Your thoughts on .380 ACP?

[limitdown]

I've rented them at the range a few times and thought it was a good round. However, my difficulty in finding readily available and cheap .380 ammo turned me off.

[Bug Splat]

BTW I keep mine loaded with FMJ rounds. Under penetration was my worry. I figured if I have to use a 380 FMJ maybe it wont kill the attacker but it will put some distance between us by either him running away or allowing me to run away and get to my bigger stoppers.

[dragon7]

4" S&W 686 with 125 gr JHP vs. AMT .380 with 90 gr JHP. .380 hurts more to shoot and is harder to get back on target.

[gotsig]

4" S&W 686 with 125 gr JHP vs. AMT .380 with 90 gr JHP. .380 hurts more to shoot and is harder to get back on target.

Your comparing apples to oranges. The 686 is an excellent carry gun, but you really cant put it in your back pocket. The AMT, or most 380's for that matter, make good (not excellent) backup/pocket guns.
If you reload, 380 is a very cheap, easy round to reload. I load 95gr. LRN on 3gr. 231 for less than 10 cents a round. Nobody can argue that trigger time does not help.

[five.five-six]

I'd like to know what everyone thinks about .380 ACP

it's better than airsoft, or even a paintball gun

[LGB Loader]

it's better than airsoft, or even a paintball gun

I dont know... I have heard that if you freeze the paint balls, they hurt like hell.

Me personally, if someone pulls a hand gun on me, I would probably soil my underpants before I even have a chance to try and read the slide to check what caliber it is. And even if the 380 is not as powerful as a 9mm, I still would not want to get shot with one.

LGB

[weezil_boi]

A .380 is better than nothing. Having said that I heard of an incident where an off duty officer fired a .380 at a robbery suspect at an ATM. Three to the chest and then the suspect ran off. He was later caught with three welts on his chest. The pea coat stopped all three rounds. It did scare the suspect away so I guess you can say it worked. I quit carrying a .380 off duty. I now carry a 5 shot .38.

tagged for follow up...

Now you've got me curious. Next time I get out to the hills we'll run some 380 though several guns and test. I have some old clothes I was going to throw out, but now have a purpose

Regarding the effectiveness of the 380...

give this a read:

http://hunting.about.com/od/guns/l/aast9mmv380a.htm

Its not even close, 9mm is way better ( check out the #s on the Rem golden sabers... Ive long said they tear up better than all that other crap )

that said... id sure as heck hate to get stung by a 380! even with a jacket on

[oddjob]

To make your test easier I would suggest using only thick clothes one would wear in the cold (pea coat, leather coat & etc).
Beside the clothes you might need a standard to measure by. Ballistic gel is too complicated for this kind of a simple test. I would suggest water soaked thick phone books as a test medium. Thats what I used for demo purposes when I was a LEO range type dude. I soaked them in 5 gallon buckets of water and shot old kevlar vests to demo impacts. Wanna have a realistic test and have fun? Shoot sheet rock (make a small test wall), a car door, a windshield (half a one is cool) & other stuff. If you do this test try to use a .25 acp, 22 lr, 32 acp & the .380. Trust me....its fun and educational!

[TestPilot]