Least usefull caliber.

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.25 is least useful (not counting funky proprietary stuff).

If you're going for small get the .22. Rounds are cheaper and .22 is respectable for it's size in that even the most elitist gun nuts will have a .22 or four for cheap fun shooting.

If you're looking for something larger then a .22 get a .380. At least the bullet diameter is in the mid caliber range...even if there isn't as much powder behind it. .380 pistols aren't much bigger than .25's and the ammo is pretty much the same price.
 
Ref: .32 S&W. A couple of companies make conversion cylinders that will allow this cartridge to be used in .31 caliber percussion revolvers such as the 1849 Colt Pocket model. Some are used in Cowboy Action Shooting side matches.

I also disagree on the .17 HMR. My wife and I both have rifles in this caliber. It is death on wheels for the ground squirrels that infest our rural property.

To stay on topic, I vote the .25 ACP as least useful caliber.
 
I would have voted for the .25ACP, except that I once used one to successfully fend off an attacker. (No shots fired)

That was a damned useful caliber. Anything larger, I likely would not have been carrying at the time.

EDIT: I don't see anyone lining up to let themselves be shot with a .25; it has poor terminal ballistics, yes, but it's no toy.
 
I'll have to cast my vote for the .45GAP. Maybe not "least useful" but certainly cutting close to "unneeded".
 
I would have voted for the .25ACP, except that I once used one to successfully fend off an attacker. (No shots fired)

That was a damned useful caliber. Anything larger, I likely would not have been carrying at the time.

EDIT: I don't see anyone lining up to let themselves be shot with a .25; it has poor terminal ballistics, yes, but it's no toy.
Click to expand...

I agree that it is not a toy, but like I said, even with the best COM shot you can get, it's still going to take at least 30 seconds for your attacker to drop. That's plenty of time to gut you, shoot you, or whatever else. I don't know how it would perform with a head-shot (although I've heard countless stories of .25s failing to penetrate human skulls), but I can guarantee that a perfect COM shot will not drop an attacker very quickly.
 
I vote for .25acp, BUT, I can say I have yet to see anyone shoot a 17-223 since I saw my first and only one about 30 years ago.
 
EXPvideo said it right about the almost useless .25acp. I can tell you I have heard stories about it not penetrating a bikers leather jacket who was attacking the shooter. At least it didn't penetrate the bikers skin after lodging in the leather of his motorcycle jacket.
 
Another vote for .25 ACP. I bought a little Beretta 21 from a cop, just because it was cheap and an addition to my collection. As we were filling out the transfer paperwork at his kitchen table, he tells me a story about how he had his one and only ND with the pistol. He said he had it in his pocket as a BUG, and carried it cocked and locked. He was in his garage, and went to unload it after a long day on the streets of Atlantic City. He dropped the mag and, without racking the slide or tipping up the barrel to remove the one in the tube, dropped the safety and pulled the trigger. The pistol fired (of course) ricocheted off the gas tank on his Harley, and grazed his forehead!

He never took it out of his safe again until the day he sold it to me. Well-made little pistol, but completely useless IMO.
 
With some reservation, I'd vote for the .25ACP, especially if we interpreted useless as unneeded.
I always told my mom that if she shot someone with that .25 she'd only piss them off. Sometime later mother put 6 .25ACP's in a mugger and he lived, though he bled a lot, and used a bunch of public dollars for medical and rehab etc.(Before you jump me about letting her carry that : A .38Spl loaded with +P HP's was within reach and she choose the little Beretta because she feared the recoil...)

HOWEVER, she ended the assualt with that caliber. That's pretty useful.

Maybe it never needed inventing.
 
For awhile, I was looking into getting a PS90 because of its bullpup design but the more I read about the 5.7 round, the less I liked. I ended up ordering a 5.56 Noveske.
 
I bout this box of 6mm WWB for my p99. none fit. they were really useless until i turned them all upside down :)
 
For me its the .40 S&W. I just don't really see the need for it when you can use a 10mm auto and have a superior service round. If 10mm is too much, then a 9mm or a 45acp should suffice.
 
I use to feel that way about the .25, but since then, I was given a case of ammo. Since I had the ammo, I bought a gun, a Beretta Jetfire for $125. I had a similar .22 a long time ago and it left a lot to be desired. I expected the same type of performance from the .25. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. It was more reliable, had a greater magazine capacity and was more accurate than the equivalent .22.
While it may be "rimfire performance at centerfire prices", it is easy to carry and would be a good gun to keep the bad guys head down with while you change position to get a good shot on him with a real caliber.
Even though I am no fan of .45 Gap or even .40 S&W, if that was what I had when I needed one, I wouldn't feel undergunned, so I can't say they are useless. Redundant and unnecessary, (kind of like Chrysler automobiles) perhaps, but not useless.
 
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Nobody has ever used .25 to do anything legal or good.
Click to expand...
Now there is an interesting statement, nonsense, but interesting. Considering the plethora of pistols which have been designed around this round since it's introduction a little over a century ago, a whole lot of people found the cartridge useful.
I myself use the .25acp all the time for legal and good reasons. I'd be hard-pressed to shoot the many .25 pocket pistols I've aquired if I didn't have cartridges for them. They are all legal, they are all good, they are all fun. Heck, for indoor fun I even load .25 pellets into .25acp shells with primer-only...just for giggles; sort of a ".25 Colibri". A Beretta 950B's (Jetfire) tip-up barrel makes that easy. That's one of my favorite .25acp pistols also....9 shots and reliable functioning.
THERE ARE NO USELESS CALIBERS.....Only cartridges which are useful to some more than others.
As for: "Maybe it never needed inventing"? Gee, John Browning wasn't very smart, was he? :)
And besides, .25acp is not a caliber, it's a cartridge. ;)
 
If you consider obsolete ammunition, then the most useless round would be the 9mm Glisenti.
I would say the most useless old round in production would be the .22 short.
The most useless modern round would be the FN five seven.
 
I suppose the least useful cartridge is the one that I don't have a firearm to shoot it out of. That would be pretty useless.
 
Least usefull caliber ***25 cal ***

The .25 I onced rolled to a GSV, hit in the forehead,, lots of blood, but the bullet didnt do anything other than piss him off. At least the 9mm would have ruined his day,,:what:
 
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