Peter M. Eick
Member
Range report for a nice .45 model of 1955.
The Pre-25 is commonly called the .45 model of 1955 or sometimes it is referred to as the heavyweight version of the .45 model of 1950. This is a classic 5 screw Smith and Wesson N Frame revolver from the time prior to numbering everything. This one is back from a time when guns had names like “Highway Patrolman†or “357 Magnum†or even (my favorite) “38/44 Outdoorsman†and the “38/44 Heavy Dutyâ€. The main differences are the thick or heavy barrel compared to the model of 1950. I have not yet picked up a model of 1950, but soon, soon. Now back to the subject at hand. I purchased this revolver from another S&W collector who looks out for me and frankly talked me into buying this one. All I can say is “Thanksâ€. You know who you are and I really really appreciate you convincing me to buy this gun. It is one sweet unit.
One of the first things that struck me as a 38/357 shooter is the look down the barrel. This thing is HUGE! It is quite a shock to look at it! I was quite impressed at how little steel is around the chamber and the barrel when you compare it to the N frame 38/44’s for example.
The revolver has been modified by someone professionally to give a very crisp single action trigger pull of exactly 2 lbs on all 6 cylinders. The double action trigger pull is 8 lbs 3.0 onz on all cylinders. The gun exudes classic Smith and Wesson fit and finish for the ‘50’s. No gaps on the sideplate, very uniform polish, nice undercut sights, smooth lines and very tight lockup. The action is smooooth. It is hard to describe how nice these guns are when compared to modern fare I see at the local gun store. Cocking the hammer in single action it just slides back and rolls in your hand. Very nice indeed! The hammer has been jeweled and is very easy to cock for single action use. I would guess the gun had only been shot a very few times prior to me using it base upon the turn line.
The first thing I did was pull the grips off it (not original) that did not fit my hands. Here is my first attempt at the range:
These are Herrett ropers. Nice grips that look great, but I find them to thin at the heel of the hand and I do not shoot them well. These grips are beautifully checkered and fit nicely, but they just do not fit my hands well (if you want to buy them from me, I have two sets I can sell you as an aside). After just one outing, they went straight of the gun and I swapped them for a different set of generic smooth S&W target grips:
These targets are my first time out with the gun at 15 yards shooting mostly double action. The load was my standard a Remington 230 grn fmj with 4.9 grns of bullseye, cci300 primer, starline brass which chrono over my 35p at 808 fps mean 13 fps SD on a 20 shot string. I found the smooth grips slipped a lot in my hand so I did not like them much. I guess I was impressed at how much the slide action of my Baer PII and my CZ97b soaks up the sharpness of the 45ACP going off. I figure I need to work on my hand strength a bit but in the mean time I better look at other grips. Also during this outing I had all of one monoclip so loading was a bit slow at best. So back to the drawing board. I also did not like loading the brass one round at a time into the metal moon clips so I started doing some searches. I found that good grips for this gun would be “coke†style grips and that RIMZ makes a plastic set of moonclips. Since I like Dillon’s catalog, I figured I would support them first and I also picked up a set of remooners and demooners from Dillon along with 30 moonclips.
The remooner/demooner units from Dillon works perfect. Absolutely no complaints other then I forgot to take a picture of them in operation here for this report. Kind of stupid on my part!. These are highly recommended if you are going to compete or carry with the moonclips. I can load up a moonclip in about 15 seconds if I am loafing. So I had a choice. I could buy more metal moonclips or try out the RIMZ. So I emailed RIMZ and they sent me 2 of the plastic (polymer) moonclips. Pretty flexible but easy to use.
The Pre-25 is commonly called the .45 model of 1955 or sometimes it is referred to as the heavyweight version of the .45 model of 1950. This is a classic 5 screw Smith and Wesson N Frame revolver from the time prior to numbering everything. This one is back from a time when guns had names like “Highway Patrolman†or “357 Magnum†or even (my favorite) “38/44 Outdoorsman†and the “38/44 Heavy Dutyâ€. The main differences are the thick or heavy barrel compared to the model of 1950. I have not yet picked up a model of 1950, but soon, soon. Now back to the subject at hand. I purchased this revolver from another S&W collector who looks out for me and frankly talked me into buying this one. All I can say is “Thanksâ€. You know who you are and I really really appreciate you convincing me to buy this gun. It is one sweet unit.
One of the first things that struck me as a 38/357 shooter is the look down the barrel. This thing is HUGE! It is quite a shock to look at it! I was quite impressed at how little steel is around the chamber and the barrel when you compare it to the N frame 38/44’s for example.
The revolver has been modified by someone professionally to give a very crisp single action trigger pull of exactly 2 lbs on all 6 cylinders. The double action trigger pull is 8 lbs 3.0 onz on all cylinders. The gun exudes classic Smith and Wesson fit and finish for the ‘50’s. No gaps on the sideplate, very uniform polish, nice undercut sights, smooth lines and very tight lockup. The action is smooooth. It is hard to describe how nice these guns are when compared to modern fare I see at the local gun store. Cocking the hammer in single action it just slides back and rolls in your hand. Very nice indeed! The hammer has been jeweled and is very easy to cock for single action use. I would guess the gun had only been shot a very few times prior to me using it base upon the turn line.
The first thing I did was pull the grips off it (not original) that did not fit my hands. Here is my first attempt at the range:
These are Herrett ropers. Nice grips that look great, but I find them to thin at the heel of the hand and I do not shoot them well. These grips are beautifully checkered and fit nicely, but they just do not fit my hands well (if you want to buy them from me, I have two sets I can sell you as an aside). After just one outing, they went straight of the gun and I swapped them for a different set of generic smooth S&W target grips:
These targets are my first time out with the gun at 15 yards shooting mostly double action. The load was my standard a Remington 230 grn fmj with 4.9 grns of bullseye, cci300 primer, starline brass which chrono over my 35p at 808 fps mean 13 fps SD on a 20 shot string. I found the smooth grips slipped a lot in my hand so I did not like them much. I guess I was impressed at how much the slide action of my Baer PII and my CZ97b soaks up the sharpness of the 45ACP going off. I figure I need to work on my hand strength a bit but in the mean time I better look at other grips. Also during this outing I had all of one monoclip so loading was a bit slow at best. So back to the drawing board. I also did not like loading the brass one round at a time into the metal moon clips so I started doing some searches. I found that good grips for this gun would be “coke†style grips and that RIMZ makes a plastic set of moonclips. Since I like Dillon’s catalog, I figured I would support them first and I also picked up a set of remooners and demooners from Dillon along with 30 moonclips.
The remooner/demooner units from Dillon works perfect. Absolutely no complaints other then I forgot to take a picture of them in operation here for this report. Kind of stupid on my part!. These are highly recommended if you are going to compete or carry with the moonclips. I can load up a moonclip in about 15 seconds if I am loafing. So I had a choice. I could buy more metal moonclips or try out the RIMZ. So I emailed RIMZ and they sent me 2 of the plastic (polymer) moonclips. Pretty flexible but easy to use.
