Smith 625 JM info

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
5 groove is the normal S&W standard for many decades. I counted three times to be certain I
wasn't just seeing it wrong, knowing that 5 was normal for S&Ws. Makes me think someone else is
providing the blanks for the JW barrels.

Bill
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
That bottom pic looks like slant sided lands....so I am guessing EDM rifling.

I think I am happy I got the one I did.

Bill
 

Arlon

Member
That bottom pic looks like slant sided lands....so I am guessing EDM rifling.

I think I am happy I got the one I did.

Bill
Can you post a close up picture of yours if it's different? Jonb's looks about identical to mine with the real shallow ramps. One thing I noticed when I slugged the bore was that the slug had grooves but they were smooth, they would not catch a thumbnail. Interesting way to do rifling.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
OK, finally got a chance to take some pix of my rifling at the muzzle.

Here you go. The SN is CKT24XX, if that has any relevance to the type of bbl and rifling.

8471
 
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Arlon

Member
OK, finally got a chance to take some pix of my rifling at the muzzle.

Here you go. The SN is CKT24XX, if that has any relevance to the type if bbl and rifling.

View attachment 8471
WOW, that looks totally different than mine. I think I see why some people love them and some hate them. Mines being relegated to paper weight duty. I assume that us 6 grooves. When I get back to town I'll check my SN.
 

Arlon

Member
Been to S&W once already. Maybe they will look harder if it comes back twice.
Mind if I use your picture for comparing to mine?
 

M3845708Bama

Active Member
Looking to potentially purchase a Smith 625 JM. Set up for 45 ACP reloading/Mihec 68 clone casting/moon clip shooting.

Thoughts on this gun for general target fun/bowling pins/shooting cast bullets. (And, Dale53 - I have seen a # of your postings on these variants over on the Smith forum) Thanx
I have one but it can’t hold a candle to a 1955 25-2. The 25-2 is smooth as glass and is extremely accurate with an hg 68. If you can find one, I don’ think you would be disapointed
 

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
Have given up on a new one... Have a $500 gift cert, and thought it would help fill the bill for one. But hear too many bad things about the new ones. IF the LGS I have the GC with gets an old one, I am all in!
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
No problem,use the pic any way you want.

No idea when mine was made, have not tried to look for SN info on this new a gun,
but I bought it on GunBroker.

Bill
 

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
Finally pulled the trigger on what started this post. As it says, I was looking at the 625 for the GC I won. Just kept seeing too many possible issues. Fast Fwd to today, and the LGS I had the GC with had a Remington R1 Enhanced on sale. Price was marked down/right/I grabbed it. It has all the custom work and parts, etc on it, including a great trigger. Only thing I need to do is pull the series 80 parts and put the replacement shim in. Out of the box it shoots great with factory Win White Box. Only complaint is the alligator teeth grips! Had to replace them to something much milder. May take a rasp to the originals, as I like color of them. I think in the end I will be much happier with this than I would have the 625 (AND I have the S&W Mdl 1917 already).
 

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
A 1911 is never the wrong answer.

Bill

What a couple of my enabling buddies kept telling me, Bill! I DO like the 45 ACP! And will readily admit I bought this one really because the trigger was the best out of the box 1911 trigger I have ever pulled. And got better as I diddled with it a bit and adjusted the travel/reset. Very happy. And a cool aside, it is made right here in Huntsville, about 20 min from where I live!
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
That local connection is never bad. Check the extractor tension, too. And watch out for setting the
overtravel too short and having the sear ticking the half cock on the way by. All in the "1911 springs" post.

Bill
 
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Arlon

Member
I have a few 1917s, Model of 1955 Target (pre model 25), Jm and a few 1911s. I like the 1911s. Have to have at least one of them. I'll try to trade the JM for something like a Ruger convertable. I'll probably never purchase another S&W gun from the new side lock era.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
That's a shame. In many ways, they are some of the best guns S&W has made, although you may need
to reset a bbl on some of them. I suppose if you get a bad one it leaves a bad taste. My 586+, about
8 years old is about as perfect and accurate a gun as you could hope for, right out of the box. And I
have a number of older S&Ws from the 70s nd 80s that have required bbl to be reset to get rid of
thread choke before they could shoot their best.

Bill
 

JonB

Halcyon member
I'm not sure if I should start a new thread or not...I am choosing not.

A couple days ago, I found a 4 cav Lyman 452460 mold in my stash...I totally forgot about owning it? Heck there was even a Top punch in the box. According to my log book, I only cast with it once, in 2013.
The mold looked like new, I had bought it used from a fella that bought it new in the 1980s.
So I cleaned off the oil and fired up the lead furnace and started casting using some range scrap alloy that measures BHN 10.
Dang those 4 cav Iron molds are heavy. I got about 350 cast before my arms gave out.

I lubed/sized them yesterday with the lyman 45 using SL68B and a 451 die. I think I mentioned before, that this 625JM has tight chambers and 452 bullets will chamber only if I use R+P brass, but other brands of brass with thicker case walls won't chamber with 452 bullets, but will chamber with 451 bullets.

Today, I setup the Lee turret press ...and Dang, according to my log book, I haven't loaded anything since May 2018, no wonder everything in the reloading room was dusty. I got about half the bullets loaded over some Unique. I'll finish them tomorrow and mount 'em on the moon clips and wait for the temp to get above freezing, then hit the range. I may have to bring a snowthrower with me to the range :p

I've never really noticed how accurate this gun is, since most of the range visits with it, have been plagued with ammo/moonclip problems. And I'll be extra curious if these 451 bullets cause some Lead fouling.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
That has always been an accurate bullet in my guns, 1911s and revolvers.
You should get some Auto Rim brass from Starline if you have trouble with the moon clips.
I have never had trouble with moon clips. What exactly is the trouble?

Bill
 

JonB

Halcyon member
I'm using Ranch products moon clips. Some brass go on with great difficulty, and removing those difficult offender is even more challenging. R+P brass work great. I have a bunch of Mil Surp that is the worst. Brazer and Federal are also pretty bad.
Also, the loaded moon clips don't drop right in. As I mentioned above the chambers are tight. The moon clips don't look bent, but they could be bent slightly? (I suspect that'd cause some problem?) from the punishment they get mooning and demooning, if I don't use R+P brass...which I no longer do, But I did have a large batch of ammo made with mixed brass, with 452 bullets...lesson learned there.

I need to shoot this gun with moon clips...I'd rather bring out a 41 mag or 357, as opposed to buying/using Auto Rim brass.