.22LR vs .25ACP

The hydraulic shock from that round even with the deficit from revolver use is amazing on jackrabbits. I have seen skin knocked off several inches from the wound channel.
 
if I had to carry a Beretta model 21 in either caliber it would be the .25acp, in any gun actually if they were the same except caliber, though id prefer an extractor.
 
In the first iteration of this thread someone mentioned this:

"the reliability of a centerfire primer is a lot better than a rimfire round also"

I've not found that to be true.

I've had more factory primer failures with centerfire ammunition than I have with rimfire ammunition over the years, and I've shot metric buttload of both.

The worst was I had a box of Remington revolver ammunition in which 7 cartridges refused to fire.

The only completely dead .22s I've ever had were either really cheap foreign made or old ammo whose storage was questionable.

I have absolutely no problems carrying a .22 pocket pistol.
 
MIKE... my experience has been completely opposite, & I've shot the same "butt load" of both... that said, I'd still likely carry a 22, albeit in revolver format...

along the same lines of reliability is everyone talking "apples to apples" ???

my canter fire handgun ammo is either handloads ( which I don't recall ever having a bad primer ) or quality "carry" ammo... & the bulk of my 22 failures were with bulk pack ammo... I can't say all, because of the shear numbers fired, but at least the bulk of my misfires were from bulk pack ammo

so... if you are carrying a 22, are you shooting premium target ammo, or a handful out of a bulk pack ???
 
"my canter fire handgun"

It's always at something faster than trot? :)

Most of my bulk pack ammo has been Federal, and I've always been VERY pleased with Federal ammo.

My little Taurus PT-22 only really likes Winchester Wildcat, or it gives light strikes, especially with CCI Mini Mag.

But that's not a dead primer, that's hard brass, and I have no similar problems with my S&W Model 18.


The only totally dead primers I can remember having with American-made ammo was with Remington Thunderbolt bulkpack.

But, there were myriad other problems with that crap, such as bad leading and apparently VERY loose loading standards...

In a cylinder or magainze, they would sound...

Crack

Blip

Bloop

Crack

KABLAM!

Poof

Bloop

It was obvious that Remington had thrown all pretenses of quality control to the wind on that crap.
 
well so much for correcting my spelling :o

yup... Thunderbolt never enters a gun of mine again...

back in the 80's - 90's, I had a couple hand made dueling trees, set up for 22's, my buddies would come over, & it was not uncommon to go through a couple bricks of 22 each, through our various Ruger semi auto handguns, dueling each other all day, Saturday, & into Sunday...

my how things change... today that could be $120.00 of ammo each... back then I think I was paying $6.00 for 500 rounds of Federal... which was my standard... one Friday, the local shop was out of Federal, & I bought 2 bricks of Thunderbolt... OMG... the accuracy was terrible & 1/2 way through Sunday, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn maybe after 750 rounds...

so I quit early,. & started cleaning my pre slab side Government Target model, only to stick a brush in the bore... I had to take it to my local gun smith buddy, who got it out, along with 2-3 bullets worth of lead accumulation from the 6" barrel :eek:

after that, I'd rather not shoot, then put Thunderbolts through any of my guns again :mad:
 
BTW... starting prep work on my newest custom... something I've always wanted... a 6" revolver with target sights, chambered in 25 ACP... I have 8" of .251" barrel liner ready, waiting until I can afford the donor gun, which will be a target single action 38 special... thinking we can stuff 8 of the 25 ACP chambers in the cylinder... should make an interesting squirrel gun...

the reason the 25 ACP gold dots interested me, were for small game... I think for self defense out of one of my 25 ACP semi autos, the FMJ would be more lethal, as I expect the penetration would be very minimal with a Gold Dot in the 25 ACP...

BTW#2... I just got 500 of the Speer short barrel Gold Dot 22 mags in though, & expect at over 1000 fps out of snubbie length barrels, that aught to be a good combo ;)
 
As to the OP's tests I'm not suprised, I've known for years that 22s just don't have the velocity advantage when fired from a 2" barrel.
As to the reliability question generalities are always wrong sometimes lol.
I've found both to be extremely reliable when fed good ammo.
I've had a couple Beretta 21s that run flawlessly with CCI Blazers.
 
My PT-25 experienced light-strikes with Fiocchi Ammo but was fine with the other brands I used (honestly, I don't shoot .25acp much anymore for obvious reasons :eek:).

However, with either my PT-22, Beretta 21A, GSG 1911-22 or even Phoenix HP 22A, they all function reliably using either CCI Stingers or the Aguila HV Ammo which is muy caliente!
 
Very cool tests.
I am working on one for the 22 Magnum right now.
Thanks for your effort and results. I would probably carry a .25 Auto over a ,22 LR but either would be my last choice.
 
I own the Beretta 21 in .22LR. It will reliably shoot higher velocity ammo: CCI Stingers, Velocitors, Mini-Mags and the like. Had problems with standard ammo but very reliable now.
 
Back in the 80's my cousin bought a 25 caliber mouse gun in Detroit for $25. We tried unsuccesfly to shoot a bucket 10 feet away. You had to hold 2 feet to the left to have any chance of hitting something 10 feet away. Not saying all 25 caliber mouse guns are junk but they're out there.

I've never had a problem with thunderbolts. They're just as accurate and reliable in my guns as any bulk 22lr ammo. They've been more reliable in my sr22 than the Federal bulk that everyone raves about. They're a little dirty but not as bad as people say.
 
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gun problem, not caliber.

Back in the 80's my cousin bought a 25 caliber mouse gun in Detroit for $25. We tried unsuccesfly to shoot a bucket 10 feet away. You had to hold 2 feet to the left to have any chance of hitting something 10 feet away. Not saying all 25 caliber mouse guns are junk but they're out there.
Click to expand...
 
My Thunderbolt experience was watching my friends AR7 blow it's front sight off due to a squib. He was slow firing at 80yds using a scope, and was unaware of the squib in the barrel.
In fact, he was unaware he had a problem until I pointed out that he no longer had a front sight.
The AR7 barrel is aluminum with a steel liner. The liner bulged and cracked off the top half of the aluminum for the first couple inches from the muzzle.
He disposed of the rest of that junk.
 
25 auto will go 13 to 16" in test using the jell block More than mets the FBI min standard . I think president secret service detail should carry them :D

Of course the 25 HP only goes around 9" I have several 25 autos my Model 20 Beretta is he Best DA/SA and the 950 Beretta Jetfire best SA. I like model 20 because it just a 950 made DA/SA smaller and lighter than the 21A
 
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