Since 1999 when I saw and immediately bought my first titanium S&W (342) I have been asking the same rhetorical question of all my gun loving friends; “If they can make a Ti 38 J frame, why can’t they make me a Ti 45 ACP N frame? Well S&W finally answered my question in spades!
Last Saturday I picked up a S&W 325PD at the WPB gun show. First impressions were very favorable. Fit and finish were first rate. All controls and moving parts operated smoothly and there was no indication of contact between the trigger and/or hammer on the frame. Lockup was tight and timing prefect. Double action was a little heavy but smooth as anyone could ask for with no grit, glitches or binding common on some of my recent Smith purchases. My only complaint was the fiber optic front/V-notch rear sight system. (OK, I’m an old timer and still feel the only fit sight for a hand gun is black on black, front ramp and square notch rear.)
OK, now to the good stuff. I took my new toy to the range yesterday and set up some 5.5†and 1†Shoot-N-C’s at 7 yards. Starting single action, I placed that big red thing in the V-notch over the X-ring and pressed the trigger. I was rewarded with a dead center hit. Repeating this process 5 more times left me with a one hole group just over caliber size. I repeated this exercise 3 more times on the 1†targets with the same results. The remainder of the 216 rounds fired were shot double action. These groups ran from 1 to 3 inches depending on my rate of fire. No problems of any kind were noted. All rounds loaded and extracted smoothly and no action binding of any kind occurred. Recoil was stout as expected, but nowhere near the discomfort level of my 342 or 386. Frankly, I wouldn’t shoot 216 factory equivalent rounds through my 386PD on a bet.
In conclusion, the only change I will make is to install a 12# Wolff rebound spring I have on hand. This is probably unnecessary but will bring the double action in line with my other two 625s. I will also continue to ponder the sight change, but I have to admit for close and fast work the red plastic thing doesn’t do to bad.
Well, it only took them five years but the powers-to-be at S&W finally answered my request. Thank you S&W!
JAC
Last Saturday I picked up a S&W 325PD at the WPB gun show. First impressions were very favorable. Fit and finish were first rate. All controls and moving parts operated smoothly and there was no indication of contact between the trigger and/or hammer on the frame. Lockup was tight and timing prefect. Double action was a little heavy but smooth as anyone could ask for with no grit, glitches or binding common on some of my recent Smith purchases. My only complaint was the fiber optic front/V-notch rear sight system. (OK, I’m an old timer and still feel the only fit sight for a hand gun is black on black, front ramp and square notch rear.)
OK, now to the good stuff. I took my new toy to the range yesterday and set up some 5.5†and 1†Shoot-N-C’s at 7 yards. Starting single action, I placed that big red thing in the V-notch over the X-ring and pressed the trigger. I was rewarded with a dead center hit. Repeating this process 5 more times left me with a one hole group just over caliber size. I repeated this exercise 3 more times on the 1†targets with the same results. The remainder of the 216 rounds fired were shot double action. These groups ran from 1 to 3 inches depending on my rate of fire. No problems of any kind were noted. All rounds loaded and extracted smoothly and no action binding of any kind occurred. Recoil was stout as expected, but nowhere near the discomfort level of my 342 or 386. Frankly, I wouldn’t shoot 216 factory equivalent rounds through my 386PD on a bet.
In conclusion, the only change I will make is to install a 12# Wolff rebound spring I have on hand. This is probably unnecessary but will bring the double action in line with my other two 625s. I will also continue to ponder the sight change, but I have to admit for close and fast work the red plastic thing doesn’t do to bad.
Well, it only took them five years but the powers-to-be at S&W finally answered my request. Thank you S&W!
JAC
