If you could only choose one... (opinion on handgun carry)

[i am travvy]

Out of the two options you have, I'd have to go with the 38 special. I am not a fan of kel tec. Just feels cheap. Now on the other hand if you're looking at glocks then you can't really go wrong with any. I carry a 26 every day. I'd recommend a 26 or 43 for concealed carry. 43 if you want ease of carry and 26 if you are concerned with capacity. With the 26 you can also use glock 19 and 17 magazines. Will also accept the big 33 round magazines. Like I said, I personally carry a 26 every day but also planning on buying a 43 for when I want to be more concealed. (Btw, work at a gun store and handle these firearms every day).

[bearfacedkiller]

I wouldn't count on a .32 for anything myself. If you are limited to those two options then the revolver would absolutely be my choice. If you had a subcompact .380 or 9mm then maybe I would pick one of them. I carry a LCP because it is so easy to conceal but when I want more power I step up to a snub nose. "Five for sure" as they say. I am a revolver fan though and appreciate the simple operation and fool proof reliability. The small semis can be a little more finicky. I like to pocket carry and the revolver is also a little more forgiving of being a little dirty from pocket lint and what not. I also just really like revolvers.

I also like speed strips better than speed loaders. They are way easier to carry.

[Bugs]

Here in SW Fl during cooler weather I carry a S&W 640 Pro in an OWB leather holster. I load Speer Gold Dot 38 +P. When it is hot and t-shirt, shorts, sandals weather which is 99% of the time I carry a Seecamp .32 with Gold Dots in a custom leather pocket holster. I have tuned the trigger on the 640 Pro. I do a lot of work on old Smith's which includes cleaning them up, reworking the timing, tuning the triggers and ensuring they are safe to shoot. Revos are easy to work on once you understand how they work. Here is an older model 66 i fixed and sold:
The insides were a little "crusty":

Replaced the hand and tuned:

All cleaned up and put back together:

I like my Smith's:

And for a .32 my suggestion would be to dump the Keltec; sorry but they are junk. Get a good .32; I prefer Seecamps:

The Glock suggestion is also a good one. Very easy to work on, tune trigger, etc. But I prefer a 1911. Glocks can have the trigger smoothed and lightened but due to the striker firing mechanism tuning a Glock is similiar to polishing a turd.

[Axlis]

I also like speed strips better than speed loaders. They are way easier to carry.

I have been practicing with speed strips and speedloaders both, and have come to the conclusion that while slightly slower, I'm thinking maybe the speed strips would be better for a "stress" reload.

[Skaaphaas]

I also like speed strips better than speed loaders. They are way easier to carry.

I have been practicing with speed strips and speedloaders both, and have come to the conclusion that while slightly slower, I'm thinking maybe the speed strips would be better for a "stress" reload.

Leave the third round out and load two at a time. Much faster.

[TheKnifeCollector]

Out of those 2? I would choose the .38.

[awa54]

I prefer not to carry a gun, but if I lived in an area where my safety depended on it I would be inclined to carry a *good* semi auto in either .380 or 9x18Mak. A really small 9x19 like a Kahr could work as well, but the additional recoil from being locked breech tends to make small 9Paras a hand full. I'd prefer a .38 revolver over .357 for the same reason.

Cheap semi auto pistols are basically worthless in a self defense situation as far as I'm concerned, if you have even the slightest concern that a gun might not feed or fire then why have it? At least mid-grade revolvers tend to advance the cylinder and go off every time the trigger is pulled.

Still, cheap D/A revolvers tend to have either long or firm (often both) trigger pulls, which can make putting a round anywhere near your target challenging, especially if you're in a stressful situation, so either way I'd pick a gun that cycles reliably and has a decent trigger, both semi and revolver can be had that way and spending more on a gun that actually delivers the goods is money spent on possibly saving your life.

[Skaaphaas]

The Glock 43 is 9mmP with the "normal" browning tilting barrel design. Recoil can be stiff but less than a .38 snub with full power defensive ammo.

