<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Patton:
... hear that .38/9mm is the smallest caliber to use as a defensive firearm. Is there any .380 ammo out there that would be raise the effectiveness of this caliber? My Pony likes 102 gr. Golden Sabers in terms of accuracy and reliability ...[/quote]I, too, have heard that a .38/9mm is the minimum that one should use for self defense and I've also heard that a .380ACP is the minumum as well (
this was was more popular several years ago before all of the compact 9mm's and lite J-frames started coming out and a lot of LEOs carried a .380 for back-up) and I've also heard that if you're serious about self defense, you shouldn't carry anything smaller than a .40 caliber (
.40S&W, .45ACP, etc.).
To be perfectly honest with you, all of this is relative in my opinion. You can shoot one person with a .25ACP and they will stop all forms of aggression because [1] they are in some serious pain; and [2] they are thinking "oh my gosh, I've been shot, I might die, I need help, I don't want to be shot again" (
believe it or not .25's KILL more people than the bigger calibers).
Then you've got situations, such as documented by Capt. Massad Ayoob (
an active police captain), where a person takes three center of mass hits with a .45ACP and still has some fight left in him.
Bigger is obviously better but my wife's home defense gun is a .380 (
a 14-round Browning BDA380) and I'm not worried about her being underarmed when I'm not home. She can shoot it much more accurately than she can any of my larger calibers and a center of mass hit with a .380 is better than a miss or a near miss with something bigger.
You can try the various Mag-safe ammo's whose ad's claim that they give a .380 the stopping power of a .357mag (
or some claim similiar to that). I don't have any personal experience with this type of ammo but it has been discussed here before with opinions being evenly divided -- consequently, I decided to stay away from it. You can do a search and read the threads yourself and draw your own conclusions. At least for me, there were enough negative things said to put doubt in my mind, but again, I don't have any actual experience with it.
Finally, my wife has her BDA380 loaded with Golden Sabers & Silvertips (
I'm very big on alternating ammo every other round -- this has been discussed in older threads as well, with some members thinking that it's a good idea and others qustioning it's "wisdom"). Regards,
FUD
Share what you know & learn what you don't
[This message has been edited by FUD (edited September 28, 2000).]
