The most awesome .25acp.

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I have a few… Beretta 950BS, because my dad had one and although the gun has disappeared I inherited a box of ammo and I’m pretty sure it’s a mortal sin to have a box of ammo and no gun to shoot it.

I also have a Bauer, which I bought purely because it’s cute.

And I have a Steyr tip barrel pistol, much like a Beretta but it feels decidedly more upmarket.

I have my eye on a Mauser 1910 too.
 
unclenunzie said:
I have several 25ACP pistols, Seecamps from the early 1980's, Beretta 950, Bauer, an eibar ruby-type from the 1920s, A near NIB Colt Junior and even a nickel Colt vest pocket built in 1919 (I have never fired it but probably should). They come from eras when you could be armed most discreetly, and as hideouts. All are seriously cool but I think my favorite is the Colt. The action is so smooth and the slide/frame fit so perfect you can tell quality was a hard-core value at the time.

One thing I will mention is I tested my Bauer and it could in theory fire if charged without safety applied. The trigger has enough mass to pull itself if dropped muzzle up. I did this unloaded of course by slapping it against a piece of leather on my desk. Click.

I don't carry my 25ACP pistols. To be honest I'd much rather have my P32 for it's light weight, great reliability, and 32ACP is far better, IMO. Not much of looker, what with the franken bolt extractor ;)

However if I were to carry my Bauer, it would be in this original Roy Baker pancake, basket-weave, complete with thumb break:

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Very neat set-up!
 
I carry a Beretta 950 sometimes. I also knew a man who owned a gas station my dad had an account at that used a 25 to kill a robber one day. He emptied the gun into the robber after the robber pulled a knife and charged him. The robber died at his feet. The next day after the grand jury No Billed him for the justified shooting he stopped on his way home and bought a 4" 357 revolver.

The shooting pretty much ruined his gas station business and about a year later he opened a used car sales lot about a mile and a half down from the gas station. He used his 357 two more times to kill robbers and after that gave it up. For anyone familiar with Ft Worth Tx this was on East Lancaster ave between the east loop of 820 and Beech St. Not a good neighborhood and I bet you know the clientele.
 
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i’ve got a taurus pt25 poly with two mags. it actually works well and i carried it occasionally before i got a naa bugout1 22lr revolver. over the years i picked up ammo for it whenever i saw it on sale, now i’ve got 800 rounds of 25acp! i would sell it off as a package to consolidate my calibers but cannot imagine anyone wanting the whole kit and kaboodle.
 
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jstert said:
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i’ve got a taurus pt25 poly with two mags. it actually works well and i carried it occasionally before i got a naa bugout1 22lr revolver. over the years i picked up ammo for it whenever i saw it on sale, now i’ve got 800 rounds of 25acp! i would sell it off as a package to consolidate my calibers but cannot imagine anyone wanting the whole kit and kaboodle.
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I had one of those Poly .25's. Surprisingly after about 300 rds it never malfunctioned.

I shoot the Beretta 21a's and 950's well and expected the same from the Taurus. Nope. Maybe it was the very heavy and thin DAO trigger or something else but I couldn't hit squat with it. Sold it.

I hope you shoot it better than me.
 
jstert said:
View attachment 1075756 View attachment 1075757

i’ve got a taurus pt25 poly with two mags. it actually works well and i carried it occasionally before i got a naa bugout1 22lr revolver. over the years i picked up ammo for it whenever i saw it on sale, now i’ve got 800 rounds of 25acp! i would sell it off as a package to consolidate my calibers but cannot imagine anyone wanting the whole kit and kaboodle.
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I'm the kind of guy who would consider it if you were close by. And know people who might, too. I reload .25 for about $13/50.
 
There's only one .25 now that I'd have interest in owning and it's a Phoenix Arms, a newly made one, not a vintage one with the striker firing pin. I have the .22 and really like it, surprisingly accurate out to 12 yards and I suspect the .25 would be as well and the extra heft of the zamak pistol would soak up what little recoil .25 has.

And that'd be it, I have no intention of ever carrying a .25 for defense, not when Kel Tec makes a .32
 
TTv2 said:
There's only one .25 now that I'd have interest in owning and it's a Phoenix Arms, a newly made one, not a vintage one with the striker firing pin. I have the .22 and really like it, surprisingly accurate out to 12 yards and I suspect the .25 would be as well and the extra heft of the zamak pistol would soak up what little recoil .25 has.

