Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Would You Trust Your Life With A 380?

Simple question: Would you trust your life with a .380?

I'm not interested in: if you can carry a bigger gun, then carry one. I just want to know if you, personally, would feel safe carrying a .380 only.

NO.

Hope is not a strategy.

A reliable 380 is interchangeable with a 38 snub. I have carried both and felt much safer than if I wasn't carrying anything.

A hatchet and a good stout knife would beat them both at bad breath distance.

I would bet a lot of people that wouldn't trust a 380 would still hunt with a fast twist 223.

the deer that I'd hunt with a fast twist 223 aren't trying to kill me at the same time that I'm trying to kill them.

if all that I could stuff in my pockets and carry all day was a 380 with good ammo I would carry that gun and be prepared to shoot twice.

Modern statistics compiled about the different calibers shows that the 380 is indeed a viable choice.
I alternate between 9mm and 380 and feel that i am adequately protected.
If I lived in one of the ant farms ( large cities ) I would re evaluate.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A 380 is better than nothing and a lot of calibers are inferior to it. They are better than nothing too. That said, I got rid of the last 380 I had because the danged thing hurt to fire it. With the advent of the Sig P938, I can see no reason to carry a 380 since the Sig is nearly as small as any 380.

A lot would depend on which gun and load and how well I could fire it. I'd rather have a 380 that was reliable and that I shot well than a bigger gun that I didn't. I don't think I'd want a 380 that was only reliable with Ball ammo because the 380's stopping power could hinge on utilizing the best ammo.

Daily, no.

But under certain circumstances, yes. One to the pumpkin should do the trick.

Sometimes it's a BUG, sometimes it's not

As I tell anybody considering the .380 for self defense: you shoot somebody with that and you're gonna piss them off.

Don

No way would I daily carry a 380 as my primary weapon. Have any of you guys that carry them ever shot any deer sized game with the 380. I know it can work and has but penetration coupled with expansion is not the 380's strong suite.
The 9mm comes in small packages these days and is a much better option.

Always practice head shots!!

Simple answer is yes...have total confidence in the Kahr P380 I carry when I can not carry a bigger gun. It is loaded with Underwood 65 grain Xtreme Defender and have no doubt it is going to do a lot more than "piss someone off".

I shoot the gun just as well as I do any of my defensive guns and qualified with the same score as my Glock 19.

But as said, 95% of the time I carry a larger gun but have total confidence that this gun will get the job done...

Bob

IIRC, that was for the .25ACP..

I'm OK with a .380 around here - but the closer I get to the Twin Cities area the larger the caliber and capacity..

And ammo for the .380, IMHO, has really evolved.. The stuff that was available even 10 years ago wouldn't do much. Nowadays, some ammo offerings are definitely more lethal..

FWIW.

Go ahead and volunteer to prove that dumbass theory.

Your question assumes that there is a handgun caliber commonly chambered in defensive handguns out there that passes a certain clear threshold of power that one ought to feel certain that it will stop an attacker cold. There's not. It's a continuum from .22 Short to .50 AE. The choice as to which one to carry comes down to a series of compromises with regard to tote-ability, concealability, shootability, capacity, power, etc., etc.. Everyone has their own personal reasons for their choices and minimums.

For me, my personal minimum is 9mm/.38 Special, as a primary carry. I have no problem with anything from .22 Short on up to .380 as a SHTF, deep concealment, backup gun, though. It's a matter of balancing various compromises.

Have you compared it side-by-side with a Ruger LCP? Not the new one, which is a little bigger, but the original LCP. There's a fairly significant difference in all dimensions.

If I had to. I had a Sig P238 a while back that had good sights and was fun to shoot. I got rid of it before I heard of the Lehigh Xtreme Penetrator. I would test those if I had to carry a .380.