Is a 380 a good pistol

Question

I want a small pistol if a .380 is reliable than who makes a good .380. What types are there. Would a 25 caliber pistol be good for a small pocket pistol. How much would it cost?

Answer 1

Stay away from the 25 acp pocket pistols.  If anything, get one in 22LR so you can at least practice with cheap ammo, but really, these guns aren't powerful enough to reliably stop an attacker.

The 380 acp is considered the minimum power for a good defensive gun, but 9mm (9x19mm, aka 9mm luger) and 38 special are both a step up.

(NOTE: 380 acp is also know as 9mm short and 9x17mm)

Why have you selected a small pistol? Is it for concealed carry? How much shooting experience do you have? How big are your hands?

See, what many people who are not exposed to firearms don't realize is the power comes from the cartridge, not the gun itself.  They think they want a small gun because they don't want a big powerful gun.  Remember, the power is in the cartridge, not the gun.

BECAUSE the power is in the cartridge, SMALLER GUNS RECOIL MORE, all other factors being equal.  This is part of the reason small guns are often chambered in such wimpy cartridges as 25acp, because if the same gun was chambered in 45acp, it would kick so hard it would bang into your front teeth.  The small gun recoils only a little because of it's WIMPY cartridge, not because of it's small size.

I ask this because if you are selecting the 380 as a very small carry gun, I'd give different answers than if you were selecting the 380 for reduced recoil.

For Concealed Carry, as mentioned, the Ruger LCP is a real good gun as is the Kel-Tec 380, both are nearly identical in appearance. Both are very light weight, which means they will recoil more than other 380s, and both are designed for very very close range shooting.

A design that straddles both categories is the Walther PPK, the gun James Bond carried when he was being played by Sean Connery.  The gun is fairly small so it conceals well, and it is fairly heavy so it dampens the recoil.  The problem is that the Walther is designed in such a way that the slide will often cut your hand when shooting unless you pay special attention to where your hands are.  Also, be aware that in WW2, the Russians took the blueprints from Germany, and then gave copies to all sorts of people, so there are MANY 'generic' versions of the Walther out there, and by and large they are all pretty solid guns.  The Bersa is actually a good one, equal to genuine Walthers at half the price, a real good choice on a budget, but they do tend to bite the hand just like true Walthers.  Sig-Saur makes the 232, which is an "Improved Walther" a real wonderful gun, it doesn't bit the hand, but it is expensive.

Bigger, low recoil 380s.  There actually used to be a lot of commercially produced 380s for everyday pocket carry or keeping in the desk drawer at the office or under the counter at stores, but they have largely been replaced by 9mm handguns.

The best remaining one is the Beretta

http://products.berettausa.com/frame_tab... (note, these are a bit hard to find and you may need to order one on-line and have it sent to your local gun shop.  Don't worry about MSRP, that is like car sticker price, they always mark them lower)  Note on this page, the top picture is labeled Beretta 85, that is wrong, it is actually an 84, which you can see if you look at the chart below it.

Basically:  

84 = 13 round 380 (or 10 where true capacity magazines are restricted) good for people with larger hands

85 = 8 round 380, which is much slimmer, good for smaller hands or medium women hands

86 = pop up barrel, good for people with severe arthritis, hard to find nowadays, bu otherwise the same as 84

I'd choose the 84 or 85 based on hand size

the second one is the browning BDA 380, which is remarkably similar, but hard to find.  (again the internet is your friend)

http://www.blueridgeoutdoorsports.com/pr...

I'd recommend either of these based on which you can find easiest/cheapest

Answer 2

Q: Is a 380 a good pistol

A: It is a good caliber but it is not a pistol.  Good .380 acp pistols are Walthers, Brownings, Berettas, Sigs and the newest Ruger Elsie P (LCP).  The .380 is a medium bore defensive caliber.  With quality defensive ammo it is considered by many as the minimum defensive pistol caliber.  

The second part of your question concerning the .25 caliber pistol:  Which one?  Early vest pistols in .25 acp were of good quality but the miniscule caliber is not a good defensive caliber choice.  Don't get me wrong, the .25 acp will kill you dead but usually not quickly enough to stop a determined aggressor..  For that matter a .380 Auto might not stop a determined aggressor quick enough to terminate hostilities before seriously harming the defender.  Certainly the .380 Auto is the better choice of the two.  The New Ruger Elsie P is nearly as small as some of the early .25 Automatic vest pistols.

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Answer 3

really depends on personal preference. I have a glock 27 which is a sub compact .40. It has the power i was looking for in a small package. sig sauer makes a nice .380 quite expensive though but nice.

Answer 4

It is a good pistol Only if you use the 85 grain Silvertip hollow point bullet for self-defense ammo made by Winchester according to the Winchester Product Guide 2008 issue for ammo.* Forget about the 25 caliber forever.*

Answer 5

25acp is NOT a good defensive round, don;t let others try to fool you into buying one.

The 380 is a half decent defensive round, but only i9n very close quarters.

Bersa makes an awesome 380, a little rough around the edges, but reliable and accurate for what they are.

Ruger has a new 380 pocket pistol out, the LCP, I've handled a few, and shot one, not too bad. Great price, and better quality than Bersa.

KelTec makes another decent 380 pocket pistol, affordable, double action only, very small, but not accurate at any distance over 20 feet.

You might consider a CZ82 in 9mm makarov. MUCH better for a defensive pistol, and still small enough to be considered a "pocket" pistol. CZ's are very reliable, accurate, and pretty affordable too.

Answer 6

The new Ruger is probably good. Ruger has a reputation for making good guns at modest prices. The classic is the Walther PPK, but the ones made in Germany aren't allowed to be imported. American made ones are inferior. The PPK/S and PP are bigger and can be imported. I've seen a few PP Supers that use a 9mm Ultra (9x18) that's between the .380ACP (9x17) and the 9mm Luger (9x19). The SIG P230 is excellent but bigger than the Walthers. Beretta has some Cheetahs in .380 that are very reliable. The Bersa is a cheap gun, and I wouldn't bet my life on it. I wouldn't use a Kel-Tec either. "Double-action only" isn't a good system. Single-action is much more accurate, and you may need top accuracy from any handgun.  

Answer 7

Wow!  Talk about some good answers on this post....  There's nothing left for me to say!  I think gun enthusiasts are one of the best informed bunch of people out there.  Great job !

Answer 8

I have had the new Ruger LCP for 5 months. I've put over 500 rounds of various ammunition through it without any problems. I highly recommend it. The MSRP is $330 and I paid $310 for mine. They are difficult to find right now, but, I have heard that in the next couple months supply is likely to catch up with demand. You can check it out with this link:

http://www.ruger.com/LCP/

Answer 9

A .25ACP chambered pistol would not be a good pistol for self-defense, it is merely better than having no pistol at all.

The .380ACP cartridge is a reasonable choice, but it is considered to be the "minimum" in terms of acceptable performance in the self-defense role.

Consider the following...

SIG P239

Colt "Government" model or Colt "Mustang/Mustang-II" pocket pistols (may only be available on the used firearm market)

Makarov pistol, chambered for .380ACP

Also consider firearms made by Kahr Arms, Ruger, Glock, and H&K.