Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Battle of the mouseguns; .22lr vs. .25 ACP

If (God Forbid), you were to carry one; which one would you carry and why? Also, what would be your choice of platform?

I�ve always had a fascination with the little threaded barrel Beretta 21�s. I had a 21 the year it came out in .25 ACP (don�t ask), and I have to say, that little gun shot FAR better than it had any right to. I could EASILY make upper chest hits at 15 yards, and more often than not, hit an upper chest at 25 yards. Downright decent little pistol; for a Mousegun.

Kel-Tec P3AT.

BT/DT.

I had a 21A in .22 LR long before Kel-Tec existed, and it would dance with Stingers. Splits between shots were very fast at close range, and groups were good. It also would group well at 50 feet. I never realized at the time that I would be in a world of hurt if I had a failure to fire because of the lack of an extractor.

For kicks, I recently picked up a NAA Mini 22 Mag with a .22 LR conversion. It is a hoot, and I love plinking with it. The sights are poor, though, so I ordered a Pug with the tritium dot. Just don't tell anyone.

It's off topic, but I bought the 21A after a scare while I was on the waiting list for a .32 Seecamp. I hardly used the Seecamp after it arrived, because the 21A was far easier to use and much more accurate at distance.

S&W 317, loaded with CCI Velocitor.

I picked up a 317 as a practice aid for my 431, but it didn�t shoot to point of aim with most loads I had, and the action was horrendous, not anywhere close to my 431; ended up selling it.

If I were packing a .22lr for self defense, I think my choice in ammo would be the CCI SGB (Small Game Bullet) which is a swaged flat point; looks like a mini-LBT bullet. I�ve drilled LARGE holes in the heads of squirrels with that bullet. Like most flat points, the wound is larger than the caliber; pretty impressive actually.

Still, the .22lr doesn�t give me a warm & fuzzy for self defense, but it beats being unarmed.

Cheater...

.22lr because:

1. The ammo is readily available,

2. That means more practice,

3. For it's size it's one of the most deadly rounds out there.

Are there better rounds? Yes, but in a self defense situation I would not feel unarmed.

Me too. The concealability/power/price quotient is pretty high on the little gal.

Back in about 1968, I bought a Baretta Jetfire in 25acp and carried it for about 5 years, then sold it and bought a Bauer ss 25 and if I was clothed, it was on me, for a lot of years.

Nowadays it's a Kel Tek 380. Don't think I would go smaller.

I never thought of the 317 as a mouse gun but I do like mine and would pick it for defense if necessary to choose between it and a .25. BTW, I got an average of 1015 fps out of it (3 inch) with Velocitors. I agree with Kevin about the point of aim issue with a lot of loads.

hands down, the 22lr.
remember a hit with a .22 is much better than any miss with a .44 Mag!

Why carry a .22LR, .25ACP, or .32ACP, when a .380 is available for the same size and weight?

Well, the man asked a question, and he didn't ask me to carry one, so...

Relying on memory, I seem to recall an article by someone who chronographed 22LR and .25acp out of similarly short pistol barrels and he said he got more velocity out of the .25.

So, there's that. It wasn't a whole lot of difference.

- Tom

In my experience the .25 ACP operates a bit smoother. Smoother feeding because of the cartridge design.

So for me it is a toss up. But, with no .25's in the lineup for me right now, the choice is already made.

Based on the current crappy .22 ammo, I think I'd go with the .25, since it's centerfire and more likely to go off when I pulled the trigger. Not that I'd relish either one, but some of the current rimfire stuff doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy.

I think I'll stick with snubby .38 for now, it's paid-for.

.25 has a strong advantage in case design and priming; far more reliable cartridge, that's for sure. Rimfire is better than ever, but we all run into one's that don't go bang from time to time...one or two in every brick of the cheap stuff on average I would guess.

.25 ACP, but only in a Beretta and only if I can carry it in a Berns-Martin shoulder holster under my tux while driving an Aston-Martin on my way to bang a really hot Russian double agent � again.

They never did say where 007 retired to, did they? Rumor has it he moved to an unnamed state near the American Pacific Northwest.

Signed,
Idaho, James in Idaho

Smith 2213 loaded with CCI stingers.

Dink

That was a good little pistol. Actually, that whole series of pistols. I was sad when S&W discontinued them. Especially when they replaced them with the pot-metal special (which actually isn't a bad gun; just no where near as nice as the 22 series).