Dear itsahoot,
One more variable, besides handgun size/caliber ...
Indoors or outdoors and ‘our’ ears vs. ‘their’s ears.
( I guess that is ‘two’ more items.)
Yep a silly 25 produces more than enough noise for my ears, outside.
The biggest hand gun I own now is a 9 mm. Ammo is almost reasonable.
When I was a kid we were night hunting for rabbits driving along hedge rows after a snow and one of dad's friends discharged a 12 gauge in the car, shot right through the roof. Couldn't hear for a couple days. I guess I should have been glad that he wasn't using my uncles 8 gauge. :)
We were not hunting for sport, but for food, this was in the middle 40's.