[yablanowitz]

I prefer not to carry a gun, but if I lived in an area where my safety depended on it I would be inclined to carry a *good* semi auto in either .380 or 9x18Mak. A really small 9x19 like a Kahr could work as well, but the additional recoil from being locked breech tends to make small 9Paras a hand full. I'd prefer a .38 revolver over .357 for the same reason.

Cheap semi auto pistols are basically worthless in a self defense situation as far as I'm concerned, if you have even the slightest concern that a gun might not feed or fire then why have it? At least mid-grade revolvers tend to advance the cylinder and go off every time the trigger is pulled.

Still, cheap D/A revolvers tend to have either long or firm (often both) trigger pulls, which can make putting a round anywhere near your target challenging, especially if you're in a stressful situation, so either way I'd pick a gun that cycles reliably and has a decent trigger, both semi and revolver can be had that way and spending more on a gun that actually delivers the goods is money spent on possibly saving your life.

That depends entirely on the shooter in my opinion. Of all my handguns, from a heavy barrel Ruger .22 through a snub nose .45 revolver the one I find the most uncomfortable to shoot is a straight blowback .380 Auto. I'd rather shoot a hundred rounds of heavy loads through my Redhawk or my Firestar .45 than a magazine full through that little .380. Not being locked breech gives it a very sharp recoil impulse that borders on painful, and that is coming from a guy who has shot IPSC with a Desert Eagle .44 Magnum for fun.

[OldHoosier62]

Of your choices....the Charter .38 with good defensive ammo (that it shoots accurately) would be my choice. But, I have lots of experience with the KelTec P-32 pistols, I've sold many as back-up guns and also carried one as a back-up....and I have not found one yet that was not reliable and accurate with Winchester Silvertip ammo. A huge improvement over FMJ in ANY .32acp pistol.

On the farm or in the woods, I carry either a 4in. S&W Model 29 or 4 5/8 Ruger Super Blackhawk...both in .44 magnum. For town or traveling I carry a Commander size 1911 in either .38 Super or .45acp.

And I agree with Yablanowitz, the guns in my collection that I dislike shooting the most are the little blowback pocket pistols....rather shoot my snubby .44's any day with full power loads than those little barkers.

[bearfacedkiller]

Asking our opinion can only get you so far. There are just a few factors that should determine which one you prefer. It is the internet and you asked on a forum so expect everybody to give their opinion and many of those will have to do with firepower. Sure, in a SD situation you would usually take the larger gun for more power, more controllability and more potential accuracy. I carry a LCP which is a .380 and while sales numbers will tell you that I am not alone and that many people are carrying .380s the internet will have you believe that I am underpowered and foolish. I think you need to ask yourself a few key questions and then you can find your answer.

Are the guns in question reliable?
You should feed any CCW at least 200 rounds to check for reliability. Except for a brand new gun or a very dirty gun your CCW should eat all 200 rounds without an issue. If you have any issues then it is not a viable CCW. This is one area that revolvers have the upper hand but there are plenty of reliable semis too. You may test both guns and find that one is reliable and one is not and there is your answer. If you want to carry the unreliable one then have a competent gunsmith look at it and tune it and then try 200 rounds again. Sadly, thanks to big box stores, competent gunsmiths are getting harder to find.

Will you practice with what you carry?
If you don't then how will you be prepared when you do need it and will you be able to hit what you intend to. This includes not hitting bystanders. In your situation practicing with .38s will be much cheaper than practicing with .32s. Also, the snub may just be more pleasant to shoot. I like carrying my .380 a lot more than I like shooting it and .380 ammo is more expensive than 9mm or .38 which are my other two options. In the end I chose the .380 because it is easy to carry so I suck it up and pay for the ammo and just let my hand take the snap that comes with little guns with partial grips.

Will you actually carry it?
Sure, a Browning High Power would be great in a SD scenario but in my case I would never carry it. It is just too big and heavy. My carry of choice would be a GP100 but there is no way I am going to EDC that. The gun you have on you is better than the one you left at home because you got tired of carrying it or because you were going somewhere that you were worried about concealment. I repeat, the gun you have on you is always better than the one you left at home. If you will actually carry the .32 but find the revolver awkward and sometimes won't carry it then stick with the .32.

