S&W 625 "snub" in 45 ACP

W

wheelyfun

New member
Hey All,
Picked up this 625 with 3" barrel (model of 1989) and put some new VZ Grip G10's on today......WOW, feels great in the hand now!

Any advice on carrying a reload (moonclips) on body, without using a belt carrier pouch?

Anyone know if 45 ACP "speed strips" are manufactured?
45 Auto Rim "speed strips"?





 
I've got no advice for you, just a burning feeling of jealousy! I hope you get to shoot the barrel 'til it's a smoothbore. NICE BUY! G-10 grips = super classy.
 
Looks nice!

Keep in mind with that 3" barrel and the revolver's cylinder gap you have stepped down in velocity and power vs. something like a 4.5-5" service pistol barrel.

For some reason, the .45 ACP doesn't do quite as well in short barrels as some of the other service cartridges, so you may need to adjust your carry load. I would recommend +P ammo for carry as this will help bring your velocity back up a bit.
 
I'm not up to speed on speed strip availability. If not available for .45 ACP, perhaps there are some for .45 Auto Rim.
 
Cool gun. I've got a 5" 625, shoot it in USPSA Revolver Division.
Didn't even know they made a 3".

Reloads. Full moon is kind of bulky. Find yourself some of the
earlier 1/3 moon (2 rd) or half moon (3 rd ) clips. No idea on
a speed strip---but I'm assuming you would have to use 45
Auto Rim brass.
 
I have an altered US 1917 45 ACP revolver with the barrel chopped to 3.25 inches. Years ago when I carried the revolver in cold months. I had two full moon clips in a belt mounted Speed-Loader holster. The moon clips fit perfectly in a holster for the #10 Speed-loader. The #10 is made to fit S&W 6-shot 38/357 speed loaders. The leather #10 holsters, both single and double used to be a dime a dozen. I got it used back in the early 80's when most police dept's were changing over from revolvers to semi's. At the time there was an abundance of police surplus leather for revolver carry at gunshows at give-away prices. I don't recall the price but doubt if it was more than an buck or two.

The HKS and other brand speed loaders for the 45 Auto Rim are considerably larger and a PIA to carry. I carried two of AR speed loaders in my car's center console but never on my body.
 
These are what I used back when I concealed carried my 45 ACP/AR revolver in cold months. It is home cast of pure or as near as pure lead 225 gr full wad cutter. Didn't have to worry about over penetration like going through the bad guy and striking a good guy standing in the background. The blunt force trauma of the flat nose slug I imagine would create enough pain even a bad guy high on opiates is going to get the message.




My back up in moon clips were loaded with pointy cast slugs and eventually used factory Winchester Silver-Tips. The full wadcutters on clips are a bit harder to find its way into the cylinder when one is in a hurry. Some testing I did mostly in damaged bags of dry-wall mud and once in ballistic gelatin. The Silver-Tips are almost explosive, expanding rapidly making them a bit light on penetration but put my mind at ease about over penetration.

Back in the early 90's I had a 625 with an 8 3/8 inch barrel. Hardly a concealed carry gun but just delightful to shoot at the range. With its near dead on accuracy and the very mild recoil. I could shoot a couple hundred rds through it with little or no fatigue or flinching.
 
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I really like your addition, congrats. I just carry an extra moon clip in my pocket, I have also heard of people carring them in a medicine bottle, they hold two or three depending on how big it is. They also fit alot of belt holders for HKS style speed loaders, I think one set up for two loader will hold 4 moon clips back to back, if you dont mind me asking how much did it set you back?
 
That is indeed a nice score!! I'm sure you will be tired of it in a year, so PM me when you are ready to rid yourself of that debacle.
 
I would say if you drop a round into the cylinder without the moon clip it will answer the question about speed strips.
 
I sold mine last year. The barrel was too short for easy shooting and with that heavy barrel, it was top heavy without having the steady slightly muzzle heavy feel that I like. Does that make sense?

My 3-inch 624 simply balances better. It has a tapered barrel without the full underlug.

Now in 4-inch or 5-inch sizes, that gun still appeals to me.

Bart Noir
 
If you have to use moon clips to fire a round out of the gun, why are you interested in speed strips? You would have to transfer the speed strip rounds to a moon clip in order to fire them, right? Or am I missing something?

Joe
 
Or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

No, you didn't miss anything. Either a full moon clip or a 2 or 3 round moon clip holder will have to be used. I'm not 100% sure about the partial moon clips. Without the moon clips the round drops to deep into the chamber. Speed strips would be useless unless as you asked he would have to transfer the rounds to a moon clip.
 
I thought you could load the .45 ACP cartridge and it would headspace on the mouth and fire okay but then you could not use the ejector to eject the empties...you'd have to poke 'em individually if they wouldn't just fall clear.

Given that, you could use speed strips to load the gun.

These guys make speed strips that they say include .45 ACP.

http://www.tuffproducts.com/TUFF_QuickStrips_p/7002-bp.htm

I remember quite some time ago that somebody somehow wrapped some spring wire on the ejector of a revolver so it would catch on the back of the cartridges and eject them. Probably didn't work out or we'd see more of these conversions today but it was an interesting idea.
 
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