The Littlest Big Thing

Okay, let's talk .380 ACP. You either love it, hate it, or are completely indifferent to it. I've had a couple of .380's and currently own one. I've always been fascinated as much by the small end of the handgun cartridge scale as the big end, and the .380 ACP is generally considerred the top of the little end.

The .380 seems to me to have filled 3 different roles in its history. The first role was that of a cutdown service pistol, like the Colt Mustang, a smaller version of the 1911. The second role, that of a easily concealed weapon, was perhaps more prevalent to the European market than the U.S. although this type of weapon has a following over here. A classic example would be the Walther PPK/S. The final role would be as a last ditch hideout gun. A good example of this would be the AMT Backup, The Guardian, or the Kel-Tec 3AT.

The .380 has always seemed to me to follow behind and gradually replace the 7.65 mm (.32 ACP). If anyone is making a .32 auto in anything larger than Walther PPK size, I haven't seen it lately. As a matter of fact, the most common size .32's I've seen lately have been in the hideout .25 ACP size range, and those are fairly scarce. The only larger .32's I've seen have been used. I ran across a CZ, not sure if I remember the model number. It was a .32 and in decent shape, but the price was a bit high for me at the time, so I couldn't get it. Most of the new .32's I see are Kel-Tec P32's. This is a very nice compact little package with a good reputation as a hide-out gun.

But this blog is about the .380 so let's get back to it. The history of the .380 is reasonable clear.
Or maybe it isn't. The cartridge was designed by John Browning and was either a shortened version of the 9mm parabellum or a scaled down version of Browning's .45 ACP round. It was either introduced in 1912 by FN or 1908 by Colt or both. We do know that the .380 is also known as the 9mm short, 9X17 mm, 9 mm kurtz, 9 mm corto, 9mm Browning, and 9 mm Browning short. We know that it was designed to work in early blowback designed guns and has a relatively low chamber pressure which allows it to work in guns that are less expensive to manufacture, and are lighter and smaller. This also means that it limits the range and stopping power of the cartridge also. The .380 has been adapted as both a police and military cartridge in some countries.

The .380 ACP generally launches a 80 -- 115 grain bullet. A 95 grain bullet will generally travel out of a 4 inch barrel at roughly 950 fps. Remember though every firearm and ever cartidge is different. Most of the popular .380's probably have a barrel shorter than 4 inches also.

You get what you pay for, sometimes.

At one time you would probably be told that the Walther PPK/S was the ultimate .380. If you want to spend the money, you might be happy with a James Bond gun, but personally I hate the trigger and the price tag. Sig Sauer's are also high-end weapons, but are cheaper, and, in my opinion, have a much nicer trigger, are more reliable, and are an all-around better value. If you are budget minded though, the Bersa Thunder 380 has a great trigger, very reliable, excellent fit and finish and can be found for $300 or less in my area. The NAA Guardian is a very popular hide-out gun, it is pricey, but very well made and reliable. I have no idea is the AMT backup is still around in other than .45 ACP. The Seecamp is even more expensive, although it is lighter and has an excellent reputation. The cheapest out is for something like a Cobra, Jimenez, or Davis. Most of these can be had for less than $200. Hi-Point makes a .380 and it is a reliable weapon from all accounts, but it is weighty, ugly, and much larger than any of these weapons previously mentioned. For about a $100 less than the NAA, you can get a Kel-Tec 3AT. It is lighter than anything else on this blog, very reliable, but the trigger isn't as nice as the Guardian or the Seecamp. One nice feature is that you can get a pocket clip that lets you stick the Kel-Tec in your pocket or waistband without a holster and hook it like a tactical folding knife.

My .380's.

My first .380 was a Davis auto. It was chrome plated with plastic grigs. It was small, shiny, kind of heavy and I think I paid about $80 for it seveal years ago. I carried it in IWB holster, pocket holster, and just shoved in the pocket. It had several issues. One, the safety was tiny and hard to release. It was small enough to get turned in the pocket without the holster and very hard to draw. Although it was a cheap weapon, it never failed to fire and I used 95 grain hollow points. I could hit with it within a reasonable range for this type weapon. My other .380 is a Bersa Thunder .380. It is an awesome little gun. I paid $250 for it and so far I'm impressed. It is lighter than the smaller Davis. Incidently, I also had a .25 ACP Davis that also worked like a charm, but my significant other (girlfriend at the time) had what should have been an exact duplicate of the .25 and it wouldn't even feed FMJ without jamming at least every third round. She had it for 6 months, shot it regularly and it never improved. I finally got her to trade it for a Taurus Model 85, .38 special.

Competition.
Well the main purpose of the .380 is probably self-defense. What is the competition. Well, if we restrict it to firearms of similar size, then it has a lot. On one end we have the .22 short, .22 lr, .22 magnum, .25 ACP, .32 ACP, .32 magnum, .38 special, .357 magnum, 9 mm Makarov, 9 mm parabellum.

Okay, the best self-defense gun is the one you carry. There are times I just don't feel like lugging my Hi-Power around, so the Bersa, being smaller and lighter, is better than nothing. The .380 offers less in the way of stopping power than the 9 mm Parabellum, but its still better than my .25 ACP.

They still make little auto's in .22 short and .22 long rifle. They also make tiny little revolvers in .22 short, .22 lr, and .22 magnum. I feel the .380 if a better choice than any of the above in tiny auto format especially. The really tiny .22 revolvers might be a good hide-out alternative or bug to something like the Kel-Tec. In automatics, though, I don't see why you would want less power in a similar package. The same goes for the .25. If you can have a .38 for similar money and similar size, why not. I like the .32 acp and it is available in similar hideout and compact packages, but the balistic advantages of the .380 just make more since. In the Kel-Tec, the only disadvantage might be muzzle blast. If you want a short barrelled revolver, you can have one in .32 magnum or .38 special. Both will give you more power with about the same number of rounds as the little guns. The larger PPK size weapons have a little ammo advantage in .380 though. So do you want firepower, or destructive power. The .357 magnum offers a lot more power in a similar size package, although revolvers are usually harder to hide than autos, and snub-nosed .357 can be hard to control. The biggest competition for the .380 I think comes from 2 packages that are similar in size to the larger .380's but offer more power. These are the 9 mm Makarov and the 9 mm Parabellum. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the sudden influx of Markarov's and their clones and copies, we have a PPK size package chamered for what is really a 9.2 mm x 18. It offers a little more stopping power in a similar sized, very reliable package that is affordable. The recent improvements in metal and polymer frames have made really compact 9x19 mm handguns very possible. The Kel-Tec P-11 gives us a 10-shot (factor 12 shot with S&W mags) 9mm Luger in a very compact package. I think the trigger is not as nice as my Bersa, but I think this might be the new "snub nose" ankle and belly gun. It compares very favorably with the baby Glock and is half the price.