Back when I started in 73, the 25 was commonly accepted as a "bug". My TO was alive due to the 25 he carried on his ankle. His sage advice to me on my first day with him, was " carry a second gun and a sap."
As far as real world results, I have seen it go both ways. DRT or shot several times and barely inconvienced, but I have seen that with other cartridges as well.
I own four, a baby Browning, a Berretta, a Raven and a Jennings. "Mouse" gun in my book, but they launch bullets and as such have my respect.

this one I used to own. Baby Browning engraved with ivory grips.

last two pics are of the colt shown in post 30 above in a later Colt marked holster.

Charlie

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Timely thread. I picked up this Colt 1908 Vest Pocket pistol a couple of weeks ago. According to a table I found online, the serial number dates it to 1910.

It came to me via one of my wife's friends who had it for awhile and had no use for it. According to her, she received a phone call from an assisted living facility where here mother had been staying at the time, stating that she had a gun and to please have it removed immediately. When she asked her mother why she had a gun, her mother stated " Well a women must have protection!". Can't say I fault her reasoning...

The gun came in a cheap leather holster and as such I was a little surprised at the relative lack of corrosion. There was a bit of minor pitting in the bore but not enough to prevent shooting it. After a quick clean and lube, I ran about a half a box of FMJs through it without a hitch.

The microscopic sights didn't aid my accuracy; however I think my aim was spoiled more by my constant giggling as I pulled the trigger. Great fun!

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Baby Browning, the fist handgun my dad bought for himself, he had inherited a colt 1911, but never had a new pistol, until the Browning.He carried it many times, as have I. Love it and it will be with me till the end.

CZ47 25acp. DAO, no safetys, levers, switches or buttons to push.
Just pull the trigger. Nice smooth easy DA pull.
Made in 1947. A touch larger than most 25 autos but it fits me better because of that. Was Louis Seecamps inspiration for his series of small semiauto pistols.
I added the engraving one day for something to do while recovering from a med issue. It had some pitting on the left side and was a good candidate for some embellishment.

Not a 25, but a bullet mould that produces 25 ACP bullets. You get a lot of bullets from one pound of lead, and a lot of loads when you use 1.1 gr of Bulleye.

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Good Grief!!

What a beauty!!! If this is what you can do one day when you're not feeling well, I'd like to see what you could do if you were in tip top shape and took a little longer!!! That is an absolutely beautiful job of engraving, and on one of the nicest designed pocket automatics ever!!!

Thanks for sharing with us!!

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I've told this before but I think it bears re-telling in this string. I have a friend who apparently had more time than sense. People were boasting about the double rifles they were going to build and he said to himself: "I'll show you". He took a cheap Brazilian 410 shotgun, the only weak link in the whole thing. He had some .252" barrel blanks from the P.O Ackley sale. He fitted them to the shotgun, chambered them and reworked the extractors and made himself the only 25 ACP double rifle in the world.

He decided to regulate it so he could use only one set of sights. He said that was more work that the rest of the project but he got it so the two barrels would shoot within 3 inches at 50 yards. If you want a rifle that will shoot within 3 inches at 100 yards, you can pay in the high five figures for an H&H double and wait five years.

I've shot it, and it's great fun. I made a right and a left on charging beer cans at 25 yards, and it absolutely anihilates grapefruit at that range. I told him if he ever wanted to sell it, I'd like first refusal. He told me: "you'd have to get in line". I know a very good gunsmith, and asked him if he'd duplicate it; he politely declined. I asked him what about a K 25 revolver, and he was interested, but I've never taken him up on it.

I only have 3, and since S&W never made one........
I suppose they do share the same DNA though!

Colt Junior (1973) with original Colt holster.


Colt Model 1908 (1936)

Bauer Automatic early 70's ?

Will have to try and get them all together sometime for a combined photo shoot.

What a fun and interesting thread this is

Here's a little German Ortgies .25 acp. ca. 1922. These little guns ( made in .25 and .32-as well as a few "rare" in 9mm Kurz/.380 acp) were manufactured from 1918 to 1924 and display fine early German machining and a unique "striker" design. Reliable and surprisingly accurate at 5 to 7 yards

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John

Bond, James Bond

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Jim
Many K and N Frames

Sorry, no pictures of .25 autos, fat chicks or mopeds.

