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Customer Reviews for I.O. Hellcat II 380 Blued 380 ACP 2.75" 6+1 Black Poly


I.O. Hellcat II 380 Blued 380 ACP 2.75 6+1 Black Poly Buy Now

30 Reviews. 3.2 out of 5 Stars!
5 Stars
40%
4 Stars
10%
3 Stars
10%
2 Stars
10%
1 Star
30%
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Daniel K on 03/30/2022
Rating:   4 of 5 Stars!

This is a pretty nice little .380. The only downside is that you really do have to use "premium" ammo for it to cycle correctly. Your run of the mill target ammo (blazer, etc.) is likely to have FTF issues. As long as you don't mind spending money on good ammo it's a nice little carry gun, and let's face it, you really don't buy a micro .380 because it's fun to go shoot at the range.

David T on 02/25/2021
Rating:   3 of 5 Stars!

should of bought a ruger quality just OK had to send for repair sights suck

Gary D on 07/31/2019
Rating:   1 of 5 Stars!

The worst gun that I've ever had occasion to use even after installing their "beefed up" extractor. You get one shot before the gun jams and it jams every time. It doesn't matter whether your using target rounds or hot loads. Furthermore, it is not easy to clear the jam quickly. On the plus side it's easy to conceal if your looking for a one shot weapon. It's not worth the trouble or expense to return it to the factory.

Robert D on 03/31/2019
Rating:   4 of 5 Stars!

I've had this pistol for several years now, and I can say it's pretty good. Probably not up to the same standard Ruger it copied (I don't have the Ruger so can't compare) but I've found this to be a good pistol. Magazines seem to be an issue, both in finding them (now) and with reliability. I've run critical defense and standard fmj through it and feeds both relatively reliably.

Ronald W L on 01/09/2014
Rating:   5 of 5 Stars!

I BOUGHT THIS LITTLE 380 LAST FEBRUARY JUST SHOT IT TODAY FOR FIRST TIME.01/09/2014 .SO NOW TO TELL THE BEST PART.......... BEFORE I TOOK IT TO THE RANGE I BROKE IT DOWN WORKED IT OVER WITH A LITE AMOUNT OF FROG LUBE AND TO THE RANGE I WENT. 100% EFFECTIVE NO MISS FIRE, NO JAM, JUST GREAT PERFORMANCE. SO FOR YOU PEOPLE THAT ARE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THIS LITTE GUN I SAY THIS AS A MARINE AND RETIRED POLICE OFFICER { A FIREARM WILL WORK AS WELL AS YOU FEED IT PROPERLY AND KEEP HIM CLEAN AND LUBED...............}Hellcat II 380 Blued 380 ACP 2.75" 6+1 Black Poly GET A (5***** STAR REVIEW )

John H on 03/10/2013
Rating:   1 of 5 Stars!

This gun will not feed AT ALL. I first took it apart and cleaned and lubed it as I always do with any new firearm. As you have read from other reviews, I am now going to try to deal with the manufacturer. If it's cheaper to take it to a gunsmith than to ship it, I will go that route. The weapon is absolutely horrible. Do NOT waste your money on this one. I need a backup carry pistol and this one will not be the one that I depend upon. I work in law enforcement and cannot second guess my firearms. Bud's is great and I will continue to purchase from them. Their service is awesome, even during this nationwide gun "crisis".

Bob B on 02/07/2013
Rating:   1 of 5 Stars!

I purchased 2 at the New Higher price last week. They shot very well as long as you clean and re-oil before you use them. Both seemed Bone Dry when taken out of the box. Nice little conceal weapon for the money. THATS the Last positive I have for the manufacturer. To say that I.O. customer service sucked would be a plus. Trying to get a hold of them is just as impossible as finding EXTRA MAGS. No one has them and their customer support via email can not even suggest when to get extra mags. The guns only ships with one. I would rate the Hellcat II .380 as a 7 but the company I.O. Inc as a - 7. They wont support their own product. No more money from Me!!

Randy M on 02/01/2013
Rating:   1 of 5 Stars!

I cleaned the pistol out of the box to remove the cosmolime packing grease and oiled to lubricate to fire. The gun fired up to the last shell every time, which jammed every time. This tells me the magizine spring is weak from the factory. I stretched the spring and the jamming continued randomly.I tried to call the factory twice at which time the phone rang until it quit. I emailed with the suggested cause and fix and got an immediate response of " I am the only person here". The sales department and the customer service is the same man. I.E. This gun needs a stronger mag spring, I.O. needs a sales department, and a customer service department, each, and needs to hire people for these positions. IT IS WHAT IT IS.

Joshua B on 01/30/2013
Rating:   3 of 5 Stars!

