When it comes to mainstream concealed carry, pistols chambering the 22 Long Rifle and the 25 ACP cartridges are at the bottom of the list. Although all handgun cartridges are considered underpowered compared to rifle rounds, relatively speaking, the 22 and 25 are as light an option as you can get.

Both throw a light-weight bullet at low velocity, yet both have a storied history of success and failure when employed for personal defense. Although modern pocket pistols tend to center around single-stack polymer framed handguns chambered in 380 ACP, a comparable 22 or 25 can be even smaller and perhaps easier to wield. Let’s say you are in a position to make the choice, which would you choose? The 22 Long Rifle or the 25 ACP?

It sounds like a simple choice. If you look at the velocity numbers and bullet weights on ammo boxes, it looks like the 22 LR is far superior. Well. Not exactly. Let’s delve into the history and comparative ballistics of each round to get to the bottom of this.

22 LR vs 25 ACP: A History

The 22 Long Rifle

The 22 Long Rifle cartridge was introduced in 1887 as black powder rimfire rifle cartridge intended for small game hunting and pest control—one with a power premium over the 22 Short and 22 Long cartridges that came before. In short order, the Long Rifle cartridge was soon adapted for revolvers like those other rounds.

The 22 LR survived the jump to smokeless powder but had difficulty in the transition from revolvers to semi-auto pistols—particularly in pocket pistols. The 22 LR used a heeled bullet, one whose diameter matched the outside of the case. The bullet is also lubricated with grease or wax that picked up debris and could cause feeding issues.

The priming compound of the cartridge is spun into the case head and settles into the rim of the case. When struck by the firing pin, the rim of the case is crushed, setting off the priming and the round. The problem is that the compound itself is delicate and not always evenly distributed. It was not uncommon to get dud rounds. The 22 Short cartridge shared these problems but made it into pocket autoloaders thanks to its shorter overall length. The 22 LR had all these problems and its extra length (1.0 inch vs. .695 for the 22 Short) did not make it conducive to existing designs.

The popularity of the 22 LR in handguns shifted in the 1980s as the 25 ACP waned. New handguns like the Beretta 21A Bobcat were introduced, built from the ground up around the 22 LR. New ammunition like the CCI Mini Mag and CCI Stinger also made it to the market, improving the 22 LR’s ballistic performance and overall priming reliability.

Where to Find 22 LR Ammo For Sale

• Gun.Deals ($$$ compare)
• Primary Arms
• Optics Planet

 

 

The 25 ACP

John Browning created the 25 Automatic Colt Pistol cartridge in 1905 as a more powerful and more reliable substitute for the 22 Short and similar cartridges that were then popular for pocket carry. This cartridge was centerfire with a conventional small pistol primer and it used a slight rim (semi-rim) for easy feeding and extraction out of an autoloading pistol.

After the Second World War, the 25 ACP grew in popularity in the United States with names like Colt, Browning, Beretta, among others out to fill the niche dominated by small-framed snub-nosed revolvers. A pocket 25 ACP was lighter and could be had for less than the alternatives.

As crime rates soared during the rising expectations of the 1960s, the 25 became the target of legislators after easy solutions. The Gun Control Act of 1968 forced foreign manufacturers to subscribe to a point system so their firearms would meet an arbitrary sporting use clause. Likewise, excise taxes were imposed to make these small guns more expensive to buy. Colt could not afford to keep a 25 ACP on the market. Browning responded by licensing their design while Beretta resolved to setup manufacturing in the United States. Smaller concerns disappeared entirely.

In the vacuum, some new American concerns like Raven, Bryco, and Jennings, brought in 25 ACP pistols of their own. These pistols were produced as cheaply as possible, essentially nullifying the point of the GCA and marking anything in 25 ACP as unreliable junk.

Where to Find 25 ACP Ammo For Sale

• Gun.Deals ($$$ compare)
• Optics Planet
• GunMagWarehouse

 

 

22 LR vs. 25 ACP: The Finer Points

Availability

In terms of both handguns to buy and ammo to shoot, the 22 Long Rifle is the clear winner by a wide margin. The 22 LR is cheap to make and, given all the firearms produced for the round, the economy of scale dictates plentiful ammunition. Even in inflationary times, finding a box of one hundred rounds for under $10 is not too difficult.

There are countless rifles chambered in 22 LR destined to serve all your plinking and small-game hunting needs. Homing in on a handgun that is suitable for concealed carry, there are fewer, but still plentiful options. The Ruger SR 22 and Smith & Wesson M&P Compact are reliable options perfect for belt carry, while smaller pistols like the Beretta 21A and the Ruger LCP II occupy the pocket carry niche. Other pistols like the NAA Mini revolver and Smith & Wesson Airweights broaden the profile of pocket carry pistols.

25 ACP ammunition is still in production by virtue of so many old pistols produced that shoot that cartridge. There are several manufacturers that produce 25 ACP hollow-points and full metal jacket loads, but there is not nearly as much variation as the 22 Long Rifle. 25 ACP is also more expensive. A fifty-round box of 50 grain full-metal-jacket loads can cost $30 or more. Although 25 ACP cartridges are centerfire and use a true jacketed bullet, it is expensive, even by the standards of other centerfire rounds.

