.380 ACP... stories?

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KilgorII

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My fiance has a Colt Mustang .380 in SS. It is a sweet little gun, feels good in the hand and points naturally. She is not a huge firearms lover, but this is HER gun and she loves it. I wish she would use a more effective caliber, but she won't. So I don't push it because I want her to be comfortable with it, at least she has a gun, and from shooting water jugs with Hydrashoks from it (Scientific huh?) I feel it will pop an attacker fairly well.

I don't want to hear put downs of the .380 from people who know of someone's third cousin who's momma shot an attacker and the attacker took the gun from her and beat her with it. I'd have her shooting a .50 AE desert eagle if she could, but it ain't happening.

I would like the hear from anyone who has actually SEEN the damage from a .380 to an attacker. What bullet was used? Number of shots? Results? Where were the shots?
 
On Glocktalk.com, someone posted his experience in shooting a masked intruder several times with a .380 with a failure to stop. What got me was that the masked intruder was a racoon. I stick to 9mm or larger, personally.
 
That was Larry_Minn. I posted this same topic over there as well. He was using FMJ bullets and was point shooting a wild animal. Anyone have experience with an actual shooting of a human?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by KilgorII: I don't want to hear put downs of the .380 from people who know of someone's third cousin who's momma shot an attacker and the attacker took the gun from her and beat her with it ...[/quote]I could tell you those type of stories with regard to the .25ACP and it might even apply to the .32ACP (although I personally have not heard any of these stories with regard to the .32) but I think that you're okay with a .380ACP -- although, keep in mind that we're looking at the very minimum that should be considered for self defense.

The .380ACP is to the .38 special as the .38 special is to the 9mm. Looking at raw numbers ...

A .380ACP Remington Golden Saber 102gr bullet has a velocity of 925fps @ 194fpe expanding to 0.62" and penetrating 8.8" in clothed gelatin with a 67% one shot stopping capability. If we compare a similar bullet, the .38 special Remington Golden Saber 125gr has a velocity of 975fps @ 264fpe expanding to 0.59" and penetrating 14.5" in clothed gelatin with a 73% one shot stopping capability.

Comparing other bullet types across the two calibers will show similar results. So, you can see that there is a difference between the .380ACP and the .38 special.

The advantage the .380ACP has over the .38 special is that it is easier to shot since the recoil is much less and depending on the model, you can get 11 rounds when compared to 5 or 6 rounds with the .38 special.
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Not to say anything negative about the Colt Mustang (as it is a fine pistol), certain models (Beretta, Browning, etc.) hold 13 rounds and pre-ban hi-cap mags are still around. 14 rounds of .380ACP beats 6 rounds of .38 special any day of the week. Even 11 rounds of .380ACP will give 6 rounds of .38 special a good run for the money.
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Share what you know, learn what you don't -- FUD
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Your fiance is protected pretty well by the Mustang. A Mustang Pocketlite was my first concealed carry pistol and it is still the pistol I carry most of the time. Never once has it malfunctioned. I keep the magazine loaded with alternating rounds of Federal Hydra-Shoks and Glaser safety Slugs. A lot of people have negative things to say regarding pre-fragmented bullets like Glasers, however I think they're pretty destructive. I was reading a post from a EMS guy who went to a call and found a young man who was shot in the butt with a Glaser. The result was that the Glaser had almost torn a "cheek" off, gone, nada, bye bye butt. The first hand story was that the young man almost bled to death. Yes. Give me some of those any day.

Will

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Mendacity is the system we live in.
 
My friend had his .380 PPK when he was suddenly attacked by a wall (ie, he had an accidental discharge into the wall). Granted the bullet hit at an angle, but apparently it didn't make it through the drywall. That hasn't stopped me from carrying my PPK, though.
 
It worked for James Bond, why not your girlfriend.

Shaken, not stirred!

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The best weapon for self defense is the one you have when the need arises!
 
Your girlfriend is lucky to have that gun in stainless. Some of the blued ones are made of too-soft steel (check the slide-stop cut-out for accelerated wear).

I've got three .380s, including two Colt Govt. models, one in stainless and one in nickel. I carry two Glasers on top, and fill the rest of the mag with hydrashocks. I carry an extra mag or two. The .380 is plenty of gun, IMHO. And you'll always carry it because it's so small.

On the other hand, if your girlfriend is comfortable carrying it cocked and locked (as designed) she should have no trouble transitioning to a 1911. :D
 
The .380ACP is to the .38 special as the .38 special is to the 9mm

I think it should read the .380 is to the 9mm as the 38 sp is to the 357 mag.
.380 is a short version of the 9mm as called overseas the 9mm Kurtz.
The 357 is a longer version of the 38 sp.

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beemerb
We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world;
and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men
every day who don't know anything and can't read.
-Mark Twain
 
The point of the post seems to me to be terminal ballistics, or effectiveness.
Bullets of 355 to 357 don't care if they are from a hot loaded 380 or a downloaded 357. Identical bullets at identical velocities should yield identical terminal behavior regardless of the vehicle used to launch them.

The 380 has the least ft. lbs. energy, the 38 spl is next, then the 38spl +P, the 9x19, the 9x19+P, the 38super, and then the 357 magnum.

Energy is the ability to do a certain amount of work. Whether that energy is put to use depends on other factors. But succinctly, more is better.

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John Moses designed it, I trust it, and that settles it.
 
I have an acquaintance who took one in the knee during robbery. Took him off his feet and he now walks like Chester (Gun Smoke). I have a Beretta 85 and a SIG 232. I'd trust either at close range with good JHP's (i.e. Federal, Remington, Fiocchi, Corbon). Yeah, they're big for .380's, but they have longer barrels, which help velocity & thump, and very easy to shoot well.
M2
 
The .380 is VERY close to most factory loaded American made 9x18, so it is about as good as what is usually fired from a Makarov. Maks are used by many people around the world as defensive pistols. I would not be too worried about a .380 - IF a situation ever arose any gun is going to be a deterrent.
 
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