.380 vs 9mm as an EDC Gun

[Steve]

I have been looking at carrying a .380 LCP Max vs a 9mm subcompact as my EDC. While the LCP Max gives me a decent round count and disappears into my pocket ever so nicely, I am a bit concerned about the stopping power of that caliber. I have more confidence in the 9mm ballistics, but the 9mm pistols are a bit heavier and bulkier than the LCP. That makes them more likely to be a holstered pistol than a pocket gun. The old saying that any gun you carry on you is better than the one sitting at home in the safe. And slipping a gun into your pocket is quicker and easier than putting on a holster and carrying either IWB or OWB. But in a quick deployment situation, holster carry wins every time. However, concealment is never a question with a pocket gun as well.

I would very interested in hearing your opinions on .380 vs 9mm for EDC. Would you trust your life or that of your loved one to a .380? Pocket or holster carry?

 

[KellyinAvon]

I have been looking at carrying a .380 LCP Max vs a 9mm subcompact as my EDC. While the LCP Max gives me a decent round count and disappears into my pocket ever so nicely, I am a bit concerned about the stopping power of that caliber. I have more confidence in the 9mm ballistics, but the 9mm pistols are a bit heavier and bulkier than the LCP. That makes them more likely to be a holstered pistol than a pocket gun. The old saying that any gun you carry on you is better than the one sitting at home in the safe. And slipping a gun into your pocket is quicker and easier than putting on a holster and carrying either IWB or OWB. But in a quick deployment situation, holster carry wins every time. However, concealment is never a question with a pocket gun as well.

I would very interested in hearing your opinions on .380 vs 9mm for EDC. Would you trust your life or that of your loved one to a .380? Pocket or holster carry?

Sig P365, Glock 48, Springfield Hellcat are all options for 9mm that would provide concealability, capacity, and capability with the 9mm.

Get a good holster, keep buying them until you find the one that works best for you.

 

[Dean C.]

I fully support everyone and encourage them to carry the gun they are most comfortable and competent to shoot with. My issue with “mouse” guns like the LCP is that they are often times more difficult to shoot well at all than most other larger pistols.

Personally I only carry 9mm or 45ACP guns, my criteria for CCW guns are I need sights I can shoot well and a grip I can get a full hand on. That almost by default rules out LCP style guns for me. I have also nevr really pocket carried, I can’t stand it moving around in your pocket and I even had a S&W 360PD which is probably the easiest gun to pocket carry ever made (but it sucked to shoot).

Currently running an Sig P365X in 9mm with a Wilson Combat grip and Holosun 507C in a Milt Sparks Versa Max 2 holster. Another benefit of belt holster carry is you are pretty much guaranteed the same draw every time, no chance the gun shifted in your pocket or whatever.

 

[wcd]

I fully support everyone and encourage them to carry the gun they are most comfortable and competent to shoot with. My issue with “mouse” guns like the LCP is that they are often times more difficult to shoot well at all than most other larger pistols.

Personally I only carry 9mm or 45ACP guns, my criteria for CCW guns are I need sights I can shoot well and a grip I can get a full hand on. That almost by default rules out LCP style guns for me. I have also nevr really pocket carried, I can’t stand it moving around in your pocket and I even had a S&W 360PD which is probably the easiest gun to pocket carry ever made (but it sucked to shoot).

Currently running an Sig P365X in 9mm with a Wilson Combat grip and Holosun 507C in a Milt Sparks Versa Max 2 holster. Another benefit of belt holster carry is you are pretty much guaranteed the same draw every time, no chance the gun shifted in your pocket or whatever.

Up to last night I had only used my LCP Max at the range, my experience has been its easy enough to take follow up shots in rapid succession. I usually carry Federal JHP , and they seem to offer fairly good penetration, all three shoots basically went in almost the same hole. We had an un wanted armadillo, getting too close for comfort, they carry so many diseases.

But honestly it think it come down to individual as to which is best, giving an advantage to the 9 mm based on cost alone.

 

[DadSmith]

I have been looking at carrying a .380 LCP Max vs a 9mm subcompact as my EDC. While the LCP Max gives me a decent round count and disappears into my pocket ever so nicely, I am a bit concerned about the stopping power of that caliber. I have more confidence in the 9mm ballistics, but the 9mm pistols are a bit heavier and bulkier than the LCP. That makes them more likely to be a holstered pistol than a pocket gun. The old saying that any gun you carry on you is better than the one sitting at home in the safe. And slipping a gun into your pocket is quicker and easier than putting on a holster and carrying either IWB or OWB. But in a quick deployment situation, holster carry wins every time. However, concealment is never a question with a pocket gun as well.

