My wife is looking at changing her carry gun.  She's interested in the Micro 380, specifically the Micro DC (LP).  We viewed several examples at the LGS.  She's set on the laser grip.  I like the night sights as a better option.

I would prefer she carry 9mm, but she's small framed and prefers smaller handguns.  Her comfort equals her carrying, so I'm not fighting her on this.

Any feedback from the hive on reliability issue, female carry rigs, defensive ammunition choices?  We're going to the range after she makes up her mind.

Bought my wife a micro 380.  Unreliable as hell.  Couldn't go thru a single mag without a jam.  Got her a Sig 938, flawless from round one.

Mine eats anything but groups well on Geco fmj.

IMHO a pistol that light and small is jumpy enough on 380. 9mm would be annoying for practice.

Thank you for the feedback!

Same here, and ended up sending it back to Kimber after 2 weeks.  Since it's return, it's been flawless and have about 800 rounds through it.  My take is that it's a hit or miss with them, some are great right out of the box, and some suck.

Mine has 100 flawless rounds through it with no issues. Ball and Fiochi hollowpoint.

Like most Kimbers I expected it would need a break in period but that was not the case. My KimbeIn terms of caliber, r Micro has also been flawless with FMJs as well as with Hornady 90 gr XTPs, and the round count is well over 1000 now.

It reliable and more than accurate enough for self defense shooting.

It's also a good choice for a female or an older person as the locked breech design requires a very light recoil spring so it is easy to rack the slide.

-----

In terms of .380 versus 9mm in a micro sized handgun,  I'd prefer my wife carry the Micro than the Micro 9.  The Micro 9 is a little longer in the grip to accommodate the longer 9mm para round, but it isn't much larger or heavier.  That's not a positive in this case as the Micro 9 is fierce to shoot.  Fierce enough that many people will never shoot it well, and most people will never want to shoot it enough to ever get good with it, even if they can tolerate the recoil.

When you consider that all handgun calibers are in adequate in terms of stopping an assailant and that it's shot placement that gets the job done, I'd much rather my wife own and carry a Micro in .380 that she'll actually shoot enough to get good with, compared to a Micro 9 that she won't want to shoot at all after the first magazine.

In fact, I tolerate handgun recoil very well, but the smallest 9mm Para I will consider for concealed carry self defense use is the CZ 75 RAMI, and it's significantly larger than the Micro 9.



In short, the issue of carrying a Micro 9 or Sig 938 versus something larger or something similar sized in .380ACP really comes down to whether the person wants to carry a weapon they can truly be effective in shooting, or whether they want to carry a really tiny 9mm and then just pretend they'll actually be able to shoot it effectively if they ever need to use it in self defense.

-----

To be honest, given that I own four Kimbers and have never had a problem with any of them, my first thoughts when I hear about a Kimber owner who says they have reliability issues are:

1) Did they really own one or are they just jumping on the Kimber hate band wagon.

2) Did they mess with it (after market springs, shock buffers, etc) and screw up the engineering? (Which is critical on the smaller compact and micro 1911s.)

3) Did they shoot it enough to break it in before complaining about it, sending it back, or messing with it?

It's possible they just got a bad one, and I'm pretty sure we've heard about every Kimber ever made that had a flaw as it's popular to complain about them, while the other 999 out of a thousand Kimber owners just shoot them and don't necessarily post about it.

Came here looking for info because we jumped the gun today (ba-dum-tiss).

Walked out of the store with one of these in hand and 200 rds of PMC (since I didn't have a 380 before today).

Wife fondled a couple 380s, and the micro 9. She fell in love with the 380 though.

Anyway, shot 150 rds, all I did was throw some CLP on it as it came dry.

Cycled just fine for me. She had a couple limp wrists and her thumb smacked the slide lock a few times. She found the recoil acceptable (recoil/noise sensitive girl). Neither of us (despite some sweat) felt like the gun was trying to jump out of our hands.

I found it plenty accurate for informal shooting and self defense. Plenty easy to hit cans at 10 yards. Trigger is just fine. Safety disengages easily, PITA to engage though. Magazine (only came with one) fed fine. Sights work just as any other 3 dot, disappointed they are swept back and can't be caught on a table or boot. Fit and finish is good. No sharp edges or snags. Clean lines, good blending on the slide/frame fit. No bad rattles.

By the end of the session, it definitely smoothed out quite a bit. I'm sure after 500 rds it will be slick. Only took a few minutes to clean up, crud didn't get blasted anywhere abnormal.

Overall, I'm pleased with the gun and would recommend it for the smaller handed or weak shooters that need a small pistol. No reason for those of us that can carry a larger frame/caliber gun to buy this. The wife is very happy with it as it fits her well and looks good.

A little update. Forgot about this thread...

We're closing on 1000rds through this gun now, probably closer to 800.

I had to take a bit off the slide lock. It was catching on the bullets and locking open on a loaded magazine.

It's very sensitive to limp wristing, and doesn't like to be dirty. I think just because it's a subcompact aluminum 380. Should probably clean it after 100rds, definitely by 150.

Gun as a whole has smoothed out. Safety is still a PITA to engage, but disengages as expected from any 1911.

Magazine basepads like to rattle some even with the screw tightened.

Kind of annoying to reassemble from field strip with how the firing pin block works.

It's still basically a 1911, and as such it likes/needs to be run wet. That however also means extra lubricant to pick up lint, dirt, powder residue, etc so I clean mine after every range session.

I lean toward a good lithium grease on the slide rails.  It works great and doesn't get thrown off on the shooter as can happen with oil.

I'm running it fairly moist. I think that with how short the barrel, locked breech, aluminum subcompact frame, etc, it tends to gunk up an already finnicky system.

That's not all too bad as a ccw for the wife. It only has to make it through 2 mags in the real world and it's done the job, the gold dots are also stronger than the fiocchi ball. At the range she only has patience for 100-150 rounds anyway.

This has reminded me that it needs to get taken to the range.