My task from my editor was to do a round-up of “pocket pistols.” However, there is no technical definition of the term. In this modern era, the number of small and “subcompact” pistols is huge, and covering all of them would fill all the pages of this magazine. And then some. Ultimately, I decided to cover only some pistols on the market. For a guideline, I decided to only cover handguns chambered in .380 ACP and less powerful cartridges, in guns with barrels less than three-inches long, that weigh less than a pound unloaded, and are currently being manufactured. That’s a longer list than you might think — and I’m sure I missed at least one.
First, a little bit of history, because pocket pistols are far from a modern phenomenon: Ever since firearms were first invented we’ve been trying to make them smaller and more portable (in addition to being more powerful). Guns for personal protection that were small enough to conceal have been around for quite some time. The first handgun small enough to conceal and described as a “pocket pistol” was the Queen Anne Pistol, a small flintlock first seen around the mid 1600s but which didn’t become popular until the reign of Queen Anne in the early 1700s. The now usually misspelled term “derringer” originates from the Philadelphia Deringer of 1852, designed by Henry Deringer. This small short-barreled handgun was designed for concealed carry and used a percussion cap to ignite its black powder. John Wilkes Booth used one to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.
Most people, when they think of a “derringer,” think of the double-barrel vest pocket pistols, the first of which was probably the Remingon Model 95, introduced in 1865. Chambered in .41 Short, this pistol threw 130-grain slugs around 600 feet per second, which while not impressive numbers, are enough to kill you. Snubnose revolvers were introduced in the late 1800s, and after the turn of the century there were a number of compact semi-autos introduced —the Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless and the FN Model 1905 among others. Right now there are so many types of handguns that fit into the “pocket pistol” category that figuring out how to organize them is challenging. I decided to do it by brand rather than pistol type or caliber, and we might as well go in alphabetical order.
Beretta
A few decades ago, the number of small semi-autos made by reputable manufacturers was very low. Perhaps the best known were the Beretta .22 and .25 autos Beretta is still making these tiny guns. Currently available is the Beretta 21 A Bobcat in .22 LR or .25 ACP and the 3032 Tomcat in .32 ACP. The Bobcat is a DA/SA semi-auto with an aluminum frame, 2.4-inch barrel, and a seven-round magazine, available in black or silver (with an “Inox” finish that consists of a stainless steel barrel and slide). These little guns have an interesting tip-up barrel, so you can load the chamber without having to work the slide if you want. Weight is just 11.8 ounces. Suggested retail on the Bobcat is $410.
I personally owned a Beretta .25 ACP back in the early ‘90s. Someone I trusted told me that the centerfire .25 ACP was inherently more reliable than the rimfire .22 (in feeding and ignition), and even to this day I don’t know that he’s wrong. The Tomcat is very similar to the Bobcat in appearance, just slightly sized-up for the .32 ACP cartridge. It sports a 2.4-inch barrel, seven-round magazine capacity, and is currently only available in the Inox finish. Weight is 14.5 ounces, and MSRP is $485. Beretta’s newest pistol to qualify for the “pocket pistol” moniker is the Pico, introduced in 2013. Personally I think this pistol looks just as weird as it feels in the hand, but some people love it. This six-shot DAO .380 ACP has a polymer grip and a stainless steel slide. It has a 2.7-inch barrel and weighs 11.5 ounces. This is a modular pistol, which means the serialized frame is actually a stainless steel insert inside the replaceable polymer grip. Currently the Pico is available with black, FDE, or lavender frames, with an MSRP of $300.
Charter Arms Pathfinder
Charter Arms is known for making compact revolvers intended for personal defense. Perhaps their most well-known model is the Bulldog, chambered in .44 Special — I owned one back in the day, but being small and chambered in .44, it was not pleasant to shoot. The Charter Arms Pathfinder has a two-inch barrel and black rubber grips. Offered in .22 LR or .22 Magnum, it is available in both stainless steel and aluminum. In aluminum this snubbie weighs an even pound, making it perfect for the pocket or for the trail. Prices start at $365.
Colt
The Colt Government Model .380 was introduced in the 1980s, and the smaller Mustang version of it meets our informal pocket pistol specs. With the Mustang, you have two choices — the polymer-framed Mustang Lite, or the aluminum-framed Mustang Pocketlite. The Mustangs offer a 6+1 capacity, have 2.75-inch barrels, and just like their big brother the 1911 are single action autos with thumb safeties, although you won’t spot a grip safety. The Lite pairs a checkered black polymer frame with a stainless steel slide, the Pocketlite is an all-silver pistol with a stainless steel slide and barrel paired with an aluminum frame. The Pocketlite weighs just 12.5 ounces and the Lite is even less than that, but these guns are surprisingly comfortable to shoot. Suggested retail on the Mustang Lite is $599, and $699 for the Mustang Pocketlite.
The Colt 1903 doesn’t meet my specs as it is too heavy and its barrel is too long at 3.75 inches but considering it is considered one of the original “pocket guns,” and Colt is (at least for a while) offering newly manufactured versions of this pistol, I thought I would mention it. This is an 8+1 all-steel hammerless single action .32 ACP designed by John Browning before he moved on to that other gun you might have heard of, the 1911. Offered in blued, Parkerized, or nickel finishes, these collector-grade pistols start at $1,211 and go up from there. While Colt is selling them, they are being made by U.S. Armament Corp for Colt.
Diamondback Firearms
Diamondback might not be a company you’ve heard about before, but I’ve been seeing their pistols for a while now. They produce small guns meant for the concealed carry crowd, and it is their DB380 we’ll be covering here. This is a 6-shot striker-fired .380 with a 2.8-inch barrel. The DB380 has a polymer frame and unloaded weighs a shocking 8.8 ounces. The grip angle on DB pistols is nearly vertical, if you like that. Prices for the DB380 start at $289.99.
Glock
Technically the .380 ACP Glock 42 doesn’t make my list, as the barrel length on it isn’t under three inches, but it is shorter and/or lighter than several other pistols on this list so I’ve included it. Plus, it is small enough to fit in a pocket. But I’m mostly mentioning it here because I don’t want to get whiny hate mail from Glock fanboys. So here it is — Glock 42, a striker-fired 6+1 .380 ACP with a 3.25-inch barrel which weighs 15.87 ounces empty, MSRP $439.99.
Summary
I am not normally a pocket pistol guy. I almost exclusively carry a big gun in an OWB holster, with a spare magazines. As this is our EDC issue, I’ve attached a photo of my “pocket dump”: my current carry gun, the Beretta 92 Elite LTT I reviewed in these pages last year with an 18-round Mec-Gar magazine on board, a spare mag, a Surefire Stiletto flashlight (fabulous), a Kershaw Leek folding knife (my current fave), and a big wad of cash I had to borrow from my fiancee to make it look like I’m successful. That said, I have shot, owned, and/or tested at least 80% of the above pistols. I own not just one but four pocket pistols — a Remington RM380, NAA True Black Widow .22 WMR, the now-discontinued I.O. Hellcat .380, and my favorite, the Ruger LCP II. Because sometimes I just can’t carry as big a pistol as I would like, and that’s why pocket pistols will always be around and popular.