Snappy .380 pistols

[Peakbagger46]

So I’m an occasional .380 user, slipping the regular LCP in pocket during urban rucks. I’ve put a decent amount of rounds through this little thing. I keep reading of how snappy, uncontrollable, or inaccurate these guns are. What are people talking about?

My XL mitts hold the thing like a toy and every shot makes me ponder the lack of umph this marginal (but better than nothing for sure!) pistolola has to offer. Zero concern for recoil though; it shoots soft.

What gives and what am I missing? Who finds these little marginal pistols to be hard/painful to shoot?

Here’s a mag shot at 7 yards with God Dots. Again, marginal fight stopping performance but EASY to shoot. What say you?

 

[chicharrones]

So I’m an occasional .380 user, slipping the regular LCP in pocket during urban rucks. I’ve put a decent amount of rounds through this little thing. I keep reading of how snappy, uncontrollable, or inaccurate these guns are. What are people talking about?

My XL mitts hold the thing like a toy and every shot makes me ponder the lack of umph this marginal (but better than nothing for sure!) pistolola has to offer. Zero concern for recoil though; it shoots soft.

What gives and what am I missing? Who finds these little marginal pistols to be hard/painful to shoot?

Here’s a mag shot at 7 yards with God Dots. Again, marginal fight stopping performance but EASY to shoot. What say you?

I haven't fired an LCP in years. What I do remember is that firing some powerful reloads versus standard range fodder made the LCP feel like it was going to blow up in my hand. The difference in felt recoil was remarkable.

My current LCP Max is quite a handful in the recoil department with stout ammo, but the most notable thing is trigger pinch if I don't pull the trigger with the first joint of my trigger finger.

My worst pocket gun to shoot was my smaller NA Guardian in .32 ACP. Blowback action with little grip area made it hard to shoot well or for any length of time.

Still, the hardest hitting "pocket gun" I recall was my old Taurus 85 UltraLight firing +P self defense loads. The hard grip I had on that gun would nail the base joint of my thumb most times than not.

I have small hands. Less meat in the palm and fingers than folks with ham fist hands. How the gun fits me certainly means a difference in how the gun may or may not smack my hands. I'm a wrench turner for a living, so my tolerance for hand smacking is quite good. But I am starting to get flare ups of arthritic pain once in a while which can affect my shooting.

 

[Dan-O]

So I’m an occasional .380 user, slipping the regular LCP in pocket during urban rucks. I’ve put a decent amount of rounds through this little thing. I keep reading of how snappy, uncontrollable, or inaccurate these guns are. What are people talking about?

My XL mitts hold the thing like a toy and every shot makes me ponder the lack of umph this marginal (but better than nothing for sure!) pistolola has to offer. Zero concern for recoil though; it shoots soft.

What gives and what am I missing? Who finds these little marginal pistols to be hard/painful to shoot?

Here’s a mag shot at 7 yards with God Dots. Again, marginal fight stopping performance but EASY to shoot. What say you?

You must be blessed. I think it’s the God Dots you were ripping through.

Like chicharrones, I think the lcp/p380 feels like a grenade going off in the hand.

 

[JohnMc]

I have small hands as chicharrones described; not much meat on 'em. I can't recall what my son's LCP was like but my Dad's Keltec P3AT is very snappy and not fun to shoot.

 

[Gary A]

I think the extended seven round magazine makes a world of difference shooting the LCP with little size penalty.

 

[1KPerDay]

Try a .380 Seecamp and get back to us

 

[film495]

I think I only fired a small .380 4 or 5 years ago, it seemed snappy to me and not reallly fun to shoot, but that isn't the idea, it was shootable. I currently have a .38 Spcl Taurus 856 UL, and it is shootable, but if I do too much factory ammo, say a box in a shooting trip, my shooting hand will hurt for a long time after, but I don't really notice anything when shooting. I started hand loading some mouse fart loads for it, just to make it more entertaining as a range toy, plinking, practice, etc.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Never shot an LCP. Closest thing I have is a Pico and I find it very manageable, if not exactly comfortable.

The .380 PPK and HsC I had were way worse- of course they were blowbacks.

 

[BreechFace]

I didn’t mind shooting my LCP the little bit I did; but it’s definitely not one I would enjoy putting mag after mag down range. But since getting a G42 I don’t use the LCP at all. The 42 shoots bigger than it is. It doesn’t straight across compare to the LCP on size but in a good ankle holster it is very wearable.

LCP is hard to beat if one NEEDS a pocket gun. I determined I’ll give that up for a more shootable pistol.

 

[WYO]

Here’s a mag shot at 7 yards with God Dots. Again, marginal fight stopping performance but EASY to shoot. What say you?

That's a great group, but how long did it take to shoot that with an LCP? That is my biggest problem with tiny .380s. The problem gets worse as the distance increases and/or when transitioning to multiple targets.

I determined I’ll give that up for a more shootable pistol.

That's where I came out as well. A Glock 42 is my minimum for pocket carry or, if fast presentation is not as important, a slightly larger Sig P365-380.

