Is the 380ACP "really" an adequate self defense gun?

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fisherman

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I read all the stuff about the come back of the 9mm in the police departments who are getting away from the 45's and 40's. That makes sense to me and I love my 9mm pistols. I am think of buying my daughter a 380acp Taurus Spectrum for personal protection. She has to close a business late at night and sometimes walks out with a money folder with the days receipt. Is the 380 actually enough gun for her to protect herself from a couple thugs?. I am not real familiar with the caliber and would appreciate opinions of folks that use them or have used them and know something about the 380. Thanks in advance.
 
depends on the ammo. People give .380 a bad rap, but it's really just a lighter 9mm load.
I chorongraphed some BB +p loads out of my sig p230, and got 1100 fps with a 100 grain bullet. That yield 269 foot pounds muzzle energy. That is equal to most .38 special loads and even some low end 9mm loads.
Even with the Hornady custom 90 grain, I got 950 fps yielding 183 foot pounds me, so seems adaquate enough given good shot placement.
 
Myself I prefer 9MM over the .380 but if someone can not handle shooting (being accurate and on target/shot placement) or manipulating the action on a 9MM pistol, then .380 makes sense.

I have no idea what it is like shooting the Taurus Spectrum. I do know that the Smith and Wesson M&P 380 Shield EZ is a very pleasurable pistol to shoot and extremely easy to manipulate. It is of paramount importance that whatever pistol she uses that she is confident and proficient with it. The smallest and lightest pistols are not usually the best in that regard.
 
fisherman said:
I read all the stuff about the come back of the 9mm in the police departments who are getting away from the 45's and 40's. That makes sense to me and I love my 9mm pistols. I am think of buying my daughter a 380acp Taurus Spectrum for personal protection. She has to close a business late at night and sometimes walks out with a money folder with the days receipt. Is the 380 actually enough gun for her to protect herself from a couple thugs?. I am not real familiar with the caliber and would appreciate opinions of folks that use them or have used them and know something about the 380. Thanks in advance.
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In a word, yes. Accuracy, placement is far more important but there are many online tests of the round John Browning invented over a hundred years ago showing it’s effectiveness. Some like Lehigh Xtreme Defense, MORE effective than 9mm JHP because of JHP getting clogged. A Yuge part of CCW is using a gun that is fun to shoot. Fun to shoot=she’ll shoot it, get good and comfy with it, carry it...which means Accuracy, Placement. I am a big fan of .380, carry a Glock 42 everyday. A gun that she doesn’t like to shoot, doesn’t shoot ends up in the gun safe.
 
I don't think the 380 is adequate but I'm old and set in my ways. Go with a 9mm for your daughter.

I have fired blow back 380s that have felt recoil equal to or greater than some lock-breech 9mms. Don't buy into the idea the 380 is all she can handle. Good training and practice will make the 9mm a much better choice...and I'm not a 9mm fan either.

Dave
 
Personally if I'm walking out of a business with a bag of money I would want something bigger than a pocket 380. I own and carry an lcp at times but small guns like that are hard to shoot accurately. If recoil is a problem as another poster suggested maybe go with the S&W EZ 380 which is a bigger gun with better sights. If she can handle recoil try maybe a shield in 9mm. I have one and it has decent sights and is accurate too.
 
Few modern .380s are blowback. Go rent a Glock 42...she won’t be disappointed.
For this .68 of a century shooter with an arthritic wrist and bunged up RH thumb, no amount of ‘training and practice’ is going to make my son’s Glock 43
any more fun to shoot. Remember, FTS=shoot often. Shoot often=comfy with gun. Comfy with gun=carry everyday. Don’t get the, ‘hate to shoot it but carry it cuz’...stuff. Picking a no fun EDC gun using the criteria that is the MOST unlikely
Use for it(confrontation), makes no sense to me. I think the 3 next smaller, .32, .25 and 22 might be a little wee but .380 is a great caliber.
Imho of course.
 
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if intermediate barriers are not a regular concern... the .380 acp from a mid sized gun or bigger performs adequately and many times as good as a 9mm, provided that good shot placement is made.
 
It may be arguable that assassinations are not a good measure for evaluating a self-defence cartridge, but the .380 (and smaller cartridges), has been used to good effect on several notable persons. Both Archduke Ferdinand and his wife as well as Mahatma Gandhi, et. al.
 
Don't buy your daughter a gun...take her to a shooting range and let her find one she is comfortable with, one she will practice with and one she is happy with. Let her pick it out and get the one she wants. And yes a .380 is perfect for some people....like a .45 is, a 9mm is or a .357 magnum. It depends on the shooter way more than the gun itself.
If she won't practice with it it really doesn't matter what you buy her. May as well be a rock.
Does she want a gun or is this daddys idea?
 
