Author Topic: When does a .380 beat a 9mm?  (Read 4862 times)

Online cargaritaville

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When does a .380 beat a 9mm?
« on: October 29, 2014, 10:14:41 AM »
Having a gun in your hand is much more effective than having the entire police department on the phone!

Offline MRC

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Re: When does a .380 beat a 9mm?
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2014, 10:44:47 AM »
I found it interesting.

I have to agree on the controllability of a pistol when in rapid fire is much more important to me than concealability or comfort in carrying the pistol.

The 380 Seecamp is the perfect example.  The most miserable pistol to shoot I have ever fired.

One statement I had not heard before was that there is a bigger difference in power between a 32 and a 380 than between a 380 and a 40, interesting.

Offline DDGator

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Re: When does a .380 beat a 9mm?
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2014, 01:17:41 PM »

Not to mention -- a .380 in your pocket always beats a 9mm in your gun safe.   ;)

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Offline the_skunk

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Re: When does a .380 beat a 9mm?
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2014, 07:10:39 PM »
380 versus 9mm

I had a Ruger LC9, it was butt-ugly, 6 1/2 inches, not bad to fire, and most importantly it was dependable. And I have a Sig 232 in 380.  I prefer the Sig because it's DA/SA and comes out of the pocket fast. And I imagine the smaller guns function better with a .380.

The 9mm is a better caliber, but it needs a bigger gun. The Rohrbaugh in a 380 would seem like a dream gun (small, safe, DA).

Offline JoshA

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Re: When does a .380 beat a 9mm?
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2014, 10:14:57 PM »
Not sure why, but I couldn't pull up the article. Is it working for anyone else still?

The title looked interesting.
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

John Stuart Mill
English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)

Online cargaritaville

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Re: When does a .380 beat a 9mm?
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2014, 10:18:25 PM »
I just pulled it up fine.
Having a gun in your hand is much more effective than having the entire police department on the phone!

Offline DDGator

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Re: When does a .380 beat a 9mm?
« Reply #6 on: October 29, 2014, 10:37:05 PM »
380 versus 9mm
The Rohrbaugh in a 380 would seem like a dream gun (small, safe, DA).

It is pretty awesome.

[url]https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/rohrbaugh-380-elegant-and-effective[//url]
« Last Edit: October 30, 2014, 09:38:27 AM by DDGator »
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Offline Douglas

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Re: When does a .380 beat a 9mm?
« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2014, 09:11:13 AM »
Not a big .380 fan. I've shot the G42 and found it to be just what one would expect. It's so soft shooting each shot felt like a squib to me.

I thought the Ellifritz work referenced in the article has "JoshA" written all over it!

Have you seen it Josh? -Right up your alley.  :)

Offline the_skunk

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Re: When does a .380 beat a 9mm?
« Reply #8 on: October 30, 2014, 08:57:45 PM »
Each to their own. A lot of people go nuts over a Seecamp 380, but it's way too much caliber for such a small gun. The 32 is the ticket in the seecamp. As to the Rohrbaugh, I got to bet the 380 is a sweet dependable gun. And at self defense distances, a 380 will do the trick.

Naturally a 9mm is better caliber

Offline JoshA

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Re: When does a .380 beat a 9mm?
« Reply #9 on: October 30, 2014, 11:29:43 PM »
Not a big .380 fan. I've shot the G42 and found it to be just what one would expect. It's so soft shooting each shot felt like a squib to me.

I thought the Ellifritz work referenced in the article has "JoshA" written all over it!

Have you seen it Josh? -Right up your alley.  :)

Alright this pushed me to persistence and I was able to go the the web site and pull the article up.

It was a good read IMO.

One of the interesting points he made was to me was that a .380 compared closer to a .40 than a .32 did to a .380.

I didn't see that coming.

The article made good sense. I think my little Kahr .380 took a step up in my mind. Same with 9. I think I'm going to read a bit more on Greg Ellifritz. That is intriguing Douglas.

Oh, I also PM'd you the other day sir.
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

John Stuart Mill
English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)

Offline JoshA

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Re: When does a .380 beat a 9mm?
« Reply #10 on: November 01, 2014, 11:17:24 PM »
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/alternate-look-handgun-stopping-power

This is a summary of the Ellifritz data

Pretty interesting. .380, 9, .40, .357 or .45 seems to all equate to about the same final effect.

Note that he does end up saying that a lot of his 9mm data is from FMJ and that he feels it's a better stopper than his charts show. Makes sense to me.

Also said though the numbers look semi impressive for .22, .25 and .32 they have the highest number of people who were not stopped after being hit. A lot of the one shot stops were due to psychological effects and not what you would think of as physically stopping the threat.

I wish he would have touched on the impressive data for the .357 mag/sig. This is a cartridge that is interesting to me. That being said it looks like the old trusty 9 with its modern cartridge would be a very effective round if his data is good. I believe it is. Looks like he also carries 9 more frequently than anything else. Also interesting.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

John Stuart Mill
English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)