 

[CDW4ME]

A LCP 380 has less felt recoil than a 38 snub.
A Glock 20SF 10mm has less felt recoil than a LCP 380.

 

[Terry G]

The LCP II is a nice little gun for it's intended use. Target shooting is not fun. I had an original LCP but my Daughter just HAD to have it.

 

[rabid wombat]

I always wanted the Sig baby 1911. Money went into the S&W Bodyguard instead….

 

[Howland937]

I've shot LCP's 1 and 2. Have 2 of the Sig p238's, and while they're both worlds easier to shoot well than the LCP's I never found the LCP's hard to shoot or uncomfortable. The p238's are easier to shoot better with the +1 mag with pinky extension, as are the LCP's IMO.
The stock Smith Bodyguard my dad had with its 37lb trigger pull? That one was neither fun, pleasant or easy to shoot.

 

[v8stang289]

My hands are between medium to large (when it comes to glove size anyway) and I don't find the small 380's terrible, nor does my wife.

My P3AT is probably the most unpleasant, at 11oz loaded, it's light weight and thin grip results in a more acute hammering of the palm. It's not painful or particularly bad, but you can definitely feel it.
The regular LCP is my wife's daily carry gun, and she's never complained about recoil.
My Kimber Micro was probably the nicest/easiest shooting, with the weight and the single action trigger.
My LCP max is a pleasure to shoot, the recoil isn't bad at all.
All in all I don't feel it's a painful cartridge in any of the guns I've shot it in.

But recoil is very subjective.
I've heard more than once about 357 magnum having heavy recoil, but in my experience it's pretty mild (short of the one time I shot a 158gn magnum load in an airweight s&w360)

 

[Peakbagger46]

That's a great group, but how long did it take to shoot that with an LCP? That is my biggest problem with tiny .380s. The problem gets worse as the distance increases and/or when transitioning to multiple targets.

That's where I came out as well. A Glock 42 is my minimum for pocket carry or, if fast presentation is not as important, a slightly larger Sig P365-380.

Indeed, you caught me “cheating”. That group was slow and deliberate as I wanted to see where my carry ammo printed. Below is a more honest group at 7 yards using quick point shooting.

 

[upptick]

A LCP 380 has less felt recoil than a 38 snub.
A Glock 20SF 10mm has less felt recoil than a LCP 380.

I have a Glock20sf and was struck by how tame it is for a 10mm. I think that polymer frame must flex, which soaks up a lot of recoil. Great gun.

 

[crstrode]

So I’m an occasional .380 user, slipping the regular LCP in pocket during urban rucks. I’ve put a decent amount of rounds through this little thing. I keep reading of how snappy, uncontrollable, or inaccurate these guns are. What are people talking about?

My XL mitts hold the thing like a toy and every shot makes me ponder the lack of umph this marginal (but better than nothing for sure!) pistolola has to offer. Zero concern for recoil though; it shoots soft.

What gives and what am I missing? Who finds these little marginal pistols to be hard/painful to shoot?

Here’s a mag shot at 7 yards with God Dots. Again, marginal fight stopping performance but EASY to shoot. What say you?

By definition, your "XL mitts" make you abnormal, outside the norm, unusual, etc, etc, etc.

 

[rabid wombat]

The stock Smith Bodyguard my dad had with its 37lb trigger pull?

But S&W makes up for it by being gritty and lumpy, too…. I can shoot groups with it, but it is VERY deliberate….

 

[Peakbagger46]

By definition, your "XL mitts" make you abnormal, outside the norm, unusual, etc, etc, etc.

Lol, thanks I think. I guess I thought big hands would make it harder with a tiny gun but perhaps not.

 

[BreechFace]

You must not shoot with thumbs forward with an XL grip and an LCP otherwise you would have powder burns/shoot your support thumb off!

 

[Mike J]

I have never shot a LCP. I did shoot a Kel-Tec P3AT once. Thoroughly unpleasant little bugger. To me there just wasn't enough to hang on to. I tend to gravitate to larger guns (micro 9 size at a minimum).

 

[Howland937]

But S&W makes up for it by being gritty and lumpy, too…. I can shoot groups with it, but it is VERY deliberate….

My dad has been losing strength in his hands and fingers pretty rapidly over the last handful of years. Before he moved on from the Bodyguard, I'm pretty sure he was doubling on the trigger with both index fingers. Dexterity suffering as well, the small gun was a bad choice all around for him.

 

[Hasaf]

The 380 got a bad reputation decades ago when most offerings were straight blowback. Unless the spring was perfectly balanced to the charge they had a tendency to be very snappy. The market has changed and now you have to look for a blowback 380.

Here is a picture of the current 380 pistols, and a makarov. The two on the bottom are the only blowbacks in the bunch.

 

[hutch51]

Had a Bersa 380 Thunder. Hard snap, unpleasant to shoot. Sold it.
Bought wife a Sig P238. Nice shooter, but gotta have the extended mag for the pinky.