Best small .380 for conceal carry?

Ethan Verity said:
The Ruger LCP1 is still my personal favorite! I have been carrying one of these in my pocket almost every single day for over 8 years now.
Even when I can carry a larger belt pistol on my hip, the LCP1 still tags along in my pocket as a backup.
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Literally my first thought was, you know the original LCP is hard to beat. I still have and carry one myself. And nowadays they’re cheap to.
 
LCP for size
At one point I had a bersa thunder 380 & glock 42. I got rid of the glock & bersa. They both shot better, but for size & reliability I stuck with with the LCP. It fits places the others can't.
 
I’ve got an LC380 that’s pocket sized. It’s the same size as an LC9, but controllable. It would be a belly gun if it weren’t for the attached laser, due to its minuscule sight radius.
 
My first choice is the GLOCK 42. I have found it very concealable, reliable and accurate enough at short range. It has been 100% reliable and my wife who has arthritis in her wrists can still rack the slide and shoot it.

Jim
 
It ain’t no range gun but my LCP ll is always with me when I’m not carrying my 1911. Rides in my front right pocket in a Sticky Holster. Totally reliable with ball ammo.
Not fun for pleasure shooting but it’s good to go for when “that moment” comes.
 
Another vote for the original LCP (still in production) and/or the Kel Tec P3AT (out of production). Long trigger pulls and so not a “target” pistol by any stretch, but the size of a thick wallet. The LCP has 7rd mags available for an 8 round pocket carry that almost disappears.

If you need a better trigger, the LCP II has that with just a slightly larger size.
 
gunny2 said:
Please this is not a 9mm vs .380 debate thread. I'm only interested in talking about .380s here. Shopping around and many of them don't look much smaller than a lot of the 9mms, even those called "compact" etc. ?
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I don't know how you figure. In fact it was a significant challenge to find a .380 that was compact sized for many years. We only had police surplus P232, Beretta 84, CZ-83, PK380, and some rare Spanish guns. Even FN 10/71 and Remington 51 were subcompacts. All the mass market .380 like P-3AT, LCP, CW380, P238 were very small - smaller than modern P365! In fact the relative newcomer G42 was hailed as a large and shootable gun, while being almost exactly the size of P365 that came later.

The situation started to change when Smith decided to go alone and released 380EZ, which was about PK380 in size: almost compact, only thin. Bersa fixed Thunder's cracking frames. Browning released 1911-380. SIG re-chambered P365. Beretta also returned 80X. So we have some choices now, but they still trend a little small. The newest release, S&W Bodyguard 2.0, looks like a Shield, but is actually not! It's about the size of P365 yet again.
 
If you look at the slide of a 365 .380 it is only 1” but it appears much wider than the BG 2.0 at .88” . The 365 is also slightly longer 5.8 vs 5.5 . It is slightly taller at 4.2 vs 4.0 . And S&W did a great job in making that 4.0 feel like more length for your fingers . Now here’s the big difference especially for pocket carry weight , Sig 15.7 vs 9.8 . Both have the same 10 round capacity . Those small differences make a lot of difference when you start making them larger than the LCP for pocket carry . Not so much for belt carry .

Now the 365 9mm is about the same size as the 365 .380 , but again the weight is more 17.8 still with a 10rd capacity .
 
The LCP's and P3AT and Pico and Kahr are tiny. I carry my LCPII in the breast pocket of a flannel shirt in cool weather. 380's get bigger after that. Pistols based on the Walther PP, such as the Bersa and Sig, are much larger. They're not the same category of pistol.

There aren't 9mm pistols comparable in size to the smallest 380's. The Kahr 9mm and 380 are some of the very smallest pistols of their caliber. The 9mm dwarfs the 380. Not even close.
 
I purchased a LCP 2 in 2017. After 6 years of carrying it as my smallest lightweight carry, I traded it off. Well I missed having a little 380! So I bought a LCP MAX. It is better than the LCP 2 in my opinion for the following reasons.
1- the sights are an improvement over the 2
2- it has a more robust extractor
3- the magazine release is reversible (great for lefties)
4- the grip is slightly larger, but not so much that it turns into a big gun.
5- it holds more bullets.
The only negative is that it weighs more. Primarily because it holds more bullets 🤔 well no I'm not going to put less bullets in the magazine to reduce the weight 😁

Yes, I like the LCP series in general 👌, each generation had improvements. The LCP 1 was a good little gun.

I recently added a Glock 42 to my collection. I have carried it some this past week. If I was going to shoot a lot of +p loads in a 380 the G42 would be my choice.

My favorite loads are Critical Defense FTX 90 grain and Underwood hardcast 100 grain.
 
my lcpII is in my left pants pocket 24/7. I plan on replacing it with the bodyguard 2.0 shortly.

luck,

murf
 
I've pocket carried .380s for 15+ years.

The Keltec P3AT was my first, and is still the smallest & lightest, but the hardest to shoot well.

Kimber Micro replaced it for a while. Same capacity, better trigger and sights, more manageable recoil, and much easier to shoot well. But much heavier and thicker, ended up back with the Keltec.

Moved to the LCP max after it came out. Thicker than the keltec, but not too much heavier considering 11 rounds, a better trigger and better sights. Easier to shoot accurately than the Keltec, but it had issues with 102 Golden Sabers, my preferred carry round. Switched to 90gn XTPs for the Max.

Recently picked up a S&W Bodyguard 2.0. It's the goldilocks pocket pistol so far. Close to the same overall dimensions as the Max, ~.25" longer. 11 rds, good sights, 5lb trigger, grip designed to get a full grip instead of 2 fingers. Feels slimmer in the pocket to me, mainly due to grip shape I think.
Easy to shoot accurately and has not been ammo sensitive so far.
Time will tell how it holds up, but I like it a lot.

I have an original Bodyguard with the integrated laser. It functioned fine but I hated the trigger, never carried it.

The Keltec is still my go to when doing yardwork, crawling around under cars, etc. For pocket carry, it's hard to beat a gun that's 11oz fully loaded.

M&P 2.0

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I personally only go to the .380 for deep concealment, when the gun absolutely has to disappear for political, social situations, or the office environment. In this case, I goto my Seecamp. Incredibly small and light. I use it in the front pocket of my khaki pants in the office. Absolutely perfect for me.
 

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ak-kev said:
I personally only go to the .380 for deep concealment, when the gun absolutely has to disappear for political, social situations, or the office environment. In this case, I goto my Seecamp. Incredibly small and light. I use it in the front pocket of my khaki pants in the office. Absolutely perfect for me.
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I have debated out getting a Seecamp. They are small!!!!
 
Had a Bersa 380. Sold it, uncomfortable to shoot. 20 rounds made the hand sore.

Have a Sig P238. Nice shooter, get the extended mag for your pinky. Hornady Critical Defense works reliably in mine. (Actually wife's - she lets me borrow it.)
 
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