25 ACP Pistols

[LVSteve]

Yours looks like the twin to my mystery 25. Mine is #8561 but there no tapped holes at the back of the frame like yours.

Given the proximity to Fort Knox the notion it might have traveled from Germany in some GI's hold baggage is a distinct possibility.

Mine came via ma-in-law #1, and allegedly was a bringback by one of her brothers from the ETO. I didn't believe a word of it, but having seen yours...

 

[Grayfox]

A lot of people knock the Raven .25s as pure junk. Lemme tell you about mine. Years ago I saw an add locally for a Raven .25. Said it didn't work, make offer. I went and took a look at it. Guy said he had taken it apart to clean it and it just wouldn't feed afterwards. I gave him $20 for it and took it home.
I then disassembled the gun, turned the firing pin back around the way it was supposed to go and it worked like a top ever since.
I showed it to my best friend who immediately insisted that I sell it to him. I gave it to him for what I had in it.
A few years later, he passed away. While going through his stuff for his wife, I came across that Raven again. I gave his wife $25 and took it home. I have no intentions of selling it again.
Say what you will about the Raven .25. Yes, its cheaply made junk. No, its not particularly accurate. But the darned things are incredibly reliable. They just refuse to jam and go bang every single time. That's what you want in a defensive gun.

 

[DWalt]

A lot of people knock the Raven .25s as pure junk. Lemme tell you about mine. Years ago I saw an add locally for a Raven .25. Said it didn't work, make offer. I went and took a look at it. Guy said he had taken it apart to clean it and it just wouldn't feed afterwards. I gave him $20 for it and took it home.
I then disassembled the gun, turned the firing pin back around the way it was supposed to go and it worked like a top ever since.
I showed it to my best friend who immediately insisted that I sell it to him. I gave it to him for what I had in it.
A few years later, he passed away. While going through his stuff for his wife, I came across that Raven again. I gave his wife $25 and took it home. I have no intentions of selling it again.
Say what you will about the Raven .25. Yes, its cheaply made junk. No, its not particularly accurate. But the darned things are incredibly reliable. They just refuse to jam and go bang every single time. That's what you want in a defensive gun.

I have never owned a Raven, but have been offered several for cheap prices. I have also read that they are tops for reliable functioning. Some contend that they are "inaccurate" (whatever that means) but so what? If you can make a COM hit at 10 feet, what greater "accuracy" could you want or need? For a long time I carried a Galesi .25 as my pocket pistol. It was also very reliable, but only with the CCI 50 grain FMJ ammo. And that was just fine with me.

 

[BC38]

How to make a Colt 1908 Vest Pocket look big; Compare it to this micro sized Walther.

Model #9, and yes..I've shot it. Actually kicks..like a mouse..

I have to confess to being the owner of 4 of the little 25acp mouse guns.
A Bauer Baby Browning stainless steel clone
A Colt Vest Pocket 25 that I saved from the scrap heap,
An Astra Cub (a.k.a. Colt Jr) and
An Iver Johnson TP25 that I picked up cheap just because it was so similar to the TP22 that I like so much.

The only one I have pictures of at the moment is the little Bauer.

I have to admit I have been jonesing for and on the lookout for one of those little Walther #9's. I think that is probably about the smallest "standard" cartridge firearm ever put into regular production...

 

[Bill Lear]

People love to diss the .25 auto, and by extension the .22LR based on mythology and gun lore. Yet, some of the most high-profile killings and maimings in history were carried out using one or the other.
In my 32 year career in health care I've never seen ONE person show up with a bullet wound created by a .22LR or .25ACP who laughed it off as inconsequential. MOST who come bursting through the doors of an ED with a GSW are already in shock and near death - REGARDLESS of caliber used!
Why does it matter that the gun forum world is rife with those who think it's cool to discount the terminal effectiveness of so-called "mouse" calibers? It matters because that is PRECISELY what floods emergency rooms across the United States on a nightly basis! Perhaps had they NOT read that a .22 or .25 can't hurt anyone, they MIGHT have made a different choice when they saw one pointed in their direction!

 

[CajunBass]

Many years ago, when I was a just turned 21 year old, I wanted a Raven 25, or an RG-22 in the worst way. Either of them had the one essential feature I absolutly had to have.

