Can the 25 ACP be taken seriously?

[AnthemBassMan]

My Dad has my Grandpa's old Colt Pocket Hammerless, and I have my FIE Titan 25. If I had to carry it, I would. But I have a .40S&W, and Dad has a 1911. I don't care if it's a .22 short, I don't want any pistol pointed at me!

L8R,
Matt

 

[loc n load]

25's

I have several small 22's and 25's that I use when instructing certain classes for comparing different calibers....back in the day I knew fellow officer's that carried them for "bugs"....know one in particular that saved his life with one of those little 25's....IMO anything that launches a projectile has a potential to harm & should be respected...I've seen ball bearings launched with an air hose penetrate laminated safety glass....and I have seen the 25's go both ways in actual shootings that I responded to....some DRT events, some not so much....was on foot patrol one evening in a large metro PD where I first started back in the 70's.....a woman approached me smoking a cigarette and calmly informed me that she had been shot, unbuttoned her blouse and revealed six obvious entry wounds that looked like big bee stings with little bleeding....she informed me that her husband had shot her because he didn't like the meal she had prepared.....I was preparing to summon some back up, but she also informed me that would not be necessary....in response to my query as to "why not"....she replied " I stuck my kitchen knife in the ***'s throat and I think he is dead"....and so he was.

 

[stantheman86]

.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.

 

[tops]

I just figured it out by using math. An elephant weighs between 4000 and 14,000 lbs. Bell killed about 1000 elephants with a 175 gr. FMJ. At 4000 lbs. that is 22 lbs. per grain. A 50 gr. bullet should be good for at least 1100 lbs. Larry

 

[tinman931]

Reminds me of the time my dad tried to give me his Jennings. That d*** thing jammed so much I'm pretty sure it was a single shot. I politely declined.

That being said, I still wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of it. My luck, it would be the one time it actually fired.

 

[H Richard]

I can tell you by 1st hand experience, a .25 will totally penetrate your upper arm. Knowing that, I'm sure if you are shot in a more vital area it will kill you. Having been shot by one once, I don't want to repeat the experience. I carry a .380 most of the time, because it is smaller than the .25 I had then. (Mauser 1910).

 

[ironhead7544]

If you think the 25 ACP is dead, check ammo sales.

IIRC, the 25 ACP 50 gr fmj was shown as 25% one shop stops. The other bullet types show about the same. I would use one of the flat nosed or HP loads are they are less likely to bounce off a skull.

The 32 ACP and 380 ACP with ball loads show 50% one shot stops. So do 38 Special standard 158 gr LRN from a 2 inch with 55% from a 4 inch.

So, I would say the 25 ACP is a good threat. I would just get one of the tiny 32 ACP pistols if I needed a tiny gun. You can up the stats a little bit with the Silvertip 32 ACP load if it functions in your pistol.

I wouldnt choose the 25 ACP for carry but just the threat of a gun will stop most problems.

 

[shawn mccarver]

Back when the Seecamp was a .25 ACP, a friend who needed a deep carry pistol got one. He had a ND while standing next to his bed. This has been 25 or more years ago, and I don't recall the exact details of HOW the ND happened. In any event, the FMJ bullet penetrated his pillow and was laying on top of the sheet.

He sold it the next day and got a S&W Model 19 with 2 1/2 inch barrel.

 

[DaGOOSExyz]

The first hand gun I ever owned was a 25. At the time I didn't know enough about guns to understand it was a pretty wimpy caliber. It was given to me. I
learned and moved up in fire power. Still somebody liked it enough to
steal it out of my car glove compartment. From that I also learned about leaving a gun in a car in a parking deck. By the way when I called the police to report it stolen they guy laughed when I said a 25. I was afraid someone might commit a crime with it and then the police come back to me. As I said I have learned alot since those days.

 

[Grayfox]

Back in the days before pocket 9s and 380s about the only choice one had for a deep concealment gun was either a tiny .22 or .25. I bought a PSP25 which is an top quality licensed copy of the Baby Browning. Its surprisingly accurate and in all these years has never failed to function.
That little gun rode in my pocket many times and I always trusted it. Even today when social circumstances dictate that I shouldn't carry, I'll break out the little PSP and stick it in my pocket. I feel adequately armed when I do so.

Bear in mind that the goal is not necessarily to stop the bad guy. The goal is to stop the attack.
With a tiny .25 or .22 you have to change tactics. Odds are the attack will be at bad breath distance. Forget center mass. Stick the gun right in his face and pull the trigger. Several times. If you get lucky, he may drop like a rock.
If not, take advantage of his disorientation while he tries to figure out this sudden pain and blood and RUN LIKE HELL!
Either way, you survive. That is the goal isn't it?

 

[rwsmith]

Why not......

