hello everyone, advice appreciated

Shotgun with buckshot is a pretty potent defensive firearm. As for carry... assuming it's legal where you live, you could do worse than the .380. It's not ideal but if it's all you can get, go with it.

If .380 is the max, then max it out. There's another recent thread I'll try to find that offered some ammo advice. I'd get a double-stack pistol such as a Bersa Thunder Plus, Berreta M85, or Taurus PT58.

As for the shotgun, I'd use buckshot over slugs in it. Always a good choice.


Edit: here's that recent thread on the .380 ammo (short-barrel use):

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=743936

Hi, Jplo, and welcome to THR!

Sorry to hear about your legislative situation.

While your single shot is not ideal as a defensive weapon, if it's what you have, then it's what you use. Any shot size from about #4 and up will be good for defensive purpose. You'll have to make that shot count, though, should you ever need to take it. The gun in the picture you attached would obviously be much better.

Same goes for a .380. It will definitely do the job with proper shot placement.

Good luck, and stay safe.

If it were me, I'd get a pistol that holds the most rounds for that caliber (.380) Then get the most powerful rounds to go with it, provided the gun will handle it. I'm thinking something like Buffalo Bores 100gr. hard cast ammo. As for the shotgun, like whats already been mentioned use No. 4 shot up to buckshot. But if I could, I'd get another shotgun that will hold mulitable rounds, those 2 new shotguns that came out just lately that hold 15 rounds using double tubes. LM

I don't know if it's legal where you live, but one of the best things about reloading your own ammunition is being able to tailor it to you and your gun.

Home-made 380 ammo will do the job nicely.

I often carry a CZ83 a 12+1 pistol, with Black Hills 90grn JHP 90 Gr. - Jacketed Hollow Point Velocity 1000 FPS Energy 200 Ft. Lbs. Or you can try Hornady Critical Defense. And it also really likes Winchester White Box JHP and the Bonded PDX1 as well. And it is an utterly reliable pistol that has never failed me. Even after it fell of the bench at the range into the sand and dirt. I didn't notice all the dirt until the sun hit it just right and I saw all the sand and such flying off it. That was about five or six mags. later. At the time I had about 2500 rounds down the pipe. It now has well over 5000 and it still works like it was brand new.

Not sure what you have available in your neck of the woods. As far as ammunition or firearms

Very sorry to hear about your situation, and welcome to the forum. Out of the two pistols you've mentioned, I would go with the Glock over the Taurus. However, I do have to mention that I am biased towards Glock, so you should definitely seek out other advice before making your final choice. Are you restricted to just non military calibers, or is the .380 the most potent caliber allowed? I believe that in Mexico they aren't allowed military calibers, but .38 super is allowed. If you are allowed .38 super, that's a very nice cartridge if you can find it in the proper platform. Good luck with your situation.

Anything but a Taurus IMO. For your shotgun, birdshot is plenty good in a house, buckshot will penetrate right through your drywall and if someone is in the other room, it could be bad news. A face or chest full of birdshot is gonna stop most any intruder

For the .380, if you don't reload , I would try and get Speer gold dots or buffalo bore ammo, or any self defense load you have available.

There are .380 ACP rounds that push 250 lb-ft of KE which is squarely in the .38 spl wheelhouse (snub nose), but of course the bullet is lighter.
If the only pistol you can own is a .380, well then, as others have stated, go with the one that holds the most rounds...Like a Browning or Beretta M84(?). In America the .380 is viewed as deep concealment so the most popular offerings are sub-compact with generally 6 shot magazines.

If you're thinking home defense against intruders, robbers, or marauding bands then a 12 gauge shotgun should be on your list of "must haves."