They were cheap...and I was broke...but I still wanted a handgun.

I think they both sold for about $30.00 at the local A&N stores. I really wanted a Smith and Wesson Model 28 I'd seen at the G.E.M. store, but that was about $130, as best I remember. Might as well have been a million dollars...I had about as much chance of coming up with that as $130.00. Could you actually write a check for $130.00?

But I could at least imagine a situation where I caught some overtime, or no unexpected expenses came up and I MIGHT be able to stash away $30.00. Maybe.

I never did though. But those little Ravens and RG's kept the dream alive until some years later, when I did finally get a Model 19. A lot of handguns have come and gone since then.

Now I want to find a Raven...

 

[tops]

Perhaps had they NOT read that a .22 or .25 can't hurt anyone, they MIGHT have made a different choice when they saw one pointed in their direction!

Back when concealed had to be concealed I carried an Astra Cub .22 Short many miles for many years. I never shot anybody but at hog killing time one shot in the brain and the hog fell deader than 4 oclock. Larry

 

[tops]

Bird or gun? Larry

 

[inspcalahan]

I was in a gun store one day in the late 1980s and on a table there dozens of boxes of Raven 25s in blue and chrome for $39.95 each. I bought a blue one and never shot it beyond 20 feet and it was not very accurate at that range but it was perfectly reliable if my thumb didn't touch the slide or push the safety on. Kept it for many years and shot many boxes of ammo through it and then sold it at a gunshow for what I paid for it.

Worked at a "cop shop" gun store in the early 90s and we sold a lot of the Ravens and Lorcins for somewhere around $40-$60. There was another manufacture, about the same quality but I forgot the name now. The buyers ranged the gamut from that's all they could afford but practicing their right to self defense, went with what they could. Good on them and I never judged when selling them one, even though the shelves were lined with Sigs, Glocks, HK's and more. We even sold a few to cops, used as pocket carry back ups. Most went with PPK's, J frames or Sig P230s but some just couldn't find the coin to justify those and still wanted something, so the Ravens filled the bill.

 

[cmansguns]

Colt - "modern" USA made mouse gun

Years ago being more into Colts at the time, I found this little gem in a pawn shop while on the Outer Banks. Guy had bucoo very nice cameras, which is what I was looking for, but couldn't resist this little guy in its original box, with docs, and a box of vintage Geco ammo, with exactly 9 rounds missing. Anyway for OTD for a Benjamin & a Grant...why I always carry cash when hitting any pawn shop anywhere. Bought a high end digital camera too so he sure didn't lose anything.

Got home did a little research and found that after the import ban in 68, Colt made what you see below for only 2 years (1971 to 1973) in Hartford, CT. Colt started these with s/n OD 82601 in 1971 and ended with s/n OD 120471 in 1973, so approx 38000 of these guys..not a bad production run.

Note the GECO ammo box doesn't mention Colt.

Got out of Colts and sold this one as you see it for $450 locally. Just my opinion, but grandsons Crossman pellet gun seems to be about equal in recoil (or lack thereof)

 

[metrotps]

Your Mystery Pistol

.25s are interesting pistols. The Beretta 950 with its tip up barrel is one solution to difficulty racking a slide. The Baby Browning is decidedly smaller than its Colt cousin and not as easy to shoot with my big hands.

The little mystery pistol is totally unmarked except for a 4 digit serial number, the last 2 digits of which appear on all the components you would expect to see them. It's about the same size as the Colt and has a magazine disconnect. The workmanship is good, but unlike the Colt it has a concealed hammer instead of a striker.

From the Basque region of Spain? Interwar? Khyber Pass?

Like Jimmy Buffet's tattoo, how it got here I haven't a clue, but it shoots pretty good. Hand size groups at 20 feet are easy, despite a simple gutter cut in the slide for a sight.

It might be from this manufacturer: Iraola Y Salaverria or look here for more info:
https://www.cornellpubs.com/free-files/Spanish-manufacturers-models-codes.pdf

 

[geen]

I only have one I keep in hidden in my office. I'll toss it in my pocket sometimes when im running out the door.

Beretta 21a in .25acp