The .380 good or bad carry choice

[Deanimator]

For me, it's the absolute dead minimum. I wouldn't carry anything with less power under any circumstances.

I wouldn't carry .380acp if there were any way to carry something more powerful.

 

[snooperman]

The 380 will do quite well-thank you

If you do your part the .380 will do it too. There is great variety of ammo for this gun that will be fine for CCW. That said, it is more about shot placement than it is about caliber, it has been true for decades. Wild Bill Hickok shot two guys dead with the old Navy percussion revolver,36 caliber with much less energy than a .380 and he did it at about 38 yards too. He was very good with this gun and everyone knew back then. More .380s are are carried than any semiauto for CCW and for good reason, they are light. concealable, and powerful enough to do the job. Read the Strasbourg test Report and it will open your eyes to the effectiveness of the .380. My two cents.

 

[Tacbandit]

Quote:
I wouldn't want to be shot by even a .25 acp. There is a chance that one shot in the right area could kill or maim me."


I don't want to be shot with anything...BB's/airsoft included.....

 

[earlthegoat2]

It is OK for carry as long as you practice with it.

Dont be one of the masses that just drop it in their pocket and never shoot it.

 

[Tacbandit]

Quote:
"Dont be one of the masses that just drop it in their pocket and never shoot it."


+1, earl...
Give extra thought to ammo types as well as well...

 

[okespe04]

Not as good as a 9mm, .357 or .45 but 1000 times better that nothing. I pocket carry a .380 lcp all the time. Sometimes I carry a G19 iwb.

 

[hammerklavier]

HOLD IT! Who knows what the actual ballistics for a pocket 9mm vs a pocket .380 are, that's barrel length of 2.8 inches or less!??? I'll bet the differences are not as dramatic as they are for full sized pistols.

 

[DeepSouth]

There are simply NO 9mm guns as small & light as a Kel-Tec P3AT or Ruger LCP.
They fill a niche that no other bigger caliber can fill.

Add about a tenth of an inch, three oz's, and 800 more bucks, and the Rohrbaugh comes dang close. That said, I personally wouldn't carry a .380 or a 9mm, but that's just me.

 

[MedWheeler]

Jeez.. another caliber war thread?

Other than to instigate, is there a purpose to the question? This one has been beat down quite a lot already. No one's convincing anyone else of anything new..

 

[searcher451]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the .380 round. If you can deliver it accurately, it will serve you just fine, exactly as it has many others through the years.

 

[BushyGuy]

.380 is minimum for self-defense, i sold my .32 acp cuz i wasnt satisfied with the tests i done with it, i wont carry anything less then a 9mm with at least 17 rounds in the magazine.

.380 is effective but its more costly then the 9mm, so i would opt for the 9mm over the .380 any day.

 

[Erik M]

You sure about that there, sport? Show us the official SAAMI specs/designation on .380 +p loading...

well, Bucko, to my knowledge I have never seen SAAMI specs for .380 +p online. The manufactureer I referenced said that they added the designation to show that it was loaded past standard pressures.

 

[M&PVolk]

.380 was the backup carry for one of my friends in Vietnam. It dispatched many men.

Is the .380 ideal? In form factor, yes. It is not the ideal cartridge in power, but can be very effective if wielded correctly.

 

[KaintGetwright]

I bought my p3at a year ago to ease carrying in formal attire. Now I take the thing everywhere I go. The downside is that where I used to strap on the Glock, now I may forgo it. So instead of adding to my versatility, it just tempts me to do without the more powerful handgun. Not a real problem, just a mental trap.

As for larger 380s such as the Bersa, I bought one years ago, before I knew what a keltec was. I agree with the earlier poster that with the snappy recoil of defense loads in a blowback pistol, and a 7 +1 round count, they just don't have much of a place for the person buying new or for the first time. All of this is just exacerbated by the ammo situation.

 

[C-grunt]

Definitely not the most powerful round out there but it will still put a 1/3 inch hole through your chest.

Look at these test. All of them besides the light DPX actually dont do too bad out of the Kel Tec.
http://www.brassfetcher.com/380ACP.html
Becoming a cop and seeing shootings has really opened my eyes to the reality of shot placement trumps all.

-Had a coworker who got in two shootings. Both using his .45 230 grn HSTs. Both bad guys shot around 5 times with head shots. Both lived, he hit nothing really vital.

-Suicide with .22 revolver. DRT
-homicide 9mm ball. DRT

Two cases I can think of with "anemic rounds" but were placed in the vitals.

Theres more that I cant think of at the moment but every shooting I can think of the caliber didnt matter. If the placement was there it was deadly, if the placement was off not so much.

Well except for shotgun bird shot. That stuff fails almost every time, except a muzzle contact distance where it works sometimes.

 

[snooperman]

Well said C-Grunt

It seems as though if it is" bigger it must be badder" , and nothing can be further from the truth. There was a study done by retired law enforcement officers in Detroit a few years ago and they found that the officers today with their large capacity and large caliber handguns are not putting any more rounds in the "kill zone" than they did when they were armed with the venerable 38 special revolvers decades ago. It is an eye opener for sure.