When I worked as a hospital orderly in the 1970's we had a black guy with a big afro come into the ER. He had been shot center of the forehead with a .25 auto. the bullet pierced the skin and traveled around to the back of his head between the scalp and the skull. There was a slight fracture of the skull at the POI. The ER doc determined that he needed to clean out the bullet path and remove the small lump from the back of his head. The fun began when my partner told him that we were going to have to shave off the afro. He said "You ain't shaving my 'fro." In the spirit of compromise we offered to only shave off half of it. It took the ER cop to calm him down.

Rest of the story: The city police asked him who did him that way and he told them he would handle it. They advised against it but he insisted there was nothing to report. Later that night a DOA showed up shot with a real gun. The city police went to question our superhero and he promptly admitted to the deed. He said "I told you I'd handle it."

Why not just shave a stripe along the bullet path?

 

[rwsmith]

The Kingfish would agree with the .32....

The 32 ACP and 380 ACP with ball loads show 50% one shot stops. So do 38 Special standard 158 gr LRN from a 2 inch with 55% from a 4 inch.

So, I would say the 25 ACP is a good threat. I would just get one of the tiny 32 ACP pistols if I needed a tiny gun. You can up the stats a little bit with the Silvertip 32 ACP load if it functions in your pistol.
.

Senator Huey Long (Louisianna) would agree with using a .32. It wasn't a one shot stop though. He ran down a flight of stairs to the ground floor where he collapsed. It took him a couple of days to die, also, but it did do the job. Whether Carl Weiss, his assassin, was stopped with one shot is uncertain because he was shot 62 times.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

How does a 3 year old thread come back? I always wonder about that.

I have two comments about the .25 ACP.

First, I carried a Beretta 950 BS in .25 ACP daily for more than a decade. The advent of the CHL law made me less concerned about anyone spotting a gun so I switched to a 642 sometime in the late 90s. Yes, yes, before that I carried a concealed handgun without legal permission - millions of us did that. At no time was a I concerned that

OMG! It's just a .25!

It was a gun if a gun was needed. That's all that concerned me.

Second, I love to use the phrase that I picked up some time ago and have seen others on this Forum use.

Okay, it's just a .25 - anyone want to volunteer to be shot with it?

Didn't think so.

Same with .22s.

Sure, there are failure stories, like the pillow absorbing the impact, the head wound that didn't accomplish much - but the fact remains, it's a bullet moving at speed. NOBODY likes to get hit with a bullet - if it's the target's lucky day and it doesn't cause death or severe bodily injury, well, call him lucky - but it's a gun, firing a bullet, and I'm NOT interested in being on the receiving end.

To this day that Beretta is in the pocket of one of my bathrobes and a .22 Magnum derringer is in the pocket of the other one. First line of defense - have a gun!


***GRJ***

 

[Road Rat]

How does a 3 year old thread come back? I always wonder about that.

Bored, lonely, people with nothing better to do than cause problems!

OR, they have an "opinion" they MUST share with others.

 

[Kframerbluvr]

I remember a homicide that took place in my small NC hometown when I was nine. The shooter walked up to the victim in midday and shot him once with a .25 handgun. Victim immediately went down and shooter fired three or four more shots into him. DRT. The reason I remember this is because my teacher that year was the shooter's BIL. I believe he was sent to a mental facility in lieu of prison. Could be wrong about that..it happened in late 1967.

 

[stantheman86]

Taurus sells tons of PT25 pistols so the round isn't "dead".

Many people don't know or care about stopping power and just want some kind of small pistol to carry.

 

[dogngun]

I have several .25 pistols...

that I sometimes carry as a second gun.

I know several people who know a lot about guns who carry a .25, one of them carries nothing else and he owns a gun shop and could carry anything he can lift. One of my .25's - an Astra-made Colt Junior - was a local street police officer's backup pistol for his career.


As far as "stopping power" goes, I think a lot of that depends on the person being shot and the shooter. I remember a story from WWII told by a young LT of Marines in the pacific who shot a large Japanese infantryman with his .45 pistol....8 times...without putting him down. I guess he had not heard of Col. Cooper...

Aim at the largest possible target and shoot several times.

 

[poordevil]

I like the guns .25's come in. The FN , Colt Vest Pocket. I had a Beretta 950 which was very reliable and Glaser Safety Slugs seemed pretty potent. However, I was shooting one day and using old , left out in the desert sun, plastic shot gun shell hulls. I could hit them every time, but not a one had a hole in it. The plastic got dented, but no hole.

 

[stantheman86]

Don't forget the .25 NAA

 

[Harkrader]

I 'spose, but:
Some years ago there was a report in the press of an armed robber shooting a grocery store manager several times as he ran out the door. The manager felt pain and was bleeding.
When the paramedics arrived and stripped off his shirt they started laughing. Seems all the bullets were sticking out of his skin.

I once heard someone refer to the Beretta .25 as a "nostril gun." Meaning, of course, sticking it up the assailant's nostril before pulling the trigger.

Maybe new ammo is more effective, but I side with those who say a 9mm Kurz/.380 Auto is minimum. It it's good enough for James Bond - - -