41mag Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 It would seem like an easy thing to do but I might be missing something. Sure looks like a good round to hunt with. Would use the same moon clips? Let me know if you have done it and how it worked out. thank you, 41mag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sci Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Pat check out the 460 rowland clark custom does a conversion on 625s Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopalong Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Just get a 657, or a 57 and have fun. Hop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
20nickels Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 The way to do that would be to get a 25 or 625 in 45 Colt and just have it moonclipped for 45 ACP/ Win Mag. There will be naysayers, but I just don't see how you could go wrong. Your ultimate accuracy just won't be there with ACP, but it will make a fine practice plinker round and may even work well in competition. If you leave a ledge on the outside of the cylinder for the Colt rims to headspace on then you still have the guns original chambering. This outside rim would of course exclude 45 AR, but who cares. If you go the other route and start off with a 625 in 45 ACP then the 460 Rowland is your best bet for two reasons; you will retain your ACP accuracy and the Rowland isn't such a wild cartridge that it will crack the forcing cone on the ACP guns. The forcing cone extending further into the frame window on the ACP guns leaves it vulnerable to high velocity rounds, particularly in 45 where it is at it's thinnest in an N frame. Now load up your moonclip holders with 72 rds of 45 Win Mag, attatch salmon to your belt, roll around in a berry patch, and get a close look at a Grizzly sow with cubs. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harmon Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 i dont think the long colt cylinder will handle the win mag pressures Harmon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Sinko Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 I tried this years ago with a 25-7 .45 Colt and it was a failure and a complete waste of time. I refuse to moonclip a perfectly good .45 Colt revolver. The solution is to build a dedicated .45 Win. Mag. using a custom cylinder on the Redhawk platform but that is prohibitively expensive. Heavily used Redhawks develop ignition issues and the factory will refuse to fix a caliber conversion. Ruger could easily offer a factory gun but the dictators who run that outfit are just as anal retentive as the old man was and it will probably never happen. A 625 rechambered to .460 Rowland is probably the best solution if you feel you really need the added power over the .45 ACP. A heavily loaded .45 ACP or Auto Rim is nothing to be taken lightly and I have quit my fantasies involving high powered .45 moonclip guns. There are plenty of other worthwhile things to fantasize about. Dave Sinko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 You can load a regular .45 ACP 625 to a pretty high power factor (we're talking 275 p.f.) if you're careful about your selection of components. Back when I was shooting bowling pins off wood tables, I shot a ton of 255-gr. hard-cast SWCs and 250-gr. XTPs at 1050-1100 fps out of my .45 revolvers. No pressure or premature wear problems, and those guns are still in use today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrmn1 Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 I agree with the Mike. And I would point you to this article here by my friend John Taffin. http://www.sixguns.com/range/sw6252.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 I remember that article--good piece. Unfortunately, John missed the problems which action shooters immediately experienced with the 625-2, the notorious floating hand and the out-of-spec chamber dimensions. Fortunately, the factory fixed these problems by the middle of the 625-3 run. By the way, Massad Ayoob deserves the credit for the introduction of the 625--he had been pushing his contacts at the factory for some time to bring out an updated .45 ACP revolver, the 25-2 being one of his favorite firearms. I might add that my .45 revolver pin loads were always loaded in standard .45 ACP brass using Unique powder. There seems to be a perception, spread mainly on the S&W Forum, that .45 Auto Rim brass is stronger. It is not--in fact, there is still some of the old "balloon-head" .45 AR brass floating around that is dangerously weak. In my view, using .45 AR brass makes no sense--it brings zero advantages to the table, and takes away the gigantic advantage of the moonclip reloads that make the .45 ACP revolver such a great platform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrmn1 Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 I remember that article--good piece. Unfortunately, John missed the problems which action shooters immediately experienced with the 625-2, the notorious floating hand and the out-of-spec chamber dimensions. Fortunately, the factory fixed these problems by the middle of the 625-3 run. By the way, Massad Ayoob deserves the credit for the introduction of the 625--he had been pushing his contacts at the factory for some time to bring out an updated .45 ACP revolver, the 25-2 being one of his favorite firearms. I might add that my .45 revolver pin loads were always loaded in standard .45 ACP brass using Unique powder. There seems to be a perception, spread mainly on the S&W Forum, that .45 Auto Rim brass is stronger. It is not--in fact, there is still some of the old "balloon-head" .45 AR brass floating around that is dangerously weak. In my view, using .45 AR brass makes no sense--it brings zero advantages to the table, and takes away the gigantic advantage of the moonclip reloads that make the .45 ACP revolver such a great platform. Gun company's don't seem to be able to get 45 caliber revolver chambers right. My 25-2's were too big 625-2 were too small. Ruger has been the same way. Anyway, I have a bunch of new auto rim brass and I have played with it for hunting loads and such. There is no advantage to it for the most part. When hunting it makes it easy to just drop out fired cases and replace them. You don't have to go to another moon clip but thats about the size of it. Unique has its issues and it may not be the perfect powder for all