You said it yourself. You are choosing a firearm that is less powerful carries less ammunition, and is less effective in your hands than another you have access to. Ask yourself why you are doing this, because it doesn't make sense to me.
A .38 Special isn't less powerful than a .380 by any stretch, add +P and it competes with 9mm. Yes, a five shot does carry less ammo, but the ability to have many rounds has yet to prove itself out in one on one public situations. We draw a gun and millions of times a year the perp does exactly what bullies do, reassess their risk and stop their behavior. As we are not required to run toward the sound of gunshots, and our primary course of action is to protect ourselves and any loved ones, we do the best we can to avoid the confrontation in the first place. And carrying a more effective firearm isn't always a good thing, I'm not carrying my AR pistol with 30 round mags out into the mall or movie theater. It gets hard to juggle the popcorn and drink.
Let's look at another recent event - Colt reintroduced it's snubnose, calling it the Cobra. Now, for all the history Colt has making small automatics, they saw the market was better for sales with a .38 snub. Those have been made and sold for generations since the early 1900's, .25ACP even predates .38. the issue is that .38 Special is highly effective at its job and definitely delivers more downrange than .380. This is why people choose it, and the snub nose has been modified in design over the years to carry well.
In terms of design and configuration, a lugged barrel .38 with extractor rod housed in it's protected recess, a covered hammer, and it's shape alone, which isn't square or blocky but much more organic which tends to conceal it better, has become common. If the hammer is exposed many draw with their thumb over it to prevent snags and get the hammer back to SA more quickly. In comparison a pocket auto rarely has a flush fitting rear slide and has to be tapered considerably as it sticks out over the web of the hand. Add a hammer and it protrudes even more than the revolver. Then there is the issue of grip - a blocky auto with standard magazine feed cannot be altered much at all. Shape, width, angle are all fixed. A revolver can have slim wooden grips, add a T grip behind the trigger guard, go larger with a pinky rest, or full size, in any material you like, any contour, any angle, checkered, rough, and/or rubber. A .38 snub has dozens offered on the market, but some autos very little.My Kahr polymer .380 has exactly one - the standard molded plastic grip. None others exist or ever will.
Ammo? You can upgrade in some auto calibers one step, if you carry a .38 you have a deep list of choices. An auto has a much narrower tolerance for lighter loads and that's the reason the military is forced to work closely with their ammo contractor to always meet a psi requirement to ensure reliable functioning, something the 9mm has suffered from since the 1900's. Revolvers that can ignite a primer will fire that round, an auto may too, but immediately suffer a stoppage that takes it out of action. While the auto owner goes thru his drill the revolver owner simply pulls the trigger again and the next round comes up. It's a one finger stoppage drill "clearing" the chamber and cycling a new round in place.
I used to think the self loading semi auto was the premier choice in handguns and was raised in that environment working with military weapons. Given some reflection and study, tho, I appreciate the long history of snub nosed guns in long service, in direct competition for civilian sales, and there are good reasons to have one as a primary carry. Given that even in military units who carry guns daily choose snub guns as an option, there's a lot of us who don't discount them as much as some do.
I'd much rather have my Taurus 85 Ultralite turned over for evidence after the fact than an auto costing three times as much. Some of us understand that when you spend $600 on tiny auto that it doesn't make the ammo perform 3X better, or make you 3X more aware or accurate. The gun is only a tool. It's why I chose a V6 shortbed pickup truck to commute and do chores rather than a four door dually diesel. It wouldn't do anything more than spend a lot more money. We each have our priorities.