Finding 25 ACP ammo is not as hard as finding a new pistol in the wild. Seecamp, North American Arms, and Beretta catalogue pistols chambered for the quarter bore, but they are hard to track down in the wild. Older handguns are easier to find but will not always be in perfect working order or will be lacking by modern pistol standards. With most 25 ACP pistols you are apt to find, you are stuck with a shorter barreled pocket pistol with low profile sights and safeties that can be tricky to engage and disengage.

Ballistics

It has been said over the years that the 22 Long Rifle has a ballistic advantage over the 25 ACP and one would be better served with the former if a pocket pistol is in order. While there is some truth to this, the 25 ACP is usually the round with the edge.

Using advertised velocities, the 22 Long Rifle has a real power advantage. A box of CCI Stingers will read 1640 feet per second. Most high-velocity loads will yield about 1280 feet per second. Garden variety 25 ACP 50 grain full metal jacket loads from firms like Aquila and Remington clock in at a nominal 750 feet per second. But 22 LR readings are almost always from a rifle barrel while the 25 ACP is measured from a pocket pistol.

Bringing both rounds into guns of pocket pistol size with about two-inches of barrel bullet travel, the 22 LR loses much of its premium. Out of identical Beretta Bobcat handguns, the 22 LR CCI Mini Mag 40 grain solid gave me a five-shot average of 818 feet per second. I also clocked five rounds of Aquila 25 ACP 50 grain FMJ and got an average of 772 feet per second.  As it happens, if you pull a 50 grain full-metal-jacket bullet from a 25 ACP case and lay it next to a 22 LR 40 grain solid bullet, you will find that they have a very similar ballistic coefficient. In theory, they ought to give similar penetration if shot at the same velocity.

On paper, the 22 LR still has a very slight edge—one that can be expanded given that you have the option of choosing a pistol with a longer barrel. When you get away from punching paper, it can be made clear that there is plenty of overlap between both rounds. Lighter-grain hollow point ammunitions, such as the 22 Long Rifle 32 grain CCI Stinger and the 25 ACP Hornady Critical Defense and Speer Gold Dot 35 grain loads, consistently fail to expand in anything but hard object.

In Clear Ballistics 10% ordinance gel backed by four layers of denim, these loads tend to penetrate only seven to nine inches. With nonexpanding solid rounds, the picture gets better. In the same medium, CCI Mini Mag loads struggled to get to the ten inch mark while Aguila 25 ACP 50 grain target loads managed to sail to the twelve-inch mark. In other mediums, such as stacked 2x4s, the 25 ACP penetrated slightly deeper than the 22, despite the former’s higher velocity. Overall, the 22 LR has more potential out of more handguns, but the 25 ACP has an edge in short barrels.

Reliability

For years, the 22 Long Rifle was not readily adaptable to small autoloading pistols because of the design of the cartridge. The heeled bullet, long case, and the use of propellants designed for an optimal burn out of a rifle, play with the cycling of the action. The methods of rimfire ignition can result in a click when you need a bang. The large rim also requires the careful loading of the magazines so no rim can interlock with another, preventing feeding entirely.

Although today’s ammunition is more reliable than in previous years, feeding issues and dud rounds still occur. CCI Mini Mags, CCI Stingers, and Remington Yellow Jacket loads run like a top from my 22 caliber Beretta 21A, but I still get the occasional round that fails to fire out of one-hundred round boxes. Out of my S&W M&P Compact, I have yet to have a dud round with these ammunitions. Each pistol is its own animal, and the problem of dud rounds is less common with small-lot boxes than with bulk-pack offerings. Despite all the advances in 22 LR, the core issues have not changed.

I’ve owned quite a few 25 ACP handguns over the years from Astras to Seecamps and I never had a round fail to fire. Centerfire cartridges solved the problems of rimfire ignition and your cartridge cases are reloadable—if you dare to try with those little 25 cases. Like the 22, the 25 does have a rim, but it only pronounced enough for an extractor. Rim lock can still be a problem with these “semi-rimmed” cartridges, but given the small amount of working room in single-stack 25 ACP pistol magazines, the chances are remote.

The Bottom Line

If you were playing a game of darts at any stocked gun store, you could miss the board and probably stick a pocket pistol chambered in 380. There are just so many of them and they sell. For a few bills, you can have a pistol with moderate power that you can forget about if you sat on it your car. These guns are easy to carry, but not easy to shoot.

The 380 ACP may be less powerful than usual service rounds like the 9mm Luger, but out of a light-weight pistol without much to hold onto, the recoil can be prohibitive. This is not just a matter of comfort to shoot, but the amount of mental and physical energy you have to dedicate to bring the pistol back on target for each shot and keep the pistol firmly in hand at the same time. For those situations where a pocket pistol is desirable, one might be better served with a 22 or 25. Although I consider the 25 ACP to be the better round, both rounds have compelling merits and demerits for you to consider.

For more information on a classic 25 ACP pocket pistol, check out Mike Searson’s article on the Bauer Arms 25. 

For another perspective on the 25, check out Lucky Gunner.

Be sure to read our 4.6x30mm vs 5.7x18mm comparison!