I've carried and used a Browning HP as a trail gun. Like Kevin mentioned, make sure you use hollow points.
From what I've seen, a .380 could be such a gun, but that depends on the gun.
The problem revolves around sights, trigger break and accuracy. There simply are very few 380/9mm guns that can match a good Smith revolver, like the 3 inch, M60's in that catagory.
BTW, the .22 RF Magnum does alot better on small stuff than you'd ever think.
But the real sleeper in the area of really light and deadly is the 5.7 FN. Next year, I'm planning on loading mine to 1800-1900 fps with some 40-45 gr. soft point ammo. E
