Least usefull caliber.

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I'd agree, .410 is useless. It may have originally been developed as a lightweight shotgun, but technology has rendered that need obsolete. Today's full-size shotguns are lighter and more powerful. and the bore size of the .410 dramatically limits the number of pellets it can carry. It's just not an effective shotgun. These days, if you want a light shotgun, you should get a 20 gauge. It's reasonably powerful, still respectable, but with less recoil than a full 12. Some modern semi-automatic 12's have all but eliminated the recoil, as well, further rendering smaller shotguns obsolete.
 
I was gonna say either the 9mm winchester mag or the 9mm federal but they aren't so much useless as obsolete Another for the .25acp
 
In reference to OP: 9mm is great. I don't know how you even dignified that statement with your analysis.

For whatever you pay for a gun in .25 you can buy more ammo for a better weapon or perhaps a better weapon in general.
 
Those worthless .25 cal handguns were extremely popular in Europe in the 30s~40s. A number of those guns are now worth more money than your M16's, Kimber, and a lot of others.
 
9mm is not so useless. Why did Luger ugrade the pistol to 9mm when the army thought the original round was so underpowered? Why do the Navy Seals use the Sig 226 and MP5? Why is 9mm THE MOST popular round for pistol and submachine gun? There is a reason, and people would not use it if it was useless.

+1 for the .25, so ridiculous. I'd have to say it's better than nothing, but why wouldn't one use .22 Stingers?
 
why wouldnt one use 22 stingers?

because they blow up on bone and dont penetrate enough to reach vital organs.

i used to think stingers were the ultimate in 22lr till i shot a vehicle struck doe in the head with a whole magazine of them(10) and she didnt die.

a single .32 s&w long 98gr rnl ended her suffering,i shoulda used that in the first place.

if i use a 22lr for defense(very unlikely but possible i suppose)i will load it with the fastest solid bullet and place my shots well.
 
The .410 is neither obsolete nor useless.

It is a joy to shoot at small game, birds and clay targets.

.410 bore is my favorite for skeet and five stand.

I've not found shooting a .410 shotgun to be a
disappointing experience.

SS
 
410 makes a good hd shotgun for thr recoil sensitive.

in summer load with 3" #4birdshot in winter load with selier&belot 5pellet oo buck 3" rounds. cheaper than dirt carrys those. the 4s can be had from walmart.

mossberg makes the model 500hd in 410 go with the full stock.
 
The worst caliber can be right between the ears.
Someone mentioned the .30 caliber carbine. Awesome home defence round pure and simple.

Another previous poster said something about the 410 shotgun. That single shot helped alot of kids how to shoot . Darn good squirrel gun if you ask me.
I agree about the .25 caliber pistol but the thing was designed to fit in you pocket anyways, probably worse than any bug. OMHO if you got one laying around and not a collector's piece sell it off. the O-run still makes it a seller's market. :)
 
They all have a place, the 25 acp is at the bottom of my to buy guns, but i would use one if thats all i had, but a good sharp knife would be better! Csa
 
Another previous poster said something about the 410 shotgun. That single shot helped alot of kids how to shoot . Darn good squirrel gun if you ask me.
Click to expand...

I'm sure .25ACP would be an awesome squirrel killer as well.

I don't hate .410 or anything, but I just don't see its utility.
I don't think it does anything better than any other gauge or caliber.
What is the .410 best at? What was it designed for?

Home Defense? Are you guys on crack?!?
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot41_4.htm
It's a Judge, which is different than an actual shotgun... but still.
.410 sounds like a terrible idea for home defense.
 
I don't have much use for the .25 ACP myself.
However, let me relate an account that happened to a friend from da hood. He and his family were sitting in the living room one night watching the idiot box when their front door gets kicked in by a junkie looking for loot. My friend kept a Raven .25ACP in the coffee table drawer. Junkie gets to the living room and my friend fires one shot. FMJ round hits junkie in sternum, penetrates sternum and junkie's heart. Junkie falls in his tracks DRT. Friend was cleared as shooting was in self defense.
Not a round I'd care to use, but, it worked when it had to for him.
Click to expand...

On the other hand, I've personally been shot with a .25acp round in the chest (accidental discharge, friend accidentally shot me). It went through the right ventricle of my heart. I was walking around for somewhere between 30 seconds and 1 minute before I passed out. I will never trust my life to a .25acp. It got the best possible COM hit it ever could get on me, and I would have still had enough time and energy to kill everyone in the room if I was a BG. So yes, from my personal experience, .25acp is worthless.

I'm not going to talk about this event any more than I already have. It was an accident, he's still my friend (mostly because he gave me CPR and kept me alive until the ambulance arrived), I've recovered completely, and I was close to the northwest's #1 trauma center. That's all I want to say about it.
 
Uselessness depands on the use of it, a 22-250 would be useless for elk or grizziles but great for groundhogs and paire dogs.
A 45-70 would be useless pairie dogs.
Half the rounds out there do something another rounds was designed to do for some reason or another. The 45 gap was designed to make a 45 acp in Glock handle, or something like that. The 45-75 was designed to make a 45-70 fit in the 1876 Winchester.
As far as self defence goes: the 25 acp is one of the worst,
 
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On the other hand, I've personally been shot with a .25acp round in the chest (accidental discharge, friend accidentally shot me). It went through the right ventricle of my heart. I was walking around for somewhere between 30 seconds and 1 minute before I passed out. I will never trust my life to a .25acp. It got the best possible COM hit it ever could get on me, and I would have still had enough time and energy to kill everyone in the room if I was a BG. So yes, from my personal experience, .25acp is worthless.
Click to expand...

expvideo,

I agree 100%. I'm certainly glad you survived with no long term injuries. It's not everyday you meet someone who took a round, any round, to the heart and is still alive to talk about it.
 
.410 is a pretty good shotgun for snakes and such. They are especially good for youngsters just starting out hunting.

My vote would be the 16 guage. They used to be really popular until the 20 guage magnum came along. That stretched the versality of the 20 guage to overshadow and kill the demand for the 16.
 
I learned on a 410 single shot from my Dad's old farm, and was quite proficient as a 12 year old shooting clay singles. A decade later not having fired a shotgun since I went out skeet shooting with my older brother and his friend, and outshot them both (with both of them having >2k in their fancy over/unders and a lot more shooting practice than me).

That same 410 single shot is also a gun that my mom can handle whenever the dachshunds get ahold of a copperhead.

But yeah, I'd agree with 25ACP, 45GAP, 357SIG, any flavor of the week short/super short magnum. What the heck is wrong with a good long action cartridge, let alone a standard short action?
 
I object to the derragatory statements regarding my beloved .22 long. This round is literally a 22 long rifle with a slug from a 22 short. That is a very useful round. Most people would say that you should just shoot 22 shorts if you want a lower powered round. Well I say the 22 long is superior for that purpose if you own a gun chambered for 22 long rifle.

The reason? Its because the 22 short in a 22 long rifle chamber is notorious for leaving a "dirt ring" in the chamber that makes it difficult to chamber and extract long rifle rounds. In extreme situations, you can even erode a groove in the chamber that makes extraction of 22 long rifle VERY annoying.

Use 22 longs in place of 22 shorts. Problem solved.
 
Hi Mike the Wolf,

There are a number of rabbits, doves and pheasants that have fallen to my SAIGA that would argue that 410 used by a skilled operator is just as deadly as your more 'useful' shotguns. The SAIGA 410 also has the advantage of having much less recoil than the 20 or 12 gauge.
 
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