Shooting The Breeze Podcast: Episode 15

16 thoughts on “Shooting The Breeze Podcast: Episode 15”

1. I have not listened to this episode yet, but regarding this post’s discussion topic, you say it makes you question your pocket pistol.

   I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Any dream like this will make you question everything. You could be carrying a .500 S&W in your dream and it’ll likely still not work. That is one of the themes of self-defense dreams.

   “I kept pulling the trigger but nothing happened”
   “The bullets fell short of the target”
   “The bullets just bounced off him”
   “I tried to pull the trigger but it was too heavy and wouldn’t budge”

   Hang around people who carry every day long enough and you’ll hear it all.

   1. JP,
      Up until I had this vivid dream, I was actually very comfortable with the idea of carrying a .380ACP. In the dream, the bad guy walked through two rounds to the chest.

      I woke up thinking “Is .380 big enough?”

      To my dream states credit, everything went just as it does while practicing. The gun came out of the pocket holster cleanly, the safety disengaged without issue, and the laser came on in one press of the button (which doesn’t really happen all that often at the range)

      The issue I faced in this dream was stopping power.

      Thanks for the comment. I’m looking forward to hearing what you think after you’ve had a chance to listen to the show.

2. I have had a similar dream about but it was the mossberg 500 I keep under the bed, no joke.

   1. Nick,
      That is crazy. Of all of the defense guns, I would never expect anyone to walk through anything besides birdshot being fired out of a 12 Gauge Shotgun.

      Thanks for the comment.

3. .380 I believe is enough to get the job done. I think most people have given the .380 a bad name because in the past it was questionable if the hollow point would open reliable. With today’s modern ammo (I carry hornady critical defense) full expansion of the round is just as reliable as a 9mm and up. I have a LCP and a Kahr CM9. The CM9 can’t go to certain formal events (when I’m wearing very fitted clothing usually without a jacket, it gets hot here in florida) without printing even in a deep concealment holster, so the LCP is my only choice.

   A 22lr can kill and be effective if you place the shot correctly. For some of the females in my family whom I have taken to the shooting range the .22 is all the strength they can manage and still not be afraid to pull the trigger a second time.

   As my bestfriend put it when I asked him the same question about his .380 Sig vs my 9mm, his response “Let me shoot you with both to see if you notice the extra 60% power.”

   1. Nick,
      Outside of this dream, I’ve never been concerned about the effectiveness of the .380 round. While it definitely feels smaller in the hand than 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP, I’ve read some very positive information on the effectiveness of the round.

      I have two .380 pistols. My old Beretta is loaded with Spear Gold Dot. I bought it when I purchased the gun and had no feed issues when testing it, so I keep the remainder of the box around for that gun.

      In my Bodyguard, I have Powerball Ammo. It was the only ammunition that the gun shop had in .380 when I bought my gun. I haven’t had any feed issues with it but would like to see it compared to Critical Defense.

      Thanks for watching and leaving a comment.

4. Hey walt did you see the scores yet? good job man beat the hell out of me and tell me when your c-class card comes in:) About you dream I have to second nicks comment about shot placement is everything. The .380 is not a bad round but is expensive and that’s why I don’t like it. You seem to be alot more in the tactial training and “gunfighting” then I am but I have 16 years of shooting even though it doesn’t show:) being cross eyed dominate is a bitch. I have owned many different firearms over the years and what I came to is small framed semis suck the newer ones at least. yes it’s nice to have a pocket semi but will it work everytime? A pocket revolver is the way to go even if you have a bad primer or any other ammo issue you just pull the tigger again. The only way I could see someone walking through 2 .380 rounds to the chest is they had on body armour and even then it’s highly unlikely , yes there are police shooting reports that someone high on PCP or meth took some rounds and if it has you concerned do some failure drills you know two to the chest and one to the head. All this talk about under powered rounds from various people fail to take into account the high quailty of emergancy personel and the response time of them. So I guess my point is yes .380 is enough but why would you want it due to it high cost ( you could shoot .45 for almost the same) and the fact that is not a member of the big five 9mm .38 special .40 .45 and .45 long colt. My question is why would you pay a higher price for a round that doesn’t give a big reduction in recoil or a big increase in stopping power or accuracy? And you are talking about reloading are you going to want to get .380 dies buy all the cases and primers for it? I say get rid of your .380’s not based on a lack of stopping power but a lack of not being to much different then 9mm for a higher price. The either get yourself a nice pocket revolver or a mid size 9mm. I have a .38 special and we can shoot it if you want.