Got it in to my FFL within a week, gun looked great......from the outside. Took it apart when I got home and noticed huge pitts in the chamber and rasp like pitting on the feed ramp, there was no way this thing would feed a round into the chamber. It was amazing because the pitting had been blued over, evidence of poor Q.C. during the barrel making process. The rest of the gun looked great! The next morning I e-mail I.O. Inc letting them know about the barrel and that I would like another one, within an hour I got a response letting me know that a new barrel is on the way. I received the new barrel a week later and the gun functions perfect (for a .380 pocket pistol). After shooting a Kel-Tec, Ruger LCP, and the Taurus TCP, the Hellcat was worth the $210 and performs as good as the others once it is in the condition it SHOULD have left the factory. If it wasn't for the Lifetime Warranty, I might not be as satisfied.

Denny F on 01/28/2013
Rating:   2 of 5 Stars!

Picked up from FFL. Bought recommended ammo. Would not feed first round into chamber. After working with it for some time I came to realize it was the magazine that was not functioning properly. Tried to contact IO, but all the negative about their customer service is correct. No one answers the phone and cannot leave a message. I don't even know if they are in business anymore.I stretched the spring in the magazine to put more pressure on the shells when feeding and that solved all the problems. Have ordered a new magazine. Will see if it has the same problem.

Jesse W on 01/16/2013
Rating:   1 of 5 Stars!

The gun is 9.4 oz of crap! Barrel had deep pitted rust all over inside out to the texture of 60 grit sand paper. Feed ramp would be better for a fingernail file, yes that rough! The frame pooches out after dissasembly from little pin retainer spring getting stuck between the plastic and aluminum part of the frame . Sent gun back to I O they said they don't go out the door like that.....LIE.If you buy one after reading this review you are a complete fool. This was suppose to be the series 2 which had the series 1 problems resolved...not. BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!all this happened1-15-13 the junky ones are still out there!!!! If you have a choice between this 9.4 ounce turd or a pointy stick take the stick!

Bradley F on 01/05/2013
Rating:   1 of 5 Stars!

I picked up my new I.O. Hellcat last night at my FFL. I took the gun to the range today to shoot it for the first time. I used Winchester 380 ammo. The very first round that I tried to put in the chamber would not go up into the chamber from the magazine. It took about 15 minutes of working with it to be able to chamber the first round. About every 3rd round jammed from that point. This was unbelievably embarassing for a brand new gun. How this passed the manufacturers Quality Control I do not know. I was finally able to shoot the box of 50. I tried calling the manufacturer but they were closed. I will call them back Monday. Hopefully they will fix this gun. I am so far very disappointed in this pistol. Hopefully they will fix it and it will be ok.

Daniel D on 12/23/2012
Rating:   1 of 5 Stars!

To start I do not blame buds, I blame the manufacture. Buds shipped fast and would order from them again. I received the gun new, tried to chamber a round and it would not chamber. Tried a few kinds of ammo still no go. Took it apart the entire surface of the barrel was terribly pitted. Then I noticed the feed ramp was unfinished and clearly cut short. I have not got a hold of the manufacture yet because of the holidays but it blows my mind this thing even left their factory in this condition. I do not see how they were able to even test fire it. Terrible. I read reviews all over the net and thought I would take the chance and hope I got a good one. In reality I got a $200 paperweight that is unable to function on any level.

Bernard M. L on 11/02/2012
Rating:   5 of 5 Stars!

Just p/u the Hellcat from the FFL dealer. Very nice looking gun. Have to buy shells it recommends Fiocchi so it is off to Cabelas to buy some .380 shells. It comes with a case soft style and a trigger guard. Nice little carry in blue jean pocket. Thanks Buds.

Aaron B on 09/29/2012
Rating:   4 of 5 Stars!

I like this gun. The weight is very good for it's size. You can tell it is of "higher cheap" quality, but still a good gun. When it arrived, there were some scuffs on the barrel, so will contact I.O. Inc about that. Put 2 mags through it, locked up only once. Very accurate. No safety, so never keep loaded. I did indeed get the Hellcat II model, so no complaints there, but I was skeptical. Pretty much all I wanted. Just a lightweight .380 concealable and reliable handgun. This will be replacing my Cobra 380.

Danny B on 08/26/2012
Rating:   5 of 5 Stars!

Great gun at a good price! I just got back from the shooting range. I shot 100 rounds and had no FTF or FTE! I recommend the Hellcat 380 and Buds!

John V on 04/21/2012
Rating:   5 of 5 Stars!

gun performs awsome good buy for the money i like the ss mag. buds like allways very fast shiping to up state n.y thank you buds.

Daniel C on 03/22/2012
Rating:   2 of 5 Stars!