A great many people will tell you to use buckshot of one size or another because it "spreads out"...and all you have to do is point. Well, at IN-HOUSE distances shot charges only spread about 30mm per meter distance from the muzzle. In a 4-5 meter room this means 12-15cm which by no mean! means you can just "point" and be assured of a hit...and it gets MORE important to aim the closer your target! Also, all those pellets seem mighty impressive when you shoot something up close and get the full effect of the "shot charge" while still in close proximity, however, at 20-30 meters, those 9-12, .33" buckshot pellets will have separated far enough so that only one or two may strike the intended target and this means VERY LITTLE KINETIC ENERGY is delivered! A "shot charge" that delivers 1,500 lb-ft of kinetic energy at the muzzle, only delivers 125 (12 00 buck) to 166 (9 00 buck) lb-ft PER PELLET once the charge has opened up. It only goes downhill from there with smaller shot sizes. This is WHY so many people are STUNNED when they shoot someone with a shotgun loaded with "buckshot" (especially #1 buck) only see no effect! A thick leather jacket can sap a LOT of energy from a round buck pellet that's impacting with no more force than a .22 Long Rifle bullet (except the .22 bullet has a smaller frontal area and so will penetrate better).
The ONLY thing to stoke your shotgun with is SLUGS...slugs work ALL THE TIME whether the person is 2 meters away or 50! A slug delivering 1,500 lb-ft of kinetic energy at the muzzle DELIVERS it all in a near 20mm diameter, 28 gram monster hunk of lead, and if you can obtain sabot slugs they deliver more still...plus, sabot slugs can shoot accurately to over 200 meters which at least puts you on a better footing if you're facing someone with a rifle.
Most people are surprised to find that rifled slugs fired from a smooth bore are capable of 8-10 cm "groups" at 50 meters, but since you should only be shooting slugs anyway...go ahead and mount a RIFLED barrel and you're basically shooting a very powerful "rifle" that has tremendous close-range terminal effect, and requires no ammunition "choices" based on whether someone is up close or way out there.
I would personally advise you to choose an AUTOLOADING shotgun...if you can get one, the SAIGA-12 is choice number one...it functions just like an AK-which means as reliable as a human machine can be made to function, and it uses detachable box mags which means you can lay-in a supply.
If limited to "traditional" shotguns look for something like a Mossberg, or Remington semiautomatic...if you can get it, go for the Mossberg Model 930 chambered to shoot 3.5" (9cm) shells which means SLUGS up to 43 grams! These rounds are capable of generating close to 3,000 lb-ft of kinetic energy, fired from a gun that can shoot several VERY quickly. In that case you carry your spare ammo in a simple "bag" you can sling over your shoulder and run...so each time you fire you train yourself to recharge the gun - "top it off" so to speak.
If you want or think you need an optical sight the ONLY choice is a quality, "armored" red/green dot with laser, or a laser separately. The dot sight gives you parallax free, EYES OPEN HEAD UP target acquisition. The very best laser to buy is the Laserlyte "Centermass" that projects a large center dot with a ring of smaller dots around...VERY easy to see even in daylight and much faster to acquire than any single-dot system.

In your situation, get the Glock over the Taurus. And this is coming from a guy who carries a Taurus daily, and is not a fan of Glock.

If you have access to a few more handgun choices in .380 I would look for something like a Beretta Model 84 or a Browning BDA. As someone else mentioned, as a non-military/police caliber, the .38 Super would be a step up over the .380 cartridge.

I don't know how your police feel about armed citizens (not the law, but how the cops think), but a conventional "sporting" shotgun, pump or autoloader, with an extended magazine might be a better choice than a shotgun that looks like a military rifle. The effectiveness is the same; the "cool" factor is often a drawback with police, even in the U.S.

A folding buttstock may or may not make a difference; it would make the gun easier to handle inside a house, but handles poorly under recoil.

As for shot size, at the range inside an average house, any shot will have a small pattern. (A shot pattern expands only about 2-3 cm. per meter, so at a range of 5 meters you will get a pattern of only 10-15 cm., deadly even with small shot.) That means you really do have to aim a shotgun, not just point it in the general direction of the target.

Jim

We can use .38 specials, but the best gun shop in town only imports revolvers for that caliber.

Click to expand...

Well that's because there are no .38 Special autos, not that I'm aware of anyway.
Personally, I would rather have a 6 shot .38 Special revolver than a .380, but that is only my opinion. If you are more comfortable with an auto, then that is certainly what you should get.

I also agree that if you have the option of getting a Glock, you should. If you don't have a lot of handgun experience, it is great because it is simple to use with no external safety to forget about. It won't let you down if you need it.

Welcome aboard. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. There is a lot of knowledge here.

+1 on looking at tge CZ83. A very strong and well built little pistol available in 380.

There are lots of You Tube ammo tests for the .380.

Here's my pick...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNtPHYwcDts

Modern ammo can really make the difference in a .380

I shoot a CZ82 in 9mm Makrov (very close to the .380). These pistols are surplus, but the CZ 83 is the same gun but are new manufactured.

Actually there is something BETTER than a .38 special "auto." The .38 SUPER auto!
The .38 Super can generate double kinetic energy of the most potent .380 ACP load.

15 rounds of .380 is "better" maybe than 6 rounds of .38 spl, but not at all "better" than 8 rounds of 12 gauge slugs!

A 200+ lb human might soak up an entire magazine-ful of .380 ACP slugs, but no 200 hundred pound human I've ever met can accept the intrusion of a once ounce, .73 caliber slug into his torso area and keep coming...not even ONE.

A shotgun, hands down, for home defense. The platform is versatile and devastating with the right loads for the situation. They are, however, deceptively simple, and still do require you to aim for good shot placement.

Pattern your shotgun with different kinds of buckshot to determine which brand has the tightest pattern at the longest distance you might have to make a shot. I don't know if it's available in your country, but Federal Flight Control can keep very tight patterns in most smoothbore guns.

Slugs are also very effective and you can reach out at a distance. They are also a good option if the possibility of having stray buckshot bouncing around your house is not acceptable.

For car you might be stuck with a .380, unless you always travel with someone who can literally "ride shotgun".