Where do you live and what threats might you face?
I live in the sticks and the chances of me facing a group threat like a gang are almost none. The whole active shooter scenario is also highly unlikely. I am more apt to shoot a coyote or a fox raiding my chicken coop than anything else. Ammo capacity doesn't matter too much to me. If you live in a populated area or a high crime area then maybe you can make a case for more capacity. I have four clips total for my LCP and when I lived in the city I carried the extra three in a pouch. Now that I am in the sticks I just drop one extra in my other pocket. I carry a snub nosed .357 around my house at night because I have black bears on my property quite often.

Pick the most powerful one you will actually practice with, the one you can actually hit stuff with and the one you will actually carry all the time, everyday. If you need more capacity carry reloads. Statistically most armed conflicts are not shootouts but rather just a couple or a few shots fired and done. If you need a high capacity firearm to sleep good at night then by all means go for it. The whole reason for carrying is for peace of mind so just figure out what your scenario is and what will give you peace of mind.

That is my take on it....

[awa54]

I prefer not to carry a gun, but if I lived in an area where my safety depended on it I would be inclined to carry a *good* semi auto in either .380 or 9x18Mak. A really small 9x19 like a Kahr could work as well, but the additional recoil from being locked breech tends to make small 9Paras a hand full. I'd prefer a .38 revolver over .357 for the same reason.

Cheap semi auto pistols are basically worthless in a self defense situation as far as I'm concerned, if you have even the slightest concern that a gun might not feed or fire then why have it? At least mid-grade revolvers tend to advance the cylinder and go off every time the trigger is pulled.

Still, cheap D/A revolvers tend to have either long or firm (often both) trigger pulls, which can make putting a round anywhere near your target challenging, especially if you're in a stressful situation, so either way I'd pick a gun that cycles reliably and has a decent trigger, both semi and revolver can be had that way and spending more on a gun that actually delivers the goods is money spent on possibly saving your life.

That depends entirely on the shooter in my opinion. Of all my handguns, from a heavy barrel Ruger .22 through a snub nose .45 revolver the one I find the most uncomfortable to shoot is a straight blowback .380 Auto. I'd rather shoot a hundred rounds of heavy loads through my Redhawk or my Firestar .45 than a magazine full through that little .380. Not being locked breech gives it a very sharp recoil impulse that borders on painful, and that is coming from a guy who has shot IPSC with a Desert Eagle .44 Magnum for fun.

I'd bet that .380 has a very light slide, a fatigued recoil spring, or maybe both and the slide is slamming the frame... when I first got my CZ82 it had very sharp recoil for that exact reason, a new spring cured it.

Every gun and every shooter's hand are going to interact differently, but I stand by the generalization that slim, truly concealable (single stack mag.) 9x19 semis are often uncomfortable to shoot when compared to similar size guns in a blowback action (especially since the blowback pistols are usually chambered for lower pressure rounds).

While the concealability is poor my ideal target/defense combo pistol would be a S&W model 15 with some Hogue grips; fairly small, easy to handle, accurate, ultra-reliable and cheap to feed. Not really an IWB or ankle carry gun though... But much better than my 8 3/8" model 27 :D

[Doc Dan]

A really small 9x19 like a Kahr could work as well, but the additional recoil from being locked breech tends to make small 9Paras a hand full. I'd prefer a .38 revolver over .357 for the same reason.

Actually, it is the blow back operation that has more recoil.

[Doc Dan]

A person can actually get a small 9mm roughly the size of many .32 and .380 pistols. Of course the recoil would be more, but still the felt recoil would be less than a .38 Special, especially with .38 Spec. +P ammunition. Ruger makes one, Walther and Glock each make one. I think Kahr does, as well.

