Depends on the size of the K9 and where you hit em. Hit a chihuahua in the Keester with a .380, and you're still likely to lose a foot.
Is .380 ACP effective against canine threats?
- Thread starter Echo40
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There are coyotes around our mountain property and they have killed our neighbor's chickens and one of our cats. When I walk the property I carry an M1 carbine with soft points. Light, fast to the shoulder and great sights. The .30 carbine cartridge is not the wimp many think it is.
I think it's all bunk. No water jug will ever stop any kind of 12 ga slug. That's where he lost me.
Thanks for the kind words. We'd hunted there before (and after) without any issues from anything. We liked it because you had it to yourself. Great deer hunting spot. Ever since that time I am never afield unarmed. I hunt with stick bow or traditional muzzleloading rifles, but there is a modern handgun with me ALL the time, just in case..
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Echo40
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The same folks who call .30 Carbine "weak" are the same folks who unironically refer to .357 Magnum and 10mm Auto as "manstoppers" or "one-shot-stops" despite the fact that both have less energy than .30 Carbine.
Good point, I overlooked that part. Overall it reminds me of a time in which I saw a post claiming that a friend of his had been shot with a .380 ACP and had the bullet get stopped by his leather belt. Or better yet, the time I read someone claiming to have withnessed a .380 ACP bouncing off his friend's denim jacket.
Don't mention it, I just get really angry when folks start tossing around baseless accusations of animal cruelty in response to tales of self-defense against vicious animals.
It reminds me of two crazy former neighbors of mine who claimed to be animal rights activists, but in reality were physically and verbally abusive towards their own dogs, one of which had actually broken her own dog's back, then attempted to cover it up with a ludicrous story that it had done a backflip and broken its own back in the process.
Those creeps would demonize hunters, animal control, park rangers, and basically anyone who had ever killed an animal for any reason, yet they themselves were unspeakably cruel to animals. (And when I say "unspeakable" I mean that I won't even write about some of the things they had done to their own pets just for annoying them.)
Moreover, it reminds me of some folks I know who have a dog that is extremely violent and thus has to be separated from other animals and people alike at all times due to how anti-social it is, yet they refuse to have it put down and took an attitude towards me and accused me of being heartless because I told them that they really ought to euthanize it of genuine concern for their safety.
Rosewood loves him some 30 carbine. I have the Modern production Thompson/Kahr Mil Spec one. It was made in about 2005 or so?? Ditched the imitation "Universal" which is anything but.
I never gave it much thought, but it would make a great woods walking gun for protection and taking game. Even better than my Marlin 1894CP 357.
Rosewood
I never gave it much thought, but it would make a great woods walking gun for protection and taking game. Even better than my Marlin 1894CP 357.
Rosewood
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I've never encountered aggressive coyotes (but I know others that have), but I have been in a similar situation as you with wild/feral dogs. Quite a few years ago I hunted on a 1500 acre lease about 120 miles southeast of Atlanta and this lease was surrounded by other similar sized leases, so there were no homes of any sort near to it. Seems that lots of folks felt that was a great area to drop off dogs they no longer wanted and the dogs that survived long enough became totally feral and ran in packs of 6 to 10 animals. These dogs had no fear of people and were the top animal predators in that area at the time (this was before coyotes moved into the area). My hunting partners and I would camp on the lease and hunt a week at a time and would occasionally encounter the dogs. Most of the time they would run off like any other wild animal but on two occasions they didn't. The first occasion I was hunting on the ground sitting next to a large tree when a pack of the dogs was chasing a doe .... she ran past me about 10 yds away with the dogs hot on her heals. All of the pack except for one dog (a black one about the size of a Lab or German Shepard) continued after the doe, but this one dog noticed me and stopped and then lowered his head and came at me growling and snapping his jaws....it was so close I didn't really aim, I just lifted my rifle and fired and the dog was DRT. The second occasion I was in our hunting camp in my camper with two of my buddies in a camper next to mine. We had each killed a deer that morning and had hung the deer on a pole there in camp. All of sudden a pack of the dogs rushed into our camp and were leaping up trying to pull one of the deer down. My hunting partners were quicker than me and grabbed their pistols and chased the dogs to the edge of camp & killing two them, but they had emptied their pistols in the process and now one of the remaining dogs turned and was coming for them.....by that time I had finally gotten my pistol from my truck and as my partners were being backed up by the dog I stepped past them and was able to kill that one.
