There seems to be a proliferation of “mouse guns” on the market. You know the ones I mean: they are small, lightweight, and very easy to conceal. Couple these features with the fact that many of them are less expensive than other larger handguns, and it is easy to see why many people are drawn to them for use as a back-up gun or to carry off-duty. In fact, one of the runaway hits in the 2008 firearms industry is the Ruger LCP.
However, there are some serious drawbacks to the use of a mousegun for self defense. For example, the sights are typically awful and the sight radius is very short meaning it is going to be very difficult to hit your assailant in the right spots. Even if you do hit your assailant in the right spots, mouseguns are normally “sub-caliber” pistols, meaning .22, .25, .32, and yes… .380. These calibers, even with modern ammunition, frequently fail to penetrate very deep and hollowpoints almost never expand.
Some of my fellow officers would argue (and some have) that the .380 ACP is adequate for self defense. The most frequent argument I have encountered from fans of the .380 is the size of the guns make it easy to conceal and there is very little recoil. If you notice, neither of these arguments actually address the effectiveness of the caliber in stopping an armed criminal. Besides, I’ve never believed that “adequate” was good enough when we are talking about my life or the lives of my family members.
To show the effectiveness of the .380 ACP, take a call officers on my shift responded to two nights ago. A distraught man intending to commit suicide pulls out a .380-caliber gun, puts it to his head, and pulls the trigger. The round cause quite a mess. Although he looked dead when officers arrived, the bullet failed to penetrate the skull and the man was merely rendered unconscious. In fact, the man was sitting up and talking to paramedics on the way to the hospital.
Two of the officers at the scene carried .380’s as off-duty guns, and they are now for sale…cheap.
One possible exception to the “mousegun” calibers is the .327 Federal Magnum that was introduced earlier this year. The .327 Magnum launches a .32 caliber bullet at much higher velocities than any of the previous .32 chamberings. Try a 115 grain Gold Dot at 1300 fps (3″ barrel). That is pretty darn impressive.
However, I am not aware of any ‘real world’ shootings with this caliber, so I don’t know how the narrow profile, even at high speeds, will fare in both penetration and expansion. I’d still rather carry one of these than a Taurus 380 revolver.
I firmly believe that the .38 Special +P is the minimum anyone should carry for self defense or back-up. In an autoloader, 9mm is the base line. A .357 Magnum, .40 S&W, or .45 ACP are even better. Anything less leaves too much to pure chance, which is never good in a life and death encounter.
Stay safe!
Bruce Busby says
You need to review the information on “Shooting the Bull” Website concerning their evaluation of .380 ammunition for the “Mouse Guns” you are addressing. The Precision One .380 ACP (90 grain – HP/XTP)
consistantly meets the FBI specs for penetration (>12″ and <18") in both soft tissue and heavy fabric. It also consistantly expands in both mediums. Please review and comment on this info before totally discounting the .380 (with the proper ammo) as an effective self defense weapon.. BTW: Most of the officers I qualified with couldn't hit an elephant in the ass with a snow shovel!
Bryan says
I believe there are factors in this attempted suicide that are not discussed in this article due to the authors seemingly prejudice or bias for 380 caliber handguns.
For this article there are a number of similar articles that are or can be written of probably every caliber firearm used in failed attempted suicide or other shooting injury events. An example would be the angle to which the gun was pointed to the head, Not too long ago a quick stop in my community was robbed. The robber after being handed the money from the till shot and killed the cashier then attempted to kill the only other customer in the store who was also standing at the counter. The bullet that was fired up into the back of the victims head struck the victim at the lower back of the head, traveled between the skull and the skin and exited high on the forehead.. Left for dead, the victim was knocked unconscious and also suffered a nasty wound, but, thankfully lived to testify against the murdering thug. In court.
I didn’t comment to defend the 380, Just to point out that a botched suicide is in no way proof positive for trashing a very capable caliber. The article was interesting but the point made is baseless.
Marion Potts says
Anything is better than a stick
Bdpenn says
No bias against 380 firearms here.
I also have a telling story. Bad guy enters a quick stop early on Sunday morning. Bad guy receives till money from cashier, promptly shoots cashier in face, killing her. Turns gun on only other customer in store standing at counter and fires up into victims lower back of head. The bullet, however, strikes, but never penetrates the skull, its deflected and traveled up between skull and skin, exiting at upper forehead. Left for dead , this victim is knocked unconscious and also suffers a very nasty wound. The victim lived and testified at the thugs trial. The caliber and type round is very common. I’ll keep that info to myself so I don’t cause panic and trade ins across the armed public and police.
The point that I want to make is that the point the author tried to make in selling his 327 by trashing the 380 used in a botched suicide attempt is baseless and ridiculous except it was used in a botched suicide.
With that said the 327 is a great round searching for a reputation and following and the 380 is also no slouch that has a long and good reputation along with a large following.
My point here is the 327 should stand on its own and not as a replacement.
The cartridge is rimmed and for revolver. The discussion therefore, if a discussion is necessary, should be between revolver calibers and not semi to revolver. That’s a different debate. Anyone up to replace a 38 with a 327? Even with additional available rounds I think this is why the 327 as capable as it is, is slow in gaining popularity over the years.
Aaron E says
You make some good points, and I can see where .327 Magnum could be considered for its own merits. However, the firearms community always looks to the known in its comparison of the new. I think Richard’s comparison here is not semi-auto vs. revolver as much as self-defense vs. self-defense round. In addition, Richard points out the dilemma facing firearms carriers – how far are you willing to sacrifice bullet size, speed, and energy to accommodate a small concealable package.
Stever says
While I usually carry a kahr pm9 for ccw as dimensions are about the same as most 380s I don’t feel undergunned when I do carry my 380 loaded with Lehigh defense 60 extreme xtreme defense ammo or bullets. They provide over 1200 fps velocity and 13 inches penetration. That’s really nothing to sneeze at.
Brian says
My hunch is the person who attempted suicide with the .380 used a light, quickly expanding hollow point bullet. Something similiar happened to a man shot in the forehead by a short barrel .38 firing a 95 grain or 110 grain hollow point bullet. The bullet knocked him out cold but didn’t penetrate the skull.
I believe only fmj should be used in .380 for sufficient penetration. This is especially important when using a really small pistol like the Ruger LCP. Assuming the above poster’s .380 firearm can shoot the noted bullet 13 inches into ballistic gel, that’s really on the low end of the spectrum of 12″ to 18″ penetration many experts agree on. Ballistic gel doesn’t contain bone. Then, there’s people larger than average, of course.
NYPD gun fighter Jim Cirillo wasn’t a fan of hollow points in guns like the .38 fired out of a 4″ barrel. His load was the semi-wadcutter or wad-cutter, I forget which.
Caliber? says
I never seen any concerns raised about the dangers 9mm and other caliber bullets that have great penetration ability have for bystanders living in stick houses and walking around that might get killed by accident. A lower caliber might put some limits on that happening. I lived on a farm and was always concerned about even using a .22 caliber. And by the way, we used it to kill cattle. Seemed to me to be pretty effective in penetrating a skull.. That was with a rifle though but still it was a .22 caliber.