.380, decent defense gun or not?

[davidd]

I was just given a .380 and thought i would use it for home defense. I am familiar with rifles and shotguns, but have little experience with hand guns. I purchased a touch pad safe to keep the gun handy but also safe. I have also practiced with it a few times and it seems to function nicely.

The brand is FIE, which i never heard of, with a 3 1/2 inch barrel. Is it any good or junk? Also, i looked at a few ballistics and the KE doesn't seem very impressive. I realize the brass is small, so it's no surprise.

anyway, my question is, i don't really want to purchase a larger caliber gun, but don't want to be mislead to believe this .380 will make a decent self defense gun if it is inadequeate. Also, if your comments are supportive of this gun, what load would provide this caliber with the greatest impact and margin of error?

thx, dave

 

[Gord]

Any handgun is better than no handgun. If you had to, would you rather shoot a BG with your little .380 or point your finger at him and go "psheew! psheew!" ?

.380 isn't a commonly accepted defense caliber (those being 9mm, .40 and .45) but if it came down to ten rounds of .380 versus a bad guy, my money would be on the .380. One-shot stops might be a little less forthcoming; stick with the shotgun for home defense.

All I know about FIE is that the FIE Titan was more-or-less a cheap, but solid, gun.

Since .380 is (or was, at least) a popular pocket/backup gun caliber, you should be able to find a decent assortment of defense loads for it - Speer Gold Dots and the like.

 

[choochboost]

Not. Don't use JHP, use FMJ.

 

[Ala Dan]

Sorry (And I Apologize In Advance)

I wouldn't consider any F.I.E. adequate for self defense in any
given situation; as they just are not reliable enough for my liking~!
You would be much better off with a KEL-TEC P3AT .380, than that F.I.E.
.380. Keep in mind, that the .380 ACP is only marginal for self-defense
scenarios; but I guess the F.I.E. is better than NO gun at all~?

 

[RyanM]

Better than nothing but worse than a baseball bat, I'd say.

 

[shamrock404]

This is probably not what you want to hear but the .380 is better than not having anything and could antagonize an attacker. Up close which is too close it may be fine. I would get a large caliber weapon .40 or larger. Have a nice day and a wonderful week.

 

[aaronrkelly]

I dont know much about your FIE brand weapon......but dont let everyone here discourage you about it. If you take it and a couple hundred rounds of ammo to the range and come back happy.....its a good gun. There are always those that will bad mouth a weapon, even if its a good one. For instance every Taurus weapon I have had was pure JUNK....but not all Taurii are....I just got unlucky.

The .380 is not a powerhouse round....but its very sufficient. Dont get to hung up on the size of the projectile.....put it in the right place and it will work very well.

 

[Alan Fud]

Don't use JHP, use FMJ.

The 2003 edition of Evan Marshall and Ed Sanow's Streetstoppers rates the .3800 JHP's much more effective than FMJ .380's.

 

[Harry Paget Flashman]

In my experience .380 FMJ feeds more reliably than JHP. YMMV.

 

[geekWithA.45]

IMO, .380 is the dead minimum defensively credible round.

It's kinda marginal, but I and others consider it a reasonable compromise, trading effective physics for a small, light concealable package suitable for zero burden carriage, based largely on the theory that the .380 in your pocket's better than the .454 casull in your drawer.

As a house gun, I think it's too light.

House defense guns are typically larger than what you'd CCW, simply because you don't have to hide the thing or lug it around all day long. For example, my "house (hand) gun" is a Para-Ord LTD14.45. This is a big, heavy, double stack 1911. I can and have carried it, but it's 3 full pounds, fully loaded.

Given that you've got other options, I'd reach for a shotgun when defending the house.

 

[Jackal]

I never have felt undergunned when carrying my P3AT. Well, that is until I got my Taurus 445 .44spl snubbie...

 

[tnieto2004]

.380 will put the hurt to someone hit with it .. Work on accuracy and .380 will be alright .. I have a MAK .380 I enjoy shooting .. Its a good round ..

 

[Green Lantern]

I'm wearing a .380 in a shoulder holster right now, if that tells you anything.

And I also carry one in my pocket when VERY GOOD CONCEALMENT is the order of the day.

And my only shotgun is a .410 pump, so guess what? If it happens to be the gun I'm carrying instead of my 9mm Glock 19, it usually also serves as my home defense gun when I turn in at night.

