S&W 625 Questions

A

AustinMike

New member
Hey, gang. I just got a 625 Model of 1989 (625-3) that I bought in an auction. The thing is clean as a whistle as in near perfect condition on the finish, except for a place on the barrel where some idiot wrote "ACP" at some point and it scratched through the finish. It's only visible when the light hits it right, so no big deal. As cheap as the gun was, if that's the only thing wrong with it, I'm doing good. I shot 100 rounds today and it's straight as an arrow. :D

Anyway, I've got two concerns.

1) There is a rattle in the gun somewhere in the action area. It's produced by shaking the gun up and down (vertically), but not side to side. Functionality doesn't seem to be affected. Lockup is tight, no play to speak of in the cylinder. I ran it through the revolver checkout at the top of this forum (nice writeup!) The rattle can be heard in any state (hammer back, hammer down, full lockup.) It is inside the gun and is not coming from the cylinder or cylinder release. Is this normal?

2) I had a couple instances of the cylinder binding. I've got a couple theories. These are my reloads, so it could have been a couple shallow primer seats. The other thing it could have been is that *I think* these instances were only with some cast bullets (I tried some plated too.) I'm wondering if maybe some bullet lube or lead around the cases may have prevented proper head spacing. I was using brand new moon clips. Sound likely?

Thanks for the help. This looks like it's going to be a fun gun!

fbe9904a1e81d1b98c8e373a21f61692.jpg
 
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The rattle is in all S&W Revolvers since WWII it is part of the internal safety. High Primaers can cause problems as can incompletely resized cases. Lube could be a problem but look under the extracter star for unburnt powder.
 
Bullrock, I got won it in an auction for $430 plus $15 shipping. Seems like a real good deal, considering the condition. It was so clean, it almost looks like it's never been shot but for a few times.

Great gun you've got there. I want one o' them too! :D
 
I have a 25

And I have had problems with slightly high primers draging a little.
I have much better luck with Federal primers than CCI or remmengtion.
Brian Williams is right about the rattle. as long as it dosent sound like ratteling bolts then it might be parts from a Hi-Point that it ate :)
(sorry just read a thread about how GOOD hi points are :barf:
 
Check your barrel-cylinder gap on that binding issue- if you don't know how
I'll post instructions for the correct method. I've seen a number of 625s
and 624s with overly tight clearances from the mid 80's period.
 
Congrats on the new gun!!

My 625-3 had a similar "binding" problem.

625_3l.jpg


Barrel to cylinder gap was just a bit tight for my dirty reloads. A couple Ron Power endshake bearings moved the cylinder back just enough that I can now run 300 rounds though before having to stop and clean.

Good Luck...

Joe
 
The rattle is normal...ive got 4 different smiths and they all do it. As for the binding, play around with your reloads a bit. If they are really light loads, sometimes there isnt enough pressure to keep those primers in place...sounds weird, but if you shoot wax loads with just a primer and a chunk of wax in the case youll know what i mean...very very low pressure can make em pop out too and cause binding.
 
Hap, please post those instructions. It seems like a tight gap, but given that I only had a bind twice out of a 100 rounds, I'm thinking it was probably ammo. When I reseated the clips firmly both times, the cylinder moved OK. We'll see what happens with a few more trips to the range. The action seems a little stiff over all, but I think it's just "newness." This gun was apparently not shot very much by the previous owner. :confused:
 
Regarding the cylinder binding

FWIW~
One possibility to be careful of is your moon clips. I know you said you were using "brand new ones" but they can cause your binding. I know there are probably more than one manufacture of trouble free moon clips, but Ranch moon clips have been good for me.

Number your moon clips with an ingraving tool (or some other way) and take note if it is one particular clip giving you the problems.
 
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That's a good idea about marking the clips. These are Ranch clips. I was going to order some RIMZ plastic clips to try out as well.
 
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