S&W M25 Problems?

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WheelGunRealGun

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I was going to buy a m25-2 .45 Colt in the gun shop till I started reading about oversized throat issues. Sure enough, I got the caliper and went to the shop and measured the throats at .455 instead of standard .452.

Apparently they all say this just affects accuracy, which is a non factor for me. As long as I can hit minute-of-bad guy I don't care.

But does this affect the longevity of the gun? For instance, does the bullet hit the forcing cone at an angle or way it wasn't meant to be hit at, putting extra stress on the forcing cone and therefore the frame? I'm just trying to think of all possible problems. I reload .45 Colt for my Blackhawk, about at .45 ACP levels, so I wouldn't put hot rodded ammo through this.
 
This month's Handloader magazine has a discussion about this in the reloading the .45 Colt article.

I've never seen any mention of a longevity issue from this.

What you might want to do is try using .454 bullets instead of the more common .451-.452.
 
I have tried both .452 and .454 hard cast bullets in my S & W M25-5 and I can't tell the difference at 25 yards as compared to soft lead winchester 250 grain bullets. the loads all stay at about 3 inches at 25 yards and that is "pop can" accurate and that is good enough for me. the throats in mine are .454.
 
The current handloader also has an article on the effect of undersize bullets hitting the forcing cone at an angle. I am at the office, not home, but I believe the discussion was in the article on loading for the 41 Mag? Not sure, but has photos of undersize bullets that did not have full circumference groove marks indicating contacting the forcing cone at an angle
 
Calipers don't always give very precise measurements, especially when checking internal diameters.
An internal gauge might show a different number.
Just a thought.
 
"I am at the office, not home, but I believe the discussion was in the article on loading for the 41 Mag?"

Nope, don't think so.

Unlike the .45 Colt, which started off life with one bullet diameter, and morphed to another, resulting in the wide chamber mouths, the .41 Magnum has always had properly matched chamber mouth and forcing cone diameters.
 
What you can do though, is to drop a clean (no lube) pre-measured .454" dia boolit into your open cylinder. Supposedly, if it requires a gentle push with something such as the eraser of a pencil, you're good to go with .454.

I have an 80s M-25 where the .454 boolits don't even slow down before they hit the carpet when dropped through the opened cylinder.

Its still more accurate than me. Even with the oversize cylinder throats, its Potential Accuracy is waaay better than what I can bring to the table. Then again, it has been of the bench of, and blessed by Hamilton Bowen. I don't know if he did anything to the forcing cone, or not.

salty
 
The current handloader also has an article on the effect of undersize bullets hitting the forcing cone at an angle. I am at the office, not home, but I believe the discussion was in the article on loading for the 41 Mag? Not sure, but has photos of undersize bullets that did not have full circumference groove marks indicating contacting the forcing cone at an angle
Click to expand...


Whenever you get the chance, I'd really appreciate if you could tell me what exactly it said. That might give me some very useful information.
 
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