I’ve been loading for and shooting the .45 Colt in a Ruger Blackhawk for nearly 30 years. And I’ve always wanted a S&W revolver chambered in this cartridge. So I finally bought one. It’s a factory new M25-15, which has the tapered 6-1/2” barrel and nice wood target stocks.
I don’t intend to run hot rod lids through the gun. I have the Ruger for that or I have a S&W M29, should I want more power in a double action.
Looking at what ammo I have on the shelf, I have a couple boxes of 200 gr. LRN-FP, loaded with a mid-range charge of HS-6 from the standard pressure section of the loading manual. They do around 975 fps from the Ruger. Should be a good load to break in the new M25.
On the first shot I think that kind of smarts. By the time I’d shot all 6, I decided it was really uncomfortable. The first knuckle of my thumb was really not liking this. I’ve shot a lot of hard recoiling guns, but this really wasn’t much fun. I think the .45-70 T/C Contender was more pleasant than this.
I shoot similar weight loads through the M29 that are around 60% more powerful. No issues with that one. But it has a set of soft Hogue rubber grips.
So I resign myself to shopping for some less attractive rubber grips for the gun, and I pull out the M29 to look at the Hogue grips. I noticed where the grip meets the web of the hand is more rounded, while the wood stocks on the M25 have a sharp, abrupt edge here. So before I go changing things, I figured I could try rounding off this edge. A little time with some 220 grit sandpaper did a nice job of it. I don’t think you’d notice unless it was pointed out.
So today I got to go try it out. I shot some 240 gr / 1000 fps loads through the M29 first, for comparison. They were pleasant, no discomfort at all. I then shot some of the .45 loads. Unlike last time out, there was no discomfort at all. I shot most of the box of ammo, both slow and fast, single- and double-action.
Amazing how such a small change can make such a big difference. Sorry, I didn’t get a “before” picture. Photos are from after the change.
I don’t intend to run hot rod lids through the gun. I have the Ruger for that or I have a S&W M29, should I want more power in a double action.
Looking at what ammo I have on the shelf, I have a couple boxes of 200 gr. LRN-FP, loaded with a mid-range charge of HS-6 from the standard pressure section of the loading manual. They do around 975 fps from the Ruger. Should be a good load to break in the new M25.
On the first shot I think that kind of smarts. By the time I’d shot all 6, I decided it was really uncomfortable. The first knuckle of my thumb was really not liking this. I’ve shot a lot of hard recoiling guns, but this really wasn’t much fun. I think the .45-70 T/C Contender was more pleasant than this.
I shoot similar weight loads through the M29 that are around 60% more powerful. No issues with that one. But it has a set of soft Hogue rubber grips.
So I resign myself to shopping for some less attractive rubber grips for the gun, and I pull out the M29 to look at the Hogue grips. I noticed where the grip meets the web of the hand is more rounded, while the wood stocks on the M25 have a sharp, abrupt edge here. So before I go changing things, I figured I could try rounding off this edge. A little time with some 220 grit sandpaper did a nice job of it. I don’t think you’d notice unless it was pointed out.
So today I got to go try it out. I shot some 240 gr / 1000 fps loads through the M29 first, for comparison. They were pleasant, no discomfort at all. I then shot some of the .45 loads. Unlike last time out, there was no discomfort at all. I shot most of the box of ammo, both slow and fast, single- and double-action.
Amazing how such a small change can make such a big difference. Sorry, I didn’t get a “before” picture. Photos are from after the change.
