True stopping power of a .380

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Several armies with considerable combat experience were armed with handguns that we'd consider woefully inadequate, including the .380 ACP. It was the standard service round in Italy, Hungary and Yugoslavia (all different pistols, too). The Soviets even adopted the 9mm Makarov after WWII but the reasons get complicated. They now use a 9mm Parabellum but lots of Makarov pistols are still in use.

The company I was in, in the army had .32 ACP pistols. They were kept in a cabinet along with my personally owned pistols over next to the .50 caliber machine guns.

Another caliber people scoff at is the .38 special. The FBI was apparently happy with it for years (the "FBI load") but fashion dictated an automatic.

Discussions like this are like listening to an old-fashioned sermon on Sunday morning. They both involve a lot of hair-splitting.

I guess a .22 is adequate because my father died from a .22 RF gunshot. A relative of his and therefore of mine supposedly fired the first shot at the so-called Carroll County courthouse shootout decades ago but I have my doubts. We're really a peaceful family.
 
Season5/Episode5 Homicide Hunter Lt. Joe Kenda. 2 people shot with a 380. One received one shot in the chest and the other one in the shoulder and one in the chest. Both died instantly. Enough said ????
 
denfoote said:
Gee, the only time I ever had to draw a gun to protect my family, it was my .380ACP Makarov. I had no idea that I was so under armed!!! The BG didn't seem to know that, either. He hi-tailed it out of there, pronto.
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The native cartridge for the Makarov is 9x18mm. The .380 ACP is 9x17mm. Are you confusing the two rounds, or do you have a conversion barrel in your Makarov?
 
That said, my wife's personal defense gun is a Beretta M85 .380 ACP. It is loaded with Hornady XTP-JHP cartridges, which attain a velocity of 1000+ fps out of her gun, and expands and fragments in bare and denim covered gelatin, while at the same time achieving a penetration depth of about 12 inches.
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Interesting point here and it mirrors what I've seen in my testing. The XTP bullet design is relatively old and dated; it doesn't expand much at all. In 'major' calibers that's not a good thing. In 380, it's a very good thing as it allows the bullet to penetrate relatively reliably.
 
The Makarov pistol was also manufactured in .380 ACP for commercial sale and marketed under the name Baikal. It was Russian made.
 
Dont know how I missed the fact that this thread is almost 15 yearsvold.

No need to resurrect a discussion this old. Most of the posters from 2001 are no longer here.

Feel free to start a new thread, but please think really hard about bringing an old thread back to life.

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