Least usefull caliber.

Status
Not open for further replies.
5.7x28

Now there is a truly useless cartridge. The guns are just as big and bulky as guns of superior cartridges, and it is another rimfire performance at centerfire prices. And I don't have anything that chambers it nor will I spend the exorbitant amount to get it.
 
10mm is what I would call a very usefull round, a round that I wish was more popular, a round that I think is awesome, and a round that I don't own any guns that will fire it.

Nor do I plan on buying any because it's a hard to find caliber, and its a longish auto caliber which is slightly incompatable with my small, girly hands.

Still supprised no one has mentioned .50 AE....
 
I disagree with the .25 assesment. I love my little Colt even though I dont shoot it much. And I have yet to see the guy who wants to stand in front of one.
.22short has a good market in poachers who like to shoot stuff without people hearing it.
 
I don't want to stand in front of a bucket of cat urine getting thrown at me either. Doesn't mean I will depend on it to save my life. On the other hand, faced with a situation where I was allowed to dress however I wanted, and I had to pick a bullet to get hit with, it absolutely WOULD be a .25 acp.

And for the guy who said it is useful because he once deterred a crime with it, if you deterred the crime without firing a shot, then how did the cartridge have anything at all to do with it? It would have been the same result with a .50 AE or a replica airsoft gun for that matter.
 
Not the best, but I would not want to be shot by one

I don't carry a .25, personally never saw the benefit when larger calibres come in the same size firearm. Having said that, I worked a suicide several years back where the deceased used a .25 Baby Browning. The round passed completely through his head, the side of the high backed chair he was sitting in, and lodged in the wall next to it. While it would be far from the best choice for defense - it will kill a person.
 
Need to go:
.25- these days you can find a .32 nearly as small or a .22 thats just as small and both will do far more damage to an attacker.
6mm-.223
ALL super short magnums
4.6x30.. I would include the 5.7 but i *guess* it can feed from double-stacked magazines unlike the .22 WMR and does have some niche uses, though i strongly disagree with the general idea of it.
10 gauge, because 3.5" 12's can do just as much
.22 Long

-1 on .357 Sig, no 9mm load can equal its velocities, at least not without quickly tearing up the gun which wasn't built to handle it. Also a great platform for carbines.
 
no 9mm load can equal its velocities, at least not without quickly tearing up the gun which wasn't built to handle it.
Click to expand...

Actually, the .357 SIG IS the same platform as the 9mm and the .40 (such as the SIGARMS 229). So a gun that can handle the .357 SIG will also handle the 127grn +P+ 9mm. The velocities, tested by chronograph are so close as make any difference meaningless.
However, if a .35 caliber bullet at a certain velocity from one shell casing is useful, how can identical ballistics from a different shell casing be useless? Redundant, yes. Useless, no, unless both are useless.
 
I don't carry a .25, personally never saw the benefit when larger calibres come in the same size firearm. Having said that, I worked a suicide several years back where the deceased used a .25 Baby Browning. The round passed completely through his head, the side of the high backed chair he was sitting in, and lodged in the wall next to it. While it would be far from the best choice for defense - it will kill a person.
Click to expand...

That's the thing though. It will kill a person, but it won't stop a person. A .25 will not stop an attacker from attacking you with a center of mass shot. A head shot might stop them. Maybe. I'm not saying that the bullets aren't deadly. But even the best COM shots aren't going to stop the attacker. I can guarantee you that personally.
 
I don't think this is a meaningful question - useful for what? If you want to plink or teach kids to shoot .22 is fine. For target shooting any size bullet is OK.

For personal defence its pretty well what you fancy - lots of people have been killed by the "minor" calibers of .25 & .32. For "put down" power the traditional .45 is great, as is the 10mm - and also the 9mm. For PD I carry 9mm hydro-shock loads which would definitely spoil a BG's day.
 
A .25 will not stop an attacker from attacking you with a center of mass shot.
Click to expand...

Actually, that will depend on large part on the mental attitude of the attacker. I know of cases where the .25 acp caused one shot immediate stops. What I would agree with is that the .25 should not be counted on to produce a one shot stop with a COM hit (or even with 2, 3, or 4 COM hits).
 
None. Just because I don't shoot it doesn't make it useless or worthless.
One mans meat...etc.
 
Daisy Red Rider BB gun
Click to expand...

Surely you jest! A few years of carrying one everywhere and plinking with thousands of BBs is wonderful training on a minimal budget. Then when you are 11 or 12, you get a .22!

I would vote for .25, but I know a nice Detroit lady who believes in them. She put three rounds, COM, in a home invader, and he had to go to the hospital. Under his own power, but he still had to go.
 
You guys are rough, I really love my Browning .25. It makes an excellent backup for the Browning HP in .40, and you can conceal one anywhere.
 
The 25 ACP is pretty useless, although it does have an edge in reliability over the 22 LR. Tiny handguns sometimes don't fire rimfire ammo reliably. Since neither round is suitable for defense, the question is somewhat moot.

Now if you want a truly pointless round, consider the 9mm Federal. This was a 9mm Luger Rimmed that Charter Arms made a few revolvers for. The ballistics were about at the 38 Special +p level, which can hardly be called useless. What made the round pointless was that the exact same revolver was already available in the more powerful, more versatile and FAR more popular 357 Magnum. So why would anyone buy a 9mm Federal? No one did and the cartridge is now a collector's item.
 
Well, if you're also considering obsolete calibers, .225 Winchester. Released the same year as the .223 and 5.56, this rimmed cartridge was very slightly more powerful than .223, but being rimmed was generally unsuited to increasingly popular autoloading rifles. Winchester stopped producing rifles in it a few years later, and no longer makes ammunition, either. Only way to get ammo is through a few custom shops at $1.50 a round, or old surplus. The .225 was functionally obsolete (due to the rim) and redundant from the moment it was released. Totally useless then, and even more so today.

Then there's .22 Long and .22 Short, both effectively obsolete.

For common calibers available today, there's just way too many .30 caliber rifle rounds out there that are just too much alike. They're not useless, but redundant.

Revolvers chambered in .38. Not .357, just .38. There's just no point these days, as the .357's are heavier built can take the recoil better.
 
For me it would be a toss up between .25 and 45 GAP. I am no fan of the .380 though, 9mm is half the price and more effective.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

mesinge2
  • Locked
Least useful modern caliber?
2 3 4 5 6
Replies
136
Views
8K
Manco
M
C
  • Locked
Caliber Commonality...Maybe not the best idea
2
Replies
28
Views
2K
joecil
J
A
  • Locked
Will any new Rifle or Pistol cartridge/caliber become common?
2 3 4
Replies
85
Views
7K
45_auto
4
D
  • Locked
Thinking of adding other calibers to the corral due to (gasp) panic buying.
2 3 4
Replies
81
Views
3K
American_Fusilier
American_Fusilier
B
  • Locked
Good day at the Range
Replies
1
Views
406
bja5006
B
Back
Top