LOL...use to have 4-5 Colt .25s my Dad gave me..... folks use to bring them into the Station.... with the story "This was my Dad's/Grandfather's I don't want it....here get rid of it!!!!" Pre-68 the officers just took them home.

Still have one "anib" with the box, no docs........ and a small full flap holster........

The others were my original trading fodder......

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SWHF #448

What ? No fat chicks ???

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John

I don't have one at present, but H&R made a semiauto in .25 ACP long ago, in the WWI era. They must be quite unusual, as I have never seen one. Has anyone? It looked much like the British Webley semiauto. I once had one of those H&R pistols in .32 back in the days when I was a U.S. pocket pistol collector. There were once many european .25 ACP pistols, even a Russian one, the Korovin. Usually described as being the very first semiautomatic pistol made in Russia.

One could specialize in being a .25 pistol collector, and there may even be some of those. But it would be very difficult to find examples of every .25 pistol made. I think there were even some .25 revolvers.

Ok,Ok,,, I have a Colt Vest Pocket,,, sorry no pics!

I know you are not going to throw that out here without pictures!

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!

I remember seeing a .25 auto in a belt holster being carried by a department store guard. It looked odd to me even back in my pre-gun days.

I admit to a fondness of itty bitty mouse guns.



Ok, ok, yeah the Walther is a .22. But it fits with the theme here.

The PSP-25 I bought many years ago when I had a need for something very discrete. These are extremely well made licensed copies of the "Baby" Browning. This one has traveled many a mile in my pocket and has never missed a beat.

The Colt I got from another forum member a couple of years ago. Wonderful little gun. Quite accurate and totally reliable.

A Raven? Really? Well there's a little story that goes along with this one. I saw this on Armslist a few years ago. the owner said it wouldn't feed and to make an offer. I ended up giving him $25 for. I got it home, took it apart, turned the firing pin around the way its supposed to go and its run like a top ever since.
A week or so later, my buddy, Bob dropped by and I showed it to him. He asked what I was going to do with it? I told him I'll likely just sell it and try to make a couple of bucks. He immediately lit up. "I want it! How much?"
I offered to just give it to him, but he insisted on paying for it. So I let him give me my $25 back and it was his.
Bob passed away recently. I was helping his wife go through the safe, when I ran across it again. I knew I just had to have it back. I gave the wife 25 bucks and now its back in my safe.

Speaking of Bob's wife, among the guns she has chosen to keep for herself, two are .25s.
First is a little Taurus TP-25. She likes the small size and the easy loading pop-up barrel.
The other is a 98% Belgian made Baby Browning in the box. I told her that if she ever takes a notion to sell, I call DIBS!

This thread is starting to be depressing ... There are so many nice .25's out there - especially the Colt's - and I have only one, a little bit scratchy Beretta. I had (I think it was) a Sterling many, many years ago but sold it because it was so hard to find ammo. Now, all of the stores around here carry it - I even found a box of Gold Dots at All Shooter's Tactical. Isn't there someone out there in SWF, who owns multiple .25's, that feels sorry for me, and is welling to sell one? I promise to wrap it with only one pretty red rubber band ...

I have a Walther 9 from the 1920's and a Baby Browning from 1968. I also have two Seecamp 25's not pictured.

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Ok I'll play, traded my other colt a couple of months ago, this is the only one left.
SEMPER PARATUS

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NRA Life Member
CPO

Actually the Walther TPH was also produced in .25acp. Quite scarce and hard to find these days. Not sure if the stainless versions were, but the blued ones definitely. I once knew a Deputy Sheriff that carried one in his boot. Back in those days, LEO's were the only ones that could get them. Neat little guns, but suffer the same lousy double action trigger as the PP models.

