.25 gets a bad rap because of the above mentioned pot metal cheap .25 pistols. Velocity out of these sloppily fitted craptastic guns was marginal at best.

Modern .25 out of a good modern handgun will be effective, although these days you have stuff like LC9's, .40 Shields and micro XD .45's that are very packable, thus rendering a .25 kind of an obsolete round that hangs on due to its low recoil and low blast.

If I'm not mistaken I think Taurus is the only half way decent gun maker currently making a .25, Beretta has "suspended" production of their Bobcats. I'm not counting junk like Raven and Lorcin as current production since theyre not made to be actually be fired.