Pings to those that expressed interest in the prior ones.
I admit I know little about ballistics or how good a 380 is supposed to be.
But I’ve owned 2 380 autos, our daughter 1. We just were not impressed.
The next on the ladder is the 9 mm. I’ve owned three of those, and in terms of accuracy and penetration, they are OK.
But my favorites are the 38, 357, 40 and 45. If you’ve got to get serious with an opponent, then you need serious hardware.
Then there’s the 410 Taurus Judge firing pellets or discs. You just cannot miss and the penetration is awesome.
The .380 you have with you beats the 9mm in the night stand every time.
L
I’ve done some of my own testing of Critical Defense ammo in my Ruger LCP. I would NOT want to get shot with one of these things.
According to DOJ crime statistics, guns are used somewhere between 235,700 and 2,500,000 times per year to stop crimes, 98% of the time without a shot being fired.
In other words, a .22 is as good as a Howitzer 98% of the time.
Source: GunFacts.info
https://www.gunfacts.info/pdfs/gun-facts/7.0/gun-facts-7.0-screen.pdf
As always, thank you for your efforts.
I think the big takeaway is that the .380 is not the perfect self defense round.
But neither is any other pistol round, with the possible exception of the big boomers.
It’s rare that anyone carries a big boomer everywhere.
But if you need something credible and light, .380 with a good round is adequate.
And there’s at least a half dozen good rounds.
Saber, Hornady and Federal to start.
Aim for the eyes. Or the groin.
One of the more interesting defensive rounds for the .380ACP is made by Underwood and is loaded with a machined solid copper projectile made by Lehigh. It weighs 90 grains and has an advertised velocity of 1100 FPS. Of course, YMMV. The flutes in the projectile are made to cause a level of hydrostatic shock much in excess of the .355” diameter of the projectile. It is barrier blind and does not need to expand to be effective. I load these rounds in my Colt Mustang Pocketlite, my Ruger LCR .38 SPL, and my 1911 Commander .45ACP which are my carry guns depending on my “wardrobe”. They’re expensive rounds but how much are YOU worth?
We have a Ruger 380 LCP. I don't really have any gripes against the round, but the little LCP... I think I've resolved to maybe find a different single stack 380 with better ergos.
Most of the time I carry a 380 ACP or 9mm. In special situations I will carry a .357 Mag or if in the deep woods a .44 Rem Mag.
I have no concerns carrying a .380 ACP with a spare magazine full of ammo. The .32 AVP and .380 ACP don't get the respect they deserve.
bkmk
Nota bene:
Before I wrote this, but after I collected the data, PoliceOne did a 3 part article of their own about the clear gel.
In the articles, I’d put reference lines up around the FBI 12” and 18” marks and expansion guidelines.
The article is convincing enough to me that I’ve put a caveat around assuming that these results are the same as lab-quality tests in the organic gel. The good news is I stand by the conclusions as the volume of data, compared to *itself*, supports “light expanding” rounds and 3”+ barrels as key factors.
Please just don’t say “well STB got 14” or Lucky Gunner got 13 so it meets FBI spec.” It might; but it’s not 1:1 for sure.