.

Just saying that I think you have better choices. I have a great 625 also, but it's a fun gun, not a bet-your-life gun, IMHO.

Oh, yeah - the USP accepts a light module, also - one needs to be really sure of one's target in the home.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

That is my weapon of choice for Home Defense. Mine is a S&W 625-5 six shot revolver. I keep an extra couple of revolvers for
home defense but the Colt 45 is the first I reach for. I do not
have a rack to slide if someone comes through the door.

Fine weapon for home defense, as most service calibers in revolver or semi-auto set-ups are. Wouldn't bet too much on the limited penetration factor, though -- it's still going through walls with enough velocity and energy to do serious damage.

Strongly suggest you reconsider your plan as well as reword your post.

Excellent caliber for defense.

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NRA Certified Instructor & RSO

What did you find objectionable Hayworth? If you caught someone stealing your property, would you not confront them? I have no desire to shoot anyone unless they attempt to harm me. This is getting off subject, but it could be a matter of defending ones self and property.

I am a little perturbed. The bass boat holds 57 gallons of fuel. I just had to hand carry twenty gallon of fuel from my driveway to the boathouse to get it off empty and enough fuel to ensure I reach the marina tomorrow. I had to detour to my brother's lake house two weekends ago on the way to the marina since the pontoon boat was running out of fuel. I just did make it. It holds 55 gallons and cost me well over two hundred bucks to fill it.

The best approach is to get five second blips with my trail camera of the thief in the act and hopefully their boat number. Let the Sheriffs office deal with it.

With my luck, the low life will probably steal my camera too.

Excellent choice!

Great ammo choice, but the 625 i have is too valuable to me to lose forever to the evidence room if, god forbid, i should ever have to use it for self defense at home. I keep a throw away Glock 30SF with 13 round G21 mags at the ready.

I think it's an excellent choice. Some might want more rounds but I believe virtually all home invasions will see less than six shots fired before its over.
I know where there is a 4" 625 loaded in a night stand.

I would agree with that. The characteristics of the .45 round plus the simplicity and reliability of a revolver, plus the inherent accuracy of this fine revolver make it an ideal HD weapon.

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Army veteran, NRA Life Member

I have a 625-2 which from time to time sits on the nightstand. I keep it loaded with my favorite round of choice... 230 gr. FMJ's. It is easy to shoot and very easy to reload. In a HD/SD incident, I doubt there'd be any need to reload. The 625 is one of the easiest to shoot big bore revolvers I've ever owned.

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<><

If/when I get a 625 I'd not hesitate to use it but what's this nonsense about having to rack the slide

For a .45 I simply snick off the safety and my 1911 is good to go.

It's a very good choice for home defense, IF you are dedicated to drilling with it until it's second nature. Don't just load a few moonclips and toss them in your nightstand. Go out and shoot it at least once a month.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

I agree that the 625, particularly the 3 inch version would be a great HD handgun. Whatever gun I'm using for HD at a given time, I back it up with my little 642.

Mine is my bedroom gun with a Mossy 590A1 as a backup. Now having said that there is NO sound that is more recognizable than the sound of a pump shotgun chambering a round. Even if you are the good guy it will chill you. But in my house the only sound you may hear is the safety being clicked off.
Chip King

Yes, you get dependability, and a wide ranch in choice of ammo.

I would vote "no" simply because I believe a better choice is the Thunder Ranch 325. Same caliber, but lighter weight frame and the option of using an optics rail for precision. The TR is an excellent fighting revolver, and well suited for HD.

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I'm with the banned ...

...and you could mount a flashlight on it.

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But then, what do I know?

3" 625-3 is Gina's favorite, so it gets home defense duty.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

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Now go make God proud...

I would trust either one of my 625 .45 Colt MGs for the home defense role. My older one is fitted with night sights- Very nice!

A friend of mine, a farmer, was losing gasoline from a storage tank to thieves. He drained the gas and filled it with diesel fuel. The thieve's car made it to the fence line, and the sheriff impounded it. That was a mighty expensive fillup.

A .45 ACP has a lot more penetrating power than you give it credit. There's something about a heavy, slow bullet that doesn't waste much energy creating shock waves.

have evaluated in my role as a forensic psychologist shows that many come in groups of 2-3 and sometimes in numbers of 3-5. Having said that my first go to gun is a 442 j-frame with 5 rounds at immediate reach with a 66 very close near by. I have kept a 915 close by for years but loved the feel of my revolvers. I did have lead notice one time of several home invasions in the neighborhood with the same 2 thugs b/e and tying up single women and the elderly, and then, my daughter kept a sp 101 under her bed. We had multiple go to handguns on ever floor of the house. Just my experienced and food for thought. Maybe that helps.

