I still love the .380 as my carry gun. It’s light enough that I barely feel it there. It’s accurate and has enough power to get the job done.
It’s not my favorite gun at the range though as most have shorter barrels.
I rarely see them at the range and hear more people dismissive of them as opposed to favorable?
I’m curious why.

Its niche is mostly for pocket-sized guns like the LCP, which aren't really "fun" at the range. A secondary niche is a chambering in larger but still compact guns (e.g., P365, S&W EZ) for lower recoil than 9mm Luger. Most of us will opt for the more powerful cartridge. .380 is 20-25% costlier than 9mm. 9mm also has a greater variety of loads available. In my personal ammo "stockpile" .380 is lowest priority. That goes to 9mm and 5.56, secondarily to .22LR and 12-gauge.

There is no point for the .380, when you can have the 9mm Para, to me.

My P238 is so manageable and more than accurate enough. Not to mention it is easy to hide. I enjoy carrying mine.

quote:

Originally posted by Vaftocr:
It’s accurate and has enough power to get the job done.

I don’t want to get shot with one, but .380 terminal ballistics are pretty anemic. I enjoy shooting my P230, but I can get a 9mm in the same size platform.

I'm closing in on 81 years and do have some physical disabilities that include a dead right foot and calf. I use a cane and prefer the lighter recoil of the 365-380 and G42.

I've owned a number of .380s over the years and even carried a P238 a few times as a gun of comfort and convenience, specifically with regards to pocket carrying. However its crazy amount of buildup of pocket lint around the cocked hammer went a ways in changing my mind.

I recently bought a LCP Max as a "maybe I'll pocket carry this" backup, which after I put a fair number of rounds now seems a bit of me diving off into a pool of wishful thinking. In the end I'd rather have the superior power of a 9mm (in the form of a Shield+) in the backup role to my EDC G23. Despite its greater power, the Shield+ is a more comfortable and controllable shooter than the punier Ruger thanks to that larger surface area that the S&W affords.

Over the years I have seen several people shot with a .380 and overall not impressed with what I saw. Many moons ago went to a domestic with a shooting and get there to find a BM with a bit of pot belly standing in the driveway. When I asked who was shot he lifted his shirt and showed me two bullet holes. They may as well have been mosquito bites the way he was acting.
After that my on duty ankle gun was switched to a J frame with either +p or Gold Dot Short Barrel.
I'm sure .380 ammo has improved since then but I personally don't use it. Whats funny is I've also seen people die with both .25acp and .22LR. So who knows-

quote:

I rarely see them at the range and hear more people dismissive of them as opposed to favorable?
I’m curious why.

Blame technology, higher priced ammo, and a sometimes heavier recoil (in blowback designs).

In its hay-day, .380 enjoyed being one of the only pocketable light auto pistols that people could easily shoot and conceal. And it was somewhat more effective than .32Auto. Fast forward to today and we have smaller, lighter, higher capacity 9mm variants that can easily do all and more than the .380 could. And 9mm can be found for about $12/box.

The .380 still has its place, and it's an effective tool. However, the proliferation of polymer frames, smaller designs, and cheaper ammo have relegated the .380 to the back burner for many owners.

I still enjoy guns like the G42 and the original LCP for a light weight throw-it-in-the-pocket-and-go type of gun, but if I'm going to the trouble of a belt and a holster, I'm choosing something different.

When I started concealed carrying more than 30 years ago, a compact 9mm was a P228 or Glock 19 sized gun. If you wanted a smaller carry gun you needed to shift to a small frame 38 revolver or a sub 9mm gauge. Something like a Walther PPK or an Sig P230 chambered in 380 were at the top of the food chain. Some claim the blowback design cause the recoil to be sharp, but I still find it lighter and I am capable of Alpha hits as fast as I can pull the trigger at defensive distances. While I still own a P230 and a PPK/s from that era as well as a few more modern 380 autos I rarely carry one anymore.

With the advent of the mini wonder 9s, I no longer have to compromise ballistics. I started with a P938 and eventually moved to the P365 which is virtually the same size than the old 380s that I have and I shoot them just as well. For those more recoil sensitive, a 380 still makes a ton of sense. When you factor in that 380 now cost 50%+ more than 9mm it becomes even more practical to shoot and practice with 9mm.

I do not dislike 380 and do not fault anyone from carrying a 380 if it works for them.

Every decision relating to self-defense and its weapons involves compromises. For the person who cannot properly and effectively operate or shoot a 380 Auto-sized handgun in 9mm Luger, then a useful compromise is to choose the less powerful cartridge. For anyone else, though, a 9mm makes more sense.

Is it possible to have a defensive handgun that’s too powerful? Yes. Dirty Harry would have been better off with an S&W model 27 or 19 in 357 Magnum rather than a 29 in 44 Mag. But that isn’t true of choosing 9mm over 380.

quote:

Originally posted by 400m:
My P238 is so manageable and more than accurate enough. Not to mention it is easy to hide. I enjoy carrying mine.

I love mine too. Colt gets most of the credit for its clever design, but SIG gets credit for its good quality of manufacture.

A less capable cartridge for more money than 9mm.
No longer a gun size advantage.
Fewer gun options than 9mm.

I don't "love" the .380acp round, but my wife does. She loves her G42, which for her is a softer shooting, more manageable carry gun than my G43. And she likes her S&W EZ in .380 for her sewing room gun. I only have two guns chambered for that round, a Beretta 85BB, a neat little gun, and an LCP that serves as my BUG. So yes, the .380 cartridge has a place in our household.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
There is no point for the .380, when you can have the 9mm Para, to me.

Exactly, no point at all, sub-par ballistics, more expensive than 9mm.
I went sans-380 when I got rid of my unreliable, awful-shooting PPKS years ago.

I loved the look of a few of my former .380’s, but for whatever reason I never had one that I trusted; more stove-pipes and jams than any other pistol I’ve ever shot.

It served a limited purpose when .380 guns had a size advantage.

But now that a number of excellent microcompact 9mms are widely available, there's little point in going with a .380.

Dig around on the terminal ballistics of the round. For a long time they couldn't get .32 and .380 to expand reliably. It's gotten a lot better, but compact and subcompact 9mm have gotten more reliable at the same time.

quote:

Originally posted by Alyron:
Over the years I have seen several people shot with a .380 and overall not impressed with what I saw. Many moons ago went to a domestic with a shooting and get there to find a BM with a bit of pot belly standing in the driveway. When I asked who was shot he lifted his shirt and showed me two bullet holes. They may as well have been mosquito bites the way he was acting. Whats funny is I've also seen people die with both .25acp and .22LR. So who knows-

I encountered this same thing multiple times. It does seem to happen more with th .22, .25 and .32s. I have also seen multiple people killed with these rounds. Location and luck of the draw play a hand in this. I also think many of the perpetrators use whatever rounds they get their hands on.
Many good points made by others. The rounds are more than .9mm, which is a deterrent. I like my P230 to carry but it’s not fun at the range.

Put me in the 380 P238 camp. When a Dan Wesson CCO in 45ACP is impractical to carry, the P238 serves well.

To those that poo-poo the caliber I'd remind them that shot placement is the more important factor. This in addition to improvements in the ammunition designs for the 380 in recent years.