I wouldn't get a Taurus Spectrum for your daughter. A lot of recoil for a female, which may put her off shooting and the early reports I've read on the Spectrum say it has a heavy trigger pull. In an auto, I'd go with a locked breech gun, one of the 9mm compacts. Or a 38 Special revolver. At Christmas time I tried my daughter out on a number of different pistols. She is 30, about 5'5", athletic. She fired a S&W five shot 38 Special, a Glock 43 9mm. Preferred the Smith over the Glock but still thought it hurt her hand, which a rubber grip might solve. But she really liked the Ruger SR-22 because it has no recoil. She carries it for hiking, which she does multiple times per week. I'm going to put a Houge grip on the Smith because I'd like her to have a bigger caliber and see if she likes that. But having A gun she will practice with and carry is better than a bigger gun she'll leave at home.
 
Is the 380 actually enough gun for her to protect herself from a couple thugs?
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It depends on her and it depends on the thugs.

If they are both determined attackers and don't turn tail when the gun makes an appearance, she's going to have to be very good to deal with two attackers. However that's true pretty much regardless of what handgun/caliber she's carrying.
 
Of course 380 is a deadly round. That said, any small barrel gun, especially pocket guns require a lot of practice. Some handle much better than others. Some have great build qualities others fall apart at the seams when shot often.
How much time and money is she willing to invest in any gun? Start taking her to the range and let her morph into what she wants to purchase and train with. She might actually prefer mace. Who knows?
 
The .380 is extremely marginal.
The Spectrum is an excellent pocket pistol if you insist on a small .380 for regular carry.

And you simply can't count on placement, unless you can take out a very precise area in the head or clip the spinal column.
Both of those are hard to strike precisely in a fast-moving dynamic scenario under stress with the Spectrum's tiny sights & long trigger pull.
Denis
 
Fathers that love their daughters will put out a few extra bucks and by them a quality firearm. There is a lot of over thinking on this subject. One of best pistols for women and those who only are getting one for SD is Ruger LCP, 380. Why? Dependable, accurate and
small & light enough they will be more likely to carry it. Reasonable price also.
 
I considered the LCP & actually carried one a bit.
Ultimately rejected because it couldn't keep a mag locked in either front or rear pocket, and it did not have a double-strike capability.

Both of those functions are important to me.
Denis
 
fisherman said:
I read all the stuff about the come back of the 9mm in the police departments who are getting away from the 45's and 40's. That makes sense to me and I love my 9mm pistols. I am think of buying my daughter a 380acp Taurus Spectrum for personal protection. She has to close a business late at night and sometimes walks out with a money folder with the days receipt. Is the 380 actually enough gun for her to protect herself from a couple thugs?. I am not real familiar with the caliber and would appreciate opinions of folks that use them or have used them and know something about the 380. Thanks in advance.
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Yes, 380 is more than adequate for self defense.

I've been in law enforcement for over four decades, and have been an avid handgun hunter for even longer. In terms of typical self defense use, there is almost no practical difference between any of the common calibers in actual living things.

People will argue otherwise, usually based on feelings, anecdotes, gel 'tests', etc. Don't believe the rhetoric, you don't even have to take my word for it, get out there and do some handgun hunting to see for yourself.

More important than anything else will be her comfort with the firearm, as in > 99% of it.
With comfort comes confidence, with confidence comes practice, with practice comes experience. To this end the best thing you could do is stop asking for opinions here, and take her to a range that rents firearms and/or find someone with a proper selection she can try. Caliber is one of the least important factors.

One of the worst things you can do is buy something and say "here ya go", especially if it involves compact firearms as they tend to turn people off. In fact, if this was for home defense I would actually avoid a small firearm and suggest a PPC as they are fun as heck, easy to use, and make new shooters feel like experts.

Given that this sounds like it would be for CCW, then a pistol or revolver would obviously be more realistic. But be careful and don't fall into the trap that most seem to, and that is force something on someone for their own needs/feelings, Versus the other person.

Does she truly want to CCW?
Does she have experience shooting?
Does she have proper training from a proper instructor?

The answers to those questions are more important than caliber.
 
Is the 380 actually enough gun for her to protect herself from a couple thugs?
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Absolutely. Nobody, thugs included, want to get shot with anything The major ammunition companies all produce adequate 380 acp seff defense ammo to chose from. without going to "boutique" ammo companies claiming +P ammo for a round that no such SAAMI +P rating exists for. Using advertising hype to sell their over pressure rounds.
However, the gun and chambering is something she should be deciding on. If she can handle something with more punch, that she can easily conceal it wouldn't hurt to move up.
 
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