I'm with aaron - get some assorted rounds and take it to the range. Maybe in your gun, FMJ will cycle better, or not. I've never had a problem with JHPs in my Bersa or Kel-Tec. In fact, the opposite - Wolf FMJ turned my Bersa into a "jam-o-matic" when I tried shooting them!

Find a round that feeds 100% and PRACTICE with it. The .380 may not "blow your head clean off," but it's all about shot placement even if you're using a .45 - IMHO!

EDIT - for specific loads. I have some Cor-Bon DPX, supposed to be pretty potent. It's fed 100% so far, but I haven't practiced with it near enough to be 100% SURE of it. I guess the safest thing for ME to do would be to chamber a DPX and fill the mag with a round that I have proven in my guns. The Remington 88gr JHP. Not a hot rod by any stretch, but it's dead reliable. Again, in MY Bersa Thunder .380 and MY Kel-Tec P3AT. See what YOUR gun likes!

 

[fencer1960]

The .380 is generally considered to be marginal as a self defense round, but most of those sounding off about caliber effectiveness (including me) have never had to shoot a bad guy. Some widely acknowledged points follow:

1. Compared to rifles and shotguns, all pistols are pretty weak weapons.

2. The gun you have is far more useful than the one you're saving up for.

3. Only hits count. So, practice. Get instruction if you need it.

4. I wouldn't volunteer to be shot with a .380 just to prove it's a wimp caliber.

Enjoy your new gun.

 

[nwilliams]

The .380 is not a powerhouse round....but its very sufficient. Dont get to hung up on the size of the projectile.....put it in the right place and it will work very well.

Agree 100%!

Any caliber will take down and attacker if shot placement is true. Not everyone needs to carry a .40 or .45 or even a 9mm for defense, for a lot of people having a gun is all they need to feel secure. I would say in most cases any attacker will back down if a gun is pulled on them, regardless of the size of the gun or caliber. I would take the advice others have given about your choice in firearm, I have no experience with FIE firearms but it sounds like others on here don't hold them in too high regard. I would take that advice into account before worrying too much about caliber.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Unfortunately, in today’s world too many people think the .380 is a marginal or poor defense round. This round has been around for a very long time and does a very good job. If you do your part it will do it's part.

The .32 Auto (7.65 Browing) and the .380 Auto (9X17mm) have been used by the military and LEO's in Europe forever with good results.

The .380 Auto (9X17mm) the 9mm Makarov (9X18mm) and the 9mm Lugar (9X19mm Parabellum) are all 9mm bullets. Of course they are not the same weight and don't travel at the same speed but they are all effective.

If you don't want to but anything more powerful than a .380 like you said in an above post then buy a good .380 Auto pistol and practice a lot with it until you know you can hit what you aim at, then practice some more. If you want a .380 only because it’s small then there are several 9mm pistols out there that are just as small or smaller than a .380.
Look here and you will see what I mean: http://www.rohrbaughfirearms.com/


Good luck and be safe.

 

[3rdpig]

I second what Geekwitha45 said. It's better than no gun at all, but it falls far short of what you want for a home defense gun. I carry a KT .380 as a BUG or when I simply cannot conceal a larger gun, but use a .40 Glock at home. You're not trying to conceal it and you probably won't be carrying it, so get a full size service pistol or revolver in a good SD caliber and stoke it with good factory hollow point rounds.

Many of us here, and I'm one of them, recommend you find out what your local police or state patrol carry and use that. If you're ever forced to use it a prosecutor will have a hard time demonizing you based on your gun/ammo choice if it's the same gun/ammo the local boys in blue carry. But, that's an argument for another thread.

And to whoever said that .380 would only antagonize an attacker, I thoroughly disagree with you and ask that you prove your point by volunteering to take a few rounds yourself.

 

[RustyShackelford]

Sell that .380acp and buy a real handgun...

Like a Ruger GP-100 .357magnum or maybe a SIGarms DAK model .357SIG. The HK P-2000 LEM model would be a great choice too.

Most 9mmNATO, .40S&W and .357SIG rounds work much better than the .380acp and are the same size for most pistols.

Rusty

 

[tnieto2004]

Thats the best pistol ... FREE!!