[yablanowitz]

I'd bet that .380 has a very light slide, a fatigued recoil spring, or maybe both and the slide is slamming the frame... when I first got my CZ82 it had very sharp recoil for that exact reason, a new spring cured it.

Every gun and every shooter's hand are going to interact differently, but I stand by the generalization that slim, truly concealable (single stack mag.) 9x19 semis are often uncomfortable to shoot when compared to similar size guns in a blowback action (especially since the blowback pistols are usually chambered for lower pressure rounds).

While the concealability is poor my ideal target/defense combo pistol would be a S&W model 15 with some Hogue grips; fairly small, easy to handle, accurate, ultra-reliable and cheap to feed. Not really an IWB or ankle carry gun though... But much better than my 8 3/8" model 27 :D

It isn't really a very small gun, it's nearly as large as my Tokarev 54-1. The slide tips my postal scale at 242 grams, which is 21 grams more than the slide of my KelTec P11 9mm that I have no trouble shooting. As for fatigued spring, I bought it new and it has less than 50 rounds through it, so that seems unlikely, although too weak by design is certainly possible. I can't claim much experience with blowback pistols larger than .22 LR, but I will stand behind my statement that of all the firearms I own, that .380 blowback is the least pleasant for my hand to shoot. YMMV.

[awa54]

It isn't really a very small gun, it's nearly as large as my Tokarev 54-1. The slide tips my postal scale at 242 grams, which is 21 grams more than the slide of my KelTec P11 9mm that I have no trouble shooting. As for fatigued spring, I bought it new and it has less than 50 rounds through it, so that seems unlikely, although too weak by design is certainly possible. I can't claim much experience with blowback pistols larger than .22 LR, but I will stand behind my statement that of all the firearms I own, that .380 blowback is the least pleasant for my hand to shoot. YMMV.

I don't doubt your assertion at all! I'm not a fan of sub-compact semis in general, unless the designs are really dialed in (and work for your hand) they can be hard to control, uncomfortable to shoot and even sometimes painful due to hand/slide "interactions".

Give me a full sized pistol any day... my CZ82 with its fat grip is about as small as I'd willingly shoot on a regular basis, though I've shot snub .38 revolvers without issue, the limited accuracy from such a short barrel/sight radius isn't for me.

[Doc Dan]

A blowback design transmits the recoil directly to the user by design. It literally blows back the slide and the recoil goes right into your hand. A revolver also transmits recoil to the user. A locked breech pistol, on the other hand, tends to mitigate the recoil a bit and makes the guns softer shooting. That is why an 8 oz Keltec P380 kicks about the same (felt) than a 22 oz. steel Walther PPK/S.

A handgun that I think a lot of people are overlooking (gun people are notoriously snobbish) is the 6 shot Ruger LCR in .327 Mag. This round is like a 9mm +p.

[MichaelScott]

Ruger LCP II with good self defense ammo, like Hornady Critical Defense. Good trigger. Good ergonomics. Small enough to carry everywhere. Small enough to carry all the time. (Significant factor. You can't shoot it if you don't have it.) Also, in my opinion and experience (and Hickok45s), complaints of harsh recoil and difficulty in shooting it accurately are way overblown.

[SG89]

Ruger LCP II with good self defense ammo, like Hornady Critical Defense. Good trigger. Good ergonomics. Small enough to carry everywhere. Small enough to carry all the time. (Significant factor. You can't shoot it if you don't have it.) Also, in my opinion and experience (and Hickok45s), complaints of harsh recoil and difficulty in shooting it accurately are way overblown.

Had one and hated it. Didnt stop me from carrying it though. The smaller the gun the more uncomfortable it is to shoot in a lot of cases. Exception for me Glock 42. Small enough to carry, big enough frame wise to comfortably shoot. Man i love my glocks. Love me some ruger blackhawks and 10/22s.

[Evil D]

I love Hickock but when it comes to things like recoil I don't fully trust the opinion of anyone who's been shooting for longer than I've been alive because "not very snappy" to him may be complete **** to the next guy. I never hear him complaining about recoil or shock unless he's shooting the 500.