Colt 25 Vest Pocket Pistol?

[pinetree64]

My dad gave me my grandfather's Colt Hammerless Vest Pocket 25acp. It is in mint condition. Would you shoot this gun? What about using it as a CCW? I like the 1911 style squeeze safety! I wish the Mustang I had owned had one. I don't want to get into a caliber war. I already have CCW's in 32, 38 & 45.

 

[Hypnogator]

Your gun should shoot fine, unless it's been abused. I'd check out the safety to see that it works properly before I carried it, though.

The .25 ACP is pretty anemic, but it's a lot better than nothing. I wouldn't be afraid to carry it as a CCW, but I'd much rather have a Kel-Tec P-32 or P3AT.

 

[keederdag]

I have one, mine feeds speer Gold dots flawlessly. Balistically, with the Gold dots(about 40 grns I think?, cant remeber), it cronoghaphs at the same approximate velocity's as CCI stingers out of my .22lr Walther tph. Interestingly, I actually used it to put a really abrupt end to a guy's knife pulling tricks in a Circle K about 5 years back. He was impressed by my little colt. I was still shaking about 24hrs later. I didn't have to shoot him, he droped it first. Course he was shaking in jail.

 

[Old Fuff]

The Colt 1908 Vest Pocket is a very well made and reliable pistol. It might be advisable to replace the firing pin, magazine, and recoil springs.

One thing to watch: The firing pin acts as an ejector. When you pull back the slide to eject a loaded cartridge do it carefully because the firing pin will hit the primer. Also the long nose on the firing pins are known to break off. Be sure the one in your gun is still O.K.

 

[Standing Wolf]

I'm sure your little Colt was built like a Colt in those days, so it ought to handle live ammunition just fine.

 

[Dr.Rob]

I have one made in 1920 with a lot of the finish worn off. It shoots just fine.

Can hit an orange at 20 feet. Doesn't bother the orange very much though.

Understand that the Vest pocket is Striker fired.. take it apart and look at how it stays "on safe". You might not want to carry it cocked and locked (the way it was meant to be carried) if the parts are worn at all. Some of them have a magazine safety, some don't.

 

[Sven]

I have an opportunity to buy a "Baby Browning .25" made in 1960 - is this the same gun? Do the same safety concerns apply?

How about the manufacturing from this period - up to snuff?


-s

 

[Johnny Guest]

Baby Browning vs. Colt Vest Pocket .25

Sven - -

Nope, not the same piece at all.

The Colt is a good deal larger, and has a grip safety. If you compare this and the 1903 .32 Pocket Auto, you can see the definite kinship. As already mentioned, though, the .25 is striker fired, where the 1903 .32 and the later 1908 .380 have an internal hammer.

FN also produced the same little .25, marked "Browning's Patent," for a good many years, but I think it went out of print before the Hartford-produced Colt's .25 did. The latter did not return after the WWII hiatus.

Later on, I believe during the 1960s and possibly into the '70s, Colt had a .25 ACP produced for them in Spain by Astra - - This was an entirely different piece - - Exposed hammer and such.

The Baby Browning was a postwar piece - -Far smaller and lighter than the early Colt and FN pistols. The Baby was quite small - - Not as small as the tiny Bernardelli, but close. Held six plus one and had the mag disconnect safety. Very well made, and, given their itsy, bitsy, teeny-weeny sights, were really quite accurate. I know one Secret Service Agent who paid big bux to have an S&W J-frame adjustable sight mounted on his. Browning also made a version with an allow frame - - Very neat!

The Baby was too small to meet the factoring criteria imposed by the Gun Control Act of 1968, so they dried up and became more prized as collector items than for carry. Then, around 1971, the Bauer Company, Frazier, Michigan, began producing a line-for-line copy, in stainless steel. This was a very good little pocket piece, and brought back some measure of rational price structure to the .25 pistol market.

I bought the first available Bauer I saw in Fort Worth (the first two went to employees of Knight's Gun Shop. I got one the following day.) I made a little wallet type pocket holster for it and it was my "always gun" for several years. I was the first guy I knew who handloaded for .25 ACP, and (he modestly admits) got to be pretty good with that little pistola. Carried it cocked-and-locked for a lot of miles. I later learned how risky this practice can be and practiced chambering a round one handed.

