Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Anyone Deer Hunt With 380 Or 32 ACP?

The case is far from closed.

You speak from your experiences or from the experiences related to you by others. If a 45 suits you in all situations, all power to you. I am glad you found something that makes you comfortable.

I speak from my experiences and from the experiences that have been related to me by others. I like a 45 or something bigger but am comfortable carrying a smaller weapon in a variety of situations.

To each his own.

I hope that your condemnation of the smaller chamberings will not convince people who would have a difficult time using a 45 to go unarmed if they can only handle a 380.

Minnesota as well. Any centerfire over .22 cal last I checked.

I do not care what you carry but the fact is they are very anemic and are not adequate and that is not opinion that is fact

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Of course a 380 is anemic compared to bigger chamberings. A 45 ACP is fairly anemic compared to the 44 Mag I carry in the woods. A 44 Magnum is fairly anemic compared to a 500 S&W. It is all relative.

I hope you do not convince people to go unarmed just because they are not comfortable carrying the same type of weapon you do.

edit: "Not adequate" is opinion and not fact since there is no absolute measure of what must be accomplished with the firearm. A single shot shooting 22 shorts is quite adequate in some situations while a 45 ACP is terribly lacking in others.

You are missing the point the 380 is anemic to the point of not being adequate to defend yourself or your loved ones from a determined attacker

Have you ever shot an animal with one in the hunting fields? I think not judging by your posts.

No not adequate is a fact and not an opinion, you not accepting the fact does not make the fact invalid. It is also a fact that an inadequate firearm is better than no firearm. A 357 mag is not an adequate revolver for protection against big Alaska grizzly/Brown bears but I know of one case where it stopped and attack after being shot in the mouth the bear simply walked away. 2 weeks latter fish and game had no located the bear.

The 45 ACP loaded properly is not inadequate in the scenario that this thread is discussing but the 380 definitely is inadequate to argue otherwise is simply ridiculous

From 22's to 380's (and everything in-between) these enemic and useless calibers have been used very effectively (even predominantly) by the worst and untrained vile elements of our society to wreak havoc and mayhem for decades.

That's no reason for a prudent person to do so likewise - but if someone really objects to my carrying a 22, 32, or 380 ... SHOVE IT!

I carry what I want - when I want - and why I want.
I am also very comfortable NOT carrying 24/7.
I also quit sleeping with a loaded gun. (mostly)

Like I have posted numerous times I personally do not care what you or anyone else carries or does not carry, but facts are facts when it comes to an adequate cartridge. Period

You are still going back to the false premise that shooting a deer in a hunting situation is the same as defending yourself against some undetermined level of aggressive behavior by one or several humans. Those are two different scenarios that do not overlap very much. Your saying that they are the same does not make them so. The purpose of the deer hunting firearm is to kill quickly. The purpose of a defensive weapon is to stop the aggression. Those are two completely different things.

Why in the world would I want to try to shoot Bambi with a 380 or a 45 ACP when I have so many much better chamberings available. I have put down wounded deer with a 9mm and a 22 but would certainly not choose either one as my main hunting arm.

Let me ask you something. Would you advance aggressively on a person holding a 380 or even a 22 pointed at you? If your answer is "no", then the 22 is adequate in that situation.

Would you and ten of your armed fellow gang members charge aggressively at a single person holding a 45? If the answer is "yes", then a 45 is inadequate in that situation. Would the fact that it is a 45 and not a 380 make any difference to you and your gang members?

We could "what if" all day long and find plenty of situations in which the 380 is adequate and others in which the 45 is not. We could also find a bunch in which the 380 is not adequate and many in which the 45 works quite well. Making the blanket statement that a 380 is inadequate and that a 45 is adequate is unrealistic.


I am certainly not suggesting that a 380 is as capable of killing a human quickly in as many situations as is a 45 ACP. Many times, however, stopping an aggression does not require the sudden death of the aggressor. Having in hand a smaller, handier, more concealable, and lower powered weapon is generally much better than having no weapon at all.

As long as the REPLY button exist ....................

Hint: A train with no wheels can't be put back on the tracks.