Those two occasions are the only time I've ever been threatened by man or beast and had to fire a weapon.....but it left me with a tremendous dislike for feral dogs.
Don
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Echo40
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I wish that more companies would manufacture clones of the M1 Carbine and especially make some new rifles chambered in it. Heck, I would be all over a .30 Carbine Upper for AR Pattern Rifles if they made such a thing. (Or do they? Might have to look into that...)
The real deal ones are still out there. I have a National Postal Meter and an Inland. The NPM is my go-to.
I get a yuck from folks who talk about how weak the .30 carbine is. Lots of folks on the wrong end of one in Europe and the Pacific would strongly disagree if they could still talk. ��. Yea, compared to an '06 or 308 it's pretty weak (but then so is the "mighty" 5.56/.223 that so many rave about and that terrifies the unwashed in those awful black rifles��
. A carbine is a darn good woods (or self defense) rifle for most of the country.
. A carbine is a darn good woods (or self defense) rifle for most of the country.About 40 years ago, we lived lived in the country away from the main roads. My wife at the time told me about this large dog, 70-80 lbs at least, that kept coming up and would not leave. She tried to run it off but it would growl, snarl and she would get frightened and go back in the house. I didn't feel comfortable about her or my daughter going outside because of this dog. This happened a couple of times before I was able to catch up with this dog. I had an astra handy so went out to run it off for keeps. When it saw me, it growled and snarled but did was start to slowly walk off. It stopped and growled so I lined up and shot it at about 50 ft. Dog took off around to the front of the house with me following. It went up onto the front porch where I ran it off and shot it again. As it ran off, I shot it a third time. I am pretty sure I actually hit it twice, it was moving pretty fast on the last shot.
I was using FMJ in a 9mm. I thought the dog would go off and die as I felt I got one and possibly two good hits. Anyway, two weeks later this dog was on my back porch again. This time I grabbed my 44 super blackhawk and proceeded to end this dog situation. It saw me coming and started to slowly walk off. It stopped broadside, I lined up a neck shot and fired. Dog went straight down. Dead I thought. I put my gun up, retrieved a handy shovel and came around back preparing to bury it. When I got back around the house, this dog was up and slowly walking off. I dropped my shovel and went inside to grab the nearest gun, the astra, but before I could get back around, it had made it into a nearby thicket.
I searched but the dog had gave me the slip. Never saw the dog again so I guess it did die. All this is to say that in this limited experience situation, dogs are hard to kill, regardless the caliber, unless you have good shot placement.
I was using FMJ in a 9mm. I thought the dog would go off and die as I felt I got one and possibly two good hits. Anyway, two weeks later this dog was on my back porch again. This time I grabbed my 44 super blackhawk and proceeded to end this dog situation. It saw me coming and started to slowly walk off. It stopped broadside, I lined up a neck shot and fired. Dog went straight down. Dead I thought. I put my gun up, retrieved a handy shovel and came around back preparing to bury it. When I got back around the house, this dog was up and slowly walking off. I dropped my shovel and went inside to grab the nearest gun, the astra, but before I could get back around, it had made it into a nearby thicket.
I searched but the dog had gave me the slip. Never saw the dog again so I guess it did die. All this is to say that in this limited experience situation, dogs are hard to kill, regardless the caliber, unless you have good shot placement.
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keith44spl
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As with any defensive handgun caliber/cartridge,
there can be a hell of a lot of territory between killing and stopping.
A 380acp (9mm Kurtz) would not be of any consideration for me personally
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there can be a hell of a lot of territory between killing and stopping.
A 380acp (9mm Kurtz) would not be of any consideration for me personally
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Echo40
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To be fair, there are plenty of folks who denigrate the 5.56 as nothing more than a varmint round, especially since the Army adopted .227 Fury.
As always, shot placement trumps caliber. A shot to the vitals with a 380 is almost always going to be more effective than a leg shot with a 44 magnum.
THE PILGRIM
Member
Have terminated dogs when I was a Kid.
We used 12Ga's and I don't recall having any problems.
And I have attacked by 8 dogs and I wasn't carrying.
I got me a big stick and backed up to a large circular Cacti we have around here.
The idiot dog owner called them off before they got to me.
PD? I thought it meant Police Department.
Personal Defense? Well maybe.
It can also mean Personality Disorder.
