These relatively low-powered designs were intended for blowback pistols which lacked a barrel locking mechanism, which is often required for any handgun firing a round more powerful than a .380 ACP.

A drawback of the blowback system is that it requires a certain amount of slide mass to counter the recoil of the round used.

Blowback weapons can be made in calibers larger than .380 ACP, but the required weight of the slide and strength of the spring makes this an unpopular option.

It was also used extensively by Germany, who captured or purchased hundreds of thousands of pistols in this caliber during World War II.

While the .380 ACP was considered to be a moderately powerful service pistol round before World War II when compared to the .32 ACP pistols it replaced, few nations retained it as a military service cartridge for very long after the war (it was eventually replaced by the more powerful 9×19mm Parabellum after NATO standardization in the 1960s).

It does find some use as a backup gun due to the generally small and easily concealable size of the weapons that chambered it (very few "mini pistols" are made in calibers larger than .380 ACP, and those few that are, are recent developments), and is popular on the civilian market as a personal defense round.

[9] .380 ACP remains a popular self-defense cartridge for shooters who want a lightweight or smaller pistol with manageable recoil.

[10][11] The wounding potential of a bullet is often characterized in terms of its expanded diameter, penetration depth, and energy.