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.25 Auto Pistol

Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,244 ✭✭✭✭
edited November 2019 in General Discussion
What is the best of the best of the 25 auto's?

I have a friend I shoot with that collects 25 auto's and he has about 40 of them :o

He got them out a few weeks ago and invited me to come shoot them with him. I brought a few guns of my own and I stopped and got some 25 ACP ammo.

It was fun.

We shot; Brownings, CZ, Berettas of several types, Ravens, Colts, Astras, PAF's from South Africa, H&R, Ortiges, Ruby and Mauser.......I am sure I left several out.

My Favorite was the Mauser 1910 close second was a Beretta 1919.
RLTW

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Comments

  • ruger41ruger41 Member Posts: 14,665 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Beretta Jetfire
    Colt 1908
    Baby Browning

    Better than nothing but not by much.
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  • charliemeyer007charliemeyer007 Member Posts: 6,572 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Make sure it/they fit your hand for "throwing".
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  • GrasshopperGrasshopper Member Posts: 17,041 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Colt 25 is a piece of art.
    Beretta made some early ones that were art also
    Brownings are nice but imo above two are better
    PAF's grips would always break do to bad screw placement
    Baures seem to be a Browning clone.
    Sterlings are not real dependable -
    Ravens work for the most part, but pot metal
    New Berettas are dependable which my wife caries.
    So many more , I at one time had a small collection also . Don't care what people think about them, interesting pieces.
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  • gearheaddadgearheaddad Member Posts: 15,091 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Grasshopper wrote:
    Colt 25 is a piece of art.
    Beretta made some early ones that were art also
    Brownings are nice but imo above two are better
    PAF's grips would always break do to bad screw placement
    Baures seem to be a Browning clone.
    Sterlings are not real dependable -
    Ravens work for the most part, but pot metal
    New Berettas are dependable which my wife caries.
    So many more , I at one time had a small collection also . Don't care what people think about them, interesting pieces.

    I agree with you, completely.
    I have a Baby Browning, Colt 1908, and a Beretta. I have an H&R but in 32. I'd like one in 25 just because. I think they're pretty cool.
    I also have a couple Bauers and such laying around not taking up too much room.
    For me, I prefer a 22.
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  • Ditch-RunnerDitch-Runner Member Posts: 25,370 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I can only comment on a colt vest pocket 25 cal
    I got it from a great uncle who I use to trade guns with about 40 years ago . my wife carried it with her
    its always went bang as for accuracy I have never tried any real grouping I just took it as a up close better than nothing gun

    many years ago I worked with a big fellow ( barrel chested over 6' easy not any one to fight with ) in my construction days we were talking guns ..
    long story short he showed me his scars some one emptied a 25 auto into his chest at a bar one night .
    he said he was still able to hit the guy :o
    that's when I decided maybe a 25 acp would not be my first choice to carry ;)
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  • hoosierhoosier Member Posts: 1,607 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Now for a Modern 25 ACP. The Beretta 950 SA or 21 DA are great.


    I've been collecting Cz-45 25 Autos of a while have four of these. One is factory engraved.
    f_cz45_1947_engraved_01.jpg

    I've been known to drop one in my pocket, a time or two, for carry.
    f_cz45_1948_cruddy_01.jpg
    This was my Garage Sale find for $ 15.00. She thought it was an old cap gun.
    Flat , Double action, these have never failed to go bang.
    Magazines, Gun Parts and More. US Army Veteran, VFW, NRA Patron
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  • bambihunterbambihunter Member Posts: 10,792 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2019
    I like the Beretta 21a's. I found the flip up barrel somewhere between useful for some people, and a novelty for the rest. I have one with highly polished blued finish, gold appointments, and good wood stocks. I normally don't like the gold 'bling' on a gun, but it isn't gaudy on it.
    I see they also have an INOX (stainless finish) version that I don't remember existing when I bought mine years ago.
    Fanatic collector of the 10mm auto.
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  • JamesRKJamesRK Member Posts: 25,670 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I think 007 carried a .25acp Beretta. He could get better range, power and accuracy with that .25acp than I can get with a scoped .308 bolt action rifle.

    I carried a Baby Browning .25acp back in the mid 1960s but when I found out I was carrying something approaching the power of a slingshot I put it away and bought a Browning Hi-Power. Back then they only came in 9mm.

    The .25acp was about as close to perfect as any acp I?ve ever owned. Did exactly what it was supposed to do when it was supposed to, which were the same reasons I retired it. I kept it for another fifty years and traded it for something or other at the gun shop.

