25ACP pistols: reviews needed

O

Oleg Volk

Staff Alumnus
I am thinking of picking up a 25ACP pistol, mostly for the amusement value.

Choices run from Beretta 950 (a known good gun) to Astra Vest Pocket clone and Cub to various German guns from 1920-1940. I know their specs but would like to inquire about real-world experience.

-- Reliability?
--Safety with a loaded chamber
--Accuracy?
--Availability of magazines and spare parts?
--Ergonomics?
--Reasonable prices?

Thanks.
 
>>I am thinking of picking up a 25ACP pistol, mostly for the
>>amusement value.

Oleg, you must own a heck of a lot of guns if you are thinking about a 25ACP.

justinr1
 
The German Walther TPH is one of the finest 6.35mm(.25ACP)
pocket pistols made.

It is based on the operating system of the PP series, and it is a true DA/SA handgun. It uses the decocker like the PP series for safety.

It is both extremely accurate and reliable. Big$$$$

Don't waste your money on the Interarms copy. POS.
 
Argueably the best MADE 25's are the Colt 'vest pocket' pistol and the Browning "baby". Both are heavy steel (makes you wonder if your "vest' had to have "extra support" sewn in.

The Colt is striker fired and has a manual safety AND a grip safety. Sights are basically non existant (a channel in the slide witha TINY front post) I suppose you could paint the front site. The safety is a bit awkward to operate. Its a fun gun, but you COULD carry it. GunParts has a LOT of parts for this smallest of Colts. Everyone should have one. Any MANY people did. its one of Colt's most popular models.

I haven't fired a "baby" but the little Colt is as accurate as in needs to be at 'spitting range'.
 
The best .25 in my opinion is the Beretta Jetfire 950. Totally reliable, small, but a bit thick.

Now all that said and done, the best .25 is not a .25. It is the Kel-Tec P32. Lighter, thinner, and more punch, why carry a .25 anymore?

I like plinking with my Jetfire, in moderation, ammo is not cheap, but I carry the P32.
 
Budischowsky TP-70. All stainless steel, Decocker safety, locked breech operation. Beautifully constructed. Nail driver to 50 ft.
 

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Dr. Rob,
The Colt VP is NOT striker fired. It has an internal hammer. The safety only prevents the trigger from meing pulled and does nothing to block thr sear or the hammer.

Oleg,

I think that the best choise for a .25 would be Beretta 950. It costs very little ($180 new), very light and holds 9 rounds.
The second choice would be Colt. Ther are also Seecamp LW25s out there, and they cost much less then LW32. Still more then Beretta though ($300).
 
My .25 is a PSP-25. It's a copy of the Browning Baby. Paid about 250 for it a few years back. Nice little gun. Accurate to about 10 feet. Minimal sights. Fun to shoot. Nice trigger. It has a safety, but I don't use it because I don't generally carry it with a round in the pipe (if I'm going somewhere that I need a round in the pipe, I'll carry something bigger than a .25). It does jam occasionally with hardball (though not often), but will not feed hollowpoints at all. At the time, it was the smallest, lightest autoloading gun you could buy.

However, I'll have to agree with Bad Dad Brad. With the Kel-Tec P32 out there, why would you get something with a smaller round which is larger and heavier?
 
I already have a P32. Looking for a Mustang or Govt. 380 pocketlite...but I see so many neat 25s I thought I might get one just for fun.
 
Try these

Unique Model 10 and 11, Walther Model 8, 9 and TPH, Colt Vest Pocket, Colt Junior (Astra, I believe), Browning Baby or PSP-25. The TPH, Browning/PSP-25 and Colt are my favorites, but I do really like the Walther Model 9, it's just difficult to find.

Regards,
JB
 
I have thought about getting a Beretta in 25ACP. I really like the idea of the tip-up barrel for loading the chamber. The only thing is, I just can't get into the cartridge. It's barely bigger than a 22LR and it seems to be slower. It also cost you what some more "major" calibers would. If I wanted a small auto and I wanted larger than 22LR, I think I'd go with a 9x18mm Makarov. If I ever did get a little 25ACP, I think it would be a back pocket gun.
 
I've had plenty of opportunities to get rid of my .25ACP Beretta Jetfire in favor of a .32, but I've kept the little spitwad in favor of all comers.

At a time, I've owned several Tomcats, a NAA Guardian, a Kel-Tec P32, and a NAA Mini in .22 Magnum. I prefer the Jetfire as a "back pocket gun" over all the above. The reasons are its tip-up barrel, its absolute reliability, the small size, and the moderately thick grip which gives the feel of a bigger gun. Also, the Jetfire has small, but useable sights, and it is very accurate at 7 yards. The .25ACP may be more expensive than the .22LR, but you get centerfire reliability. It's a fun gun and a "last resort" weapon, and it's just much more of a pleasure to look at than a P32. Again, it has never shown a failure of any kind, which is more than I can say for the P32 and Guardian. The Tomcats were all jam-free, but they're a bit bulky for .32s.

Safety with a round chambered? I've carried mine with one in the chamber ever since I got it, and I have yet to hear a "bang" out of my back pocket....and I sit on the thing all day. The tip-up barrel makes lowering the hammer on a live round a non-issue. There's actually no reason to ever rack that little slide.

