25acp or 32acp?

I vote for the .32 but would not carry one with all of the small .380s out there.

Well, neither... But .32ACP if you MUST. I'd go with a .380 myself, and I don't even like to carry a .380 if I can carry something bigger!

I own two micro carry 380's and like them.
I recently purchased a Kel-Tec P32 and loved shooting it immediately.
A great little pistol truthfully.
My late mom had a little German made 25 ACP which was sort of fun to shoot but as far as I am concerned at least the 32 ACP isnt on it's knees like the 25 ACP.
Mind you both can be quite lethal but between the two give me the 32 every time.

My buddy's wife has been carrying a .25 cal tip up Taurus (whatever the model is)

She loves her guns but is paradoxically phobic of anything much larger than a .22. She's in fact mentioned once or twice that she'd prefer to drop down a caliber.

Her husband and myself have been working on that little hangup.

I don't know if I'd intentionally carry anything that small, Maybe a .327 mag, or a .22 Mag if I made the conscious choice to carry less than a 9mm/.380... but they are surely better than no gun at all if that's the largest caliber avaliable.

Judging "only" by "published" one-stop shots... .32 ACP.

From carrying and doing a lot of testing with the .25 acp, go for the .32 acp.

At one time, the smallest and lightest pocket guns available were .25 ACP.
"Vest Pocket" Colts, and Baby Brownings, and Beretta 950's, and Astra Cubs.

But more recently, improvements in design and manufacturing materials, including plastic, makes the .25 ACP guns obsolete.

You can now buy a .32 ACP, or a .380 ACP in a gun that weighs less and isn't a whole lot bigger then the old all steel .25's.

Your question should be between the .22 rim-fire and the .25 ACP.
There the .25 has the advantage of more reliable feeding and a more reliable ignition system.

The .22 RF has the advantage of lower cost shooting, and possibly as much or more power as the .25 ACP in certain loadings.

But between .32 ACP and .380 ACP?
.380 ACP hands down for a more effective SD caliber in the same size guns.

rc

.32 acp Winchester Silver Tip.

As long as the .25 is modern; fake pearl grips, potmetal construction, shiny finish, and of california manufacture, they are perfectly good pistols. Be prepared to pay a premium if the gun was once owned by a pimp. Really crappy .32's are harder to find. New thread: show us your pimp-quality .25 pistol!

I own both calibers, a TP-70 .25 and a Beretta 3032. Both are very reliable, but I could only choose one. It's the .32 for now.

I own two micro carry 380's and like them.
I recently purchased a Kel-Tec P32 and loved shooting it immediately.
A great little pistol truthfully.
As far as I am concerned at least the 32 ACP isnt on it's knees like the 25 ACP.
Mind you both can be quite lethal but between the two give me the 32 every time

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Ditto to all this.


I picked .32ACP

The Kel Tec P32 is cheep and good (mine has been 100%, your mileage may vary)

The Kel Tec P32 is cheep and good (mine has been 100%, your mileage may vary)

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Your mileage may vary a LOT. LOL... Very glad you have such a good one!

First of all, you will not sacrifice any size by going with .380 over .32 or .25. That makes the .32 and .25, really, pointless. Price also isn't really an issue, as a .32 or .25 won't come any cheaper than the cheaper .380s

If you are in the "collecting" phase (which I'm assuming you aren't), then that is different because you might want a .32 or .25 as novelties. There just isn't any reason to buy one as a first gun nor as a carry gun.

Here's a humorous description of .25:

... carry a 25 if it makes you feel good, but do not ever load it. If you load it you may shoot it. If you shoot it you may hit somebody, and if you hit somebody - and he finds out about it - he may be very angry with you.

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~Jeff Cooper

Between the two calibers I'd choose the 32 mainly for reasons lightly touched upon. The 25 is going the route of the DoDo bird, the 32 is holding it's own so far but the 380 is rising in popularity meaning that the ammo manufacturers are designing and loading for a growing market resulting in it being cheaper with more choices.

Better for what?

One disadvantage of the .32acp is rimlock.


The .32acp is a semi-rimmed case, in other words it has a slight rim which extends past the case. Not as pronounced as a revolver round but enough that the cartridges will sometimes get locked together in the mag and jam up the pistol. Other common pistol calibers like the .25acp, .380, 9mm, do not have this rim and rimlock is not an issue.

http://www.1bad69.com/keltec/rimlock.htm


I have personally experienced this with aftermarket mags for a Colt 1903. Works great with the factory mag but the aftermarket mags I've found are worthless because the rounds get locked together and won't feed.


You might lose a little power with a .25acp but you don't have to worry about rimlock.

The .25 is an anemic round but reliability is not an issue.

You won't find a .25 pistol out there any smaller than the Kel-Tec P32. At least, not smaller by any margin that would make it easier to carry. As has been said, guns can only get so small, and the P32 is down almost to that lowest size. Because of this, gun companies are not pouring much into .25ACP pistols anymore.
The .32ACP rimlock issue can be resolved in one of two ways: Use only FMJ rounds (which are all I'd use in a .25, anyway), or use a Kel-Tec P32 fitted with their rimlock kit.
If you haven't guessed by now, I do own and carry a P32 (though I almost never carry it alone; it usually backs up a PF9.)
All that being said, the .25 has redeemed itself on many an occasion. It definitely had its place, and is still able to hold it some.

medwheeler:...
You won't find a .25 pistol out there any smaller than the Kel-Tec P32. At least, not smaller by any margin that would make it easier to carry.

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Is that true. I have not checked, but I think the baby browning is signigicantly smaller than the P32. It is also more reliable. FN quality beats KelTec quality any day of the week.
Oh I usually carry a Glock 19. I also own .25's and a P32 and 3AT.

True story. I was in a bar in Ocean View, VA. in the early 80's, I lived on 11th Bay at the time, I was stationed at NOB. A fight broke out, I was not part of it. A guy down the bar, say four stools down, about 8 feet away or there abouts, pulls a .25, not sure who he was trying to shoot, but he hit me. The round bunched a hole in my leather vest and lodged in my just opened pack of smokes. So there is no way I would ever carry a .25.

These are smaller.



PSA

Fir Fer said:

True story. I was in a bar in Ocean View, VA. in the early 80's, I lived on 11th Bay at the time, I was stationed at NOB. A fight broke out, I was not part of it. A guy down the bar, say four stools down, about 8 feet away or there abouts, pulls a .25, not sure who he was trying to shoot, but he hit me. The round bunched a hole in my leather vest and lodged in my just opened pack of smokes. So there is no way I would ever carry a .25.

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What if you are attacked by a pack of smokes on meth? Then you'll be sorry.

LOL, If I remember correctly it only broke to cigs. LOL

Another good thing about the .32 auto round; if you have an old Nagant pistol the rim on the .32 will usually let you shoot them in it. HEY, Moderator, #22 just used a race slur. Better cut him out,yes?

What? You're weird.