Dallas wrote:So hear me out. I have gone through 53 years of life without a threat. Gonna carry the .380 everyday and when I am in threat situations gonna also carry my Sig .40.
D
When you wake up in the morning, how do you know if you will be in a threatening situation that day?
Exactly.
If someone ever gets that technique worked out, there are lots of folks who would pay money to learn it - myself included.
Those of us who haven't mastered that method favor making our carry choices with the recognition that a really nasty unanticipated threat can arise at any time.
Excaliber
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." - Jeff Cooper
I am not a lawyer. Nothing in any of my posts should be construed as legal or professional advice.
As others have said, there is simply no way to know when the wolf will show up at your door. So don't trick yourself into thinking that you'll carry one gun when it is safe, and a different one when it isn't.
However, if the full size weapon is so uncomfortable that you're not going to wear it, then sure... replacing it with a .380 is a heck of a lot better than replacing it with nothing. A .380 in your pocket when you need it does a heck of a lot more good than a .45 that you left at home because it was uncomfortable.
So if you're going to compromise on the gun in order to carry comfortably then by all means do so. But do so intentionally and with a full understanding of the tradeoff that you are making. Don't try to talk yourself into it by coming up with a justification based on a plan to carry a different gun when the situation requires it. You simply don't know when or where that situation will crop up. Lots of people have really bad days in locations where they felt safe.
I'm certainly not trying to tell you your business, only you can decide what is appropriate for you. But since you posted about it I'm working on the assumption that you wanted some thoughts about the decision, so I figured I would share mine.
Good luck with whatever you choose. And here's to hoping that none of us reading this ever need to actually find out if we're wearing enough gun.
NRA Endowment Member. Texas LTC Instructor. NRA certified Pistol & Home Firearm Safety Instructor - Range Safety Officer
Any comments about legal matters are general in nature and are not legal advice. Nothing posted on this forum is intended to establish an attorney-client relationship.
A .380 on your person is better than a death-ray gun in the closet.
I don't like the .380.... I own one, and I carry it (albeit as a backup to either a 9mm or .45 ACP on my hip) but I don't trust MY ability to shoot accurate enough in a bad situation to stop the threat. Notice I did not say that I don't trust the caliber. I think a headshot with a .380 would deal with a threat nicely. I also think that even with extensive training and real world experience in gunfights, that I would have a hard time making a headshot in a hurry.
So, I carry either a Glock 17 with a whooooole lotta 9mm or a Glock 30 with a respectable amount of .45 ACP--both of which offer me enough rounds in respectable calibers to put downrange.
In essence, I'd rather gut/limb-shoot a baddie with a 9mm 17 times than gut/limb-shoot a baddie with a .380 7 times. Ditto with 10 rounds of .45 ACP.
Carry what you shoot best. My main carry is a glock19, but I have a bersa .380 I carry some. My only complaint on it is the long trigger pull on 1st shot. Agree with last post, 7rounds of .380 is better than nothing! People say ".380 doesn't have enough punch" ...my answer " can I shoot you then?"
"You can say 'stop' or 'alto' or use any other word you think will work but I've found that a large bore muzzle pointed at someone's head is pretty much the universal language."
A friend’s wife asked why does he need to carry a gun all the time and he said to protect himself; and his wife says "all the time"?
So he gets out a piece of paper and asks her to write down all the places he will be in trouble and need his gun!
She never said anything about it again... so I offer the same piece of paper for you to write down all the places you are going to need a bigger gun
Some parents say it is toy guns that make boys warlike. But give a boy a rubber duck and he will seize its neck like the butt of a pistol and shout "Bang!"......George Will
barstoolguru wrote:A friend’s wife asked why does he need to carry a gun all the time and he said to protect himself; and his wife says "all the time"?
So he gets out a piece of paper and asks her to write down all the places he will be in trouble and need his gun!
She never said anything about it again... so I offer the same piece of paper for you to write down all the places you are going to need a bigger gun
Good point !
"You can say 'stop' or 'alto' or use any other word you think will work but I've found that a large bore muzzle pointed at someone's head is pretty much the universal language."
