that'swith TYPICAL .38 snub, 380 loads
by hotloading the locked breech 380, with the right bullet,you can make it considerably more effective. About the best you can buy is the Winchester Silvertip ammo,pull the bullet with and inertial bulllet puller, get it up over 1200 fps in the little Kel Tec. I've achieved 1300 fps in the Star Pony, but it's twice as heavy as the P3At, and has a longer butt,and is SA. The P3ATis a DAO, very "thin" and is a bear to control in rapid fire with the 1200fps load. The aluminum jacketed St hp, however, expands well in flesh at such a speed. That's 270 ft lbs, and is worth having,but a 15oz, 6" Kahr PM9 9mm can have 400 ft lbs, 1500 fps, CorBon 90 gr jhp, and it's both more controlable and still VERYmuch capable of being handy in a front pants pocket rig.
So the P3At is for "weird" backup gun carries, like as a necklace pendant, taped to the backof neck(under long hair) in the crackof your butt, sideways above the genitals, at wrist, on upper arm (inside the arm),sideways, just above genitals, etc. You can have a much bettergun in your pocket, so why settle for 1/3rd to 1/2 as much power, hmm? pocket 9mm is plenty feeble enough. Do NOT used 115 gr and heavier bullets in pocket 9mm's as the short barrel means less velocity, and thus, ZERO expansion of the jhp in flesh. So they just have more recoil,for nothing. Recoil is stout in a 6", 15oz 9mm anyway.