Please report on the 238. With Colt Mustang prices where they are, I'm tempted.
I should start this post by pointing out that I HATE mouseguns. I figured out several years ago that I am willing to carry a full-sized handgun because it shoots faster and better. I just deal with the size and weight. My carry guns are a 5" 1911, or a Sig 2022. Mostly the Sig, because I like the 15 rd mags. However, I was forced to concede last summer when several trips for work ( with a different then usual dress code) left me with no way to conceal a big gun that a pistol that would fit in a pocket does have it's place. So I started shopping. I started by trying to steal my wife's PPS, but it was too big. Which led me to the world of pocket sized .380's. Keeping in mind that one of the few things I dislike more then a tiny gun, is a tiny gun with a heavy, crappy trigger I kinda naturally ended up at the Sig P238.
I took the little Sig out today, and my buddy brought along a BodyGuard 380 for comparison. I went through 250 rounds with no malfunction of any kind. For those that have reported problems with a P238, sorry about your luck, mine works great. The trigger was worlds better then the Smith's, DAO on the smith .vs SAO on my Sig. I did most of my shooting at 10 yds because that's my normal distance, and I was doing 9mm work as well. I know that's probably at the far end of reasonable engagement range with a pocket .380 but the sights really shown at range. I kept all my shots in about a 6" cluster at a pretty rapid rate of fire. On standard silhouette target all shots were solid body hits, except for the ones in the head. Compared with the LCP I've shot it was way easier to shoot, and shoot well. It also shoots a lot softer then the LCP. Despite being small the P238 is very controllable and quick back on target. The Sig shot better on iron sights then the Smith, although once we got the laser figured out the Bodyguard did as well or a bit better as far as slow fire accuracy. Throw in any kind of speed and the Sig's trigger proved way more accurate.
It's definitely not an easy gun to shoot well. It's tiny, and the sight radius is correspondingly short. For point shooting at 5-10 ft it's easy. Just point and squeeze off a whole mag. They'll all hit. Beyond about 20 ft and you have to start paying close attention to the sight alignment and trigger squeeze. But if you do, the P238 will reward you with pretty dang accurate fire.
My only real complaint at all is at about round 200 the VERY serrated trigger started to rub my finger painfully. But I doubt I'll ever fire that many rounds in a sitting again, so no big deal.
Any pistol is a weapon of compromise, and a pocket pistol doubly so. You have to decide where you will make that compromise. The P238 is a bit bigger and heavier then it's competitors, and has a safety (love 'em or hate 'em). It also is pleasant to shoot, has the best trigger I've found in the .380 game, real sights, and is pretty dang accurate. For me, having shot an LCP and now a Bodyguard, and having handled pretty much every .380 on the market, the Sig was the only one that I would have liked to own. If you liked the Mustang, or prefer good triggers over the lightest possible weight then this is probably a good gun for you. If you think a stock Glock trigger is just fine, or just can't deal with flipping a little lever, then there's plenty of other options, this one is probably not the right one for you. For me, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked shooting this little gun, and will be cleaning it and sliding it into a pocket to go to the theater tomorrow night.
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