Inside or outside the home I consider the four inch 625 in .45 ACP one of the finest fighting revolvers made. Although I do lean a bit more towards my four inch 25-5 in .45 Colt for its 270gr LSWC.

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Stay safe people!

Groo here
Shoot what you HIT with .
Low pressure rounds not as much BANG , more BOOM.
And yes I have capped off a 125gr 357 mag inside.
What ever you use , if it is a fighting round will "over penetrate"
Lastly a revolver can be loaded with no noise , an auto can not.
You might think about keeping your gun unloaded [ Moon clips at hand]
The action of loading the gun [ or getting out of bed]
will help you wake up. Less chance of a mistake...

My choice for things that go bump in the night:

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Vito, That is my choice for a HD revolver. I have complete confidence in the 625 and the 45 acp cartridge. I love moon clips. I see we live in the same city.

Hard to argue the virtues of the 45ACP as a defensive round, no matter what the delivery platform. I keep HP's in mine, with ball ammo in moon clips for fast reloads. I learned to shoot revolvers DA-only, and can empty one in short order. I don't worry much about my choice!

It would be excellent. I have a 625JM and 625PC but I don't carry N frames or moonclips. I also don't leave guns around my home, so my home defense gun is either on me or on the nightstand, whatever I am carrying currently. I also have a 637 pajama gun for taking my little bed buddy out to pee. The Deep Cover Wiley Clapp Performance Center version has that belt hook grip on it that works perfectly for appendix carry with no holster. That is a +p gun that is less noisy than a .357 carry gun.

at liberty, You have an outhouse. I remember as a little boy staying with my grandparents and having to go out to the outhouse to pee. It was scary. This was about 60 some-odd years ago in both South Georgia and the citrus groves and peacock farm of Clearwater, FL.

One of my grandfathers had a double barrel shotgun, but he would not go with me. One night I went out to pee and I heard a bobcat scream. I ended up doing more than pee as I raced back into the house as fast as my short little legs would take me.

I'm probably going to be in the minority here, but I'd rather have a heavier bullet...something like Buffalo Bore's .45 Colt with a 255 grain Keith at 1000fps. I have several revolvers that'll handle it and that I'm comfortable shooting them.

If I was going to use the .45acp, I'd prefer it in a semi-auto with more than six cartridges in it.

But really, when I think seriously about practical home defense against possible multiple assailants (the first three letters of the word "assailant" describes them to a "T"), my brain immediately comes up with the word "shotgun".

My current choice is the Mossberg 930SPX in 12-gauge, and there's a full size Colt Government Model next to it for backup. The Mossberg now has a 900 Lumen light on it with constant on or strobe mode available at the touch of a switch.

I believe you have to think about a lot of factors when considering a home defense weapon. You have to consider your own abilities, the layout of your home and how familiar you are with it, the location of family members in the home when you're asleep, and how much reaction time you'll have from the time someone starts trying to kick in your door. Real life ain't the movies. Unless you live in a balsa wood house, it should take more than one or two kicks to gain entrance to your house, thus giving you a few extra seconds to react.

The 625 is a great gun, but I personally wouldn't depend on it (or any one handgun) as my sole line of defense, except as a last resort.

The Mossberg, by the way, is one of only three exceptions to my "I don't buy new guns" rule.

As Paladin points out, I had one as a backup to my long guns for many years. It got upgraded to a 12 shot 40 S&W auto with a light on its accessory rail.

While that's not s bad choice by any means, there are better. The TR as suggested would be great as well.

Don't be fooled with the fallacy that a 45acp is "safer" in the home. Anything good at perforating people will perforate walls just fine as well.

It is an excellent choice. My home defense gun is a 625, originally it was a 1911. I switched for 2 main reasons:

1) I converted my 1911 to a target gun.

2) I was frequently loading/unloading it when I put it in the safe when I left. I was concerned about repeatedly rechambering the same round causing bullet setback. No such issue with the 625. Eject the moon clip when I leave, drop it back in when I get back home.

Oh, and a .45 auto has no 'limited penetrating power'. It will go through people and things just fine.

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Common sense isn't so common.

It's a decent choice, perfectly capable as long as you can do your part. Before it was stolen, I had a 625-6 Lew Horton that was as sweet as could be. I had no problem with it in the HD role. Of course, the AR is the first choice, but the pistol is always near by.

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NHI, 10-8.

Personally, nothing -- I'm entirely sympathetic to your position and would feel similarly if I were in it.

For your sake I was concerned that your post might be construed as malice aforethought should something happen.

I wholly agree with your plan to let the trail camera (well hidden) do the work and turn the evidence over to local authorities.

Your reply was fun, but no, my little Chi-chi dog appreciates a quickie when I get up in the wee hours of the night.

No nonsense. I am not attempting to alert the intruder as to my location nor what I am armed with. My intentions are to
stop him.