uses in the 45 acp/auto rim but it ain't bad. I have burned more of it than anything with bullets from as light as 180gr all the way to 300gr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toolguy Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 I built a 44 Automag pin gun on a M29 about 20 years ago when the only moonclips were 45 ACP. As far as I know, it's the only 44 Automag revolver there is. The reason I went with that chambering is to get more horsepower on moonclips than was possible with 45 ACP. It has a ported slab bull barrel, a full underlug, a 4 position Wichita Rib, bobbed hammer, trigger guard hook and good action. The best pin load in that gun is a 300 gr. bullet, lead or jacketed, 8.5 gr. of WW231 and standard primer. It runs at 915 fps with a 275 power factor and is very pleasant to shoot. It will clear 2 pins in one shot if they are together even if they are full of other bullets. I have shot full power 44 Mag. loads in it many times, but those are hard on the time clock and not needed. I still shoot that one once in a while and it is not getting worn out. I think a 45 Win Mag would work fine too, probably with the same load. You can get 44 Automag from Starline now, but back then I made 500 of them out of 308 rifle brass. I'll never do that again. Once I got into making the brass, I was wishing I had gone the 45 Win Mag route because you could just buy those and they would fit on a moon clip too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Hey Toolguy, remember the ".44 JAG" S&W revolver conversions done by Russ Jefferson? There were a few of those guns around, and they got a little notoriety in the firearms press (I remember Ayoob wrote a piece for American Handgunner)--these guns were the exact same concept as yours, and came out about the same time frame. There was no Automag brass readily available at the time, so they went the route of cutting down .308 brass as you described. Incidentally, the "G" in JAG stood for Bill Grimmett, who was a guy I used to shoot pin matches with back in the day. I remember Grimmett had a custom fixed-sight 4" 29 he carried in a IWB rig all the time.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toolguy Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 You're right. I had forgotten about those. I don't know what the cartridge dimensions were on the JAG, I just made mine regular Automag. I assume the JAG must have been different in some way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colbyjack Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 what about .45 GAP in a acp its like a 230 PF at 1000 fps and 230 ball ammo? a buddy shoots that alot in his but how safe is that? -chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toolguy Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 It's probably OK. A lot depends on the powder and the pressure curve it generates. Slower powders are generally safer for the heavier loads. There are exceptions to everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S&WIowegan Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 I had one of my old 625-3s converted to .460 Rowland a couple years ago. The gun was one of the unfortunate Smiths with a bad cylinder which caused me to bend the yoke while pounding the empties out on a prop during a local match Sent it back to S&W and they replaced the cylinder and yoke (plus all my Wolff springs ). Then I had the marvy idea to have it Magna-ported(not legal in USPSA ). It laid in the safe for years until I had the cylinder reamed to .460 dimensions......works like a charm and will really knock pins down with 255 gr. LSWCs. Bob. A16841 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
20nickels Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 My manual, circa 1980, shows the Win mag to be slightly shorter than the Colt, but not enough to worry about. Accuracy should still be as good as the Colt in a modern chamber. My book is old enough to show the Colt using .454 boolits, but I assume modern chambers are the same internal specs as the ACP, just longer. 41mag, Yes it should use the same moonclips. My book is showing the same thickness for Win Mag in the extraction area as the ACP but with an added bonus, the the part where it tapers back up to the outside diameter of the cartridge is a sharper angle which will make the longer rounds more secure and less wobbly in the clips. Are you wanting to build on an existing gun or would you have to purchase one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
41mag Posted August 27, 2008 Author Share Posted August 27, 2008 Just get a 657, or a 57 and have fun. Hop Been there done that! This is one of the most accurate hand guns I have ever shot. The day I bought it in the early to mid 90's I shot a 4 1/8" 6 shot center to center group with factory PMC ammo at 180 yards (6X glass). 41mag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
41mag Posted August 27, 2008 Author Share Posted August 27, 2008 My manual, circa 1980, shows the Win mag to be slightly shorter than the Colt, but not enough to worry about. Accuracy should still be as good as the Colt in a modern chamber. My book is old enough to show the Colt using .454 boolits, but I assume modern chambers are the same internal specs as the ACP, just longer.41mag, Yes it should use the same moonclips. My book is showing the same thickness for Win Mag in the extraction area as the ACP but with an added bonus, the the part where it tapers back up to the outside diameter of the cartridge is a sharper angle which will make the longer rounds more secure and less wobbly in the clips. Are you wanting to build on an existing gun or would you have to purchase one? I am always looking and thinking about what the next gun or project will be and when I was going thru the reloading manuals I was looking at the cartridge drawing and ballistics of the win mag and just wondered if any one had done it. I was guessing that someone might inform me that the 625's thinner cylinder walls would not be suitable for the mag's pressure. thanks for the info every one, 41mag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toolguy Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 That is a great looking 41 Magnum! I know it's just a stock factory gun, but I always liked that barrel style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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