I've been carrying the 9mm Shield for a few years now and love it. There are times though when I wish I had a true pocket gun to carry. In my case, I am looking at 380ACP pistols. At the same time, I am looking closely at the various ammo options and performance of various 380ACP loads. I have found a choice in ammo that I myself had not been aware of and I never see it mentioned in any forums. No doubt, it has been Anyways, the ammo I am looking at seriously is the Lehigh Xtreme Defense and the Lehigh Xtreme Penetrator. These are a bullet shape vastly different from what I've ever seen, and the performance from what I have seen in numerous videos is amazing for a 380. I thought I would mention it here and see if others here are familiar with it, and if not, maybe you will be interested.

My pocket gun is a Ruger LCR 357mag, its little and fits in the small thigh pocket on my carpenters style pants

Hadn't heard of these, and luckily my favorite .380 reviewer ShootingTheBull410 did review it, and it did well. It seems that feeding the unusual shape into the chamber is the only concern.

I pocket carry a keltec 32acp loaded with their cavitator round. I've done my own inexpert tests and I feel confident in it.

Interesting. I will have to try to find some of those. The way I usually look at my pocket guns is they are for "deep" concealed carry and I just want to put holes in the threat at very close range. Don't worry too much about the ammo. Maybe, bigger holes would be better.

__________________
Dr. B

Someone recently asked Massad Ayoob what .380 ammunition he would recommend and his response was...

"I'd recommend Hornady 90 grain XTP. Seems to have the best balance of penetration vis-a-vis expansion right now."

If I carried a 380 or 32, I'd carry fmj ammo.

I don't carry such guns.

Reliability and penetration would be my sole concerns.

I'm unimpressed by ballistic gell pretty pictures.

I think it unlikely I'll be attacked by a block of gel.

The Lehigh stuff is one of the few places where STB410 goes off the rails. Modifying pistol bullets to increase temporary cavity is an old idea. See the Devel and THV projectiles for examples. I cannot find any evidence that it is capable of working. I have found this statement from Dr. Roberts: "We have not tested the Lehigh Xtreme Penetrator. We did test the Devel--nothing special or magical."

I have nothing against the .380 round per se, but if you already buy or load 9 mm and want to "invest" in another gun (non S & W), there are plenty of pocket-size guns in that chambering. The Kahr PM or MK9 come to mind but there are lots of others; apparently you are not the only one who wants a really compact 9. Good luck in your decision.

__________________
Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

The gun I am looking at is the Ruger LCP2. It easily disappears into any pocket, is very light weight and concealable. Perfect for when I am wanting to wear shorts and a tucked in shirt. Or for having a small back up. Being only 5'5" tall and medium build, it works well for me as far as being able to conceal it.

Sorry, not too confident in the 380. I'm looking at the Kahr CM40. Pocket size 40 makes me more confident. It comes in 9mm also.

This^^^^
I carry XTP bullets in everything.
Threre are plenty of 380 tests online. Take an evening and watch some of the many performance tests.

I have a Colt Mustang Plus 2 .380 which is an accurate little pocket gun.

I've been wanting to get a little .380 pocket pistol like the LCP for times when even my 642 isn't discreet enough, so I've researched the ammo options. From what I've seen, the 90gr XTP is consistently at the top of the list for recommendations and would be my first choice. The 90gr Gold Dot also seems to perform well.

I would also add that it's hard to go wrong with anything Dr. Roberts recommends.

The XTP does look like a good choice. I've watched dozens of videos over the past three days. Home recovering from knee surgery so I have time to kill, lol. The main issue I see with the FMJ involved over penetration. I've seen many videos where the FMJ bullets exit the back of the jell blocks. FBI standards from what I saw were 12 to 18 inches of penetration to prevent over penetration which could prove fatal to someone standing nearby. Many FMJ loads far exceed the 18 inch range.

For years now when I am at a bare minimum in carry (usually related to hot Georgia weather) I carry a Kel tec K32 with silver tips
Next level up is a Model 38 loaded with Gold Dot SB. Before that it was loaded with the 158 LHP "FBI" load.

The evidence is in the video. The tests show this is effective in the FBI testing. From all his tests on the .380 round it's the best.

He deviated from the standard method of evaluating pistol bullets. Evaluating the diameter of cracked gelatin is useful for rifle bullets but not for pistol bullets.