The first thing in these posts about small caliber handguns seems to always be about stopping power, but 95% of the handguns I own will never be used for self defense, I collect and shoot them for the pleasure of it. I like the little .25 ACP and am considering making one with a much longer barrel for target shooting.
Hey! Was it a FINAT? The SA Finat was a Baby Browning copy, made just a tad larger, I happen to have one in stainless. The Finat is rare in the USA and probably getting rare in SA.
The Astra is my favorite .25, the Cub, which unlike the Colt Junior copy had a forged steel frame, the Colts made in the USA had cast frames I believe. But when shooting some pretty obscure .25 auto pistols made long ago stopping power never enters my mind, what does is the design used, the sights (Tiny sights seemed to be mandatory on those guns for some weird reason) and good function.
For a real threat environment I'd carry my DW 10MM. The very least powerful I'd use would be a .45 ACP, but if things were that scary I'd have a rifle too. For fun I like a lot of different pistols, especially the .25 ACP and .22 one's.