I sent the money today for one of my bucket list revolvers, a S&W 625, 5”, in 45acp. I was wondering if anyone had one and had any wisdom or tips to share. I’ve been reloading for my 45 autos for a while now and have the supplies to reload for it. Any pet loads would be appreciated too.
No, tips, I'm just jealous. Pix?Originally Posted by BKS
Ob ille si ergo. Fortibus es in ero! Nos ille, demus trux. Inemis sum cauxen dux.
If you handload, be careful with coated lead bullets. The coated 230-grain RNLs that work fine in my autoloaders couldn't make it through a cylinderful in my 22-4 - the last one or two would pull out of the case. That didn't happen with uncoated bullets or with jacketed or plated bullets. I ended up ordering some coated 225-grain RNFPs that have a crimp groove and loaded them using a Redding profile crimp die and crimping the case mouth into the groove, and that fixed the problem.
Your 625-6 is considerably heavier than my 22-4, so this might not be an issue for you.
Get a demooning tool asap. Popping cases out of the clips is as hard on fingers as opening pistachios.
Once upon a time, I spent a year testing a 4” 625. I wanted to set it up for deer hunting with cast bullets at about 1,000 fps, but I quickly learned that it kicked harder than my 4” Model 29-2 with similar loads because the chambers and bore are bigger, which made it lighter than the 29-2. Live and learn.
Here’s what I remember about it.
- There is a cult of 45 ACP revolver shooters on the Smith & Wesson forums. They’ve forgotten more than I’ll ever know about them. Heed their words.
- A load that works well in all of your guns probably won’t be the best in any of them, but it will still be pretty good and is probably worth pursuing.
- There are tons of good 45 ACP loads. Bullseye and Unique are the classics, but other powders meter more easily and burn cleaner. I'd probably start with 231 or HS-6.
- Not all S&W 45 ACP revolvers headspace on the case mouth. Those that do can fire 45 ACP ammo without moon clips in a pinch. Those that don't must use moon clips (which means you need a de-mooning tool) or 45 Auto Rim brass.
- Full moon clips are great for speed reloads but a drag when you just need to just top off the cylinder. Half-moon clips are a little easier for this, which is probably why they were chosen over full-moon clips going into WWI.
- Crimp matters a lot. A taper crimp works for light loads but you need a roll crimp for heavy loads. Some 45 ACP crimp dies create a roll crimp once you crank them down past the maximum taper crimp, which usually crushes the driving band and ruins accuracy. Either buy a 45 AR roll-crimp die or shorten a 45 Colt crimp die by about an inch to get a roll crimp.
- Roll crimping locks you in to moon clips or 45 AR brass even if your gun headspaces on the case mouth, so the road forks for DA revolvers at the +P level. 45 ACP brass is fine at or below standard 45 ACP pressures. For +P loads, I prefer 45 Auto Rim brass, especially when coupled with classic revolver handloading TTPs like trimming cases, relatively heavy cast bullets sized to the cylinder throats, roll crimps, tight sizing, etc. Using AR brass also keeps hot loads out of your semi-autos.
- The top end in a 625 is about 1,000 fps with a 255-grain slug. A good SWC at this speed can be accurate at very long range and will drop anything in North America up close, but it can hang up during speed reloads. LFN designs like this one https://www.montanabulletworks.com/p...-250gr-lfn_gc/ have the same meplat and accuracy as the SWC but they don’t hang up.
- For best accuracy, WFN designs need to move faster than the 45 ACP/AR case can move them. Save them for the 45 Colt and 454 Casull.
- HKS used to make speedloaders for the 45 AR because the 45 AR is a revolver cartridge. You may still be able to find some.
Brian Pearce published his article on 45 AR +P loads (https://www.handloadermagazine.com/45-auto-rim-p) in February 2017, long after I had sold my 625. Having it in 2008 would have saved me a lot of work.
Okie John
“The reliability of the 30-06 on most of the world’s non-dangerous game is so well established as to be beyond intelligent dispute.” Finn Aagaard
"Don't fuck with it" seems to prevent the vast majority of reported issues." BehindBlueI's
I had the same experience with my 625-8. Coated bullets were pulling out of the case and locking my cylinder up. I'm still in the process of solving the problem. I bought a Redding profile crimp die but I haven't used it yet. I'm waiting on some 200 gr. RNFP bullets with a crimp groove. I had problems with my 625 pulling FMJ RN bullets also. I use a Lee factory crimp die so that may have been part of the problem. The LFC die works well for my auto loaders.
Those 625's are really slick shooters. I put a Vortex Venom red dot on mine and doubled my fun. If I were to start over I would just use AR brass. I have a mountain of ACP brass, and because I'm cheap, I went with that.
Last edited by Borderland; 11-11-2021 at 09:54 AM.
In the P-F basket of deplorables.
Ditto here on bullet pull. I never found a load that didn't pull bullets factory or hand loaded. I never shot a 185 grain but both 200 and 230 pull. It never did tie up the gun on me though. When I went to Nationals I was running a Bayou 200gr RN seated deep and crimped over the shoulder with a Redding profile crimp die. Those never pulled and amazed the guys at the chrono. Fed match primers and Clays with that loading method is so consistent you won't believe your chrono is working right.
And for loading clips these are worth their weight in gold. They are not molded, all cnc machined and have a couple of steel pins inserted to interface and locate the clips to line up with the groove in the cases. They will last forever and probably be dug up by archeologists at some point.
Highly recommended. I'll bet that just about everyone that competes uses those.
In the P-F basket of deplorables.
I second what the others mentioned about .45 auto rim brass.
If you’re just shooting casually, try Rimz plastic full moon clips. The rounds are easily inserted and removed with finger pressure, but won’t stand up to rough handling. The rounds will fall out. Rimz have the advantage that they if they get bent, they’re soft plastic, so go back to their original shape.
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I've had better luck. I've used AE 230 FMJ and both standard velocity and +P HST in my 22-4 with no problems, and use the HST +P as a carry load when the 22-4 is in that role.
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