    I?m thinking the COLT .25acp is almost an exact copy of the Baby Browning. Both are excellent pistols, I just don?t have a need for one.
    The road to hell is paved with COMPROMISE.
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  • asopasop Member Posts: 9,019 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    .25's never did much for me. I much prefer a .22 long or .380.
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  • pulsarncpulsarnc Member Posts: 6,559 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have one ,a Colt junior we found in an old truck which belonged to my sons grandfather . Rusted shut and inoperable. Two days soaking in kroil and a little elbow grease soon had it up and running. It works and I carry it on occasion
    cry Havoc and let slip  the dogs of war..... 
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  • pulsarncpulsarnc Member Posts: 6,559 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have one ,a Colt junior we found in an old truck which belonged to my sons grandfather . Rusted shut and inoperable. Two days soaking in kroil and a little elbow grease soon had it up and running. It works and I carry it on occasion
    cry Havoc and let slip  the dogs of war..... 
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  • 11b6r11b6r Member Posts: 16,584 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Have 2 of the babies- one marked FN, the other marked Browning. They were in immaculate condition- and frankly, kinds cute. Yes, it is a real lightweight round- but it feeds better than 22 RF. And a half dozen of those little bullets at powder burn distance would give you something to think on for a while. While everybody mocks the .25 ACP, I don't see folks volunteering to get shot with one. Would love to see a full auto half scale model of a Thompson in .25 Auto.....
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  • Aztngundoc22Aztngundoc22 Member Posts: 2,314 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    OK :

    Have owned and sold several different 25 autos :

    A FN (?) nickle one always comes to mind ? sold it many years ago :

    I have a pair of Raven P25s in the safe :

    They always work and I can (could) hit a coffee can @ a reasonable distance :

    Yes I know they are pot-metal elcheapos !

    I can remember back in the late 70s - early 80s : we sold bout a bazillion Ravens : $49.95 seems was the going price ?

    Thanks !!!
    The more people I meet : The more I like my Dog :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:


    I Grew Old Too Fast (And Smart Too damn Slow !!!) !!! :o :?
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  • yonsonyonson Member Posts: 950 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    No one mentioned the Budischowsky TP-70, arguably the best of the .25s (Michigan mfg. only). Got 2 of them -
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  • bambihunterbambihunter Member Posts: 10,792 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    JamesRK wrote:
    I think 007 carried a .25acp Beretta. He could get better range, power and accuracy with that .25acp than I can get with a scoped .308 bolt action rifle.

    There's been a lot of different "Bond" guns, and about as many movie reference mistakes about them. He carried a Beretta M1934 in 9mm Short early on in the movies and Beretta 418 in .25 ACP in the books. He switched to a Walther PPK from Dr. No until Tomorrow Never dies in which it was replaced by the Walther P99. In one movie they reference the Walther PPK as 7.65mm, which is .32 not .380 (though they were originally offered in both calibers). I believe also shown in the series are at least the P5 and PPK/S and there might have been others handguns. They also used an AR-7 a few times too, once as a "sniper rifle".
    Fanatic collector of the 10mm auto.
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  • llamallama Member Posts: 2,637 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've always thought a Contender barrel in the caliber would be interesting, if you look at it as a hand loaders 22lr/22magnum type round. Wonder what kind of accuracy you could get?
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  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,244 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Of the small ones he had I liked the CZ-45 the best. Even without sights is shot really good.
    RLTW

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  • yonsonyonson Member Posts: 950 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    mrmike, I also would like to experiment with rifles chambered in .25ACP & .32ACP. Wouldn't know how to get into it on the cheap.
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  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,692 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    "M" wouldn't let James Bond use the .25, he said it was too wimpy. Made him change to the .32

    I worked hundreds of GSW as a paramedic and saw many, many people die of GSW. I saw only one person killed with the anemic little .25
    It was in a little 2 bedroom cottage in the black district of town. A 70 year old black granny got mad at her 72 year old husband. Wonder what he did wrong?
    She pulled the .25 and started firing! She put a hole in the light fixture in the ceiling. She shot through the refrigerator door. She put a couple holes in the floor.
    And she put one hole in the left bicep of her husband. It looked like a small pox vaccination.
    We got there five minutes after the shooting, the smell of gunpowder still hung heavy in the air. Cops were cuffing granny up and the .25 set there on the kitchen table, mag out, empty.

    We noted it was the anemic little .25 and we were puzzled, because, the guy was dead! Now, our job was to rescuscitate dead people. We pulled out our entire bag of tricks, heart monitor, IV, Lidocaine, epinephrine, you name it. Nothing worked, he was dead, and he stayed dead.

    The ER couldn't do any better than we did. They worked him for a half hour, and then, we took him down to the morgue.
    It was fascinating to see the Xray. Bullets really show up on an xray.
    The little slug went through his arm, and missed the arm bone, the humerus. It passed through the arm pit, and entered the chest. It missed the ribs, and was nestled in the middle of the heart. What a fluke shot. If it had hit the humerus, or the rib, it would never have had the power to enter the chest.

    Moral of the story: You don't want to get shot with anything, these little pistols were designed to kill a man, and if you get hit with one, you might wind up in the morgue.
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