re: I'm getting a new CC pistol...

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How much more accurate is a 9mm than a .380 under stress 10 feet from your assailant, where most scenarios of you needing to draw your firearm would occur?

The answer is that it's no more accurate. You are going to point and shoot a 9mm just as accurately or inaccurately as you would a .380 at that range. Most people aren't going to consistently carry if the gun is uncomfortable or difficult to conceal, and a pocket gun is much better than no gun at all. I carry my subcompact 45 from time to time and it's very manageable and comfortable but not as comfortable as the P238. I'd trust my life with either, as long as it goes bang bang bang I feel safe with it. I think the need to carry a "full sized" firearm because anything smaller is "inadequate" is the warped sense, not vice versa. I've never had a .22 stuck in my face but I imagine I would shite my pants, because i'm not going to think to myself "hey that's a .22, I can take a few of these to the chest no problem." I'm going to think "shite, there's a gun in my face"

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No offense intended -- but like a lot of people who've had little or no SD training, you probably see the things you have posted as being perfectly logical.

It isn't a question of a 9mm being more accurate -- although all shots with handguns need to pretty doggone accurate because no handgun is a death ray generator.

It is, however, a question of terminal ballistics. A 9mm, or a .40, or a .45 will penetrate deeper (and thus have a better chance of reaching vital organs) than will a .380, a.32, a.25 or a .22 --- ESPECIALLY if the round has to penetrate bone (e.g. the attacked has assumed a bladed position and your beast of a .380 round has to penetrate his arm bone, and maybe a rib, before trying to find its way to his heart//aorta.

Now you may well envision that your will always be presented with a nice frontal shot into a stationary attacker. If you think that, you're not alone. But, no offense, you're still wrong. If you're presented with that frontal stationary target, by all means shoot him in an eye socket -- and your mouse gun will likely handle that job very well.

But I don't walk around prepared for only (or assuming I'll only have to deal with) a "best case" situation. If you, or others, wish to subscribe to the "Pollyanna Principle," y'all have every right to do so. But the folks I have trained under consider this to be a naive, witless approach to personal protection. Something about "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst" comes to mind.

The .380's, the .32's, etc, etc are lethal. But they aren't nearly as effective as a service caliber weapon at disrupting//damaging//destroying vital organs.

If you wait until someone shoves a gun in your ribs or your face -- your situational awareness sucks REALLY bad-- and you're probably screwed irrespective of the gun you may be carrying. And despite your apparent willingness to take a few .22 rounds to the chest, you are susceptible to being killed or paralyzed by a lucky hit from a .22 (unless of course your real name is Clark Kent and you change clothes in phone booths).

Plus I've yet to see very many .380's that will carry more than 6-8 rounds. Maybe you live in an area that is impervious to hood rats, who may well belong to a gang.

I live in a decent part of what used to be a fairly safe town, as long as you stayed out of certain neighborhoods. But the local gang task force (comprised of federal, state and local agencies) recently announced that they have identified 42 named street gangs in BR. In case the significance of the foregoing statement escapes you or anyone else, gang members often bring some pals with them when they perpetrate their attacks.

King Ranch has it right. Anyone who is serious about CCW should carry a decent-sized service caliber weapon. A small .380 (or a tiny 9mm//.40) can then reasonably serve as a BUG.

But I still believe (as do the gurus under whom I have trained) that anyone who carries a small .380, .32 , etc., etc. as a primary SD weapon, just because it is "comfortable," is kidding himself, is acknowledging his lack of training, clearly places a very low value on his life, is too lazy to accommodate a moderately-sized gun, and//or just isn't very serious about SD.

p.s. My $.02 of interwebz advice has been supplemented by numerous SD trainers who are considered to be among the best (if not the best) in their profession.

pp.s. While it is certainly none of my business, and while it certainly isn't causing me any loss of sleep -- your continual posting of repetitive, ill-founded opinions, makes me quite interested in learning whom you have actually trained under.