And that'd be it, I have no intention of ever carrying a .25 for defense, not when Kel Tec makes a .32
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The problem with .25 is that it’s dramatically more expensive to buy compared to .22lr, or even .22 short. And there has been quite a bit more load optimization to get the most out of .22lr ballistically. .25 is stuck in 1940 except probably less ammo choices.

I really wanted a Colt Jr. for a while, then decided if I was going to buy one it should be in .22 short so I could feed it easier. Then I decided I didn’t need one that badly. I like the .25s but for me they’re more for the novelty than for any practical purpose or even plinking. A .22lr takes care of the need for low recoil plinking with very little reliability issues these days.

I wish some of the tiny .25 options were made in the longer .22lr chambering. Would make them a lot more versatile.
 
Vest Pocket sized .25 pistols were never really intended for, or very good at, plinking. I have a lot of them but find I don't shoot them enough that ammo cost is a concern. A box or two lasts a long time. I also have a few .22 VPs and don't find them to be great plinkers either. I still love them and am always looking for more!
 
.22lr vs .25:

I definitely prefer .25. I wish every .22lr was a .25. It's just more reliable and reloadable.

I hate it when a gun malfunctions. (Feeding, ignition, extraction, ejection)

.25 acp costs more but I'm willing to pay. (And reload) I fire at least 500 rds of it a year and used to mail order it by the case until '20.

My biggest complaint is that they only hold 8+1 rds when the gun is fat enough to be double-stack.

Plinking? If I miss a 6 inch plate at 25 yds with a Beretta .25 it's probably my fault. How can they do that with tiny sights? I dunno, just do. Good grip and trigger for one. Basically no recoil helps. I do get casings in the face but at least they're tiny.

No, the plates often don't fall unless set just right.

I thought .25 would be tough to find on the ground but they aren't. They only mix with .22 brass but .22 is longer and has a rim. Inspection from above looks like a .25? Bend over and while picking it up check for primer. Got primer? Its mine.

With no extractor and low pressure (21k or so IIRC) brass should be reloadable like .38 spl. target loads..over & over & over...
 
I'd love to have a medium-sized pistol with a threaded barrel and red dot optic in .25 acp!

FMJ is much cleaner in suppressors and a 50 gr fmj won't go supersonic in a 4-6 inch barrel. Add the inherent reliability of fmj and shorter, centerfire, reloadable ammo and it's a winner.
 
Mosin77
I wish some of the tiny .25 options were made in the longer .22lr chambering. Would make them a lot more versatile.
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I use to think the very same thing. I tried several really small .22s, like the FTL Auto Nine and the Sterling Model 302 (I believe AMT made the Back-Up in .22 but never saw one for sale). Both .22s that I had were well made and were all metal construction (the FTL had a stainless steel slide and an aluminum alloy frame while the Sterling was all steel. The triggers on the guns were functional but very heavy and somewhat gritty. Sights were basically non-existent.

Constant FTF and FTE pretty much characterized how they performed. I don't recall ever getting through a magazine without some sort of major tie-up occurring. It was my unlearned opinion that the biggest problem with these little .22s was that they were too small for the job at hand. The smaller the guns get the less room you have for error in terms of design and tolerances. For me the most reliable, smaller sized .22 semi-auto I have ever used has been a medium frame size Beretta Model 70S.
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The Beretta 70S is about as good a 22 as you'll find for plinking. They also make great suppressor hosts. Pre pandemic they were very reasonably priced but it'll take some hunting to get a good deal these days. I also find old school Walther PP, PPK, and PPK/S .22s to be great although mags are going for $100+.
 
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sgt127 said:
A first hand account of a guy with nothing but a .25. It’s several years old. The author has passed. But, still some lessons.
(Sorry for the length, I copied and saved it verbatim)


Gun Dealer's Personal Account of Saving His Own Life with a Gun

A Small, Concealed Handgun Saved J. David Phillips' Life....


On September 26th of last year, I had a man try to purchase a 357 magnum from me here, in the store. He had come in the week before, and paid for it, and had to wait the obligatory three business days. Upon opening the store at 11:00am on the 26th, he was waiting for me. After having him fill out the 4473 form, I called it in to FDLE (Florida Division of Law Enforcement), which is the point of contact to the FBI for us dealers in the State. The check came back Conditional Refusal, which gave the authorities another three days to further check out the guy.


