How is your SW 625?

[dagz]

I am new to revolvers, I shoot 1911's and Glocks. I am seriously considering this revolver for my first.

Please share your inputs, comments, reviews to help me make an informed choice before buying.

Thanks.

[HighVelocity]

The 625 is a great gun. I have a 4" and a 3" and both run great. Of course, you'll want to fix it up a little if you get a box stock one. Action job, chamfer the charge holes, etc.

Have you shot a 625? Maybe a local shooter would let you use his/hers in a match before you spend the $. I can't imagine you not wanting one after shooting anyway, though.

Gary

[nashvillebill]

My opinion? For USPSA or IDPA its the best choice, hands down. A little action work, a little chamfering, a lot of practice and you'll be scaring the pants off auto shooters. The 625 offers the fastest reloads and most pleasant recoil of the revolvers I have shot.

[Taildraggerdave]

I love mine. Only have 1 IDPA match on it so far but have only owned it for two weeks as of last night....

Did have some teething problems with it, though. Cylinder needed reaming to get ammo to feed correctly and the front sight popped off at the beginning of my last stage at the first match.

I bought the Wolff springs and the Miculek trigger job dvd while on my 10 day wait. Picked it up late Friday night 2 weeks ago. Shot it after my Saturday match (ran my XD). Put 100 rounds or so through it. Took it home and took it apart. Did the Miculek trigger job to it without the springs. Shot a match on Sunday with the 625. Ran perfectly till the sight flew off.

Took it home and replaced the springs and further tuned it. Ordered an SDM fiber optic and installed. S&W sent me a replacement gold dot which now rides in the toolbox. Ordered the chamber reamer from Brownells. Repaired the cylinder this last week. Ran it after a match today to verify 100% function. Very happy with it now. Was able to go back and run a couple practice stages with it. Nice.

[David Sinko]

I believe the 625 is the single most useful and versatile handgun money can buy. It does EVERYTHING well. I now have three of them and they all exhibit the same minor quirks: Most of the screws (and some pinned front sights) will shoot loose and need to be secured with Loc-tite. The stock springs are way overkill even for CCI primers so make sure you sort out all your spring needs before you apply the Loc-tite. If you want a dedicated match gun the general consensus is that you can get a 5.5 lb. Federal-primer-only DA trigger pull. The cylinder throats tend to run a bit tight. Mine are tight enough that I get slightly increased leading but not enough to degrade accuracy or reliability under match conditions when using cast bullets. Cylinder notch peening will generally show up with hard use but is usually not a problem. I find that my trigger finger is the problem once I allow it to get spoiled on the Glock trigger. Any other problems would tend to be the result of poor quality control on the part of S&W.

Dave Sinko

[dagz]

Thanks for all your inputs. Which barrel length should be good for competition? Is the "trigger job" sort of D-I Y?

Again thanks! and I'd like to hear more.

[Taildraggerdave]

IDPA has a barrel length limit of 4" for revolvers and the 625JM is a 4" barrel. IPSC/USPSA doesn't really have a barrel length with respect to what you might use as a game gun.

The trigger job is very easy to do providing you have some mechanical inclination. Feel comfortable with a complete disassembly and reassembly? Then it will be easy. If not, then maybe better left to a trusted Smith. I purchased the Jerry Miculek Trigger Job dvd and watched it a couple times completely before setting out with a stone to my new toy... Purchased a couple new 6x1/2x1/2" fine india stones from Midway prior to starting the job.

Less is definitely more regarding the trigger job. He talks about passing a part over the stone with sometimes only 1 or 2 strokes.

I cleared a spot next to the computer and performed the job while watching and pausing the dvd.

As David mentioned above with springs and some stone work, the DA pull can be brought down to 5.5 pounds. Mine is right is this region as well. Pretty good since right out of the box it is around 11 or 12 pounds.

Take care and good shooting,

Dave

[dagz]

thanks again Dave.

[chemepharmd]

If you want to shoot in IDPA, you will have to stay with a 4". If you plan to shoot USPSA only, then most people seem to prefer 5" barrels, and some even shoot 25's and modified 625's with 6" and 6.5" barrels. Not 100% sure, but I think the longer barrel is also better in other sports (ICORE, etc.).

[Jaxshooter]

S&W is no longer making 5" barrel 625s. You will have to look for a used one if you want a 5" model and they are bringing a premium price now. Mike Carmoney does great action work on S&W revolvers at a quite reasonable price and excellent turn around time.

[earplug]

[ Ran perfectly till the sight flew off.

Took it home and replaced the springs and further tuned it. Ordered an SDM fiber optic and installed. S&W sent me a replacement gold dot which now rides in the toolbox.

My JM 625 sight kept popping off, it was the holster design not the front sight problem. Leather holster was a bit too tight.

I switched to a plastic holster and all is better.

You might be able to shave some leather from the inside of the holster to clear the Jm Gold bead sight.

[Taildraggerdave]

Definitely a holster problem. Plenty of room in the holster but I must have hit the speed cut on the front of the holster when reholstering. The factory sight was pretty loose, though. Lots of side to side play. It wobbled a fair amount, even against the spring/detent. The SDM is much tighter and I wish it was actually a bit tighter still. It's easier to remove material than put some back on.

Take care,

Dave

[colbyjack]

i like my 625JM but its one of the uglyest guns ive ever seen come out of the preformance center with a pitted barell. -chris