I'll fess up to keeping two mouse guns. ( There were others but lack of purpose and/or quality got them traded off long ago.) The first, is a Bauer .25. The Bauer is basically a high quality copy of the Baby Browning in machined stainless. It's quality and "coolness" keeps it in the fold but it rarely makes it to the range these days. Admittedly though, it disappears in a pocket.
The other is not a .25 but worth mentioning . It is a similar vintage Jennings 22 that my (then) fiancee bought me some 31 years ago. Like the OP, just showing that little Jennings got me out of a bad situation once. Given it's history, it has a place in the collection.
Here is a picture of them both. Funny, I used to think the J-22 was tiny. The Bauer 25 is dwarfed by it here.

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Dave

For a little lesson on the lethality of the .25 ACP, go to Wikipedia and look up Major General Vasily Bhlokin of the Red Army.

Here's one that was made in '48. Has lots of Belgian proofs and is marked 6.35 Br.

Having lotsa time on my hands, I did a search on the Google - using those terms pointed to a Wiki article on Stalin's purges. But, trying a find on the web page didn't show his name. I'm guessing he was one of the executioners, maybe, or he survived an executioners shot from a .25? Interesting that the Russians (apparently) had access to .25 autos and ammo ...

Edited to add: I should have gone to Wikipedia itself, as DWalt suggested. Blokhin was a horrible creature of a human and awful story! Wiki spelled his name as 'Blokhin' versus 'Bhlokin' ... damn Russkies! I was reasonably familiar with the Katyn massacre, before, but did not realize that one person was the primary murderer. And, Stalin promoted him to major general ...

Yes, Bhlokin personally conducted thousands of executions using his own German Walther .25. The reference and his reasoning are there on the Wiki page (under the heading of :Katyn massacre) as DWALT points out.
This was a bad dude!

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Dave

Hello Forum;

I picked up this Colt some years back. Owner then told me that the missing 9 rounds from the vintage box (Geco - 1973) were the only rounds fired through this Colt.

My later research showed that after the 1968 GCA banned all imports, Colt actually came out with this little beauty in 1971 but sales were so miserable that it was completely discontinued in 1973.

I haven't carried it or shot it and bought on speculation but it a nice little gun that if the story is true....one of the last designs truly manufactured in the USA by the real Colt craftsmen in CT.

Don't actually know how it was marketed or listed as various Blue Book, Lee, etc. also don't know what to call it. Some say Colt Jr., some say Astra (definitely wrong), some just say Colt Auto.

I'm no longer active in Colt collector circles, and too involved with S & W to pile into research again for a $couple hundred value gun that is safe queen status, but if any of you can shed light on what this gun was really known as in 1971 to 1973 I'd appreciate an update for my files and write-ups.

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Charlie B
SWCA#3083, SWHF#570

Nice MOP, but not factory. all matching #'s...

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There's a confusing tangle of who made the Colt Jr after the GCA68 was passed.
I was very in to Spanish semiauto pistols at one time, Astra and Star. A common story there is that Astra continued to supply all the parts except the frame to Colt and Colt made the frame at Hartford and assembled the pistol. Those '71 to '73 Jr's have a different ser# prefix (OD (?) from the previous Astra made and imported Colt marked product (CC).
The domestic USA mfg frame sidestepped the import ban on the little pistol and allowed the gun to continue in the Colt line.

I don't however find any information to that effect in any Astra collector publications I have. Not that I couldn't have missed it though.

Another often mentioned trail is that after GCA68, Colt went in search of an outside US contractor to build the gun for them, or in some versions of this,,the frame for the pistol. In the latter case the small parts would still be imported from Astra/Spain.

In either case, the company that finally did make the frame (and possibly the entire pistol depending on which version of the story you read) was Firearms Import/Export (FIE) in Florida. (Hialeah I believe).

That's where it gets even more fractured as to wether just the frames were made and sent up to Colts for building into pistols,,or as some resources say, FIE made the entire pistol with the small parts they (FIE) imported from Astra and sent them along to Colt.
Wether these complete pistols would have been in the white and w/o roll markings is another question, or did Colt final fit, polish, blue, range test and package them at Hartford?...all this assuming FIE did more than just machine the frame for Colt.

After Colt pulled the Colt Jr from the offerings in '73,, FIE came out w/ a dead ringer for the Colt JR called 'The Best'.
Made right into the mid to late 80's as best as I can recall.
Same pistol w/different markings and grip medallions.

