.22 vs .25

[Sgt. Stiglitz]

So I have heard all these stories of how the .22LR beats the .25 ACP and I was a little skeptical. I have several almost identical pistols in both .22 and .25. Why not give them a try. I have a Wilkinson Arms Sherry in .22, it has a 2" barrel and I have two Colt 1908's that both have 2" barrels. Lets see which is better. I reload .25 too. I use 1.5Grs Unique with a 50 gr FMJ and a cast 52 gr Lead FP. I use the same in 1.5Grs of Unique with the little 35Gr JHP XTP from HORNADY. As a control I shot two other .22's. A Bersa 23 with a 3.5" Barrel and an older Stainless Taurus 94 9 shot revolver with a 3" Barrel just to see what would happen with another inch or so of barrel length would do. I also shot both the Sherry and the Colts into a phone book to see which will penetrate more. All shooting was at 10 yards. The Sherry will penetrate 302 pages and the .25 FMJ will do 484 pages. Now,many more pages were torn in front of where the round stopped on both the .22 and .25. The .25 Lead FP went almost all the way through the phone book. It went over 580 pages. The .25 did better than the .22 out of the same size pistols hands down. In a bigger pistol, the .22 is better. The cast lead FP's were sized to .253 when I got them and they didn't group well. I resized some to .251 and we will see what happens next time. I have had the Sherry over 25 years, the Colts are from not so nice one (top) is from 1917-1918 and the other (bottom) is from 1928-29. Both shoot the FMJ's or JHP's POA just fine. I am not saying I would use the .25 for defense, but it is better than nothing.......Like poking someone with .25 ice picks.....It will get the job done, just not real quick like.







Wilkinson Arms Sherry .22 2" Barrel
Winchester 40 Gr Power Points
815 fps
717
723
765
750
823
783
Average: 768fps


Wilkinson Arms Sherry .22 2" Barrel 10 yds.
CCI Stingers
876 fps
859
952
827
924
897
983
917

Wilkinson Arms Sherry .22 2" Barrel
CCI 40 Gr Mini-Mags
795 fps
777
857
769
774
813
781

Colt 1908 .25 ACP 2" Barrel
Colt 1908 50 Gr FMJ. 10 yds.
1.5 grs Unique 50 Gr FMJ (Factory Blazer .25 50gr FMJ 710 fps)
782 fps
832
740
814
700
809
Average: 792 fps



Colt 1908 1.5 grs Unique 35Gr Hornady XTP JHP.
802 fps
856
871
794
792
858
873


Colt 1908 1.5 grs Unique 52 gr Cast Lead FP
907 fps
894
918
910
871
920
900


Bersa Model 23 3.5" Barrel
Winchester 40 Gr HV LR
982 fps
977
960
950
1002
863
974

Taurus Model 94, 22 cal, stainless 9 shot 3" Barrel
975 fps
976
993
1020
1018
984
980
1020
1006

 

[moxie]

Nice test. Thanks!

Those old colts sure are pretty guns.

You've proven once again that the little guns will sure poke holes. But, like icepicks, or knitting needles, they might take a little longer than some larger calibers to get the job done.

Then again, a magfull of closely spaced rounds, like you've demonstrated, is likely pretty devastating.

 

[youngsait]

very good information.

 

[jj1962hemi]

Nice work Sarge! Gotta love gun guys. +1 on the old Colts!