I use to think the .380 was better than nothing also. I am not so sure about that anymore. In that theater or even in that church this weekend, a .380 would have done little more than tell the bad guy were to shoot next. Maybe it would have worked as good brass knuckles if I could get up close to one of those shooters. My Kahr P380 is in the safe now and as of the theater situation, my PM 9 joined it. Nothing less than a .40 for me from here on out. It may mean I have to alter my dress style or carry method but that is OK by me. If I am going to be forced to have a shoot out, I want something that makes a big hole. I am carrying my Glock 27 and it is definitely less comfortable than my PM9 but worth it to me. If I can figure out how to carry my shotgun concealed, I will carry that as a backup.
03Lightningrocks wrote:I use to think the .380 was better than nothing also. I am not so sure about that anymore. In that theater or even in that church this weekend, a .380 would have done little more than tell the bad guy were to shoot next. Maybe it would have worked as good brass knuckles if I could get up close to one of those shooters. My Kahr P380 is in the safe now and as of the theater situation, my PM 9 joined it. Nothing less than a .40 for me from here on out. It may mean I have to alter my dress style or carry method but that is OK by me. If I am going to be forced to have a shoot out, I want something that makes a big hole. I am carrying my Glock 27 and it is definitely less comfortable than my PM9 but worth it to me. If I can figure out how to carry my shotgun concealed, I will carry that as a backup.
I'm with ya. My .380 stays in the safe 99% of the time now.
Even my Glock 19 gets carried less. I've bumped it with my Glock 32. The hole is the same diameter, but the punch is harder and the wound is deeper! Lack of capacity is the only reason my 1911 isn't chosen more now... That and it's size too I guess.
Jim Beaux wrote:A 380 in the heart will kill faster than a 45 in the behonkus.
That's why those who have thought this through don't aim for the "behonkus" with the .45 or any other caliber.
Excaliber
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." - Jeff Cooper
I am not a lawyer. Nothing in any of my posts should be construed as legal or professional advice.
03Lightningrocks wrote:I use to think the .380 was better than nothing also. I am not so sure about that anymore. In that theater or even in that church this weekend, a .380 would have done little more than tell the bad guy were to shoot next. Maybe it would have worked as good brass knuckles if I could get up close to one of those shooters. My Kahr P380 is in the safe now and as of the theater situation, my PM 9 joined it. Nothing less than a .40 for me from here on out. It may mean I have to alter my dress style or carry method but that is OK by me. If I am going to be forced to have a shoot out, I want something that makes a big hole. I am carrying my Glock 27 and it is definitely less comfortable than my PM9 but worth it to me. If I can figure out how to carry my shotgun concealed, I will carry that as a backup.
There's nothing like a truly terrible real life incident to get thoughtful folks to dump the ballistic fantasies around the combat effectiveness of .22, .25, .32, and .380 calibers and realign their carry decisions around what works in the real world.
Consider this: If .380's really were reliable tools for dealing with deadly encounters, LEO's who have to lug guns around all day would have jumped all over them by now to reduce the weight of their duty belts. There's something to be learned from the fact that they haven't.
Excaliber
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." - Jeff Cooper
I am not a lawyer. Nothing in any of my posts should be construed as legal or professional advice.
Jim Beaux wrote:A 380 in the heart will kill faster than a 45 in the behonkus.
That's why those who have thought this through don't aim for the "behonkus" with the .45 or any other caliber.
The other flaw in this theory is that we are comparing a heart shot to a behonkus shot. The proper analogy would be .380 to the behonkus vs a .45 to the behonkus.
Excaliber wrote:
There's nothing like a truly terrible real life incident to get thoughtful folks to dump the ballistic fantasies around the combat effectiveness of .22, .25, .32, and .380 calibers and realign their carry decisions around what works in the real world.
Consider this: If .380's really were reliable tools for dealing with deadly encounters, LEO's who have to lug guns around all day would have jumped all over them by now to reduce the weight of their duty belts. There's something to be learned from the fact that they haven't.
2firfun50 wrote:All of these reasons were considered for my "small gun". Thats why its a CW45. Got me some suspenders and pants with bigger pockets.
Dressing around the gun instead of gunning around the dress sounds like a reasonable plan to me.
Excaliber
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." - Jeff Cooper
I am not a lawyer. Nothing in any of my posts should be construed as legal or professional advice.