Coincidence?, or does it show that FIE was actually making the pistol in complete form for Colt in those 71 to 73 years as some say. Then just launched it onto the domestic market when Colt dropped it from their line.

A little Bernardelli .25

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Jim
Many K and N Frames

A Colt jr and an Astra cub:

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Jim
Many K and N Frames

Here's my vest pockets:



And my Junior:


Before I got a Glock 43, these were my running to the store real quick pocket autos.

My research on these guns for my book 101 Classic Firearms is as follows:

Colt marketed a .25 Automatic pistol in 1958, known as the "Junior Colt." This was made by Colt in Spain by Unceta & Cia. The Gun Control Act of 1968 stopped importation of this small gun. Accordingly, in 1970 a similar one was made in the the U.S. by another manufacturer for Colt and was called the Colt Automatic Caliber .25. These pistols both had external hammers and had no grip safeties. The latter pistol was finally dropped from the Colt line in 1975.

Hope this helps.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I hope this doesn't start another "bear gun" thread!

If it does, someone please post this photo to end it!!!

Bauer .25.
Nothing fancy, but kinda cool in its own way.

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At one time, and this was probably 30 or so years ago, I saw at various gun shows some South African-made .25 autos, looked sort of like the Baby Browning. I assume there must have been some quantity of them imported around that time. But it has been a long while since I have seen one.

At one time, and this was probably 30 or so years ago, I saw at various gun shows some South African-made .25 auto pistols which looked sort of like the Baby Browning. But it has been a long while since I have seen one.

One I picked up yesterday for $300 that I should post here for posterity. . .1965-1966 in 25 auto. . .a Junior Colt. The one in my collection that is the hardest to identify is marked something like Alsace Peipher Arms Herstal with original MOP grips. Don't have a picture of it.

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Dr. B

The PAF (Pretoria Arms FActory) 25auto pistols were made from the 50's to the late 60's IIRS. Called the 'Junior'.
The Grips had the PAF logo of crossed cartridges and PAF below it.

When the PAF factory folded a former partner bought the tooling, parts, ect and made some more pistols but replaced the grips with BRF initials on it (initials of his name that I can't recall) and what was thought to be an attempt to make them look like they were made in the USA by marking them 'Made in U-SA (Union of South Africa) or just 'U-SA'.
(Maybe that's just the way Union of South Africa was abbreviated then?)
No PAF markings were left on the pistols made under his control.

Not many of the PAF originals were ever made and very few of the BRF models but they didn't get a lot of $$ for being raritys.

It does seem to me there was another PAF 25auto later on (stainless?) but I can't account for how it could have made the import points needed to get into the USA.
Might be thinking of some other pistol. I'll have to do some digging I guess.


*added...A quick search shows me that 'other' PAF 25auto I was thinking of might well be the PSP Browning clone (stainless) made in the USA. I'll go with that!

So many 25auto's,,so little space needed to store them all...

Yes, some of the VeloDog revolvers were produced in .25ACP.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

I normally don't copy photos when I quote a poster, but these pics take the cake! Can't help myself, but there's something terribly cool about a .25!

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

What they don't tell you is that it was just hit by a truck and incapacitated!

I like the .25, and was going to buy a Beretta Jetfire for deep concealment. It was gone when I got back there, so I bought an AMT Back-up instead. But I'd still like to have one!

Here's pic of mine. FN Vest Pocket, Browning Baby, and that damned Beretta.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

OK, I admit it. I have this Baby Browning made, I think, in 1968. Still have the box. I even shoot it once in a while. It occasionally slips into my pocket during evening strolls around the neighborhood though I seldom admit that! Actually, it's a neat little gun, fun to shoot and 100% reliable.

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Everybody could shoot

Here's my Beretta Model 21A .25 ACP. I just posted this on another thread yesterday, just took the pictures for that thread in fact, so apologies for the redundancy.
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

Well, I've heard of "one upmanship" but this is the first case of "one downsmanship."

Geoff
Who anxiously awaits the 4.35 mm Frommer entry.