9mm vs 380

It depends.
In a small 380 is way more fun to shoot. A 9mm stuffed in a small "380 sized gun" is not fun to shoot, I find they can be rather snappy and a bit unpleasant to shoot.
9mm is fun to shoot in full sized gun such as Beretta 92 or a 1911 sized gun, until you get up into 147gr +P ammo.

The problem is, the round is smaller and less powerful but the guns are proportionately smaller and lighter.
So if you don't pick a relatively large .380, you will not be reducing the recoil a whole lot.
I find the Ruger LCP .380 less "enjoyable" to shoot than my LC9s 9mm P.

The CZ83 is a big metal .380 that is not bad, but it is blowback operated which does not cushion the recoil like a locked breech action

If you are happy with Taurus, how about a TX 22 for marksmanship practice and just enough 9mm in the G3 to stay familiar with its level of recoil.

P.S. I am 77 and my idea of enjoyable shooting is a full size 9mm or .45 with midrange loads for IDPA and USPSA competition. I shoot a good deal of .22s.
25 9mms at a time with a Glock 43 in GSSF Pocket Division is about all the fun I want from a hideout gun.

The SW 380 EZ you may like too. I have one. It's a pleasure to shoot. Accurate and easy to rack. It was one of my guns i shot as my finger joint replacment heals.

Your opinion is the only opinion that matters. Shoot what you like to shoot, carry what you want to carry. The chances you will ever have to use your firearm for self defense is minimal. I was watching a Massad Ayoob video on YouTube earlier today. Massad repeated the statistic that the majority of successful instances of a firearm being used for defensive purposes occur without a single shot being fired. Simply displaying the firearm is usually a sufficient motivator to convince the bad guy/girl to change their game plan. Given Massad's expertise in such matters, use that info any way you would like. My take on his advice is shoot what want to shoot, carry what you want to carry and don't worry what other people think about your choice.

tws3b2 said:

Is the 380 a little more "enjoyable" to shoot for us older guys than the 9mm.

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ALL ELSE BEING EQUAL, yes. A 115 grain bullet going 1200-1300ish fps is going to be harder to handle than a 90-100 grain bullet going 800-1000fps. But if you trade your very small 9mm for a very small (or smaller) .380, particularly a BLOWBACK .380, you're going to be hating life IMO. A larger/midsize/fullsize .380 with a locked breech will be very mild by comparison. Some good suggestions above. The S&W Shield .380 EZ or the new SIG P365 .380 would be where I'd start. Or maybe the Ruger LCP Max, but it's pretty small/light and the regular LCP is unpleasant for most people with hand strength concerns.

OP, before going down to 22 as you mentioned, perhaps consider a 32 caliber revolver. A Ruger LCR 327 would give you the option of 32 Mag or even 32 long to further reduce recoil. Good luck on your search

The P365 is a smaller gun than G3C, the EZ a larger one; but both are considerably lighter, which is going to cancel out some of the .380's lighter recoil. But not all, I estimate an EZ .380 will have about 17% less recoil than a G3C.

Here is a source of information, pictures with overlay size comparison and physical data.
https://www.handgunhero.com/compare/taurus-g3c-vs-smith-wesson-m-p-380-shield-ez

You can select any pair of guns on their menu.

CoalCrackerAl said:

The SW 380 EZ you may like too.

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This. You want a .380 in a locked breached (not fixed barrel) full-size pistol. The Smith .380 EZ fits that bill. It was made for just your situation. Try it and I'll bet you'll like it.

If that is still too much for you, find one of those Beretta model 81 in .32 that were imported not very long ago.

My carry gun for years was a LCP 380. It had a lot of recoil and was hard to hold onto due to its size. I switched to a Ruger Max 9 about a year ago and felt recoil was not near the 380. Try a few of the small 380 pistols if possible before making the call to change. I haven’t shot any of the larger frame 380’s.
Good luck with you search.

IIRC, Browning makes a 3/4 size 1911 in 380. That might give you a reasonable balance between size and recoil damping mass.

380 ammunition is quite a bit more expensive than 9mm, unless you reload. Then they cost the same.

If you're looking for a gun that's fun to shoot, then I'd look at a .22LR version of a carry pistol such as the Smith and Wesson M&P 22, the Glock 44, or a dedicated .22LR pistol such as a Ruger SR22 or Ruger Mark III.

If you're looking for a carry gun in .380 that's easier to shoot than the micro pistols, look for the Smith and Wesson Shield EZ or Ruger LC380. They're 9mm size pistols chambered in .380 and have reduced strength recoil springs which make them much easier to rack.

Your issue will be that .380 target ammunition is at the best of times much more expensive than 9mm target loads, and in the worst of times .380 is impossible to find.

I personally carry a Ruger LCP in .380, but if I were buying new, I'd buy the Ruger LCP Max for the higher magazine capacity. But I carry the LCP because of the ease of pocket carry, not for its ease of shooting.

My wife hates the LCP because it's snappier than my Max 9mm which she loves.

