I was invited to go to the range with some State Troopers this morning. I haven’t been to the range in 6 years and I haven’t ever been great shooting handguns.
Forgot how much I hate .45s (1911 and a G30) and I did decent with the 9mm (G19) BUT absolutely crushed it with a .380 (Sig P365), including 10/10 rapid fire at 20 yards.
Fellas…. is rocking a .380 as a conceal carry a girl move? Cuz I think I’m gonna buy one now.
Nothing wrong with a .380 round. It’s a “knocked down” 9mm in the same way that a .40 cal is a knocked down 10mm, a .38 Special is a knockdown .357 Magnum, etc.
A few years ago, I sat next to a former OPD guy on the plane. He led their SWAT team and was the guy you frequently saw on the news. I asked Chuck what he carried, and he told me that it was Sig P238 in .380 ACP, which is my daily carry as well. Light, easily concealed and comfortable to carry all day, every day.
Let’s talk ammo. You’ll need different ammo for the winter than you’ll carry in the summer. Why? Most of the hollow points for smaller rounds (9mm included) risk getting plugged with material from heavy outer garments. If the tip is plugged, it may prevent the round from “mushrooming” out or not penetrating deep enough to cause a wound channel significant enough to stop the attack.
Lehigh Defense makes a couple of solid core copper bullets that are excellent rounds to consider. Since you probably aren’t reloading your own rounds, go with the Underwood Extreme Defender ammo here. The tip of both the Extreme Defender and Extreme Penetrator round look similar to the tip of a Philips bead screwdriver.
Now consider that pistol (& rifle) barrels are “rifled” (grooved) internally to spin the bullet so that it rotates and flies straight (unlike a musket bullet, which made whizzing sounds as it zipped in a random direction down range). When that screwdriver like tip - spinning at 60,000+ revolutions per minute- encounters a varmint, it acts like an auger and creates a YUGE wound channel AND penetrates to an FBI targeted depth of roughly 14-18 inches before coming to a stop … fully intact. And VERY effectively stopping the attack.
I could also point you to a study done a few years ago that compiled data across a variety of firearms that were involved in shootings (10,000+ IIRC), and the study concluded that anything from a .380 ACP and above was an effective self-defense firearm and capable of stopping an attack.
Also consider how advanced bullet technology has become in the last decade and you no longer need a massive firearm to stop an attack.
Of course, ANY gun can kill with the right shot placement, but a self defense concealed carry firearm’s purpose is to stop an attack and allow you and your family to relocate to a safer location.
Helpful link to the Underwood Extreme Defender ammo show
here.
