Smith & Wesson Model 25-5 Engraved .45 Colt

Pick this one up and the first thing you notice is the engraving. Deep, hand cut scroll runs from the muzzle clear back to the topstrap, with leaf clusters and dotted shading filling the frame, cylinder, and barrel flats. The bright cut work plays against the deep blue underneath, and the engraver left the lettering untouched so the rolled SMITH & WESSON billboard on the barrel still reads clean through the scroll. That balance between cut steel and polished blue is what separates real hand work from machine pressing.

Underneath the dress, this is an N-frame Model 25-5 chambered in .45 Colt. It's the large frame target revolver Smith built around the old Colt cartridge, with a pinned 6 inch barrel, a recessed cylinder, and the heavy underlug profile that gives the gun its weight up front. The single action break is crisp and the double action stacks the way a well kept N-frame should. The barrel carries the .45 COLT CTG. roll mark, and the frame shows the Springfield, Mass. address with the trademark logo on the sideplate.

The grips are figured target stocks in a warm reddish wood with strong streaking grain, fitted with gold S&W medallions. They fill the hand the way oversized target wood is meant to, and the high polish on them catches light against the blue.

The adjustable rear sight pairs with a red ramp front, the way Smith set up these target guns. Look close and you'll see the engraving wraps the trigger guard, the sideplate, and even the recessed chamber faces.

It comes with the original blue S&W box and the .45 Colt Target Revolver manual marked Model No. 25-5. For a collector who wants an N-frame that earns a spot in the case and still shoots, this engraved 25-5 covers both.