 

[lawson]

i have a couple .380 handguns, that i use as backup guns, pocket guns, or "around the house" guns. if it's summer, i'm probably wearing basketball shorts, which aren't very effective with heavier guns.

the thing i like about the .380 is the practically non-existant recoil in guns that have any weight to them (my kel-tec not included). this means i can make very quick and accurate follow up shots, mozambique drills, upward rakes, etc. i read somewhere that some european police depts train to fire in three shot groups. there's no source for that, so it may just be hearsay.

in my bersa, kel-tec, and taurus I get the smoothest operation out of WWB and Hydra-Shoks. YMMV.

and if that's the only gun you have and don't plan to ever buy more, then that makes it the best gun you own.

 

[DWARREN123]

I believe that F.I.E. is the importer. Not high quality firearms. .380 ACP not the best round but if it is reliable and you can handle it properly it will work.
I have owned F.I.E. marked firearms before and don't have any now.
For a good .380 ACP semi I can say I really like my Bersa Duo Tone.

 

[The Scandinavian]

Well most of it should be good quality, it is basically a Tanfoglio GT27. That's the good news. FIE was the importer, not manufacturer.

The bad news is that after 1968 the frames were not imported, and poor quality U.S.A. made ones were used. I've no idea why they didn't make a decent frame.

Information about these pistols has been posted before on here by myself and others.

 

[benEzra]

.380 is a decent defensive caliber. Not stellar, but decent. Ballistically, it's not too far from .38 Special, which is certainly popular as a defensive round, and I would definitely trust it.

In the first few years of our marriage, my home-defense gun was a Bersa .380. I used Federal 90-gr Hydra-Shok ammunition, which it fed flawlessly, and it was very accurate. After several years, I eventually replaced it with a S&W 9mm (3913LS), but I always felt comfortable with the .380 while I had it.

As I mentioned, I liked the Federal 90gr Hydra-Shok and could buy it locally relatively cheaply, but some other good options would be Cor-Bon (regular, DPX, or Pow'rBall), Gold Dot, or Remington Golden Saber. If your gun is finicky about feeding JHP's, Pow'rBall has a FMJ-like profile and should feed well in anything.

Get some practice so you can shoot it accurately, and shoot enough of your chosen defensive load through it to ensure that it will function with that load. If it works reliably, go with it.

 

[dmarbell]

Federal ammo comparison

Here's a comparison of 3 HD loads from the Federal site. Each one is the Hydra-Shock JHP version. I tried to get close on bullet weights.

38 special 110 grain
380 Auto 90 grain
9mm Luger 124 grain

Velocity(fps)/Energy(ft-lbs)

Muzzle , 25 Yards
38 sp 980/235 , 943/217
380 1000/200 , 953/182
9mm 1120/345 , 1070/315

For HD, 38 sp, 9mm, and even .40 S&W and .357 mag makes more sense than the .380. I have a 9mm for CCW, and it's heavy and bulky, even for a small gun. I'm considering a Kel-Tec P3AT .380 for CCW, because it will be carried more.

For HD, I have a .44 mag cowboy gun, the 9mm (if I keep it), and assorted shotguns and rifles. If someone breaks in my house and wakes me up, and if they get through my locked bedroom door, they would face:
5 rounds of 12 ga. buck shot, 6 rounds of .44 magnum 240 grain JHPs, and 10 rounds of 115 grain 9mm JHPs.

On the street, right now because of the heft and bulk of the 9mm, I might be defenseless because the P-11 is at home in the safe.

For CCW, I believe a .380 90 grain JHP handled by a shooter with lots of training and practice is effective for self-defense.

Danny

 

[Lonestar]

A .380 is perfectly fine for home defense. A lot of guys get get into this "Bigger is Better" rap, but honestly a handy 4" knife can do the same things as a foot long rambo knife and it would be easier to use. Cops in Europe used .32 acp for years and New York cops use .32 S&W in the early 1900's, both are actually weaker than a .380. The .380 is just below the power of a 9mm and a .38. You will be fine, and I suggest using quality JHP.

Your selection of the FIE is bad. Someone suggest a Kel Tec, but honestly the P3at is more for Concealed carry and not home defense. I would suggest a Bersa .380. They are a larger .380, all steel, about the same price as a P3at ($200 to $250) and good guns for the money. if you cannot afford a Bersa, I would reluctantly pick a Hipoint .380 ($100) over a FIE