.380ACP Pistols & Recoil

+1 on the Colt Mustang and its near clone, the Sig P238 if you can live with a single actionDon't forget that both are clones of the Star Model DK.
Sometimes it's not just the size and weight of the pistol that matters, but also the shape of the frame and whether it's a locked breech or blowback design.Exactly. The similar LCP, TCP, and P3AT are locked-breech but are so small and light that recoil is still quite pronounced. The likewise similar Mustang, P238, and DK are also locked-breech, but are a bit bigger and heavier, which makes a difference.

Most larger .380's are blowback, giving them pronounced recoil. The only somewhat commonplace* larger .380's that are locked-breech are the Kahr P380, Ruger LC380, and Walther PK380 (along with the upcoming Beretta Pico). These are theoretically the softest-shooting of the bunch. Of these four, I've only personally shot the PK380, which I hesitate to recommend for several reasons I've discussed in other threads, but I concede that it is extremely soft-shooting.

*Two minor footnotes: (a) the Star Model S and SS are also locked-breech but I don't consider them commonplace; and (b) a number of shooters seem to believe that the Beretta 81-series are locked-breech because the barrel is removed during field-stripping, but this is erroneous- the barrel is locked in place by the takedown latch and remains stationary during the firing cycle, and this fact can be readily verified by observing the barrel while hand-cycling the slide.

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