Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 380 is it enough??

Here's an iconic view of Canyon de Chelley.



Watch that first step! (It's 700 feet.)



Oh, yeah - another 5 hours with the .380 in my pocket.

Tomorrow I go to work and the 9mm will be in my car.

Here you go:





I chrono'd this Gold Dot ammo using my Oehler M43.

7 shot average was 1046fps
Standard Deviation was 15fps
and Extreme Spread was 40fps.

Both ammo and gun were at room temp.

Thanks. That is about what I suspected. So that gives ME of 301, 18 momentum and 6 Taylor KO out of a standard velocity round. I would much rather have the extra 34 grains of bullet travelling 100+ feet per second faster at an expense of an extra 4 ounces over the P238. (I realize that it�s an extra 10 ounces for someone who carries a 10 ounce gun.)

lots of folks have expired at the hands of the 9mm kurtz (sp) pretty much the equivalent of the .380

bought my wife one, as one of those is better than nothing.

like others, ain't no warm fuzzies for me figuring on protecting my wife or family with one of them.

no barbs intended at those that make it their choice for carry.

just not for me

hell any handgun for me is just something to sling lead to get thee to a rifle!

but I like mine to begin with a .4????

am thinking with bullet technology available these days, the 9mm stands taller in the saddle than it used to, no flies on it either

but .4? something for me, just a quirk of mine I reckon.

Gotta face it folks... a pocket gun is a pocket gun... Reduce the barrel length and so goes the velocity. I don't remember what the Buffalo Bore .380 hardcast rounds that Safariman sent were but it was close to 1050 from a KelTec 3AT.

Not too long ago there was a program on the ID (Investigative Discovery) Channel on "The .380 Killer". Don't remember what city it was but it was an armed robber that shot all his victims with a .380...most never made it 10' and all died. All with plain old 95 grain FMJ ammo.

I hadn't had a .380 since I sold the MACs (I had three of them) in the late 1990s... When Mackay put out the call for some .380 for his departments new backup guns I found close to 20 boxes that I sent. Along with those FMJs I found 400 rounds of what I used to load commercially that is the same load CorBon now markets with the 90 grain Sierra JHP. I didn't want to send that ammo as it was well over a 1000 fps so I looked around and decided to get a Kahr P380...and found a GREAT deal on one complete with night sights for $100 under wholesale.

The gun is so much more accurate and shootable than the 3AT or KelTec .32s I have been shooting...head shots at 25 yards were very easy with the hotly loaded ammo. I also bought a box of the Buffalo Bore hardcast.

So now that it is finally warm enough to start wearing the Proper BDUs I usually wear during the summer..and the .380 drops right in the pocket using a Desantis BDU holster...







Now I don't plan on leaving home without the .38 Super Commander but usually when in the house I don't have it on...just near by. So for now I'll also carry the Kahr whenever I have the BDUs on...

I think it will work....

Bob

...a .380 shooting...

Have a friend who runs a major security officers school in Durban SA. Was over there visiting him in August of 2001 and got home just before 9/11.

He and his wife have both been carjacked in the driveway of a house they used to live in.

One evening my friend is in the house and hears his wife pull in to the driveway. A few seconds later he hears a "pop" that he recognizes as a gunshot and runs out 1911 in hand.

The drivers door (right side of the car) is open and a BIG "gentleman" is standing there at the edge of the partially open door...he is not moving. My friend runs up and grabs the guy who the collapses to the ground...dead...

The guy had pulled the door open and my friend's wife fired one round from a Beretta .380 and caught him in the throat, the bullet angling up hitting the spine near the junction of the skull...instant "lights out". He died so fast when his jacket got hung up on the door edge he just hung there.

But even though the .380 worked perfectly she did shortly thereafter switch to a Glock 17...

Bob

rjm,

these are two very good, informative posts...

U R welcome....Bob

+1

if you're going to carry a .380, your bullet placement skills better be pretty damn sharp.

I don't need one of those but I sure do want one...

If you are ever passing through my neighborhood, I can let you can shoot mine.