.380 ACP: Love It Or Hate It, It's Here To Stay

The .380 ACP (also known as 9x17mm, 9mm Short, 9mm Kurz, 9mm Browning, and other names) was developed by John Browing and introduced in 1908 by Colt, for use in its new Colt Model 1908 pocket hammerless semi-automatic (a .380 version of the .32 ACP Model 1903 pocket hammerless). It rapidly became popular in American "pocket pistols" of the era, and saw even greater popularity in Europe among civilians, police, and even military officers. In fact, it was later adopted as a standard military handgun cartridge by at least five European nations prior to World War II: Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands and Yugoslavia. It was also used extensively by Germany. Although most Western bloc countries in Europe changed to 9x19mm following World War II, the .380 continued to be used by civilians and police forces.

     In the United States, several factors played on reducing its popularity over time after its introduction. First, American manufacturers virtually ceased manufacture of "pocket" pistols in the 1920s. There are several reasons given for this, including a general preference for revolvers for reliability (important in an era when ammunition was not up to the standards of today), competition from inexpensive imports following World War I, and the passage of gun control laws in the 1920s by many cities and states regulating the sales of firearms.(1)

     Second, with American firms out of the picture, the 1968 Gun Control Act introduced a "sporting purposes" test to imported firearms that stopped the import of small "pocket" pistols. (2) Thus, what demand remained for an easily concealed semi-auto pistol was choked off by the new Federal law.

    Third is what I would call the "bigger is better" mentality that larger caliber, more powerful cartridges were required in order to be effective. As James Reeves recently recounted, Clint Smith, at their first meeting, had told him: "I wouldn’t carry a .380 in my ass if it had room for a tugboat." (3) The cartridge was the Rodney Dangerfield of ammunition: it just didn't get any respect.

    This all began to change in the 1980's and 1990's. First, to the delight of gun writers, a tipping point was reached where civilians and law enforcement began to enthusiastically embrace semi-automatic pistols. Second, to the chagrin of gun writers, the public, police forces, and even the military began to appreciate the benefits of the smaller 9mm calibers over the .45 ACP. Third, and most important for the .380, is that rapid and wide-spread adoption of "shall-issue" concealed carry license laws in the 1990s. This revived an interest in small handguns, including small .380 ACP handguns. Although I couldn't track down specific sources, my own memory was that small .380 ACP handguns were the biggest sellers among concealed carry pistols in the 1990s. But definitely, by the end of the 1990s, the .380 increasingly was being described as "increasingly popular in the United States." (4). A study that examined firearms seized by Boston police from offenders 21 years or younger between 1991 and 1995 showed that .380 handguns were the 5th most commonly seized, but were number 2 when considering firearms that were 2 years or less old at the time of seizure (making up 24.2% of the latter category!). (5) In 2015, the .380 ACP was the seventh most popular caliber of firearm sold in the United States. (6) And in 2016, Fox News reported that:

The .380 semi-automatic handgun has become all the rage in firearms, as more states relax conceal-carry restrictions and men and women alike turn to a palm-sized gun that easily fits into a handbag, pocket or ankle holster. Production of the super-small handgun is at a 16-year high, with nearly 900,000 made in the U.S. in 2014, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. And those numbers come even as production and sale of long guns and large-caliber handguns are actually down, according to the pro-gun gontrol news site TheTrace.org.

(7). Nevertheless, there are still detractors that believe that the .380 ACP, even with modern defensive loads, is inadequate for self-defense and should be avoided as an everyday carry (EDC) firearms. (8) (9).
   
     The reality, though, is that .380s will continue to be popular because they are generally less expensive than 9x19mm handguns and can be made smaller and lighter. That often translates into being easier to carry. And, if you are comparing small sized handguns, the .380 offers lighter recoil from similarly sized firearms. Grant Cunningham points out there are several reasons that you might select a .380 over a 9 mm. (10) He noted that, based on real world encounters, the .380 fared almost as well as larger and/or more powerful rounds, it provided a nice balance between speed and precision in small handguns, and, for a given size and weight of handgun, it offered less recoil. He cautioned that he was not recommending .380 over other calibers or for everyone, but that it may be the better choice under certain circumstances, relating:

      Back when I was of the “More power!” persuasion, I met a lady who carries a Browning BDA. The BDA is a double-stack .380 ACP pistol holding 13 rounds. It is, as you might expect, fairly large and heavy for a .380. At the time the micro-9mm fad hadn’t yet started, but even then there were a number of 9mm pistols available that were the size of the BDA and lighter to boot. I actually tried to steer her away from her BDA and to one of the 9mm guns, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She’d tried them and, due to some weakness in her hands, simply couldn’t control them (even with my expert instruction).

