I was really surprised to see this thread back from the dead. But seeing as how I started it, and we debated in the past in your "Crazy ER Stories", I thought I would chime in yet again. I know that to you, the .380 is useless. That's fine. I doubt it will ever be useless to me. I personally have 2 little handguns that I shoot very well. I do understand your concern over lack of penatration. And I keep that in mind every time I carry. And it was you Aaron1776 that convinced me to buy a Kahr CM9. I went to pick it up yesterday as a matter of fact. I was very disappointed when a CW9 was sent instead. Oh well, I will get it next week and try it out. If I like it and it carries well, then it might be my main carry. However, My Sig P238 will always get a chance, as well as my LCP, because they carry well, hit well and I have faith in them. Perhaps, and I know you believe, blind faith, but none the less I will carry them, because I like them. Besides that, I've seen James Bond make hundreds of one shot kills with a .380, so it must be true.THIS
Full disclosure: I used to carry a .380 round.
People can talk about ballistic gel tests with the .380 all they want, but I personally came to hate the .380 round for a variety of reasons.
First, it's a "sub caliber". As AD Marc pointed out, hitting the thorasic cavity doesn't mean a hill of beans if the round doesn't penetrate all of the way to the heart, lungs, etc. Working in an ER, I cannot tell you how many times I've seen the .380 round fail to penetrate. Is it some sort of inert dud round that never penetrates? Of course not. But it isn't exactly what I would call "reliable" either.
Secondly, the tiny platforms the .380 comes in turn it into a mouse gun. It's been my experience that the ****-poor sight radius, lightweight frames, little sights, etc give you a gun that has almost as much noise and recoil as a slightly larger 9mm platform (or the same size 9mm with a double spring) with none of the reliable penetration. Basically, it's hard to hit with small guns to begin with. Thus your shot placement is going to suck compared to a larger gun. Then when the bullet does strike its target it has a real chance of failing to penetrate as far as you need it too.
Third, the ammo is ridiculously over-priced for what you are getting in performance. You're talking about paying as much for .380 as you do .40. That's insanity.
Finally, as others have pointed out, you can get a 9mm in the same size range with marginally more recoil and a much better round.
Thus it has been classified as a totally usless caliber in my book.