{"id":319,"date":"2017-11-28T11:17:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T17:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/?p=319"},"modified":"2017-11-28T11:17:03","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T17:17:03","slug":"thoughts-about-the-380","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/thoughts-about-the-380\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts about the .380"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah, the ubiquitous .380!\u00a0 They seem to be everywhere.\u00a0 The firearms industry is seeing enormous growth with this little pocket gun.\u00a0 That growth is driven, in large part, by the ever-increasing numbers of people, especially women, getting a Concealed Carry license, and wanting a small, light, easy-to-conceal firearm for personal protection.\u00a0 But is the .380 really a good choice?<\/p>\n

In the 1950s, most police in Europe carried sidearms chambered in either .32 Cal (AKA 7.65 Browning) or its big brother, the .380 ACP (AKA 9mm Short, 9mm Browning, and others).\u00a0 As the name implies, the .380 was a scaled-down 9mm.\u00a0 The diameter of the bullet is the same, but the cartridge is shorter, which means less gunpowder, less muzzle velocity, and less energy transfer to the target.\u00a0 Police would not consider carrying a gun like this today, but 60 years ago, men weighed 160 lbs, and were seldom in the psychotic condition caused by today’s drugs.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today.\u00a0 Clearly the .380 will cause fatal wounds, as they are often carried by street criminals and drug dealers.\u00a0 There is considerable debate about whether the .380 will stop someone quickly enough, but good shot placement will mitigate that.\u00a0 A bigger question is whether someone who is not an expert can handle one of these well enough to protect themselves in a crisis?\u00a0 Both handling and accuracy are issues with smaller guns.<\/p>\n

Handguns are built in various sizes, or form factors, often described by names like Duty, Compact, or Subcompact (Micro).\u00a0 Sizing is usually relative to the caliber, but you can find exceptions.\u00a0 Most people understand that a Micro .45 will require strength and experience to handle, while a Duty-sized .380 doesn’t make much sense.\u00a0 Nevertheless, most people who carry a .380 do so either because they are pocket-sized, they should<\/em><\/span> have less recoil, or both.\u00a0 But do they have less recoil?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Larger\/heavier guns exhibit less felt recoil than smaller\/lighter guns.\u00a0 In the image above, all the guns on the top row have polymer frames, while the two on the bottom are all steel.\u00a0 The S&W .380 and the SIG are similar in size, and the same caliber, but the SIG, being heavier, will appear to be softer shooting.\u00a0 The Glock and the S&W Shield are similar in size, and both polymer, but the Shield is 9mm, so it will seem to have more recoil.\u00a0 The Glock and the CZ have the greatest disparity; the CZ has an advantage in both size and weight, and the Glock, for reasons known only to Glock, will only shoot reliably the lightest of bullets, which minimizes stopping power.<\/p>\n

The easiest of these five to conceal are the S&W .380 and the SIG.\u00a0 The easiest to control are probably the Glock and the CZ.\u00a0 The most stopping power is the Shield.\u00a0 The fact is, there is an inescapable trade-off between concealability and usability, based simply on physics.<\/p>\n

There is yet another factor to consider here.\u00a0 The cycling action in a semi-automatic is driven by the rearward force of the cartridge firing.\u00a0 In a .45, this force is so powerful that hardly anything can stop it, but with a .380, the performance margins are much thinner.\u00a0 Depending on the make, these guns will sometimes be susceptible to variables like bullet profile, bullet weight, good grip, or lubrication.\u00a0 “Limp-wristing<\/em>” malfunctions are not uncommon, and sometimes hard to avoid, based on the size of the grip.<\/p>\n

Users often think that a smaller gun is just like a larger gun, except smaller, and that is a huge over-simplification.\u00a0 Many experienced shooters consider the .380 to be not a serious gun.<\/p>\n

This should not be taken to suggest that a .380 is not reliable, but rather to suggest that a user should opt for the largest gun they can conceal (which is not always important, anyway), or the smallest gun with which they will actually practice.\u00a0 Several companies make a small 9mm which is almost as small as a medium-sized .380, so in that case, there is no benefit to using the .380, unless you absolutely have to have a gun you can fit into a shirt pocket.<\/p>\n

If it is small size and high reliability you seek, don’t overlook the 5-shot .38 revolver (I prefer those with a hammer).\u00a0 The learning curve is a little longer, but they are very safe to carry, as powerful as a 9mm, and, if you pay close attention when loading, they are off the charts in reliability.\u00a0 While it is true they only carry 5 rounds, most pocket .380s only carry 6-7.\u00a0 If you are going to be limited to 5-6 shots, they should be as hard-hitting as possible, in order to disable the threat.\u00a0 The revolver also eliminates the grip-strength problem faced by many women.<\/p>\n

When choosing a handgun for personal protection, don’t go overboard making it easy on yourself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ah, the ubiquitous .380!\u00a0 They seem to be everywhere.\u00a0 The firearms industry is seeing enormous growth with this little pocket gun.\u00a0 That growth is driven, in large part, by the ever-increasing numbers of people, especially women, getting a Concealed Carry license, and wanting a small, light, easy-to-conceal firearm for personal protection.\u00a0 But is the .380 … Continue reading “Thoughts about the .380”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326,"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions\/326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}