      For her, being able to deliver all 13 rounds on target in a very short time frame (which she could do) was a significant advantage over delivering only a few 9mm rounds. My mistake was not recognizing that. Thankfully, I failed to get her to change. She knew her needs better than I did, and if we were to have that discussion today, I would simply help her become as competent with her gun as I possibly could. I understand the issues better and have reined in my macho opinions.

He concluded, "[b]efore you sneer at that lowly mousegun, stop and really think about the job it is intended to do. Understand the real task: to get combat-accurate hits, with an effective bullet, on target as fast as you can get them. In some cases, that 'little' .380 might be better at the task than anything else."

    Layne Simpson, writing for Shooting Times, similarly observed that "for concealed carry, smaller is often the only logical option" and "[g]uns in 9mm Luger are getting smaller and lighter, but they are still larger and heavier than pistols in .380 ...." (11)

   Unfortunately, the physics of the light projectile and light powder load means that the .380 will never have the performance of a 9x19mm. But improvements in bullet designs have trickled down to .380 so you no longer have to choose between adequate expansion or adequate penetration, but can have both. Ammo To Go performed gel testing of various .380 loads and listed the loads based on penetration, expansion, and velocity, as well as an overall score. (12) Their top 4 overall defensive loads were:

1. Federal Personal Defense – 99 Grain HST
2. Winchester Ranger Talon – 95 Grain, Hollow Point
3. Barnes TAC-XPD – 80 Grain, Hollow Point
4. Remington HTP – 88-grain JHP

Others have indicated good performance in testing using rounds such as the solid-copper 99-grain Xtreme Penetrator loaded by Underwood (13), or the similar .380 ACP HoneyBadger loaded by Black Hills using bullets from  Lehigh Defense (14).

     I would note that Paul Harrell has tested the Federal HST on his infamous "meat target" and obtained pretty good results:

"Concealed carry: .380 ACP ammo selection"--Paul Harrell (14 min.)

And he had pretty good performance from the Xtreme Penetrator:

"Underwood Xtreme Penetrator Ammo Part 1: 380 ACP and 9mm"--Paul Harrell (13 min.)

So, as long as you are not going to be shooting through sheet metal or windshields, you can find some acceptable loads for a .380 pistol.

Notes:

(1)  Don Simmons Jr., "Why Pocket Automatics Disappeared," Guns Magazine, p. 60 (Aug. 1955).

(2)  Chris Baker, ".380 ACP: The Biggest Little Caliber," Lucky Gunner Ammo (June 4, 2019).

(3)   James Reeves: "TFB Round Table: The 5 Best .380 Rounds for Personal Defense," The Firearm Blog.   

(4)  Vincent J.M. DiMaio, M.D., Gunshot Wounds: Practical Aspects of Firearms, Ballistics, and Forensic Techniques, p. 149 (CRC Press, 1999).

(5)  Wm. Alan Bartley & Geoffrey Fain Williams, "The Role of Gun Supply in 1980s and 1990s Youth Violence" (2016) (PDF).

(6)  "What are the most popular calibers in the US?," Knowledge Glue.

(7) "Booming firearms sales driven by 'tiny guns,' conceal-carry laws," Fox News (March 15, 2016).

(8)  Kat Ainsworth, "Concealed Carry: Is The .380 ACP Enough For Self-Defense?" Gun Digest (Aug. 15, 2017). The author notes various ballistic gel studies that showed the .380 ACP to be marginal, at best, when it came to the FBI standards, and forensics experts that recommended against it. For instance:

In 2006, a coroner wrote a report titled, “Terminal Ballistics as Viewed in a Morgue.” He stated he performed an average of 8.2 autopsies a day and chose to be blunt in his findings. “I absolutely despise a 9mm for defensive situations … and a .380 ACP as well,” he wrote, adding he will “take a slow-moving .45 ACP to a gunfight any day.” In addition, he stated that when a gunshot wound victim crossed his autopsy table with multiple rounds in their bodies, those bullets were typically .380 ACP or 9mm, while single-shot gunshot wound victims were usually shot by .40 S&W or .45 ACP.

(9)  Greg Ellifritz, "Is the .380 ACP an Adequate Caliber for Defensive Use?," Active Response Training (June 30, 2014).

(10)  Grant Cunningham, "When Does A .380 Beat A 9mm?" Personal Defense World (2014).

(11)   Layne Simpson, "Why You Should Choose a .380 ACP Semiauto for Self-Defense," Shooting Illustrated (April 4, 2018).

(12)  David Lewis, "Best 380 ACP Ammo for Self-Defense," AmmoToGo.com.

(13)  Simpson, supra.

(14)  Richard Mann, "Modern .380 ACP: Good for Self-Defense?," Shooting Illustrated (Nov. 17, 2017).