most worthless american caliber. 25 auto?

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Just wondering what you think...25auto, 32, .380, .22 ?
I wouldn't say say 380.....im thinking .25 auto.

[Tactical Jackalope]

Offense..whatever floats your boat. You have the advantage.

Defense..heck no.

[Live45]

I wouldn't say, "worthless". Why? Because I inherited my father in laws 1908 Colt .25acp. To me it was worthless but my LGS took it in trade on my Springfield XD .45. They took $400 off of the retail price of my XD using the little Colt as trade. Made my day!

[RedBowTies88]

I sure as hell wouln't want to be standing in front of a .25

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Okay maybe I should have said for self defense for home defense...

[Wyosmith]

Probably the old 41 Remington rimfire or the 25 auto.
I'd take a 25 with 6 shots over the old over/under Remington with 2 shots, but you'd better be a cool head with either one.

Still -- they are real guns, and men have been killed with both------------

[Gaerek]

Anything is better than nothing, so I would never say worthless. But where I draw the line for self defense purposes personally (YMMV) is .38 SPL +P for revolvers, and 9mm for semiautos. Even though plenty of people have been killed by less, and I wouldn't want to stand in front of them, anything less than those have a spotty track record as far as stopping power is concerned.

Not only do you need to bring a gun, you need to bring enough gun.

[shouldazagged]

What Gaerek said. Lots of people have been killed with .25ACP. Others have gotten some really nasty bruises from it. But it beats the hell out of a whiffle bat.

Given a choice between the .25 and .22LR I'd probably choose the .22; but for self defense I carry .38 Special +P 158 grain LSWCHP, and don't want anything less.

The first rule of gunfighting is not "Have a gun." That's the second rule. The first is "Avoid getting into gunfights."

[Winchester_73]

I doubt anyone here knows anything about 25 autos, or the round itself, but the ctg was designed by John Browning to reliably feed in a small pocket auto, and AT THE TIME, it out performed 22lr rounds. JB apparently had some trouble getting 22lr to reliably feed in a pocket pistol, and so the 25 auto came, and it was much more reliable. I would probably rather have one than a 22. For one thing, there were many that were very well made, such as the Baby Browning, Colt 1908 or one of the various Walther pistols, Berettas, and two, the ammo being centerfire is probably, IMO, going to be more reliable than the RF 22lr ammo. On top of that, the power is respectable given the size of the platform, and the penetration is acceptable, when using FMJ rounds.

Of course today, it seems lost or out of place, and you may ask yourself "why does this exist" but if you pick up a book, and read about them instead of wondering, you might learn something.

[dayman]

I'd go the other direction. Maybe I'm just uninformed, but a lot of the super-sized "most powerful" calibers seem pretty worthless to me - so, since this is posted in the semi-auto forum, I"ll go with .50AE.
My reasoning is that they generally lack both the put-down power of a carbine/shotgun, and the concealability/carryability of a pistol.
But that's just my $0.02

[Clark]

Winchester_73
I doubt anyone hear knows anything about 25 autos, or the round itself,..

.. or spelling

I like the 25acp.
It is about as wimpy as a 22LR with factory load or load book loads.
But with triple loads, it kicks hard and makes loud noises.

[Kreyzhorse]

.. or spelling

Snarky..... And I like it.

Any way, I don't believe that any of those cartridges are worthless. Clearly there are better defensive rounds to be had, but they are all capable of killing a person and even a gun chambered in .25 acp can be a hell of a deterrent.

So no, none of those are worthless.

[Garycw]

A toss up between 25 & 32. Surprised they're even still made


Sent from iPhone

[shouldazagged]

I'm actually not totally uninformed about the .25ACP round or John Browning, and I read too. My saying I'd lean toward .22LR if I had to make a choice was mostly because .22LR revolvers are readily available, and I prefer revolvers. That may make me a Luddite, but so be it.

The real point was that neither would be my choice for self defense as long as I can carry .38 Special +P or something at least equally capable.

