All you are seeing is the result of a market demand. There is a demand for larger higher capacity .380s and a market for smaller 9mms both therefore you are seeing more of them both.I tend to agree re the 238, but a lot of .380’s are way bigger than the smallest 9’s. The issue of recoil is certainly in the 380’s favor in the small metal guns. My wife has a .380 she loves and I had a West German PPK I carried for a long time-great pistol.