Mod25-5

[44Steve]

Hi,Steve here. I have a Mod. 25-5 with a cylinder measurement of 457 .To the best of my knowledge it has 25 rounds through it .Do i have a problem. ?

 

[Vulcan Bob]

Hi there, have you shot it yet, if so with what ammo and how does it shoot? Some guns with over size cyl throats shoot just fine with the standard .452 lead dia bullet and some dont, you never know till ya try it out. With factory ammo the Remington 255 LRN has a very soft .455 dia bullet with a bit of a hollow base that should slug up and shoot well for you. If you handload, a bullet smith out there may be able to supply you with .457 dia bullets. You can buy the Remington bullets in bulk through Midway. As for jacketed bullets your selection of bullet diameters are rather limeted and dont come anywhere near your size im afraid, once again try some and see how they work out. I hope this helps you out a bit!

 

[wbraswell]

My 25-2 shoots fine with jacketed bullets, and not so much with reloads with a 225 round nose lead bullet sized .452

 

[dddddmorgan]

This is a common problem with some Model 25s.

Handloading is the only real solution unless you send the gun back to S&W for a new cylinder.

Softer lead bullets that will bump up to fit the chamber then swage down to fit the bore will provide acceptable accuracy.

I would strongly recommend looking into a new cylinder. Seems that some folks are recommending it as not too pricey and it will make a better shooting gun than any reloading solution with softer bullets.

 

[44Steve]

25-5

Thanks DMorgan I am leaning to just replace the cylinder

 

[scattershot]

Lot cheaper to just shoot .454 bullets. My chambers are like yours, and the pistol shoots well with soft big bullets. I'd give them a try before going to the expense and trouble of getting a new cylinder. JMHO

 

[VonFatman]

I agree with scattershot...I have a 25-5 with an 8 3/8" tube...it was a leading machine...then I got the correct bullets...problem SOLVED.

I would NOT send it back...you can not know for sure they will have an exact match cylinder (blue) to your gun.

Just buy some Remington swagged bullets and drive them out the muzzle at 6-700 fps...problem solved.

I now have a Virginian Dragoon with the same large cylinder throats...now I have two guns with which to use the larger bullets.

Bob

 

[BUFF]

As others have said, the only way to know if it will be a problem is to shoot it.

The first 2 M-25-5's I bought were both early 6 inchers. Both had large throats; bullets sized .454" dropped through. One shot well with anything I tried. The other shot well with the R-P and W-W factory ammo and the bulk-packaged bullets from both makers but not with my home-cast .454's or any other bullet tried.

I think now that maybe I should have tried a softer alloy for my cast bullets for that gun. I was using straight wheelweights at the time which made a fairly hard bullet, which may not have 'bumped up' like the softer commercial bullets did. The W-W and R-P bullets also have a slightly concave base (not quite a hollow base) which probably also helped them bump up to better fit the cylinder throats.

 

[diamondgrip]

The model 25-5 should be fine with 45colt ammo the 25-3 is where the problem with short chambers come in

 

[TwoPoundPull]

Smith & Wesson fit a new cylinder in my 25-5 for $168.00
Perfect color match, .451 throats, one ragged hole at 50'
Using .452" 200 and 250gn cast SWC's

 

[BUFF]

When did they do that?

 

[44Steve]

Thanks

Thanks $168. is not bad to make it right. Mine is a 8" Nickle,and it might be a few bucks more for that.

 

[TwoPoundPull]

A year and change ago
It's the 4" on the left
At the time, they said they had 90 cylinders in stock