But as I also said, .25ACP beats the hell out of pillow-fighting. I sure wouldn't turn it down if it were all I had available when the dung hit the ventilation device.

Here's an eye-opener: sometime look through A.B. Zhuk's Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Handguns: Pistols And Revolvers Of The World, 1870 To The Present. You won't believe the number of knockoffs of the Browning .25 that have been made in various countries. Spain alone seems to have turned out an incredible number based on the Baby Browning.

[JustinBiscuit]

My thought on self defense calibers is I am looking for a bullet that will slow the attacker such that I can get away. That said I would think a .25/.32 even .22 is plenty.

[Bill DeShivs]

You can't make a .32 or .380 the size of a Baby Browning or Bernardelli.
I don't understant the hate for any cartridge. They are all interesting.
The .25 is a reliable, reasonably powered (for it's size) round used in some very tiny pistols. That, in itself, makes it worthwhile.

[Bill DeShivs]

"A toss up between 25 & 32. Surprised they're even still made"
Why? because you know nothing about them? There are literally millions of .25 and .32 pistols out there.

[orionengnr]

I'm not going to say they are "worthless", but those who think about it establish a lower threshold for an SD cartridge, and then choose their SD guns accordingly.

My threshold is right at 9mm/.380. I consider the 9mm just "adequate" and the .380 "sub-adequate". I have owned a .32, but had zero faith in the cartridge (and the platform was not confidence-inspiring, either). I have not owned a .25, and have no reason to. I own several .22s, and consider them valuable range training tools, but would never consider carrying a .22. Maybe one day when I am so stricken with arthritis/degenerative disease/etc., that I can no longer shoot something in a "reasonable" chambering, then I will carry a .22/.25.32.

All that said, I do own a .380 (LCP) and have carried it on rare occasion--it is "the gun I carry when I can't carry a gun".

YMMV, and probably will.

[Bill DeShivs]

One does not have to have a "reason" to own a .25. Unless the fact that they are tiny guns, or are interesting guns, or are ultra concealable guns, etc. are reasons.
I have guns from .22 short to .45, and I like them all for what they are.

[Cheapshooter]

12mm GyroJet
Other than that, I don't see any caliber as "worthless". Maybe not particularly practical, but not worthless.

[Winchester_73]

I know the difference between here and hear (it was a typo braniacs, not a misspelling), just like I know the difference between a useless cal and a 25 auto.

[Onward Allusion]

LOL! I guess it is so worthless that the majority of places don't have .25 ACP in stock - online or brick & mortar. Not many "real" shooter will admit to carrying .25 ACP from time to time or even .32 ACP. However, if it's truly as worthless as some people claim, the shelves would still be stocked, eh?

[Tactical Jackalope]

Kreyzhorse

orionengnr

Clark


Where have you guys been?!!?!? Did you all just plan to sign back onto TFL at the same time?! Awesome...maybe it's me but it's been forever.


Yes, here we go. Better than nothing statements. Well if you can get better why stick with less than? Drop the zero, get with the hero 9mm and ^

[Garycw]

Originally Posted by Bill DeShivs

"A toss up between 25 & 32. Surprised they're even still made"
Why? because you know nothing about them? .

Yeah, that's it, and don't want too. I'd take one if someone gave it to me.


Sent from iPhone

[Skans]

When all the 9mm, 45, 40 and .22LR is completely dried up and banned by "I'm dumber than a 6th Grader" Feinstein, you might wish you stocked up on a bunch of .25. It's probably the only cartridge that is not on her "hit list".

The .25 auto is from a different era - vest-pocket pistols were all the rage. Ballistically its not all that different from a 32 S&W which was used in many little top break revolvers popular around the same time. It probably fed more reliably than .22LR and in its day was more reliable than .22LR. My understanding was that the .22LR didn't feed very reliably in auto pistols until sometime around when Ruger came out with its Mark I. Well, those are my thoughts.

The real question is why is .25 auto still around while .32 S&W is pretty much long gone?