Someone above questioned whether a .380 can be made as small as a .25. The old Bayard came in .380. Recoil and bite to the shooting hand from blast as the rounds eject might be an issue.
My father had a Walther Model 9 that stung my trigger finger a little as a lad, as I recall. And I do not have fat hands. He had a Bernadelli .25, too, but I never shot it. It seemed well made, but I don't think it has a reputation for particularly reliable operation. Do any of you own one? I'm pretty sure that it was inspired somewhat by the Walther Model 9, with open top slide.
I want a Beretta M-950B .25 and if I didn't always need the money more for other things I'd hunt down a prisitine Baby Browning or a stainless Fraser/Bauer copy.
The Countess of Ramonones in Spain was originally an American woman, an OSS agent in WW II. Stationed in Spain, she klled a gypsy who came at her with a knife, using a .25 Beretta. Model of Beretta not stated, but it was OSS- issued to agents in Madrid at that time. Given the date, it'd be a 318 or 418. I think this was in her first autobiographical book about her adventures as an OSS and later CIA agent, who married into the Spanish nobility. Ask your library or Online for, "The Spy Wore Red," by Aline, Countess of Ramonones (sp).
I've read a bunch about the .25, and it wil kill fast if a vital nerve center is hit, sometimes the heart. Ian Fleming carried a Baby Browning .25 as a Royal Navy Reserve intelligence agent before writing the Bond books. His comment that the fictional Goldfinger shot at his opponent's right eye is telling. Fleming was (in the real world) obsessed with concealment. He had to be.
His evil character in, "Thunderball" who had the atom bombs also had a Colt .25. I don't doubt that a very disciplined man who shoots at one's eyes could kill with a 25 at the ranges involved.
Where Fleming went astray was in having Bond shoot into a railway engine with his Beretta .25. The bullets would never pierce the glass. But that probably applies to most rounds that can be used in a small pistol. Had I written that scene, I'd have had Bond acquire a rifle or SMG from an opponent.
I mentioned that to him in a letter when I had recently graduated high school and already knew a lot more about guns than do most mystery writers. His secretary very courteously replied that he was away, but would see my letter on his return. I suggested that Bond think about wearing a S&W M-36 with three-inch barrel in a Gaylord belt holster. At the time, I forgot the need for the smallest possible gun, for concealment in his work environment. The PPK had arrived several years before, and it's about as big as I think the author thought that Bond could carry. And the Walther .32 holds more ammo than the five-shot S&W revolver.
Later, Geoffrey Boothroyd and I exchanged some letters and Boothroyd felt that the J-frame S&W was the answer, although he favored the Centennial Airweight. After the Model 60 arrived in 1965, he felt that the stainless construction made it easily the Bond gun of choice. But Ian Fleming had died the previous year, so nothing came of that.
I think we both underestimated the .25 Beretta, but the S&W .38's still seem to me a better choice than the PPK .32. The Model 60, in particular, would probably have been my choice for a Bond gun in the 1960's. But I respect the .25 more now than I did, after reading more about its real life effectiveness under ideal circumstances.
As thriller writers go, I think that both Peter O'Donnell (Modesty Blaise books) and Jack Higgins exaggerate the .25. Modesty used (among other guns) a MAB .25 and Higgins's characters often use Colt .25's with JHP ammo, which the author thinks is a LOT more effective than it is. In fairness, they use both PPK .32's and Browning 9mm's when concealment allows.
I want some .25's, but they'll be used in context. In that role, I think they may prove deadly.
The posts here that are actually valid are among the best yet seen on .25 autos. The velocity tests in this topic were wonderful to see. Too often, a short-barrelled .25 is compared to a longer-barrelled .22LR. The .22LR is seldom available in guns the size of the .25. Usually, such guns in .22 chamber the .22 Short, which is less potent and has feeding and priming and bullet integrity issues.
Oh: Fleming had Bond tape the grip of his .25 Beretta, for added thinnesss. I seriously doubt that it'd matter. He certainly should have had the grip safety pinned shut, though.