"Without a small, concealable, firearm in my pocket, I'd be dead. It is that simple."

Well, he wasn't real happy about it, and tried to get me to transfer the firearm anyway. I told him, no ok from the State, no gun. He left, and waited about an hour, and a half, and came back when no one but myself was in the store. I was sitting at my desk, which is in the back of the showroom. As he approached, he produced a 36" blade Samurai sword, and said " this is a Ninja sword", and stabbed me in the upper right chest. Evidently, my subconscious saw something coming, and I immediately pushed myself back from the desk so hard, that I pushed myself out of the chair, and onto the floor behind me.


As I'm trying to get up, he ran around the desk, and kept trying to stab me.


The fight was pretty intense, and I was starting to get the worst of it. I had my Glock 19 on a file cabinet under my desk that I had reached for as I went past it--- but missed. After what seemed like a few minutes, I was able to break contact, and ran for my office door, which is about ten feet from my desk. Unfortunately, he was about a half step behind. I was fixated upon getting to my office desk, where there was a loaded .38 revolver in the drawer.


At the office door, I took the door and slammed it as hard as I could on him, with no effect. But, he did stab all the way through the door with the sword. ( pretty sharp instrument) I was able to get over to my desk, and stumbled as I got to it, sprawling myself, and everything on top of the desk in a pretty messy manner. As I got up from the top of my desk, I remembered that the 38 in the drawer, was in fact, not loaded, and was in pieces from my taking it apart the day or so before to clean. neat-o.


As I turned around to face my attacker, he stabbed me in my left abdomen, piercing my upper intestine. With the sword in me, we began to struggle again, and somehow waltzed to the other end of the office, from whence I came. While he's trying to shove the damn thing in deeper, I was using my left hand to try to pull the blade out. At that moment, was when I realized that I still had my pocket pistol in my right pants pocket. It is a 950 Beretta, in .25 caliber.


As he was focused upon trying to thrust the sword deeper in me, he didn't notice me reaching into my right pocket and pulling out the Beretta. I thumbed the hammer back, as it is a single action, and aimed for his left eye. I only remember firing two shots, but it was actually five. I hit him twice in the left eye, and twice in the left cheek, in close proximity to his eye. I also hit him in one of his hands, and that round went all the way through his hand, and through my office door, out to the street.


The two rounds that made it to his cheek, spent themselves, and dropped about 15 feet behind him on the floor. The two that got his eye, tumbled around in his brain, and one lodged in his spinal column, and the other lodged somewhere in his brain. He dropped like a sack of lead. I stumbled out into the store, and called 911, and waited for the cavalry to show up.


They flew me to St. Joseph's hospital in Tampa, Florida, who has one of the best trauma units in the State. I was on the critical list for a couple of days, and stayed for ten.


The so-called Ninja warrior died the next day, after being pulled off of life support. He had been stalking Kristine Abernathy of the Weather Channel for two years, and had not been found out. He had between 2-300 rounds of 357 ammo in his van, and additional swords, knives, throwing stars, and the like. On a piece of paper he had written his agenda, and the last entry was for him to go to Atlanta.


I still feel weak, and like garbage most of the time, but the doctor says this will pass in about 6 months to a year.


The digestive tract is really goofed up, and I really have to watch what I eat. Work is still work, but at least I'm alive to complain about it. We have Blue Cross, and Blue Shield insurance, and so far, they have only paid a fraction of the bills. Sorta like getting attacked again. Hell, if we don't pay our premiums on time, we're cancelled. If they don't pay their bills on time, nothing happens. Go figure.


I just thought you'd like to know what happens to people who do choose to carry a firearm, and what would have happened to me if I hadn't. Without a small, concealable, firearm in my pocket, I'd be dead. It is that simple.


Wish I would have remembered it a lot sooner, though


I'd have saved myself an additional four stabs, and a lot of additional pain.


Thanks for the work that you people are doing, and you can count on me to contribute again.
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Dang. Glad he was able to survive that encounter.
 
An undercover agent trying to pass as import/export businessman would carry whatever the most common street weapon was, that a person of his cover might carry for self defense.
In Europe, .25 Beretta or 7.65 Walther were findable.

He would not own or carry a tactical operator gun.


[I would like to point out that the book James Bond was more stealthy than the movie James Bond. And don't get me started on the difference between Matt Helm in the Donald Hamilton books and the one in the Dean Martin movies.]
 
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