Do you trust .380 ACP?

[Mr.Glock]

Even the lowly .22 can save your life. I don't care if you weigh 400 pounds, a well placed .22 will ruin your day.

Picked a big Indian man up onetime with 11 22LR in his belly, he was walking down the street. I would only carry a small caliber till I could afford/find a bigger one!


A man who works with Lions does not enter with a twig!

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

Do it like this.

View attachment 404268

Gotta protect that swoosh in the hood...

 

[hipshot]

Even the lowly .22 can save your life. I don't care if you weigh 400 pounds, a well placed .22 will ruin your day.

A kid I grew up with in Texas had an alcoholic dad who was a great guy and knew to stay home if he was drinking, one night a cop stopped us while we were cruising the town drag and said my friend needed to go to hospital concerning his dad, we got there and found out his dad had decided to see how much it hurt to get shot?? He had a pretty big belly and got on his knees and had his belly on coffee table and shot a .22 round straight down thru the fat to avoid vitals, he said the first thing he did was run about 3 laps around the house because it felt like fire in his gut ! With that lesson still in my head I believe a .22 would change most people’s attitude pretty quick !

 

[geezer77]

This maybe belongs in a different thread category, but here goes:
I'm not proud to admit that 65 years ago at 16 I shot myself in the left calf with a .22LR pistol, using with a standard velocity round nose 40 grain (don't remember if they even sold HV hollow points back then) from my dad's High Standard target pistol. The bullet tunneled straight down under the skin about 6 inches, exited just above the ankle, and ended up stuck inside my shoe. It felt like a severe yellowjacket sting but luckily didn't bleed a lot and there wasn't much lingering pain - it just scared the holy crap out of me. I wrapped my calf with a bandana, walked 1/4 mile back through the woods to my Granddad's house, said goodbye as if nothing had happened, drove back to town, bought some peroxide and bandages at the local Rexall, and doused it down good and taped it up. Healed up just fine. I can still see the little entrance and exit scars. The worst part is I had "borrowed" my dad's nice Hi-Standard target pistol (which had a very sensitive trigger) while he was out of town, so I was pretty sure certain death awaited me when he returned unless I kept the incident to myself, so I did. Told my mom about it 20 years later while I was home on leave to attend dad's funeral. She did not appreciate the humor in the story at first, but later we had a good laugh about it.

Lessons learned:
(1) Ask before you borrow your dad's guns.
(2) If you shoot right-handed and you think you're getting pretty good with your right hand at shooting tin cans thrown in the air using your left hand, do not switch hands. Those untrained fast-twitch muscles in your left hand are not your friends.

 

[RickN]

I carry a 380 during warm weather and trust it. Remember the 380 is very popular in many parts of the world. Sometimes even a a duty gun. I think it is fine for a pocket pistol.

 

[O4L]

I've never owned one and if it was all I had I would carry it, but I prefer other calibers.

I've actually been thinking about going from 9mm back to .357 Sig or maybe even 10mm.

 

[BillM]

I've been known to carry a .380 autoloader, but have in the past carried .38 revolver because i trusted the stopping power of the .38 +p more than the .380. but the .380 would be a lot easier to get follow up shots with, and ammo capacity isn't an issue. Granted, with training, you can get pretty quick with .38 revolver reloads. But i remember the lessons of Newhall and the 1986 miami shootout. in the Newhall Incident, four officers stopped 2 suspects. all 4 officers were killed in the ensuing gunbattle, one of them was killed while reloading his revolver. The suspect ran up to him, and put a bullet in his brain from behind. He didn't have a speedloader for his .38.

So i was hoping to pick ya'lls brain, lot of experience in these boards. maybe get a different perspective on the matter. they say the .380 is a marginal round, how do you feel about it? the FBI wrote it off as insufficient, and in winter idk how it would perform. these days, they have really good pocket 9 MM options such as the Sig p365. it's still not a pocket pistol, like the .380 or .38 can be.

Do you trust the .380 with your life?

I actually prefer a 30mm, but they're pretty tough to carry, and the recoil is hell. I will settle for a .45, but only because OK law doesn't allow a .50 caliber. I also have .38 spcl/.357mag, because I couldn't afford a 2nd 1911, and my wife can't handle them. I'd consider a .22lr, since I have one. Pretty sure I can hit what I need to hit, but also know some folks need a lot of hitting to take down.

Mom had a skinny, naked, Mexican teenager removed from her bathroom by several cops one day. He crippled the first two before they took him down. Angel Dust.

Lotsa hitting, perfect shot placement, and a great deal of luck are required.

Taught my wife to keep shooting until the threat stops. Her favorite pistol only holds 5 shots. Bought her 6 speed loaders. Her dexterity and strength are no longer all that great. Trigger thumb in both hands. Just hope I'm with her if she ever needs to fight. Not that I expect us to win...

 

[Mr.Glock]

When I seen what a 380 round did NOT do to a coyote in a hay barn hitting it twice in the gut broadside, I gave up on the round.

 

[John6185]

I had a Taurus that was miserable for me. I have a Beretta 84 that is great.

Taurus bad, Beretta is good, has a good reputation and has class.

 

[okietool]

Taurus bad, Beretta is good, has a good reputation and has class.

The 84 is a beautiful
Pistol.