I would very interested in hearing your opinions on .380 vs 9mm for EDC. Would you trust your life or that of your loved one to a .380? Pocket or holster carry?

380acp is okay penetration wise if you use FMJ bullets.
9mm you can get better penetration, and expansion with HST HP out of a short barrel.
So it's your choice knowing that.
I've never owned a 380acp. It's always been 9mm, 45acp, 44mag, and 10mm that I've carried.
I did recently buy a Browning Black Label Medallion Pro 1911 380acp which will be my first. I plan on loading my own amd using RNFP bullets in it, and or HST.

If you go here you can watch videos on 9mm and 380acp ballistic gel tests. It might help you decide what is best to use for each caliber with short barrels.

Ammunition Ballistic Test Videos. Velocity and or Ballistic Gel.

Gold County Ammunition 45colt 250gr JHP This Ammunition is slow but it goes to show slow, but heavy can still penetrate pretty deep.

www.indianagunowners.com

 

[Cameramonkey]

You can actually get decent performance out of a 380. Not great, but decent. And it beats a sharp stick.

Make sure whatever you use for ammo is based on the Hornady XTP bullet. It is one of the few bullets that manufacturers didnt just scale down to make one in that caliber. Other bullets suffer from poor to unreliable expansion.

Before I convinced my wife to carry a 9mm, She was carrying Precision One 90 gr XTP.

Here is a link to an older review, but had some solid results.

Final Results of the .380 ACP Ammo Quest

In July of 2013, I picked up a little .380 pocket pistol (specifically a Taurus PT738 TCP), and I started researching what would be the most appropriate ammo to use with it. Turns out that pretty m…

shootingthebull.net

 

[CB1911]

Some days are pocket carry days and other days the owb is desirable. I too prefer 9mm.

Everything is a compromise. I make a choice then I roll with it. If that's a lightweight J frame, then that is what I got.

When I run or go cycling, I often have a caliber smaller than your 380 acp.

I personally wouldn't lose any sleep over 380 vs 9mm, I just want to make sure I get my hits.

 

[NyleRN]

I have been looking at carrying a .380 LCP Max vs a 9mm subcompact as my EDC. While the LCP Max gives me a decent round count and disappears into my pocket ever so nicely, I am a bit concerned about the stopping power of that caliber. I have more confidence in the 9mm ballistics, but the 9mm pistols are a bit heavier and bulkier than the LCP. That makes them more likely to be a holstered pistol than a pocket gun. The old saying that any gun you carry on you is better than the one sitting at home in the safe. And slipping a gun into your pocket is quicker and easier than putting on a holster and carrying either IWB or OWB. But in a quick deployment situation, holster carry wins every time. However, concealment is never a question with a pocket gun as well.

I would very interested in hearing your opinions on .380 vs 9mm for EDC. Would you trust your life or that of your loved one to a .380? Pocket or holster carry?

You basically listed the pros and cons of both calibers and their perspective sizes and carry methods. Sounds like you need to decide where you're gonna compromise
For myself, I'm willing to compromise a little comfort if it affords me the ability to get the gun into action quicker. Cause if stuff goes sideways, a comfy feeling gun in my pocket will he last on my mind. I'll be worried about getting my gun out quickly and it being reliable. I wouldn't compromise comfort to the point I'd not carry

 

[Osprey]

I never worried what caliber I carry since they all do the same thing. I use a .38 now and it is very comfortable. Besides, depending on your surroundings, anything and everything is a weapon. I try not to brandish a firearm unless I'm really outnumbered or intend to face and accept all consequences.

 

[danowen12]

I usually carry my sig p365, however I have also carried my lcp max. For me either choice is excellent. I find that I need to coat my max as it gets surface rust after a day of pocket carry and needs to be cleaned daily. Compared to my p365 which finish holds up amazingly. More importantly though, is to ensure that whatever your carrying is reliable. I’ve had lcp pistols in the past that couldn’t run a single mag without multiple jams. This max I have has been flawless.. i cleaned it when I first got it and ran 500 rounds of fmj through it, then ran a mag of my carry ammo of choice without a cleaning. After it passed that, I deemed it reliable.