 

[miket]

Most of us East Coast guys cannot carry a larger gun without dressing around it. So, a smaller gun works.

I'm in Connecticut and either IWB or pocket carry a Kahr PM9 with +p 9mm ammo and two spare mags every day. You're in PA. If anything, we can carry MUCH larger stuff a lot of the time during the winter! G19 or 1911 for those times up here. PM9 goes to BUG mode then.

 

[miket]

Does that include Speer Gold Dot 90gr GDHP? (it's the only 380 defense round I can find).

Then you're not looking very hard. Federal Hydra-Shok comes in .380 as does Corbon DPX. The DPX was specifically designed for shorter barrels and the Kel-Tec P3AT was used as the test gun.

 

[chuckusaret]

-Had a coworker who got in two shootings. Both using his .45 230 grn HSTs. Both bad guys shot around 5 times with head shots. Both lived, he hit nothing really vital.

Poor choice to take out the average bad guy, most have hollow heads with no brains. I believe in the two tap method, pelvic area then COM.

Definitely not the most powerful round out there but it will still put a 1/3 inch hole through your chest.

Check out the Federal Hydra Shok .380

 

[bababooey32]

A quick search over at Box 'O Truth shows a "Small Guns" test. The .380 JHP penetrates 4 water jugs (shot from a Kel-Tec). The 9mm JHP out of a Makarov penetrates ony 2 jugs. Hmmmmm.

Ball ammo from both penetrated 5 jugs of water.

Certainly not scientific, though the guys at "Box" are fairly well respected for their systematic approach. I'm just not convinced that .380 is as bad as some claim.

 

[DAdams]

Works for me too when I want something very covert and light.



Put it in the front or back pocket, jacket etc.

If I want to amp up I have other calibers available to better perhaps fit the environment I am traveling.

Compared with a S&W J Frame.



In this form factor I am never without "something" even if it is .380.

 

[CorpITGuy]

Most of these threads could be reduced easily to a sampling of what the poster his/herself carries; with a few exceptions, of course.

A lot of folks who own .45 ACP, .40 S&W, 9 MM, .357 Magnum etc., will tell you the .380 ACP is useless. They're making themselves feel better about their choice. People who carry .380 ACP all day every day will tell you it's the bee's knees. They're just as wrong.

The truth is, the folks who tell you it is the minimum you should use and is better than nothing are probably giving you the best answer.

Theory in practice: My primary carry is a S&W .357 Model 66-3. My secondary carry is a mid-size .380 (Bersa CC) for throwing in my pocket. It works great with dress pants. I live in the South, where 9 months out of the year, it's hard to conceal a large gun with a tucked in shirt. Folks up North or those in very rural areas don't understand this concept... they don't walk around all day in kakis and a button up shirt, tucked in.

Carry the most you can, but carry often.

 

[MCgunner]

The only reason to carry the .380 over the 9 or .38 IMHO is when a LCP or P3AT is all the gun you can manage to conceal. That really never happens with me. I kinda wanna pick one up, but it ain't that big a desire.

 

[wrs840]

Originally Posted by wrs840
Does that include Speer Gold Dot 90gr GDHP? (it's the only 380 defense round I can find).

Then you're not looking very hard. Federal Hydra-Shok comes in .380 as does Corbon DPX.

In stock, I meant. It's the only .380 defense round I can find anywhere that is currently in stock and available for purchase.

Les

 

[MCgunner]

A quick search over at Box 'O Truth shows a "Small Guns" test. The .380 JHP penetrates 4 water jugs (shot from a Kel-Tec). The 9mm JHP out of a Makarov penetrates ony 2 jugs. Hmmmmm.

Just in case you don't know, 9x18 makarov ain't that much more than a .380, 260 ft lbs vs 200, about. My 9x19 Kel Tec puts up 410 ft lbs with a 115 grain Hornady XTP/JHP. That's pretty close to most .357 magnums with 2" barrels and a lot less recoil and muzzle blast with more firepower.

I have a .380, but I never really carry the thing. I just don't trust it to expand AND penetrate, though that Hornady personal defense stuff looks pretty good if you rely on the caliber. I can tell ya this, I wouldn't wanna be shot center mass with a .380. I just feel a little more comfy with a 9mm +P, a real 9, not a Makarov. I carry a .38 special a lot, though, +P is about equal to the Makarov in energy. But, the advantage is more penetration through more bullet weight/SD using 158 grain bullets. Any of these rounds can save your life and really, it's all in the platform you can comfortably shoot and carry 24/7. For me, it's the little KT P11. But, if all you can carry in your daily attire comfortably 24/7 is a LCP, go for it. Being armed 24/7 is more important than caliber IMHO, and being able to shoot well with what you choose. One thing's for sure, these tiny little .380s being as small and light as the old .25s back in the day, we do have much better choices now days.