I bought this gun for my wife. For the price, it's a good little gun. Fires correctly and extremely easy to use. However, the slide doesn't always fully pop back into place after initially cocking it to start firing. I've only put 50 rounds through this thing and the slide thing happens enough to complain a little on this review. Also, when I first received it, it had scratches on it and the sights seemed to be a little scuffed up like it had been used. Overall I like it for the price I paid, but I wouldn't necessarily recomend this gun. My advice, pony up an extra $50-60 for a higher quality 380ACP like the Ruger LCP or something.

Jean S on 02/16/2012
Rating:   5 of 5 Stars!

I purchased this gun for $186 from Buds. As expected, Buds' service was great and the gun arrived within three days. After taking the gun to the range, I had several issues with it failing to eject after just about every round. So I called I.O. and explained the problem. They sent me a FedEx shipping label and I had the gun back within 10 days. Now it works perfectly! I read several horror stories online about this company, but I had the exact opposite experience. They always answered the phone immediately, they were friendly, and they stand by their product with a lifetime warranty! I would recommend this gun and this company to anyone!

John G on 01/29/2012
Rating:   2 of 5 Stars!

Excellent Hard to Find gun. Buds Gun Shop was the only one to have it. As always buds came through in a hurry never takes long to get what you order Got the gun cleaned it up took it out back with mag tec ammo fired my first round no problem fired next round failed to eject from then on it was a single shot. Took it down found the extractor was broken called IO they sent another extractor put it in same problem sent the gun back. IO sent another fired fine put 3 mags thru it no problem have carried it for a while but had to use it while out walking was attacked by 3 wild dogs they were pretty close by the time i got the gun out fired, guess what failure to eject, the noise startled the dogs, i had time to clear it about the time the dogs came back, fired hit one and it failed to eject lucky for me the dogs ran off. the gun now sits on top of my dreeser and i carry my keltec pf9 which i have never had a failure with. Although the io is supposed to be made in America i dont believe i will stake my life on it

Owen S on 01/18/2012
Rating:   5 of 5 Stars!

When I purchased the gun. Buds was great as always. The hellcat seems to have good quality. I must be honest I had problems with the magazine loading properly and stove piping. I will give their customer service an A+++ They made up for any problems I have had. Could not have handle my issues faster or better. I wish Ruger had the same zeal when dealing with correcting an issue. I would recommend the company and their gun. Gun shoots great now. Its good to give a small USA arms maker a chance. I am rooting for their success.

Mack W on 09/02/2011
Rating:   5 of 5 Stars!

As always Buds provided excellent service! I have had this gun for about a year now and I have shot around 200 rounds through it. I haven't had a single jam, malfunction or stoppage of any kind. I like this gun. It's not my favorite, but I do enjoy it. Most importantly, I trust it. I was a little worried when I first got it because I thought it felt a little cheaply made. The plastic hand grip made me worry a little, but now after a year I guess I had nothing to worry about. I was also worried about other people comments on how the magazine disengages in their pocket. This has not happened to me and I carry this as a back-up weapon quite frequently. The gun is accurate up to about 20 or 30 feet (give or take), which is pretty much what I expected it would be. The sights are very low profile, which took me a little bit to get used to. All in all I would buy this again.

Joseph H H on 05/06/2011
Rating:   5 of 5 Stars!

I paid $199.00 at time of purchase and I have carried this gun for several months now. Put approximately 500 rounds through it with zero problems. With the Hollow Point expensive self defense ammo in this gun I feel very secure. 6 in the gun and an extra magazine of 6 in my pocket. No one can tell I am carrying it in my jeans or my summer short pants. I have even carried it in my buttoned shirt pocket. The gun is accurate as it could possibly be. I do NOT carry one in the chamber when I have it in my pocket. I carry this gun the most of ALL my arsenal, either as a backup piece or a primary on a warm day.

Christopher D on 02/01/2011
Rating:   3 of 5 Stars!

Purchased this pistol from Buds on 11/29. It was shipped promptly, two thumbs up for Buds. However, my pistol had failure to eject with 16 of the first 18 rounds, changed ammo brands and still had the same problem. The pistol had to be taken down every time to clear the spent casing. I sent it to the factory for repair. It took a month to get it back, but it does seem to function properly now, after two times to the range.

Shane P on 01/18/2011
Rating:   5 of 5 Stars!

I am impressed with this pistol! It functions flawlessly so far. Put 100 rounds of Winchester white box through and 30 rounds of Sellier & Bellot, along with 6 rounds of Buffalo Bore 100 grain HCFN. (ouch!) It has a smooth DA trigger pull on it. This gun is a great gun to conceal. I got it for my wife. She likes it, but the only problem is the grips are a bit uncomfortable after about 60 rounds for her. I recommend this pistol!

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