As mentioned above - - You should be aware of the potential safety problems with carrying such a small, striker-fired pistol, particularly since most are carried without holsters.

With todays ultra-small .32 and .380 pistols, especially those with polymer frames, the Hoo-Ha over the ideal .25 seems very quaint and far away, but 'twas of intense interest to some of us, back in the olden days . . ..

There: More than you really cared to know.

Best,
Johnny

 

[Johnny Guest]

Oh, yeah - - -

pinetree64, you state,

It is in mint condition. Would you shoot this gun? What about using it as a CCW?

If you mean, like, flawless finish and such, particularly if accompanied by factory box, etc - - This is really a pretty valuable pistol. I understand - - As a family heirloom, you'd probably never want to sell it, but the day might come . . . . Even if just NRA Excellent condition, these guns are pricey, as collector's items. The majority of this model show the evidence of being carried around with coins and key rings, and were seldom pampered. This makes the nice ones all the more valuable.

If you can tell by examination that it HAS been fired, then it won't hurt to shoot it some. It is a link to the past, and maybe a little personal range time with the old pistol will enhance your links with your forebears.

If 'twere mine, and in quite nice condition, I probably would NOT carry it. There are far better pocket pistols around, lighter, more powerful, just as small, and worth far less money. Just my personal opinion, but that's what you asked.

Best,
Johnny

 

[keederdag]

Mines about 80%, I have carried it in the past, when My Walther TPH was being engraved or whatever. Downside is that it aint really safe to keep a chambered round. The guy that forced me to show him mine, told the DA that "he did'nt have to cock it man, that was bull$h!t". So at least once, it seemed to add to the seriouseness of the situation for said scumbag. He got real convinced that I was gonna shoot him, no matter what the outcome. I still thank God I didnt, but there for a minut he seemed to be teetering on whether to drop his knife or not. Some people are just plain not meant to live.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Can hit an orange at 20 feet. Doesn't bother the orange very much though.

That's well said, and confirms my hunch.

 

[keederdag]

Wolf, have you ever shot a .25? It aint a biggie, but it blows the crap out of citrus. I havent killed anything bigger than a snake or a rabbit with one, but it does the job just fine. It's like a slightly more reliable .22 with better bullets: Giold dot's, Hornady's ect. If you have a big bore tiny gun great, but in a pinch a .25 will do, as long as you do your part. Guy's are shot with .45's, .357 mag's 9mm's ect. and live all the time. It aint the size, it's how you use it

 

[Dr.Rob]

I was mostly kidding about the orange.. they blow up pretty good.
However, if you recall those little steel targets from The Pueblo get together, my little Colt was barely making them move, and I was shooting hot Fiocchi ammo.

 

[pinetree64]

As follow-up, it's probably 90-95%. The box is top is tattered. The instructions are starting to tear along the folds and the cleaning brush is worn. It does have a magazine disconnect.

I'll pop her in the safe and pull her out once and a while.

tjg

 

[Jeff OTMG]

The Colt 1908 Vest Pocket is a good .25. It doesn't bite my hand like a Baby Browning. I got rid of mine to go with a less expensive alternative, the Astra Firecat. As mentioned the Colt is a striker fired gun, as is the identical FN version, but the Astra has an internal hammer and I like the gun better.

 

[Jim K]

Because of the striker nose being long and thin, dry firing those Colt VP pistols is a no-no. Still, while we used up a lot of Colt firing pins, they were rarely used in Colts. The Colt VP ("Model 1908") firing pin can be used in the FN .25 and in the Browning 1910 and 1922; it was for the latter two pistols that we needed most of the Colt firing pins.

Jim

 

[Coltdriver]

SVEN,

The little baby browning is a great shirt pocket pistol.

A 1960 version is a fine little gun.

I picked up a rusted baby for next to nothing and cleaned it up. In the process I became very familiar with how these little rascals work.

Under no circumstances should you carry one in the chamber with the striker cocked. If you saw what was between you and that striker turning loose it would scare you. It scared me.

But I will carry mine when nothing else is available. The function of mine has been flawless. I can pop off all six rounds as fast as I can pull the trigger. It has never jammed or misfired.

They are nearly a novelty, but they are a functional novelty.