Hornady Critical Defense 25 ACP FTX – Practical Deep Carry Load

Description

The Hornady Critical Defense 25 ACP FTX is a load for a very specific situation: a pistol so small that nothing larger will fit where it needs to go. At about 63 ft-lbs there is no margin for a bullet that fails to open, which is the whole argument for putting a properly engineered projectile in a cartridge this modest.

• Hornady Critical Defense 25 ACP FTX Overview
• 25 ACP Defense Ammo Ballistics
• Why The 35 Grain FTX Bullet Is Worth It Here
• Specifications
• Pistols That Suit This Deep Concealment Pistol Load

Hornady Critical Defense 25 ACP FTX Overview

Hornady item 90014 loads a 35 grain FTX bullet to a nominal 900 fps, producing roughly 63 ft-lbs at the muzzle. Twenty five rounds per box.

Hornady publishes the curve from a two inch test barrel: 900 fps and 63 ft-lbs at the muzzle, 805 fps and 50 ft-lbs at fifty yards, and 728 fps and 41 ft-lbs at a hundred. Two inches is the right test barrel, because that is roughly what a 25 ACP pistol has.

The 25 ACP dates to 1905 and John Browning, designed around the smallest practical semi-automatic pocket pistol. It is a centrefire cartridge in a rimfire size, which made it far more reliable than a 22 in the tiny blowback actions of the day.

The honest case for the cartridge has not changed in a century. A pistol you have with you beats one you left at home, and for some people, in some clothing, a 25 is the only thing that will go along.

25 ACP Defense Ammo Ballistics

At 900 fps a 35 grain bullet produces about 63 ft-lbs, from grains times velocity squared divided by 450437. There is no way to dress that figure up. It is a fraction of what any service cartridge generates and about half what a 32 ACP manages.

What the cartridge offers is size. A Beretta 950 or a Baby Browning is genuinely pocket sized in a way even a 32 is not, and it can be carried in circumstances where nothing else can.

Because the energy budget is so small, bullet behaviour is proportionally more important than in any other calibre. Every foot pound that goes into opening the bullet is one not available for penetration, and the balance has to be right.

Hornady loads low flash propellant, which matters here as much as anywhere. A pocket pistol is most likely to be used at very close range in poor light, and a fireball that costs several seconds of vision is a genuine problem for a 25 ACP defense ammo user.

Why The 35 Grain FTX Bullet Is Worth It Here

The FTX bullet answers the oldest failure mode in hollow points. Fired through heavy clothing, a conventional cavity packs full of fabric and the bullet then behaves like ball ammunition, passing straight through without opening.

Hornady fills that cavity with a soft polymer Flex Tip. There is nothing for fabric to pack into, and on impact the tip is driven rearward into the bullet, pushing the jacket open from the inside out rather than relying on fluid entering the nose.

In a 25 ACP that mechanism has to work within a very tight budget. Hornady tunes the 35 grain FTX bullet for modest, controlled expansion, because a projectile with 63 ft-lbs behind it that opens wide will stop long before it reaches anything that matters.

There is a second practical benefit that applies to every small pistol. A polymer tipped bullet has a smoother nose profile than an exposed hollow point, which helps it feed through the small unforgiving blowback actions these cartridges live in.

Nickel plated cases complete the design. Months of pocket carry, body heat and handling are hard on bare brass, and nickel resists that corrosion while feeding a little more smoothly through a small action.

For the smallest calibre carry ammunition on the shelf, a bullet that opens every time is about the only lever bullet design has left to pull.

Specifications

Pistols That Suit This Deep Concealment Pistol Load

Any pistol chambered in 25 ACP in sound working order will fire this load. That covers the Beretta 950 Jetfire and 21A, the Browning Baby, the Colt Vest Pocket, the Bauer and the many small European pistols built for the cartridge.

A great many 25 ACP pistols are genuinely old. A century old blowback action deserves a look from a gunsmith before it is carried, regardless of what you plan to feed it.

Feeding is worth confirming by hand. Some of these pistols were built around round nose ball ammunition and tolerate nothing else, though the polymer tip profile on this load gives it a better chance than an exposed hollow point.

If your pistol is a modern production gun, this is the sensible thing to keep in it. If it is a genuine antique, ball ammunition may be kinder to the gun, and a deep concealment pistol load is only useful if the pistol runs.

Smallest Calibre Carry Ammunition Availability

This Hornady Critical Defense 25 ACP FTX is in stock and ships from our Collegeville, Pennsylvania shop. MAG5 Firearms is a family owned FFL dealer, and orders of this smallest calibre carry ammunition normally leave within one business day.

If your pocket will take a slightly larger pistol, the Hornady Critical Defense 32 ACP FTX roughly doubles the energy. Further up, the Hornady Critical Defense 9mm Lite and the Hornady Critical Defense 38 Special Lite stay easy to shoot while offering far more. Full ballistics are published by Hornady.