25 ACP vs. 22LR

[mulle46]

In choosing a CCW for my wife(if she was interested), I would go with whatever gun she felt comfortable carrying ALL the time, but I would lean more towards the .25 or maybe the .32. If it was to be a gun that I could also carry off-duty, it would have to be a .380 or bigger caliber, with 5 shot minimum by my dept guidelines.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Superhouse 15]

The obvious choice is the Tomcat in .32. My wife owns one and loves it. I live with the fact that at least she'll carry the .32 when she doesn't feel like putting on the Glock. Better a .32 on than a 9mm in the car. The .22 Bobcat makes a great training pistol for the Tomcat, I made her an acrylic front sight to match the XS sight on her Tomcat and now the only difference is the recoil and the width of the trigger. Loading, reloading, and manipulating is exactly the same and much cheaper. I keep a .25 Bobcat in my car for those across the car problems where I might not be able to reach my (lefty carried) sidearm. I use Winchester XP in it, but I think there's not a lot of reliability difference with modern .22s and .25s, although neither has enough power.

[crstrode]

All over the "Interweb" you will find folks regurgitating the myth that a 22LR is equal or greater than the 25ACP in terms of muzzle energy.

What a lot of hooey!

This is most likely due to fact that most 22LR ballistics data is based upon much much longer barrels than found in pocket pistols. North American Arms has some good actual performance data on the 22LR from a short barrel. Here is the link: North American Arms Ballistics

The fact is that the 25 ACP packs 25% more poop merely because the standard 50 grain bullet is 25% larger than the typical 40 grain 22LR bullet. Both cartridges leave the end of the same length barrel at about the same velocity. Typically the 22LR is actually lower than the typical 25ACP.

Comparing a 50 grain 25ACP bullet to a 40 grain 22LR bullet at 750 fps muzzle velocity shows 62.4 vs 49.9 foot pounds.

(Mass in grains times Velocity in feet per second squared divided by 450400 = foot pounds energy)

[zakkdafatman]

ill take a .22 lr over anything smaller than a 9 including .380

[Eagleks]

at least get her into a .32 cal ..... no more kick than a .25 cal. but a better round than either the .25 or .22.