.25 ACP ballistic test-vs .22 Long Rifle

[David LaPell]

I have heard and read over the years the many sources about how weak the little .25 ACP is on penetration, so I decided to try it out for myself. I took my little Walther 8 pistol and a 50 grain Remington FMJ and filled four 1 gallon jugs with water and placed them back to back in line. The shot was from 6 yards away. I was hoping that the .25 would go through two if I was lucky. Nope, all four jugs and the bullet kept right on going. It was not recovered.

 

[dougader]

I used to have a little Beretta 950BS in 25 auto, so I reloaded for it. It sure was a fun little gun and easy as pie to conceal. Hard to find those itty bitty pieces of brass for reloading, though!

 

[Cholo]

Back in the middle 70's I did a test between a small Galesi Brecia .25 and a 6 1/2" Single Six with shorts, both using HP's.

Found a board at the chirt pit and shot the .25 into it about 2" away. I could see the bullet. The .22 short went clean thru. Did this about 6x with the same results. Sold the .25 the next day with the remainder of the ammo.

I'm sure most all CF ammo is better today than it was back then. Never would have guessed 4 water jugs worth even with the longer barrel :shock:

 

[eric conrad]

David, the milk jugs got my attention. My father worked for Crowley right after WW11 :lol:
Eric

 

[David LaPell]

Ok, today I took out my .22 Colt Woodsman pistol and four milk jugs filled with water. I never really intended to make the .25 ACP into something that it is not. What I wanted to do was compare it to a .22 lr pistol, which I have heard so many say is superior to the .25 ACP. The .22 passed through two of the jugs and stopped halfway into the third. The round I used was a 36 grain Remington Golden Bullet HP. While some might say that a hotter .22 would offer greater penetration, again I was only using the standard 50 grain FMJ .25 as well. Here is the revovered .22 slug, note that it mushroomed nicely.

 

[dougader]

Well, to be fair, the .22 hollowpoint (fully mushroomed) isn't going to penetrate as much as a round nose bullet either. Try shooting a 40 grain round nose .22 through the jugs and see what happens.

I have some old brass hollowpoints in 25 auto and a couple weeks ago I fired one into water jugs and it stopped inside the 3rd gallon jug too.

 

[Anonymous]

When barrels of equal length are used, the results are not all that much different.

I have chronographed the .25 Auto and the 22 Rimfire to see which would be the most effective and here is what I got.

.25 Auto with a 2-3/8" bbl...810 fps on average

.22 Long rifle (WW Wildcats) with a 2-3/4" bbl....840 fps on average

.22 Short (remington HV) with a 2-3/8" barrel .... 825 fps.

Now the .40 grain .22 bullet is just marginally better in terms of sectional density and the .25 is marginally better in terms of cross sectional area, so my conclusion is that it is essentially a toss-up when the guns are of equal barrel lengrth.

In my opinion, either one is a little better than fighting it out with your hands......but not by much. 8)

 

[Hammer]

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Didn't the first James Bond start out with a 25 ACP before graduating to a 32 ACP ?

.

 

[Snake45]

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Didn't the first James Bond start out with a 25 ACP before graduating to a 32 ACP ?

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In the books, yes. I don't think he ever had the .25 Beretta in the movies, but it's been a long time since I saw Dr. No.

 

[David LaPell]

The only time you see the Beretta .25 is when Bond is in M's office at the beginning of Dr. No and he is forced to turn in the Beretta in favor of the Walther. On a side note, the reason Ian Fleming changed Bond's weapon from a Beretta to a Walther is that a man named Geoffrey Boothroyd wrote Fleming and suggested that Bond should have the Walther over the Beretta. Fleming named the armorer in the film and book of Dr No as Major boothroyd.
There is also one scene where Bond does not have the Walther either, it was because they could not get a Brausch suppressor that fit the Walther so in that one scene Bond is carrying a FN 1910.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Nice Second Model Woodsman, by the way! Looks like it has been carried some, too. Hard to find nowadays.

 

[Snake45]

The only time you see the Beretta .25 is when Bond is in M's office at the beginning of Dr. No and he is forced to turn in the Beretta in favor of the Walther.

Now that you mention it, I do remember that scene. :wink: