Why not a HUGE capacity .380?

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Hokkmike

Hokkmike

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I was just wondering, given the preference of many for 15-17 round magazines in their 9mm's, why somebody doesn't come up with a pistol that loads 20 - 25 rounds of .380's into a magazine.

I do know one guy, with a GLOCK 37, that says he has an extended 29 round magazine for his .40 caliber pistol. I have not seen it.
 
The magazine would have to be too long. Once you have double stacked you can't get any more in there without adding length.
 
.380 and 9mm are the same diameter, you won't get any more .380 in a mag than 9mm. The 37 is .45GAP. Those Scherer mag's are for .40 and they don't even work well for the .40 they are designed for.
 
Why not a HUGE capacity .380?
Click to expand...

Why? There wouldn't be much benefit.

The magazine's going to be the same length as the equivalent capacity 9mm, give or take a few percent.
 
The case diameter of the 9mm and .380 are the same. So why not just go with a 20-25 round 9mm handgun?
Click to expand...

why not go with a 9mm pocket pistol?!

iv been asking for it for a while. a 9mm Browning 1903 pockethammerless
 
The whole purpose of the .380 is as a very small, compact "pocket pistol".

Increase the magazine capacity and the gun is no longer compact, and you might as well get a full 9mm.

In the 1960's Mauser reintroduced the Mauser HSc, which was one of the famed small pocket autos of the 1930's.
They made it for a few years, then sold or leased the design to the Gamba company of Italy.
They made the gun as-is for a time, then during the high capacity craze in the 1970's and 80's they altered it to a double stack 10 round gun.
Problem was, this made the butt wider and much longer, ruining the compactness.
It didn't sell and was soon dropped.

Again, a high capacity .380 defeats the purpose. If you want an higher capacity gun, buy a 9mm.
 
There's a discontinued Taurus pistol based on the PT-9xx medium frame that has 17 round capacity mags. You might be able to find it on GB.
 
Same size as 9mm, diameter-wise. Now, you could make a very high-cap .25 or .32... the CZ 83 that holds 12-13 .380 rounds holds 15 .32s. No idea how many .25s it could hold. In a Beretta 92-sized package... probably around 17-20 .32s.
 
Hi-cap .380's are great for countries that don't allow civilian ownership of military calibers. I don't care to own one for the reasons already stated by others.

Glock 25's and 28's are available overseas with factory 19 round mags as an option.

There's a 19+1 Taurus .380 that's been "coming soon" for awhile. I've heard it's now available stateside:
PISTOLA%20PT%2058%20HC%20PHUS%20OXI.jpg

http://www.taurususa.com/products/product-details.cfm?id=457&category=Pistol
 
The Grendel P-12 is one of the smallest double stack .380s I'm aware of. Note that the Glock 19 and 26 pistols are also available in .380 as the models 25 and 28 with the same magazine capacities as their 9mm brethren- they just don't qualify for US import.
 
Sorry for my previous comments.

I should have said, because not enough of a market exists for high capacity .380 when other alternatives are available, such as 9mm.

WJR
 
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WJR, there are folks who have physical limitations who can't handle larger calibers. It may be something they were born with, it may be the result of arthritis, it may be the result of an injury. It may just be old age where these iron men, veterans of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam are getting on in years, and their hands and wrists just cant take shooting their 1911s anymore. It may be a Desert Storm, Southern Watch, Northern Watch, OEF, or OIF veteran who can no longer shoot a heavier recoiling gun because of an injury sustained while serving their country. Think about that before you call folks names just because they want a smaller caliber.
 
Just for sake of clarity, the .380 ACP case-head diameter is a tiny bit smaller than the 9x19 mm head though they both use .355" diameter bullets. Perhaps that extra bit might allow a solitary additional cartridge in an already large capacity magazine that has some wiggle room.
 
Because .380 is for wankers who cannot handle 9mm or especially .45 acp.

. . . and you frequent The High Road for what reason again?

RE: .380 high cap, I agree with the sentiment that it's a great round for subcompact guns, not so much for full sized pistols.

jm
 
One of the semi auto mac 11 clones maybe? They are still fairly small and are technically handguns. I'm not a big fan of the hi cap .380 either but I'm fairly happy with my CZ 83 and my hi cap Russian Makarov is ok. I shot a Taurus Pt58 before and it was serviceable. But it was in the size class of a Glock 19.
 
The general sort of idea has been used before... there was a subgun called the American-180 which was full auto, 1200rpm, and started out with a 176 round magazine of .22LR. They later made up to 275 round magazines. Interestingly, it was designed by Dick Casull, who was also responsible for the .454 Casull. He went a lot of different directions.

I think the real reason is that if people are going to carry a big enough pistol to carry 15+ rounds of a small caliber that is often considered "marginal," they'd rather carry a larger caliber that has a better chance of stopping a fight with fewer shots.
 
Seems to me there are alot of folks who have never handled or shot a Beretta 84 or a Browning BDA380. I have the BDA and its a fantastic shooter.
 
Because .380 is for wankers who cannot handle 9mm or especially .45 acp.
Click to expand...
Actually, recoil on many .380 caliber guns is WORSE than 9mm or 45 because the 380 often uses a blowback system.
 
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