 

[BackFromDC]

I think .380s will start seeing a decline in use. 9mms are getting smaller, softer shooting, without sacrificing the advantages of 9mm. The .380s on the market just don't really provide as much benefit in the caliber tradeoff, especially given that subcompact 9mms are now close to the size of non-micro .380s.

The most recent .380 that got me excited was the Beretta 80X Cheetah, but even that's close to the size and weight of some 9mms, so I probably wouldn't carry it.

 

[Bassat]

Short version: Buy what you want. Carry what you can deploy effectively. Caliber/ballistics are not high on the list of reasons to choose one over the other.

TLDR:
I have 3 guns that I regularly carry. Keltec P32 (.32acp), Kahr CM9 (9mm), and S&W 442 (.38 spl). A recent addition that I do not carry, yet (still testing) is the original DAO Ruger LCP (.380acp). I carry the P32 bare in RF pocket, the CM9 in DeSantis Nemesis in RF pocket. Backup ammo goes in LF pocket. The 442 goes bare in right rear pocket. I have 'practice' carried the LCP in Ruger-supplied holster in RF pocket.

With all that out of the way, a comparison. I am happy with the CM9 in RF pocket. When I want to travel a bit lighter, I use the P32. It is admittedly harder to get good hits with at any distance. It is quite useable to about 5 yards. The impetus for buying the LCP was I wanted something more 'grip-able' than the P32; something I could shoot better than the P32. Well... the LCP was not the revelation I was looking for. Don't get me wrong, I like it, and am working it into my carry rotation. It is just not much of an improvement in size after I added the Hogue grip and a 7-round magazine. The LCP saves me about 5 ounces in carried weight over the CM9. It is nearly un-noticeable. It is also insignificantly smaller than the CM9. Both the LCP and CM9 load to 6+1 and a spare 7. The way I see it, the biggest difference, in the end, between the CM9 and LCP is the terminal performance of the ammunition. CM9 wins that one. How significant is that? To my mind, negligible. Even the difference between .32acp and 9mm is ballistically minimal. Key to self-defense shooting is shot placement, not terminal ballistics, not magazine capacity, not expansion: shot placement. I shoot enough to put my P32 to effective use when needed. Ditto the LCP & CM9 & 442.

Anectodal info: P32 is stoked w/Fiocchi 73gr FMJ. LCP - Precision One 90gr XTP. CM9 - 147gr HST. 442 - Double Tap 148gr WC. I've tried to SA-style, large-cap magazine guns like the 365, 365XL, P320. Those guns NEED to be a belt-supported holster - not for me, and I just prefer long-stroke DAO style triggers, and something that fits in my pocket.

 

[DRob]

There was an article in the NRA magazine some time back about self defense calibers. They evaluated everything from .22lr to .44 magnum. One interesting conclusion was that the #1 affect on a person who has been shot was the realization that they've been shot. The caliber was irrelevant. Of course, that assumes the shot did not render them immediately unconscious.

As for penetration, it's way over rated IMO. Thus, I carry only Hornady Critical Defense (9mm) as opposed to any FMJ. Would do likewise in a .380. I want my shot to expend 100% of it's energy in the intended target and not exit.

 

[Expat]

My grandpa used to kill his hogs with a .22 short, so I may start carrying those. It is all about shot placement, not caliber.

 

[Bleachey]

I have a small 380 that fits in my pocket. I struggle to shoot accurately with it, I think because it just doesn't fit in my hand comfortably. For it's intended use I am sure it will be fine, but it is definitely a 7 yards and closer type for me.

No real world experience with penetration, etc. Prefer to carry my IWB loaded with the Shield 9mm, but sometimes it isn't practical and the 380 in the pocket will have to do.

 

[1775usmarine]

My grandpa used to kill his hogs with a .22 short, so I may start carrying those. It is all about shot placement, not caliber.

I heard on INGO a 22 to the ear canal works just as good.

 

[mdunn]

I carry a laser equipped Taurus spectrum 380 loaded with Speer Gold Dots comfortably in my pocket.It’s all about shot placement. I remember talking to a state trooper that belongs to my conservation club and he knew of a victim that was shot with a North American Arms mini revolver and it killed him. It’s all about shot placement.

 

[Expat]

There have been cases of people being killed by a BB gun. I think a .22 short may have just been flexing.

 

[NyleRN]

There have been cases of people being killed by a BB gun. I think a .22 short may have just been flexing.

People have been killed with fists. No need for a gun.

 

[Expat]

People have been killed with fists. No need for a gun.

oh, now that is just crazy talk.