Magazines are cheap and readily available at ~$20 a piece. The gun itself runs just under $200 new, and you can pick up used specimens in good shape for little over $100.

Ergonomically it's probably the most comfortable mouse gun short of the Tomcat, since it's light and short but endowed with a fairly wide grip. Both Jetfire and Tomcat feel like bigger guns when you hold them.

If you're looking for a proven, reliable, and beautifully crafted .25, get a Jetfire. It's not an elephant stomper, but we usually carry bigger iron as primary armament anyway. No matter what I carry as a main sidearm, the Jetfire always rides along in my back pocket.
 
The Astra Cub, Colt Junior, Browning Baby, Phoenix Raven and their ilk are all single-action striker-fired, which kind of ixnays the whole "round-in-the-chamber" thing.

The Walther TPH is known colloquially in the business as the "Toilet Paper Handgun": I've seen far more of these come in for work than I've ever seen for sale. The German ones won't feed, and the American ones break parts and won't feed.

Of all .25's, the Beretta 950BS Jetfire is by far the top of the heap. It is utterly reliable with ball, Glasers and both Hornady XTP and Speer Gold Dot JHP's, and amazingly accurate for its size. With their tiny size, easily-manipulated controls and useable, though rudimentary, sights, this pistol is the king of the true pocket pistols (in .25 or .32), IMHO.

As far as the .25's "anemic" performance vis-a-vis the .22LR, bear in mind that most published ballistics data is comparing .22LR out of a 16"-to-18" rifle barrel or 6-to-6.5" pistol barrels to .25 fired out of a 2" pistol barrel. If you fire them both from a 2" bbl, the .25 usually has a slight edge in energy, is available with advanced designs such as the XTP, Gold Dot and Glaser, and has the greater reliability of a centerfire cartridge...
 
Been there, done that, had 2 .25's a Raven and a Beretta 950EL. The Raven was for shootin, and the Beretta was for lookin. The amusement wears off real fast when you buy your second box of ammo.
Gave the shooter away, and kept the looker.
 
Oleg, my experience has been

that the Browning baby is the smallest and easiest to carry. It has the advantage of a small indicator pin at the rear of the slide. This lets you know the weapon is cocked by sight or feel. Due to what I consider design flaws, I never carry a baby B. with one in the chamber but they are pretty quick to rack if needed. This is a pistol for people with small to medium hands. The Colt is also good but is pretty heavy IMO.

I agree with everyone else that the Jetfire is probably the best .25 around. It is now made in stainless and is readily available. I'll take the .25 over the .22 in a small pistol anyday. In my best .22 target pistol, I occasionally have failures to fire or feed. Never had one with my .25 Beretta.
 
I carry a Seecamp, but...

I've owned 3 US TPH's in .22 and 1 in .25 ACP, two German TPH's, a .25 ACP and a .22LR. I found the .25 ACP to be very reliable in my pistols. The .22 on the other hand was hit or miss. The last TPH (stainless US) was a real piece of junk, the CNC equipment must have been "off". I've seen several used ones that had problems with the machining of the frame, causing problems with the decocker, trigger and safety. I'm sure that the breakage problems (extractors usually) were not restricted to .22's, I just never experienced any with the .25's. My German TPH (an alloy frame) in .22 LR was never reliable. Both of the .25's were 100%. By the way, the .25 US blued version I owned was the only one I have personally seen in a shop.

Regards,
JB
 
Tamara, it seems we disagree on the reliability of the German made TPH. I would agree with you about the American Interarms copy.

I have not had problems with my german TPH. Not to say that no one has, but I believe many of the problems associated with the TPH are related to the .22 caliber variant. Extraction problems are what I have heard about the most, followed by feeding difficulties.

There are very few of these pistols in this country in 6.35mm as they were banned from inportation the year they were introduced to the States. There are not even a whole bunch of .22's either. There were several hundred imported after the ban for the alphabet agencies in Washington, which mine is one of manufactured in 1983, but these are not seen very often.

How many have come across your bench in recent years? I'm just curious. My fellow collectors do not report problems with the 6.35mm.
 
I own a Beretta 950 Jetfire in 25ACP. It is a good little gun and reliable. However the only downside is that for such a small round the ammo is too expensive. I would suggest getting a .22lr caliber in the Jetfire rather than the .25ACP. For the price of a 50 round box of .25ACP I can get 500 rounds of .22lr which equates to alot more shooting.
 
.25 acp

Oleg: I believe Phoenix Arms still makes the HP-25, the twin to the HP-22. I think the Raven, at one time, was considered one of the best el-cheapo .25 pistols out there. I cannot speak for the .25 version of the Phoenix, but I do own an HP-22 and for the money, it has been a good gun. Very low dollars 100.00 or so.

Here's a pic of the .22, and the .25 looks the same.
 

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Another vote for the 950

Half-cock, safety on, one in the spout. Nice, safe 9-rounder. I don't use mine anymore, though, cos I just can't take the .25 seriously enough. Others do, however.

But there really are a lot of nifty .25s. Nothing wrong with the TPH except for price and availability. Baby Brownings are cute, but I wouldn't carry them hot. Oleg, have a good time picking one out.
 
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