@denton got to my recommendation first. Most of the 1911 models in 9x17 are 75-80% "sized" which makes them close to Commander dimensions, and very handy.

Now, if Armscor gets on the ball, one of those 75% scale 1911 in .30sc might be just the ticket (the 30sc is about 20% smaller than 9x19, so, you get more ammo, too.

Just carry your sharpest stick. Mine is a nine mm. Yours can be what ever works best for you. A 380 or 22 is still a great sharp stick… er tool.

tws3b2 said:

So, My question is to the older guys, I guess.
Is the 380 a little more "enjoyable" to shoot for us older guys than the 9mm.

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Well, she's certainly not a "guy," but my wife is almost as old as I am (I'm 74), and she carries a Smith EZ Shield .380 - because a Smith EZ Shield 9mm (like our 47 year-old daughter carries) bothers the arthritis in my wife's right thumb joint. On the other hand (no pun intended) my wife can shoot her slightly larger Sig P239 9mm all day long without upsetting the arthritis in her thumb joint.
The trade-off is, even though my wife's Sig P239 9mm is only slightly larger (and a little heavier, I think) than her Smith EZ Shield .380, my wife is only 5'1", and she has a slight build, so her Sig P239 is harder for her to conceal.

tws3b2 said:

Or, should I go on down to 22lr?

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Only you can say. I personally wouldn't. I'd go to a slightly larger and heavier 9mm (or a .380 if I had to) before I'd go down to a 22LR. And that's in spite of the fact that I have a Glock 44 (.22LR) that I love to shoot. I sure wouldn't carry it for self-protection though - I have a Glock 19 (9mm) for that. The Glock 19 is the same size as the Glock 44 (only heavier), and even though it doesn't upset the tendonitis in my 74 year-old elbow, it's not quite as much fun to shoot - not for me at least.

380's are normally placed in some pretty small guns, which IMO make them more difficult to shoot well.

tws3b2 said:

....Anyway, I just don't enjoy shooting 9mm.....

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If this is your reasoning for downscaling your caliber you sure better stay away from those sub-compact / micro-frame polymer 380's like the Glock 42, for example, because you're going to enjoy those a whole lot less. Stick with a steel-frame compact or mid-size, or downscale all the way to .22 LR like a Ruger Mk IV or Browning Buckmark.

Maybe a .22 WMR might be fun but your selection of semi-auto pistols in that caliber is pretty limited. I can think offhand of only two* that are worth spending your money on, and they're both kind of quirky each in their own unique ways: the RIA and the Keltech.

* see update below.

tws3b2 said:

I'm thinking of trading my g3c for a 380. I have little experience with the 380.
So, My question is to the older guys, I guess.
Is the 380 a little more "enjoyable" to shoot for us older guys than the 9mm. Or, should I go on down to 22lr?

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Pretty sure at 72 I qualify as an older guy.

I have only owned two .380 pistols. The first was a Colt Government model in .380 ACP and the other is my wife's older Walther PPK stainless. Actually both actually belong to my wife. I regret ever selling the Colt but both were great little shooters. Never owned a composite made gun so can't comment, I am just a steel type. I don't own a 9mm handgun but still shoot quite a bit 45 ACP and 357 Magnum. Haven't shot the wife's .380 ACP in 20 years.

Ron

The 32 caliber Beretta Model 81 is easy and fun to shoot, but maybe kind of big to carry. I could shoot it easily even with a damaged hand.

The 32 caliber Kel-Tec P32 is a small 32acp the size of an LCP. To me it seemed to have very little recoil, though it's been a few years since I fired it.

My easiest 380 to shoot is the locked-breech "small 1911 type". It's made of steel. My daughter shot it regularly when she was eight or nine. This happens to be an older Colt, but Sig and someone else (Kimber?) now make slightly smaller ones that are also supposed to be easy to shoot. I could also shoot it with a damaged hand without pain, but not quite as easily as the Beretta.

The easiest thing for my daughter to shoot when she was a kid, and what I expect to have to use eventually, is a 32 caliber revolver.

Another thing to keep in mind if downsizing caliber to 380 is the pistol's action. Many of these small-frame 380's use a fixed-barrel blow-back action which requires a very stiff and strong recoil spring to slow down the slide. You might find they're more "enjoyable" to shoot, but racking the slide to lock it back or to charge the chamber is going to take a lot more grip strength than you're used to, or even capable of if you've got any significant hand arthritis issues, as many of us "older" shooters do.

wiscoaster said:

Another thing to keep in mind if downsizing caliber to 380 is the pistol's action. Many of these small-frame 380's use a fixed-barrel blow-back action which requires a very stiff and strong recoil spring to slow down the slide. You might find they're more "enjoyable" to shoot, but racking the slide to lock it back or to charge the chamber is going to take a lot more grip strength than you're used to, or even capable of if you've got any significant hand arthritis issues, as many of us "older" shooters do.

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Seriously really good point. You want to consider that. Make sure you can rack the slide on a gun before you even consider buying it.

Ron

Do not get a LCP that thing is snappy. But I like it. And so does my wife. If and when I get older I’ll consider something else. 39 years old.