Battle of three .380s
By MARJ LAW
Well, I know which .380 I like best. It’s the Sig Sauer P238 that I’ve had for over 8 years. It’s small, shoots easily, fits in my purse, is highly concealable and… it’s pretty.
Don’t knock pretty. Joe found me some gorgeous pale-yellow carved wooden grips. My hand closes around these grips in a comfortable familiar way. There will never be a little gun as fun to practice hand/eye coordination as this. Josh Wayner in The Truth About Guns agrees. He calls the P238 “the Rolex of carry guns.”
But wait! New guns have come on the market! New .380s that are easy to shoot! But will they measure up to the Sig? We’re about to find out. And this report is not from a large group of people: it’s from my experience shooting all 3 at the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) range.
My friend Gladys brings along her Smith & Wesson .380 Shield EZ, and I have my trusty Sig P238 and a new and very inexpensive Ruger Security .380. I mean inexpensive as in downright cheap, except that the word “cheap” comes across as a derogatory term and I mean no disrespect at all to this new Ruger. Wait ‘til you find out more.
I shoot my Sig P238 first. Yep. Fits my small hand. Now, on a scale of 1—5, with 1 being easiest or “like it,” and 5 meaning hard or “don’t like it,” I rate trigger pull and trigger travel. Both get a 2. Not bad.
Recoil is a tad more, and it gets a 2.5. Of course, I love the grip and it gets a 1.
Jacking the slide? Pretty easy. It gets a 1.5.
So, you see, the Sig is an easy little guy. How do I shoot? Um, well I hit the 8-inch target on each of the 5 shots, but they are spread all over. Frankly, I expect to shoot a bit better, but maybe I’m not warmed up.
Next, I shoot the Ruger Security. Again, trigger pull and trigger travel both get a 2. Recoil is a bit easier: probably because this gun is larger than the Sig and so its mass is absorbing some of the kick.
Grip? This one is great for a small hand as well. It gets a 1.5.
Slide? This is the slide you can jack with only 2 fingers. Yay for the slide. Haven’t met an easier slide.
Accuracy? No brag: just fact. I get a nice tight group, with the first shot in the x-ring and the next shot on the line of the x-ring. That’s so satisfying.
Finally, it’s the S&W Shield EZ .380. It’s EZ because it’s so darn easy to load. Just like many .22s, you pull a button downward on the magazine and drop in your rounds. Honestly, though, after about 5 rounds, my thumb on the button gets tired and I finish filling the last 3 rounds using an UpLula.
Like the Sig and the Ruger, I give the S&W trigger pull and trigger travel both 2s. Its recoil is the same as the Sig at 2.5. The slide seems a bit heavier than the others, but not much.
Selling points for the .380 handguns:
• Sig Sauer P238 is the most concealable and lightest,
• Ruger Security has the easiest-to-rack slide, and is (to me) the most accurate, and
• Smith & Wesson Shield EZ .380 has the easiest-to-load magazines.
Differences?
Cost? Sig Sauer runs from $599 - $799. Smith & Wesson around $450. Ruger from $299 - $350. Ruger calls the Security “modestly priced.” Big difference in cost!
Rounds in the magazine? Sig has 6 and you can find an extendo-mag that will hold 7. Smith & Wesson holds 8 rounds, and 2 magazines come with it. Ruger holds… What is this? The Ruger comes with both 10 and 15-round magazines. Big difference!
Weight? Sig is 15.2 ounces, unloaded. Smith & Wesson is 18.3 ounces and Ruger is 19.7 ounces.
Size? Sig is 5.5” overall, S&W is 6.7” and Ruger is 6.52”. S&W is 1.04” wide and the Ruger is 1.02” wide. When you put the Ruger and the S&W side by side, they appear to be very close in size.
Hammer? All 3 guns are hammer-fired guns. You can see the hammer on the Sig, but the other 2 have internal hammers. Remember, sometimes you can’t see the hammer, but it can still be a hammer-fired gun. Others are striker-fired. It’s helpful to be able to tell the difference so you don’t have to depend on another person’s assertion.
Safety? The Sig has a manual safety on the frame. The S&W has a grip safety but no manual safety. The Ruger has both a trigger safety and a manual safety. Other models may have safeties as options, but this is what are on these particular guns.
Ammunition? I use reloads from a trusted reloader in all 3 handguns. All 3 guns shoot thm well.
Likeability? If the Great Gun Fairy were to drop from the sky and offer me one of these .380s, I’d ask for the Sig because of its concealable size and the narrow grip.
Then I’d want to ask for the S&W for its easy loading.
Last, I’d ask for the Ruger because of its 10 and 15-round magazines and also for its extremely easy-to-rack slide.
Finally, I’d ask for the Ruger because if the Gun Fairy is offering, I don’t want to seem to be really grabby and the Ruger is by far the cheapest. Ahem.
I mean the least expensive.
So, remember:
Ruger for the slide, S&W’s easy mag.
Sig for the size that fits best in my bag.
If you’d like to see it and if a storm doesn’t come our way, I’ll be bringing the Ruger Security .380 to the range again next Wednesday around 10 a.m.
Marj Law is the former director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful who has become an avid shooter in retirement.