FPH: sounds like the 'gang taskforce' members you spoke to need a bit of 'muzzle in your face or pressed against your belly' experience before they badmouth a cartridge. I remember one Peoria cop blowing the top of his hand apart showing us how puny the 25 acp round was; when you have pieces of bone and tissue hanging out of the exit wound and a quarter inch hole blasted on through the palm you get the idea very quickly that none of those 'puny and willonly pizz ya off' rounds are absolutely nothing to fool with. I just love these tough guys who have never been into it before or who have only been on the pheriphery with their nonsense about only one specific caliber or bullet weight being the 'end all to be all' gunfight stoppers.
Stands to reason that if you're going to carry a gun you absolutely must know and deal with its limitations, and practice enough to make it useful. As I have mentioned on more than one occasion, there is little practical utility or knowledge to be gained from testing a soft tissue caliber against a hard target. No personal defense handgun cartridge I know of, except the 357 magnum armor piercing conical bullet last seen in the early to mid 70s, is a hard target caliber/bullet; everything else is a soft tissue defensive or military/police (which means soft target as in humans and animals) round.
The 357 Sig - oh yeah, I'm sure Sig capitalized on the 357 magnums 125 gn hp one shot manstopper to market thier 357 Sig round, which is on the same level as the 9x23 Winchester or custom loaded 38 Supers, but that does not mean it is ineffective or worthless, and I seriously doubt there is anyone on this forum would would be willing to paste a target to their chest and test the caliber.
22s and 25s are smaller calibers designed for personal defense in the days when emergency medical care was not available. While it is true that some could withstand the impact of one of those smaller slugs yet continue with a assault, history (european) records that most were wounded and turned away to suffer the ravages of their wounds. It was also said that in those instances in which the presence of the handgun failed to halt a assailant, that a 'well placed round' often had the necessary effect, but that where one did not work it was not uncommon to use the entire content of the pistol. The 32s and 380s were initially designed as police calibers and were used extensively in europe, during and between both world wars and continue in use today.
I don't understand what it is with people any longer. They don't pack 45 colts anymore and don't create a bang/flop scenario with a flat nosed 255 gn slug. They lack the experience (I suppose we should be grateful for something..) of using a effective handgun in a combat or personally defensive situation but yet expect the one shot bad guy bang flop of the older cartridges they saw on the cowboy movies. Most need to practice more with their carry pieces than the guy mcwoodduck referred to as carrying his glock in his bib pocket and everyone should go buy a couple of pounds of hamburger, or a fresh chicken or turkey and see what their chosen cailber does to a real chunk of meat and bone. You might be very surprised to see what your 'puny' 22lr or 25acp does to a 5 or 6 lb chicken at the same distances you would use it in a defensive shooting - near point blank. Ya oughta try it sometime.........