   1. Scott,
      I saw the scores posted on the York Pistol Blog. I’m still waiting for them to be posted on USPSA so that I can get into the rotation for re-classification. I’m not sure where I’ll fall but I’d be very happy to get my C Classification Card.

      I have a small frame Smith & Wesson Bodyguard that shoots pretty well. I was actually surprised at how well it shot for such a lightweight gun. I bought it because I needed something that I could easily toss into the pocket of my jeans.

      I would have preferred to go with a pocket 9mm pistol like the Ruger LC9 or Keltec PF9 but they were both too big to fit comfortably in my pocket. It was a toss-up between the Ruger LCP and the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard for ease of carry.

      I agree, .380 is a very expensive round. I would have liked to go 9mm but it just didn’t work out. I’ve shot a few revolvers but never something as small as a Smith & Wesson J-Frame. If you have one, I’d love to give it a try (I’m still waiting on my membership card to arrive for Topton)

      As far as reloading .380 goes, I wouldn’t mind picking up dies for it when the time comes. They aren’t terribly expensive (I think they are around $40 to $50) and they last forever. As for brass, I’ll try to use as much brass as I can collect. I didn’t give much thought to primers as of yet.

      Thanks for checking out the podcast and leaving a comment.

5. I have a crappy rossi .38 five shot saturday night special my mom has a hammerless S+W J frame ultralight and would bring them both to the range when you get your membership.

6. Walt just remember your skill with your M+P is your skill with your M+P not saying there is no crossover but each gun shoots different and yes you are a good shot but just remember being over confident with a less familiar system will take you from hero to zero in one round. Civilians are held to a much higher standard then the police , if the cops decide to charge you and the DA is anti gun my god they’ll pull every trick out of the hat one case even went so far as to make a guy say he didn’t mean to shoot the person and convicted him of manslaughter it’s way more in depth then that and I’m sure you can find about that by looking up worst after shooting cases. By no means do I think you are an idiot or a rambo type , just from shooting with you you seem to go full steam ahead with things you like and want you to think of everything and relise there is no one gun fits all cases. How many rounds did you put through your bodyguard? I just don’t want to see you blowing through coin to keep a system that doesn’t give you much. Bring the bodyguard and we’ll have a pocket pistol shoot and I’ll get my buddy dave to bring IMHO the best carry semi auto ever a CZ 82 or 83 the one’s that not .380 but some werid russian round like 7.62 X 25 or something like that. Better ballistics then 9mm and cheaper cheap gun too. It’s over 50 years old and they sell them all the time and he’s not the only guy I know who uses it as an EDC.

   1. Scott,
      The systems are completely different between the M&P and Bodyguard. My M&P is Striker Fired where my Bodyguard has a 12 pound double-action trigger.

      I need to practice with it more but it is just so expensive that shooting it often is hard. I try to make a habit of putting 25 rounds through it during each range session. In total, I probably have about 200 rounds through it at this point.

      I carry two guns on a regular basis (not at the same time). The first is a Springfield XD Sub Compact in .40 S&W (I had that gun on my hip the day we met up at the diner). I carry this gun anytime I don;t have to worry about my hip being bumped or my shirt riding up over the grip.

      While it is a great gun that I enjoy practicing with, it is too big for certain situations. In those situations, I have the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard to slip into the front pocket of my jeans (I was carrying it the day we did the Oley Shoot).

      While it is an expensive gun to practice with, the overall size of the pistol makes it the only thing I’m comfortable with in certain situations.

      An informal pocket pistol range session sounds like fun. I’ll definitely bring along the Bodyguard so that you can check it out. Now, if only my Topton membership card would get here…….

      1. Why don’t you carry your M+P?

         1. Scott,
            I bought the M&P because I wanted a full size gun for the range. At the time I also wanted to get into USPSA (which took a little while to finally do).

            I have an inside the waistband holster for it but have never used it because I have the XD Sub Compact for concealed carry. The only reason I have the holster is because I got it during a Black Friday sale and thought it would be good to have the option of carrying it, if I so choose to. I don’t carry it because of its size. While I could probably conceal it without too much trouble, I’m just more comfortable with the smaller XD on my hip.

            1. What about an M+Pc for carry inside the waistband and shoot IDPA with that gun and if you got it in 9mm wouldn’t the fullsize mags fit into the compact?

            2. Scott,
               What are you saying, are we shooting both USPSA and IDPA next season….. LOL

               I’ve actually considered doing just that. The compact M&P wouldn’t be ideal as a USPSA backup gun but it would be better than nothing. Unfortunately, money is tight and another gun is not in the cards for a while.

7. I’ll shoot a match or two next season in IDPA hopefuly at lower prov.

Comments are closed.