380 Is A Handful

Brother in law had a nice tiny .380 he used to carry.

It was so much of a PITA to shoot he rarely practiced with it, and even then could not hit anything beyond about 10 feet.

A couple inches of sight radius on rudimentary sights is not all that conducive to hitting anything.

He was only fooling himself.

I have a Kahr P380 and find it easy to shoot and control with very manageable recoil and second shot capability. I have put ~1000 rounds through the gun with zero problems. The only issue I have had was with quality of the initial magazines which Kahr immediately replaced.

brickeyee said:

Brother in law had a nice tiny .380 he used to carry.

It was so much of a PITA to shoot he rarely practiced with it, and even then could not hit anything beyond about 10 feet.

A couple inches of sight radius on rudimentary sights is not all that conducive to hitting anything.

He was only fooling himself.

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It does take practice. When I first got my P3AT, it was grouping all over the paper at 10 yards. I put some bright white enamel paint of the front sight, and started squeezing the trigger instead of just quickly pulling it, and I can keep everything in an 8-inch bullseye now. Still not exactly target competition accuracy, but good enough for defensive use at 30 feet or less, which is its intended purpose.

380 does offer less recoil in an appropriately sized weapon like the Bersa 380. Expecting low recoil in the tiniest, lightest possible platform for the caliber seems a little naive. My Bersa 380 has very light recoil and follow up shots are ridiculously fast and easy. MY BG380 is a little tougher to shoot and has more recoil but its half the size too.

My Colt Mustang is very soft shooting, unlike an LCP I used to have.

Just got a Ruger LC380 in. I may have to keep it. It is looks like a LC9 except it's 380. I will ring it out and get back with you.

I really like the Sig P238 but you are talking twice the money.

I have the LCP 380 and if that thing hurts your hand you may want to give up shooting!!!

I am joking with ya but I honestly do not think it is bad at all. Maybe because I was expecting much worse from such a small gun. Like others have said smaller gun more felt recoil.

Sir, I mean no disrespect but my TCP 738 is very manageable. At 3-7yds I was very accurate w/mighty mouse. Very surprised since barely could see the front site. I'm not going to target shoot very often with it. It's a BUG

Also, you have it backwards regards to smaller the handgun equals less recoil. My G4G19, PPQ40, or XD40sc have a light recoil.

Another vote for the 232. It's about as tame as any .380 out there, but it doesn't come cheap.

I really like the 380TCP. We have two of them. My youngest daughter claimed my first one. Then my wife bought one and later a bersa 380CC so I may get one back. I did the break in on both and with 400 rounds thru each i have not had a single issue.

My main CC is a cm9 with 124gr +P ammo. . So 380's recoil is nothing special even in a small pacage. Anyone that has a TCP try shooting it one handed, For me its way easier to control. Accurate for a small pistol also . Best trigger pull of most any defence handgun too. Easy for me to shoot 3" 7 yard groups even with my bad eyes. The tcp C models we have also do not seem to have issues with any ammo we have tried, fmj or hp. I also added a piece of inner tube cut to cover as much grip as possible to aid control. I can not get two hands around that little gun. So one handed shooting.

I have highlighted the sites, Wifes SS model has a blacked out rear sight area and a yellow front sight.

BTW, speaking of Taurus my PT140 MilPro is very manageable. Have not shot my PT145 MilPro... bought it just last week. My (Beretta) Stoeger Cougar 8040FS, w/revolving barrel, is a dream to shoot.

If you can find one, try the Colt Government in .380. Very nice.
MR

Colt .380 Government

I have one and like it for the most part, but the sights on the modern pistols are much better.
Mine is an early one (1983) and it just has the old style low profile, low visibilty sights.
Also I had to take mine to a gunsmith to get the feedramp redone so it would feed flat nosed rounds, before that it would only feed ball ammo reliably.

I would only go with this if you can find one for like $500 or less.

I really wish someone would make a 9mm version but the same size. Sig almost does but it has the same grip length as their P238. I like the longer grip on the Government .380 because I can grip it with all the fingers.

If you think factory ammo is a handful in tiny 380, you should try with handloads that push a 90 gr Gold Dot bullet at 1100 fps from a Kel-Tec P3AT.

The cases eject so hard, that if they bounce off a wall at the range, they cut flesh.

Buffalo bore claims this same performance, but I don't know how they do it. I am tuned right up to the threshold of case bulge in that pistol.

I have the Kel-tec P3AT, the Ruger LCP, the Kahr P380, and some other larger 380s.
They all have their advantages.

