Comments on: Crazy ideas

By: Don Meaker

Don Meaker — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:47:54 +0000

When firing the 625 without moon clips, it is best to shoot a few clips first, so the carbon build up in the cylinder helps get the headspace off the front of the cartridge case exactly right. If you don’t do that, you may find that your ignition is spotty. The really bad part of that is if you were to get a “hangfire”. That is a delayed ignition that may go off when the cylinder is not aligned correctly with the barrel. Depending on where it is, you may get lead spray or worse.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:56:48 +0000

The 625 does headspace off the front of the round, so that if you wanted to you could fire the .45 ACP rounds without the moonclips, although extraction would suck. The GAP rounds should be okay to fire, as they will space off the rims using the moonclips.

By: guy

guy — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:03:51 +0000

From what I gather the 625 did originally headspace off the case mouth, but S&W changed it to the rim some time later. I’m no revolver expert though.

By: Sendarius

Sendarius — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:01:01 +0000

Ah, but DOM, he’s going to fire it out of a 625 – a revolver.
I assume that means moon clips, so the round headspaces on the RIM.

i don’t think you want to headspace on the case mouth in a revolver.

I have seen a number of the locals use cut down cases in revolvers using moon clips. In their application they want short cases to make reloads faster and it DOES make a significant difference. I have never heard them mention using small pistol primers to allow a lighter trigger – they simply use the softest primers they can find. Typically that is Federal 100s.

By: Dom

Dom — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:07:53 +0000

So you’re saying you’re going to fire .45 GAP out of a .45 ACP chamber? I don’t know if it will vaporize your gun, but I don’t think it will work. ACP chambers headspace on the case mouth, and so do GAP I’m pretty sure…and since GAP OAL is less, that’s gonna be weird. Not sure if you’re trying this in semi-auto or not, but I would think best-case is the cartridge slides forward to the chamber edge, your firing pin can’t reach it and you have to extract it with a cleaning rod. Worst case is the round is held in place by your extractor, actually does fire, causing an ill-fitting brass to pretty much rattle around, possibly rupture, and possibly breaking your extractor from all the extra load.

I mean, I’ve heard of guys doing it by accident and not suffering for it…but I wouldn’t try it in any gun you particularly like.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:38:20 +0000

weird. I guess the idiots think .45 is much more of a killer than a 9mm. Much like .50 is feared in the states.

By: Sendarius

Sendarius — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:32:11 +0000

Long story short:

Madman with gun shoots people.
Madman with power (prime minister) wets pants, forces states to impose tough new restrictions on guns by threatening to remove federal road funding unless they comply.
Madmen in gun lobby sell us down the river by agreeing that >10 rounds & >.38″ diameter projectiles “not necessary for competition in IPSC/IPDA”
Other men in gun lobby stand up and shout – .45 allowed in Cowboy Action and IHMSA

“just because” and “self-defence” have not been “sufficient reason” for handgun possession in Oz for a LONG time – membership of a recognised shooting club and competing in a recognised discipline are pretty much the only way to get to own a handgun.

The ban on .45 is not tied to military calibre – it is a simple blanket ban on anything greater than .38″ unless you COMPETE in Cowboy Action or IHMSA.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:51:36 +0000

Why is .45 not allowed? Because it is a military caliber?

By: Sendarius

Sendarius — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:50:38 +0000

… oh and as for .45ACP? We can’t have those for IPSC/IPDA in Oz.

By: Sendarius

Sendarius — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:49:06 +0000

I am having trouble seeing the “small pistol primers are easier to ignite” bit.

All things being equal (to which I cannot say that I KNOW that the primer cups of large and small primers are made of the same material in the same thickness), it would require MORE energy to deform the smaller primer cup due to the resulting deformation angles being greater.

If both require similar depth of firing pin penetration to ignite (seems logical), then large pistol primers will actually ignite from a lighter strike.

If the small primer cups are THINNER, then all bets are off.

Having said that, I use small RIFLE primers in my .38 Super Comp rounds as they clearly resist the high pressure better – without the primer flow that I sometimes see with small pistol primers.