We,, one thing seems clear, the .22LR & .25acp are capable of bringing a near three year dead thread back to life!
As for the .25, its a belly gun pretty much. I have one that I pop some cans with occasionally, it was developed in the early part of last century and ultimately stuck around due to its ability to be chambered in very small guns and still be called a centerfire.
That's partially true. The reason the .25is still around (and fairly popular with some folks) isn't because its a centerfire. Its because 1)the guns are cheap. 2)the .25 comes in the smallest available repeaters, and 3) they work.
#1 appeals to all who need or want a gun, and can't or won't spend the money for a bigger, more powerful (and more expensive) one.
#2 is important to everyone who carries a gun concealed.
#3 Generally speaking, the .25acp guns work. And by this, I mean that the gun work more reliably than the .22LR guns. Sure, there are individual .25s that are "jammomatics", but, as a group, overall they feed and fuction better than the .22LR. Until very recently, the only ammo ever used in the .25acp has been the 50gr FMJ RN. (There has also been a hollow point version of this bullet, but it has a very small hollow point, and outside of extremely rare situation, it does not expand)
Every .22LR semi auto I have ever had, or seen has jammed or malfunctioned at some point, with some ammo. And the pocket pistols are the worst of the lot in this regard. A .25 that works is better than a .22 that jams.
My whole life I have been hearing "22 killed more people (or deer) than any other...". It may even be true. But so what? Its irrelevant.
Old age kills everything that doesn't die of something else sooner. But I can't count on old age to stop an attacker, or get me venison. (and if I did, I rather doubt I would be around for old age to take out!)
The bottom line is, for personal defense, throughout history, everything has worked at some point, and everything has failed, at some point. And you can find real world situations where it happened. (I have always wondered why an anonymous group of data called a statistic is accepted at face value so often, but a real world incident is called an anecdote, and generally dismissed....)
here's on, I can verify personally, wife's uncle was, as a young man, (accidently) shot, in the heart with a .22. The bullet lodged in the heart muscle. The docs left the bullet in place. He died winter before last, in his early 80s.
Debate all you want (it can be entertaining) but real world results are clear. Under perfect conditions, everything works (or it worked, and we assume conditions were perfect), and under less than perfect conditions everything, even those things with the greatest reputations have failed on occasion.
There are no magic bullets. Anything that breaks the skin can kill (or result in death) when conditions are just right. Lots of attacks are "stopped" from a single small bore shot, or even no shot at all. Because the attacker chose to stop, not because of the actual damage inflicted.
And a .22 or .25 that stops an attack this way is just as effective as a .357 or a .45. Trouble is there is no way to know in advance, and since it is prudent to be able to manage the worst likely situation, even though a .22 or a .25 might do the job, having something bigger to use, should the need arise just makes me feel better.