Would you feel safe carrying a .25 ACP pistol in your pocket?

Would you feel safe carrying a .25 ACP pistol?

  • yes, it will do in most situations and is better than nothing

    Votes: 134 66.0%

  • no, it will just make the target mad

    Votes: 69 34.0%
  • Total voters
    203
D

Doug.38PR

Moderator
The caliber everyone in here seems to love to hate.
But if it came right down to it and it was all you had:

Would you feel safe carrying a .25 pistol in your pocket for protection?
 
Not really, but it depends on the situation. If I'm over at the inlaws house for dinner maybe, but not if I had to change a tire at night in the worst part of town.
 
My country's law permit me to carry nothing useful for self protection...
Anyway, the matter can be seen another way: I would not feel safe carrying an old or rough .25, with no firing pin safety, with a chambered round and a cocked striker in my pocket, expecially with no holster. Everything else is better than nothing.
 
Having played with the .25 Auto for many years, I can honestly say the gun is pretty much useless in the self defense role. It has absolutely no penetration capabilities. Heck, as a kid I remember standing on my frozen pond shooting the ice at my feet with my Raven .25 Auto and watching the bullets bounce out of the ice and spin like tops. The hole was maybe 3/4 inch deep to an inch.

The round couldn't penetrate heavy clothing to inflict a mortal wound on an attacker. If you shoot someone and hit a bone, like a rib, the bullet would just stop dead.

Sorry, you're better off with a .22 LR than a .25 Auto.
 
25acp is a belly sticker round. I think if you were mugged or a female being attacked it would be better than nothing to stop the attack but of coarse there are better choices.
 
I agree with Sturm that If I had a choice I'd prefer a .22LR. But if it's all I had, well I'd just have to make the best of it.

I'll also second the post questioning the safety of carrying some older semiauto's without any real safety features in the pocket. Even though It's not a terribly effective round I still wouldn't want an AD......THERE......:eek:
 
I agree with Sturm that If I had a choice I'd prefer a .22LR. But if it's all I had, well I'd just have to make the best of it.
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The statement "if all you had was a .25 ACP would you feel safe" is kind of a loaded statement. Well, of course it's better than a pointed stick (most of the time). I think the more relevant question would be "if given a choice between a .22, .25 or a .32 would you take the .25?"

It would be like me asking, "if all you had was a pointed stick, would you feel safer than if you had nothing at all?"

If given a choice, would you carry a .25? My answer would be "no way".
 
better than a knife. capacity really matters with tiny calibers
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If you even the slightest bit competent with an edged weapon, at your typical fighting distance, you're probably better off with a good knife over a .25 ACP... since most .25's aren't much good past 7 yards anyway.
 
yes, it will do in most situations and is better than nothing

no, it will just make the target mad
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With these two as our only options it sets up a false dichotomy. In my humble, non-expert opinion it won't do in most situations but will probably do more than just make the target mad. Not much more mind you but a little at least.........hopefully.......

BTW I don't own a .25 so I would never be put in a position of having to carry one..........:D
 
Better than nothing

But would I feel "safe"

Maybe...depends on the situation ...but not because of the pistol
 
I would never carry my Raven .25, but have to say after thousands of rounds it has never hiccuped once, which is more than i can say for my fancy .45.

Also, you all might recall about 10 years back, a gal named, I think, Ellie Nestor. Some creep took her son to bible camp and molested him. She walked up to him in open court and put 5 .25 rounds in his head, killing him.
 
25acp is a belly sticker round. I think if you were mugged or a female being attacked it would be better than nothing to stop the attack but of coarse there are better choices.
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Here's the problem with this scenario.

In the heat of a fight, the .25's inability to reach a vital organ under most circumstances would put the user at a serious disadvantage. You could pop someone a couple of times with it and they might not even realize they have been shot... at least not right away.

If you want to stop a fight, you have to incapacitate the attacker.

The only fight stopping ability the .25 has is in that brandishing the weapon might dissuade an aggressor. If it comes to shooting, you're screwed.
 
Also, you all might recall about 10 years back, a gal named, I think, Ellie Nestor. Some creep took her son to bible camp and molested him. She walked up to him in open court and put 5 .25 rounds in his head, killing him.
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That's the exception to the rule. There are far more stories of the .25 not penetrating a human skull. Here's one that's fairly recent and well known:

DENVER (Reuters) - Grammy-winning singer Marc Cohn was shot in the head during an attempted carjacking after a concert in Denver but survived with only minor injuries, police said on Monday.

Cohn had just finished a performance on Sunday night when a man fleeing on foot from police tried to commandeer the van Cohn was riding in, Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.

When the van driver refused to stop, the suspect fired into the vehicle, striking Cohn in the head, although the bullet did not penetrate his skull.

"The bullet hit Mr. Cohn flush in the temple," Jackson said. "He's very lucky it wasn't a fatal shot."

Surgeons removed the bullet protruding from Cohn's skull and released him in good condition Monday morning, Jackson said.

Cohn, winner of the 1991 Grammy for best newcomer and best known for the song "Walking in Memphis," is married to ABC News correspondent and anchor Elizabeth Vargas. They have a 2-year-old son.

Police said the suspect is accused of carjacking another vehicle and is still at large. Jackson said he was fleeing from police after using a stolen credit card and also was wanted for failing to appear in court.
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The pistol used in this crime was a .25 ACP. Cohn was shot in the temple at point blank range and had "minor injuries".

Again, the .25 ACP is for the most part ineffective and utterly useless as a defensive arm.
 
I feel safe with or without any gun. The Lord will protect me whether I am carrying a 357 or nothing at all. That being said I still wouldn't prefer a 25. Actually I prefer 22lr if it comes to smaller calibers.
 
I keep a .25 jetfire handy at the house. It fits in my jeans pocket, printing a little; it also fits in my robe pocket. It's a lot easier to find a place to sit it in the bathroom too (I'm at a dearth of horizontal surface) if I've heard something outside that might just be waiting to hear the shower run...

...and speaking of running, if I'm shooting at someone with that little .25, it's in the effort to get my happy tail to the other guns. If 8 Hornady .25 projectiles don't stop it/them then 6 158gr HP .357 ones will have a try at it.

And if not then, and I haven't kissed my bleep goodbye, we'll have at it with 30 of 123gr 7.62x39 HP. But now we're somewhat ridiculous :)

It's simply much harder to keep anything bigger with me constantly.
 
The question is ill-formed. NO firearm makes me feel safe. Green Lantern's power ring with autoshields would make me feel safe. If I carry my 1911 and some dude gets the drop on me in a robbery and shoots me first - so what about the gun I was carrying.

Does a 25 have some utility if it is the only gun available?

Yes, it does.

Would I rather carry something else - yes.

Does it make me feel safer? No - it just makes me feel that I have a better tool.
 
my ccw instructor carried a .25 as his only carry-gun. I asked him if he felt it was any good and he showed me some "safety slug" kinda bullet that looked like a shotshell. another buddy carries a 22mag mini revolver and I posed the same question. his answer was "better than a knife". I consider .380+P minimum, that's what I carry
 
A 25 came in mighty handy for me twice back in the day before I bought a 45.

Story unavailable. Point is is that it's better than nothing and will work fine against average thugs if your demeanor is correct.;)
 
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