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The fact is that you probably can successfully defend yourself with this particular ‘mousegun’ caliber. The same could not be said of their attackers, neither of whom are with us any longer. Both incidents were over within three rounds, and both defenders emerged unscathed. I’ve personally met two people who successfully defended themselves with a. 380 ACP is not the complete weakling everyone would have you believe. The important point here is that, despite what we feel or have been told, the. 380 half as good as the 9mm? If the data is accurate, it’s actually better than that.įacts, as John Adams pointed out, are stubborn things. 40 S&W, to pick one at random, is less than the difference between the. 380 is still remarkably effective and a whole lot better than anything smaller. 380, on the other hand, is definitely not the performer that the bigger cartridges are. Close enough, in fact, that they are in a statistical dead heat. In Ellifritz’s studies, the “major” calibers are pretty darned close to each other in terms of actual performance. 45 ACP in its job of stopping attackers, it’s also not that far off. 380 doesn’t work quite as well as the 9mm. His results, compiled from hundreds of actual shootings over many years, show that while the. Which round is which? Photo: author The best database of handgun performance I’ve yet seen comes from Greg Ellifritz at Active Response Training. 380, or even suggest that it should be your primary choice for carry, let’s start by looking at the data. While I’m not here to heap excessive praise on the. 380 ACP out of the way so we can have an intelligent discussion. Let’s get the performance questions about the. If you can get a more powerful round in the same sized gun, they’ll ask, why bother with the smaller offerings? It Isn’t As Weak As You Think 380, most gun folks would say that it makes little sense to bother with the mouse cartridge. Since modern 9mm pistols are so small these days, often very close to the size of the lowly. 380, all you’d succeed in doing is making him mad! I’ve even heard people say that if you were to shoot an attacker with a. 380 doesn’t have much stopping power, making it a less ideal choice than the next step up the ladder, the 9mm. The common wisdom goes something like this: the. Should it be? Best Personal Defense Weapon Just Because It’s Common Doesn’t Make It Wisdom 380 ACP is the most common (and most derided) of the species. For some people, anything with a caliber that doesn’t start with “.4” is a mousegun, For others, low-powered cartridges like the. What that threshold is, exactly, depends on one’s point of view. Photo: authorYou may have heard the phrase, “Friends don’t let friends carry mouseguns.” In fact, I’ve uttered it more than a few times myself over the years! The implication, of course, is that calibers below a certain threshold, arbitrary though it may be, are not suitable for protecting one’s life. Personal Protection Devices, Tools and AccessoriesĬlubs, Shooting Facilities & Associations Tactical Shooting Drills & Handgun Training
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