.25 ACP roundup and range test

Massad Ayoob says friends don't let friends carry mouseguns but I have always been a little partial to these diminutive rascals. I took my three .25s to the range this week because it's been awhile for two of them and the new one needed a workout.

I kept my target at 3 yards. I wasn't trying to show off hitting at distance with these guns; it was more to remind me of what they can and cannot do.

The Beretta 950-BS was the easiest to shoot and probably the most accurate although accuracy was not really my goal. Its only problem is that its safety routinely pops up and when that happens the gun is virtually inert and it is very frustrating. No tap/rack/bang drill will work. You MUST remember to drop the safety again or no shooting happens! Annoying. When I carried this gun I knew about the issue and was prepared for it to arise but I had forgotten! Still, all in all, a fun little mousie to shoot.

The next gun clockwise is a CZ DUO made in German occupied Czechoslovakia in 1944. It has no sights, just a long trough, and it very hard to hit with. However, it fires every time, no hiccups, every brand of ammunition I used. All were 50 gr FMJ rounds, actually, except a few that were already in the Beretta for a long time and it was time to shoot them and get new ammunition.

The third mousie is my new PSA Baby Browning. PSA replaced my first one (long story in another thread) and this one is marked Fabrique National with Browning logos on the grip panels. It is gorgeous. It is lighter and smaller than either of the other two pistols but not difficult to shoot. It has only two issues - the first is that due to its size you have to be careful when you hold it so you don't get the web of your hand etched by the slide. It's easy to do, pretty naturally, actually, but I did still have some slight redness where it touched me several times.

This gun is about as accurate as either of the other two, probably more accurate than the CZ DUO and maybe a bit less accurate than the 950 BS. I wasn't working too hard for accuracy and for this gun it was a break in period. Sad to say the gun is so finely made (it is precision/hand made) and has such tight tolerances that at least 20% of the rounds failed to feed and I had to do a tap/rack drill to get the little gun to accept cartridges to fire. I think that the main issue is the throat, however, and before I ask someone to polish the feed ramp and throat I will put another couple of hundred rounds through it. Then I will write another review.

It is charming and darling and WILL definitely be carried in a vest pocket as soon as it is broken in.

Great post! These tiny automatics are quite interesting.

Question: What ammunition do you recommend as "best all-around" for the little .25 ACP pistols?

I have a Colt Vest Pocket tucked away in the safe. I have fired only a couple of magazines through it in all the years I have owned it. It came with an after-market magazine, but I found a genuine Colt magazine for it at Tulsa last April. I really need to get that little pop-gun out and run several boxes of ammo through it.

Curl

My carry gun is a .25 ACP Galesi, a really neat little pistol from Italy which has not been imported in many years. The conventional opinion is that the 50 grain FMJ bullet is the best performer in a .25 ACP pistol. Lighter faster expanding bullets usually don't and the heavy 50 grain bullet penetrates more deeply. I have found that the CCI Blazer 50 grain FMJ loading performs reliably in mine. Other types and brands, not so much.

I like the little 25 autos and have several including two Beretta 950Bs.
The 950B preceded the 950BS and doesn't have the useless added
safety. The good news is that the safety on the 950BS can be easily
removed I believe. The best SD ammo for the 25 is whatever brand
of 50 gr FMJ chronographs the fastest in your guns. Velocity can
vary considerably among brands and some are almost squibs at
around 650 fps. Stock up if you find a brand and lot that chronos
over 800 fps.

I had never shot a .25 auto until a couple of months ago. My friend has a Mauser 1910 that her grandfather brought back from WWII. She wanted to shoot it, so we cleaned it up, put new springs in it, and took it to the range.

It's not much of a cartridge, that's for sure, but it is really, really fun to shoot! I'm not so opposed to the cartridge now. Where I thought it was both woefully weak and boring, now I just think it's woefully weak and highly entertaining...

If I had a Colt vest pocket, I probably would even occasionally carry it. The gun you have with you is the best, right?

Once in a while, if I am too lazy to put on my IWB and Glock, I will carry a Colt 25. Prefer the hammer version but........whatever (I have 4 total). Consider it my "eyeball gun" since I am basically non-violent and expect to be grappling with someone if I have to use it.

I purchased a Colt 1908 Hammerless .25 Vest Pocket that was shipped in 1915. We took it to the gun club. I put two of six rounds in the bull's eye at ten yards with all shots on paper. I thought I did good. My wife put four of six rounds in the bull's eye and announced it was her gun now.

LimaCharlie said:

I purchased a Colt 1908 Hammerless .25 Vest Pocket that was shipped in 1915. We took it to the gun club. I put two of six rounds in the bull's eye at ten yards with all shots on paper. I thought I did good. My wife put four of six rounds in the bull's eye and announced it was her gun now.

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Doncha hate it when that happens?

Question: What ammunition do you recommend as "best all-around" for the little .25 ACP pistols?

