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Hellcat .380

nate0486

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2010
Messages
96
Location
roseville, Michigan, USA
Anyone have any experience with the hellcat .380 from I.O. Inc. I am thinking about picking one of these as a BUG. I know its pretty much the same as a kel-tec and the LCP, but it seams like you can pick these up for a little cheaper. They also come with a spare mag and a holster.

here is a link. http://www.ioinc.us/our-products?pa...ypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=25&category_id=1

Thanks in advance for the feedback.
 
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Coded-Dude

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2010
Messages
317
Location
Roseville
no sales to CA. I wonder if they just don't want to jump through the hoops to get on the "approved" list. Nice gun though. I almost went with a 380 but decided on a 38 revolver instead(BUG).
 

Michigander

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Messages
4,818
Location
Mulligan's Valley
The problem most pocket .380s suffer from, and by all accounts this includes that one, is that they have horrible triggers and hefty recoil, both of which severely impeed accuracy, making them arguably scarecely better than a club or knife for someone who knows how to hand to hand fight.

Personally, I wouldn't suggest any .380 of minimal size, unless it's a Kahr or a Sig, as these have better triggers and tamed recoil, making them far more useful for real world rapid fire defensive shooting.

If cost is the deciding factor, I would suggest you instead consider a .32 Kel Tec or similar, since these have much less recoil enabling more rapid accurate shots, while still not being a lowly .25 auto.
 
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shotcop

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2010
Messages
67
Location
Colorado
Not a fan of the 380 for several reasons. One is that ammo is kinda scarce and brings a premium. I like the Kel-Tec 32 for a light weight extreme deep cover gun but for day to day and bug I would go with a snub revolver. They just don't malfunction, have adequate power and require far less training to remain proficient. No safeties to remember, clips to load etc. I am not a fan of the new expensive poly or super lightweight revolvers though, they carry easy but are brutal to shoot which is supposed to be what thet're for.
 

SouthernBoy

Regular Member
Joined
May 12, 2007
Messages
5,837
Location
Western Prince William County, Virginia, USA
It does look a great deal like a cross between the Kel-Tec P3AT and the Ruger LCP. I have one of each, the Kel-Tec being a 2nd gen version, and both work very well. The only problem I found with the P3AT was when carrying it in cargo shorts, the magazine release would sometimes get pressed by things in my primary right pocket, dropping the magazine a bit out of the well. Not a good thing if you need it suddenly.

I find the recoil on these little guns to be very manageable with Cor-Bon and Federal Hydra-Shok (somehow this round comes in pretty good for the .380ACP). I think the Kahr is probably the best of the lot but for a simple and decent small BUG these little guns do pretty well.
 

TheTman

New member
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Messages
1
Location
South Central Kansas
Wouldn't recomend the Kahr .380

Hi, I saw someone above recommending the Kahr .380, and that is one gun I would advise against. I am a member of the Kahrtalk Forum and have 2 of the bigger CW series pistols, that work great, but the P380 is a problem child, and there are more posts about troubles with that gun, then there are the rest of the Kahr line combined. People are sending them back to to factory for all kinds of things, and are waiting MONTHS to get their weapon back. I guess the factory is backlogged with P380's to fix. I just posted an open letter to Kahr on the Kahrtalk forum that they should quit selling the P380 until they can get it to work reliably. There are quite a few very peeved P380 owners on Kahrtalk that have been waiting a long time to get their gun back, and even then some still have problems with it and have to send it back again. I wish they could get the .380 as reliable as the other Kahrs are, but until then, I would avoid it like the plague. I don't see spending over $500 for a pistol that will spend most of it's first year of ownership back at the factory. I'm looking for a .380 also, to replace my .32 Beretta Tomcat that I am selling, and am definately not going with the Kahr. I was thinking about buying the Hellcat, just to see if a $200 pistol will outperform the P380, as far as being a reliable shooter. I think a good running P380 will be much more accurate than the Hellcat, but if it doesn't go bang when you pull the trigger, it's not much use.
I did have to send my CW45 back for repair and they had it back to me in exactly 7 days, and I couldn't be happier with the customer service and the functioning of the pistol now, but there are so many P380's to work on, it takes them at least a month or two to even start working on it. One gentleman sent his P380 back to Kahr at the beginning of June or July and is still waiting on it to come back.
The P380 is a great pistol, if you can get one that runs right, but I don't think I'd take the chance, and I'm a loyal Kahr customer. Something is messed up with that pistol's design, and until they fix it, I will recommend ANYTHING ELSE but a Kahr.
 
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