We used 12Ga's and I don't recall having any problems.
And I have attacked by 8 dogs and I wasn't carrying.
I got me a big stick and backed up to a large circular Cacti we have around here.
The idiot dog owner called them off before they got to me.
PD? I thought it meant Police Department.
Personal Defense? Well maybe.
It can also mean Personality Disorder.
The last group of dogs I shot were traveling together 6 of them. They got into the chickens and killed 11 or 12. I had a pre 15 loaded with 1/2 lead RN 158 gr the other 3 were 125 gr Hollowpoints. The HPs were up first and I shot 4 rounds 2 were DRT...one ran about 30 yards and the 4th ran about 150 yards. RNL. Shot them all under 25 ft...some very close...all running and killing the chickens. They were all focused on killing the birds and didn't seem to even hear the shooting till the 4th one which ran off yelping. 2 ran away before I could get a good shot at them. I had pictures if I heard any complaints. My neighbor shot a German Shepard that attacked and killed one of his calves...approx 200 lbs. I helped bury the calf but not the dog. So the 38 (jacketed is better) will kill dogs and other critters the 7mm mag is better. In case you wonder... I am a dog lover too...but there are often packs of dogs that get together and go back home. Their owners don't realize or in some cases don't care
sigp220.45
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I love dogs. Except when I was overseas I've always had at least one dog. I currently have three, and if you're one of my Facebook pals you are probably tired of me posting pictures of dogs every week from the shelter where I volunteer as a dog walker.
I've also shot dogs. Two pitties that were trying to eat my daughter's 4H rabbits (.22 to the ribs - they ran off to die somewhere else) and a big chow that was part of a pack that killed and partially ate a 6 year old boy. He took a .40 to the chin and, as the kid says on O Brother, he R U N N O F T. I found him the next day, eaten his own self by some coyotes.
I spent 17 years working on Indian reservations, where loose dogs are just a fact of life. If I had shot every dog that threatened to chomp me I would have done nothing but shoot dogs and do endless paperwork about shooting dogs. Once my supervisor came from Helena to tour the rez. He wanted to be anywhere else on the planet, but at the time he was required to visit each RA once a year. I bet him in the short allotted time I could show him a dog eating another dog. I had just that morning seen a rez dog eating a bag of dry plaster. He was looking pretty rough and I thought he might have fallen victim to some of his homies by then. On the way there I passed a small cemetery and there was a rez dog with just his hindquarters and curly tail sticking out of a grave. He was gnawing away on something, so I took that as a win.
My go-to on rez dogs was an ASP baton. I rarely had to whack them - just snapping it out usually triggered some herd memory causing them to peel off and find other things to do. The ones to worry about were the sneaky no-eye-contact ones who would try to get behind me. They usually needed a snout-bonk.
But, to answer the OP's question, its is my opinion a .380 will most definitely deter a dog attack.
I've also shot dogs. Two pitties that were trying to eat my daughter's 4H rabbits (.22 to the ribs - they ran off to die somewhere else) and a big chow that was part of a pack that killed and partially ate a 6 year old boy. He took a .40 to the chin and, as the kid says on O Brother, he R U N N O F T. I found him the next day, eaten his own self by some coyotes.
I spent 17 years working on Indian reservations, where loose dogs are just a fact of life. If I had shot every dog that threatened to chomp me I would have done nothing but shoot dogs and do endless paperwork about shooting dogs. Once my supervisor came from Helena to tour the rez. He wanted to be anywhere else on the planet, but at the time he was required to visit each RA once a year. I bet him in the short allotted time I could show him a dog eating another dog. I had just that morning seen a rez dog eating a bag of dry plaster. He was looking pretty rough and I thought he might have fallen victim to some of his homies by then. On the way there I passed a small cemetery and there was a rez dog with just his hindquarters and curly tail sticking out of a grave. He was gnawing away on something, so I took that as a win.
My go-to on rez dogs was an ASP baton. I rarely had to whack them - just snapping it out usually triggered some herd memory causing them to peel off and find other things to do. The ones to worry about were the sneaky no-eye-contact ones who would try to get behind me. They usually needed a snout-bonk.
But, to answer the OP's question, its is my opinion a .380 will most definitely deter a dog attack.
forrestinmathews
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Water filled milk jugs are bad evaluation mediums. They are not pressure vessels. Try two liter soda bottles filled with water. You will find your penetration is much less.
