Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 45 ACP in revolvers ?

I had a Smith 25-4 with a trigger job. You could not lift a 6 lb weight with the DA trigger. It went down the road because of inaccuracy. Barrel groove diameter was .451 and the throats varied between .457 and .460. Prolly should have tried bigger bullets in it but I was leery of trying to barrel-swage bullets .006 or more. Always thought it would have made a good pin gun if one could keep the slugs on the pins. Every Ruger SA I've shot was outstanding in the accuracy department, so that is what I shoot most now, except for my one Smith, a 4-inch 29-2.

I have a S&W 625. It's nice to shoot, but not very accurate with the one load I've tried in it. 230 grain LRN with 6.0 grains of unique. I have some of the new CFE pistol powder I am going to try in it next week.

My 625, and older 5" barrel is very accurate. Odd that several guys are stating their wasn't.

I have a 1972 S&W 25-2 I paid $360 for in 2002 off a gun forum + $30 FFL.

It really sucks with moon clips and 45acp brass. I get misfires.

But shooting 45 Auto Rim brass, it kicks like a 44 mag.

The chamber walls are ~ 0.062" to the outside and thicker between cylinders. Clark Custom [no relation] have been converting these to 46 Rowland [beyond 40 kpsi ].
But with inside diameters that large and walls that thin, the hoop stress in the steel is too high for me at 40 kpsi. I keep it closer to 25,000 psi, but with longer over all length, I can get the performance up.
24 gr LIL'GUN 230 gr FMJ 1.4"
17 gr LIL'GUN 300 gr cast 1.555"

If I had a 45 ACP revolver it would see nothing but 45 Super every shot.

Shoot both ACP and auto rim in my 1917.

I want a 1917 in the worse way.

Last few that have come thru the shop were pretty doggie. I lucked into this one several years ago.

Like in the back seat of a Volkswagen? There are plenty out there. Depends on how picky you are. A while back 35,000 Brazilian contract S&W 1917s were brought back. They were dirt cheap when they first hit our shores but they've since gone up in price.

Mine either. I love it. And I love being able to load the same ammo for it and a 1911.

Switch out the cylinder and carry full house colt loads.

When I was a lot younger I bought what I thought was an S&W 1917 and shot a lot of .45acp through it. I eventually realized that what I had was a .455 Hand Ejector MarkII that had been converted to .45 acp, whereupon I switched to lead bullet Auto-Rim loads, which I think shoot better, even with the slightly undersize factory bullets.

I like the idea of a .45 acp Ruger single-action and wish I could buy one with just the >45 acp cylinder, and not have to pay the extra for the .45 Colt cylinder.