Hello, Shooting Illustrated fans! This is Mel Dixon, Managing Editor for SI’s sister magazine, America’s 1st Freedom, where we bring you all the details about Second Amendment politics.
We like to talk about guns and gear, too, though. For today’s “I Carry,” I’m going into some of the pros and cons of the Ruger Security 380, which is one I find myself recommending a lot.
A holster from a manufacturer you surely know and great little knife from a manufacturer you might’ve never heard of will round out this kit.
Firearm: Ruger Security 380 (MSRP: $369)
There are two primary things to note about the Ruger Security 380: first, while it is compact, this is not the typical tiny 380 you might automatically think about. It’s designed to fit hands, not pockets or clutch purses, with an overall length just over 6.5 inches and a height of nearly 4.5 inches. Don’t get me wrong—you can conceal it, and its width of just one inch helps—it’s just not a micro gun.
The second thing to note is Ruger’s Lite-Rack technology, which significantly softens up the effort you have to put into getting the slide pulled back—without the trade-off of a beavertail safety, which I have seen many people struggle to activate.
Add to these factors the gun’s low trigger pull weight—which came in just under 4 lbs. for me on average—and what you end up with is a reliable gun that almost anyone can manage comfortably.
And I do like this gun for anyone, especially since some defensive .380 loads have really been stepped up, but it is a particularly great way for instructors to transition newer gun owners from their starter .22 and also an excellent choice for anyone with dexterity or strength issues in their hands. It’s not really a low-recoiling gun, though—you’ll still feel far less than your 9 mm typically offers, but you will feel the recoil. That’s because this gun has a lightweight frame, made of glass-filled nylon. Of course, as an instructor, that’s again not entirely a bad thing since we want to teach recoil management once we’ve stepped up from .22.
I think the look of the Security 380 is nice—it has some interesting porting on the muzzle end of the slide, but it’s not too flashy. It also has a nice bright fiber-optic green front sight, which nestles between the all-black square-notched rear sight and is thus very intuitive to lock onto. And the gun comes with a 10-round magazine and a 15-round magazine (where they’re allowed), the latter of which has a pinkie extender to help with fit.
There are, of course, a few things I would prefer to be different, particularly since I’m looking through the lens of those who might struggle with the more-common semi-automatic handguns. One is the manual safety tab. That thing is tiny and fiddly, and, as we all know, you lose fine motor skills in any situation where adrenaline is involved. If it were my home-defense gun, it would likely be locked in my bedside safe in the ready state—especially since it also has a safety blade in the trigger.
The other thing I’m not crazy about—again, using the same lens—is the take-down procedure. On the plus side, no trigger pull is necessary for disassembly and the process is not difficult. However, you must use a tool—not a specialized tool, but a tool nonetheless—to remove the take-down pin, and that’s just another learning curve for new gun owners that I wish we could simplify … and, boy, am I really reaching for something to dislike here.
Ruger is well-known for being a brand you can trust. I had precisely one malfunction when testing this gun, even with mixed ammunition, rapid firing, one-handed firing and just gripping the gun as sloppily as I could to try to create malfunctions. That’s yet another good thing for anyone and particularly for the new gun owner who might not be as great at clearing malfunctions. With such a low suggested MSRP for that level of reliability and ease in use, you really can’t go wrong.
Holster: DeSantis Slim-Tuk (MSRP: $52.99)
As part of the Shooting Illustrated fandom, you no doubt already know about DeSantis Holsters and likely even know this model, the Slim-Tuk. It’s a go-to lightweight holster that fits many of the most-popular guns out there (including the Ruger Security 380), made by a company trusted for both excellent leather holsters and for their Kydex cousins. The Slim-Tuk is an ambidextrous IWB option with DeSantis’ tuckable and reversible nylon c-clip designed to be used with belts up to 1 and ¾ inches wide. And I do recommend that you use a belt as close to that width as possible, as one of the only complaints I’ve seen about the Slim-Tuk has to do with wiggling when used with narrower belts.
Knife: Pepperwool Merino MM (MSRP: $129.99)
Moving onto our kit’s knife now, we have the Pepperwool Merino MM, designed by Beren McKay, a knife designer who worked at SOG for many years before starting Pepperwool.
I immediately liked this knife when I saw it. At only 1.6 ounces, and 0.35 inches thick, it’s so small, smooth and lightweight that I literally never notice it, even though I usually carry it in my waistband. Yet it’s also a good size for utility—I’ve never struggled to get a good cutting grip.
The Merino MM sports an ambidextrous bar lock, which is always my preferred mechanism since I get almost as nervous about putting hands in front of blades as I do about putting them in front of muzzles. It has a nice, intuitive blade-kicker—also ambidextrous—to assist in its deployment. Its tanto blade is made of U.S. stainless steel with a titanium nitride finish seated in a G10 handle. And since G10 is derived from fiberglass, not plastic, it’s a lot stronger than it might seem.
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