I have read every post about the .380 here for self defense--and we all have our opinions. Here is mine. I have carried a .380 since I was sent to Vietnam. I smuggled it over there, and smuggled it home. (1969-1970) I have carried it a lot since. Its a LLAMA--built in the early 60's. I have since bought a newer one, and a Makarov. The Makarov shoots a lot better than either Llama, but I still carry the Llama. In Vietnam I was in a whore house with a broad on my lap when some gook came in and took exception the the whore sitting on my lap, he pulled a .25 out and fired at me twice--he missed. My rifle was racked behind the bar with the rest of the Gi's rifles, so I used the Llama with ball ammo--the gook went down with one shot. Now they are a small statured people, about the size of a 12 or 14 year old boy in this country.
While in Texas some years ago, I had a mexican guy pull a knife on me near Brownsville, the .380 hit him in the shoulder,(he jumped when I pulled it and just missed his head), still dropped him, (hydro-shok), and again while I was living in North Carolina many years ago, a black guy came at myself and a couple of friends out side of a nightclub in Charlotte. Again the .380 did the job, but I did have to shoot him 3 times. (He was a BIG guy) I didn't kill anyone, but the .380 did the job.
The Llama is a mini 1911 in most respects. Now I know that there are going to be people who take exception to that remark, but it has 52 parts, just like the 1911, works the same as a 1911, and shoots as poorly as a army 1911.(with out special work done on it) Evan Marshal did a lot of work recording evidence about shoot outs for many years. His conclusion was that most shoot outs take place at less than 7 yards, and usually consist of 3 shots or less. From personal experience--I agree. The Llama will keep all of the bullets in a 12 inch paper plate at 30 feet. That is/has been enough for me. I mix the rounds in the clips, 2 hydroshoks, then ball ammo.