Clark said:

If you think factory ammo is a handful in tiny 380, you should try with handloads that push a 90 gr Gold Dot bullet at 1100 fps from a Kel-Tec P3AT.

The cases eject so hard, that if they bounce off a wall at the range, they cut flesh.

Buffalo bore claims this same performance, but I don't know how they do it. I am tuned right up to the threshold of case bulge in that pistol.

I have the Kel-tec P3AT, the Ruger LCP, the Kahr P380, and some other larger 380s.
They all have their advantages.

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I always enjoyed your pushing the envelope when you posted at the KT board, but I came to the conclusion that pushing 380 JHP rounds to higher velocity had little benefit since the rounds expanded faster at the higher velocity and would probably have shallower penetration.

I did purchase a bunch of Buffalo Bore 380 but eventually decided that there was really little benefit and now only carry Winchester fmj/FP ammo in my pocket 380 pistols.

This is just my opinion and I realize others feel differently about which ammo to carry in their micro 380 pistols.

After reviewing as many 380 gel test as I could find it looks like the corbon dpx ammo is the best mix of expansion and penetrationion.

I have the Kel-tec P3AT, the Ruger LCP, the Kahr P380, and some other larger 380s.
They all have their advantages.

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I own all three of these also. Since I got the Kahr P380, the Kel Tec and Ruger are moving further and further back in the safe.

kokapelli said:

Based on what? Is it because the TCP is much more pocketable, or maybe because the TCP is much lighter, or because the TCP is a locked breach action that has less felt recoil? Just curious.

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Have you shot the Taurus TCP738? Light trigger pull, not uncomfortable recoil, locks back after last round... and very affordable.

Clark said:

If you think factory ammo is a handful in tiny 380, you should try with handloads that push a 90 gr Gold Dot bullet at 1100 fps from a Kel-Tec P3AT.

The cases eject so hard, that if they bounce off a wall at the range, they cut flesh.

Buffalo bore claims this same performance, but I don't know how they do it. I am tuned right up to the threshold of case bulge in that pistol.

I have the Kel-tec P3AT, the Ruger LCP, the Kahr P380, and some other larger 380s.
They all have their advantages.

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Curious, why three .380 caliber guns?

Soldiernurse said:

Have you shot the Taurus TCP738? Light trigger pull, not uncomfortable recoil, locks back after last round... and very affordable.

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Yes I have a TCP and it's my second favorite pocket postal after my P238.

brickeyee said:

Brother in law had a nice tiny .380 he used to carry.

It was so much of a PITA to shoot he rarely practiced with it, and even then could not hit anything beyond about 10 feet.

A couple inches of sight radius on rudimentary sights is not all that conducive to hitting anything.

He was only fooling himself.

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You are both fool'n yourself looking for .380 accuracy like a 1911 Target Gun.

kokapelli said:

Yes I have a TCP and it's my second favorite pocket postal after my P238.

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No bashing by me, just curious the specifics that make your P238 more favorable than TCP738?

Soldiernurse
Curious, why three .380 caliber guns?

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Each 380 has advantages.
I just got the Kahr 3 days ago and have not evaluated it very well, but I am guessing I will shorten it's ejector.

The Kel-Tec, Ruger, Bryco, Beretta, and Husqvarna I have overloaded with Bullseye and 115 gr JHP until the case failed or the barrel failed.

I try to measure the case support and predict what load will make the case fail.
I try to estimate the barrel strength from measuring the chamber wall thickness at the thinnest spot.
I try to estimate the hottest load before slide slam give the product of [moving slide mass] [average recoil spring force over travel distance][ slide travel distance].

I weigh the pistols with ammo.
I am always looking for the most powerful concealed carry that is the least inconvenient to carry.

My .380 Taurus makes my LC9 feel pretty nice, the latter being pleasant enough for plinking. The former is a bit snappier, but didn't cause any real problems for me. That being said, I'd rather spend the day with my .44 mag SBH, which is a real treat to shoot.

Like with snubby .38s, the mechanical accuracy is there, but it takes a lot of practice to be effective beyond belly gun ranges. My TCP was knocking down steel plates at 15 yards pretty regularly, but I had to be careful with trigger control, as I found myself moving that light little pistol with the trigger stroke. I think it's actually helping my technique with my larger guns, which are heavy enough to mask those errors.

Soldiernurse said:

You are both fool'n yourself looking for .380 accuracy like a 1911 Target Gun.

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Unless you can find a Browning Model 1971. Scary accurate, but NOT a pocket gun.