First off I do not have a false premise although it appears that you do. Have you even read Docrockets post that I quoted? It certainly appears not. If a firearm is not adequate for deer it dam sure is not adequate to protect ones life against a determined attacker that may weigh twice as much and need even more penetration to reach the vitals.

Since test handgun round and or bullets on humans is illegal and rightly so doing so in the hunting fields and the use of properly calibrated ordnance gelatin is an excellent alternative.

Have you ever taken an animal with a handgun? Judging by your post I think not


Once again I met a man that was shot with a 380 and the bullet bounced out and landed on his outstretched hand, he still has the bullet. If this is what you want to use by all means I could care less, but to argue that the 380 is an adequate caliber is beyond reason

The context of this thread the 45 is definitely adequate and the 380 is not, you trying to bring in scenarios that are outside the realm of CCW carry and personnel defense on a normal basis is silly at best and the 380 is inadequate for such use , that is fact that has been proven over and over

Don't you love the "reply" button when you have noting else to do in the morning. It can be quite entertaining to see what sort of stuff rears its head on these forums.

Deer hunting and self defense are quite different. They overlap very very little. What firearm is good for one is not necessarily good for the other. If you do not realize that, then any further discussion is purely for entertainment value.


I do have a question or two.
Did the man shot with the 380 actually advance aggressively on someone holding a 380 pointed at him?

As asked above, would you advance on someone holding a 380 pointed at you? This is not a silly question.

Yep they are different, but have similarities as well both are flesh and blood both need penetration and wound channel, the 3800 offers little of either in both scenarios.


Again you failed to answer my question "if you have ever taken any game with a handgun". It depends on the circumstance as to me advancing on someone with a 380 or any other firearm for that matter.


No matter how you spin it the 380 is not an adequate cartridge for deer hunting or self defense

I have shot unwounded deer and hogs with a handgun. I did read DocRocket's message.

If the situations exists in which you failed to advance on someone holding a 380 on you, then the 380 is perfectly adequate that time. If the situation exists in which you would advance on someone holding a 45 on you, then a 45 is inadequate at that time.

Adequate means in the event of a determined attacker and you must fire , not a cherry picked instance in which you did not fire. Plus the fact that to pull a gun is almost always a good way to get charged with "brandishing". All of the classes that I have attended stated that if you pulled your CCW you better need to use it. One must be in immediate danger of great bodily harm or death and if you have time to hold someone at gun point you probably were not in immediate danger.

WOW, just WOW then

Had a guy in a ccw class once really bad mouthing a .380 and telling others in the class how you were better off not carrying than to carry a .380 ! I had enough and asked him if he really wanted to prove his point and sure enough he said hell yea !! so I asked him to stand at 15 yards and I would shoot him , he declined and never said another word the rest of the day

You must be easily impressed. I actually can read and comprehend the written word. I also have actually spent some time in the field with a variety of weapons over the last 60+ years. That is not all that unusual among the people on this forum.

Did all those classes you took tell you the difference between intentionally going out to kill something and trying to stop some aggressive behavior. You hunt to kill while you arm yourself defensively to stop someone. Stopping someone may involve killing but does not have to do so. Perhaps we should recall the term "neutralize" that was used when I was in the Army many years ago. Something such as a can of bear spray or even wasp spray can be quite effective neutralizing an attacker without killing him. You do not go deer hunting to neutralize the deer. You go out to kill the deer very quickly. Apples and oranges.

interestingly as I have noted before in my years of hunting the guy that comes up with blood on the ground but no deer always shows up the next year with a magnum to fix his problem. just sayin...

I have killed deer with firearms from a 357 Magnum to a 375 H&H Magnum. I have used a 257 Roberts for the last several years with perfect results. Size is not always the most important factor.

The best chance to stop or neutralize a determined attacker is with an adequate cartridge not anemic 380.

You continue to miss the point so I am not convinced of your comprehending abilities

Dispatching wounded game that that can not escape can easily be accomplished with a 22 short behind the ear

A center fire rifle is certainly adequate for deer or self defense