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PSA insists that I use only 50 grain FMJ and, as you might expect, it is the most commonly found .25 ACP cartridge.

I found that my Beretta 950-BS could shoot anything, 50 gr FMJ, hollow points, . 25 ACP BB rounds, etc. I always liked those BB rounds.

I forgot to mention that most of the ammo I fired the other day was Remington, MagTech, Fiocchi, and even Aguila 50 grain FMJs, plus a few oddball rounds that were already in the Beretta's magazine. None of those cartridges felt any different or fired any differently from one another. I just bought three boxes of 50 gr FMJs since I ran out of everything else. I saw some HPs but no BB rounds. Oh, well.....

My carry gun is a .25 ACP Galesi

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I had one of those, too, but a friend wanted it ever so badly so I sold it to him.

ISCS Yoda said:

I had one of those, too, but a friend wanted it ever so badly so I sold it to him.

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The Galesi .25 is a very finely made little pistol, and the one I have dates (I think) from sometime in the mid-1960s. I carry it in a sheath holster in my front pants pocket, and I'm not even aware it's there. I've taken it inside places where it's not allowed because I forgot I had it on me. A piece of trivia - Charles Whitman had one of them among the other guns he took up the Texas Tower in 1966. I don't think mine is it.

I had a Browning Baby; it jammed all the time, feeding problems. I understand this is endemic to this model. However once at the range, I noticed a 55 gallon drum at 100 yards, and shot my last round at it. After a respectable length of time, the drum went 'clank'. my eyes got big and wide. The next time I went to the range I was loaded for bear. I found that if I had a very good sight picture and squeezed just right, I could hit it most of the time. I didn't need a 100 yard 25 pistol and as it was extremely unreliable I sold it.

Colt

I have a Colt vest pocket that I shoot every now and then. Never had a malfunction except when trying to shoo the Blazer aluminum cased ammo.
Everything else has run fine. I shot a box of 35 grain HP;s and they run perfectly. Just don't like the aluminum cased stuff. It is accurate out to about 7 yards or so. Not to bad for a 95 year old gun. I love it.
Peace,
Gordon

I do own a Colt 1908 Vest Pocket Model in 25acp but would never carry it as a main SD gun. Maybe as a back-up but never a primary. I bought it solely to complete my collection of Browning designed Colt Pocket Pistols.

I've never had any malfunctions with the tiny pistol but I have very little faith in the 25 acp round. If I had to carry the .25 I would use Ball ammo solely for reliability and penetration and would not worry about expansion.

I've got one .25, the only one I've ever owned, and it's a Taurus T-25. It's sort of a copy of the Beretta Bobcat I guess it is, the one with the tip up barrel. It's kinda fat for a .25, but has worked like a champ in our very limited fire. My wife saw it, thought it was "cute" and wanted it. Oh well, it could have been a puppy or a kitten she wanted.

It was filthy when we got it, but a quick cleaning took care of it. We ran a box of 50 grain FMJ ammo through it without a misfire.



At first I thought it was broken because I could not pull the slide back. Then I realized it's not designed to have the slide pulled back. You load the magazine, insert it, then pop up the barrel, load the chamber, close it and you're ready to go. It's a D/A only.

She was going to carry it, but then saw a 642 Ladysmith. Another story. She likes "pretty grips."

Some nice 25ACPs in this thread.

I adore them, they're sort of a curio piece to me.
G.T. ours are close to the same age.
This one pictured below turns 100 in the year 2019.
It is pictured with the Baby Browning clone that Bauer used to make in stainless. This particular Bauer was unfired with original purse when I purchased it last spring.

I once had a Bauer. I sold it when I learned that a .22lr is much better than a .25acp, and cheaper as well. I now have a TPH.

I haven't shot this little Browning.

I've been putting this little Colt in my pocket lately while I wait for a Mika pocket holster for my 642.

I'm amazed by how many holsters I've run across for the .25 auto. This shoulder holster for instance.




Apparently a lot of people carried a .25 auto. I remember seeing a photo of the contents of David Crosby's pocket during his pre liver transplant days, a little Colt .25 was part of his daily routine.
Regards,
turnerriver

I have a .25 CZ it was my Grandma's "purse gun" I don't shoot it often but when I do it performs fine. I believe it was made in the late 40s or early 50s.
Steve W

KSDeputy said:

I once had a Bauer. I sold it when I learned that a .22lr is much better than a .25acp, and cheaper as well. I now have a TPH.

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The supposed superiority of the .22 LR is based on performance
of the .22 from longer barrels. When the .22 LR and .25 ACP
50 gr FMJ are compared from identical barrel length pistols
the .25 easily beats the .22 for penetration and energy. I used
to have an old copy of the American Rifleman magazine in
which the NRA proved this in a side by side test. It may still be
around here somewhere. I have tested both rounds in the
same short barrel length and the .25 comes out way ahead
in penetration in pine and wet newsprint.