Hi:
Wife and Daughter are the proud (?) owners of .380acp Pistols (Christmas)
It looks like Their ammo supplier (me) is going to have to order ammo "On Line".
Question: Is there any brand/ manufacturer that I should avoid ?
Thanks,
Jimmy

Jimmy,
My Father, I, and my youngest son all have and carry .380's and we have sampled and used about everything out there and I can tell you we have had no issues with any 380 ammo,ever! Buy a what ever you can find and feed accordingly. Some guns may not like some brands or types of rounds, but we have not had this issue. Kyle

My only bad ammo experience (before I started reloading) was Herters ammo... extremely dirty and a number of misfires in .9mm.

One thing to keep in mind - .380's a good little gun, but think about ammo & penetration before you load up on personal defense rounds. I've read a number of articles about hollow points expending all of their energy getting through bulky or heavy clothing; as a result penetration stinks.

My GF carries a Sig P238 as her EDC and I carry a S&W Bodyguard as a BUG; I have each loaded alternating Hornady's Personal Defense HP's & regular flat points. If a bad guy is wearing heavy clothing the flat points will penetrate, and if he's not the HP's will put a crimp in his day for sure.

Just my 2 cents...

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Too many S&W's to mention...

We use Hornady for SD and we like it. If it's available that's what we get.

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Jorge

As said above, Ammo is important in this caliber. Also, many .380s do not feed hollow points well, though that is less of a trouble with newer commercial guns than it was with older guns. This caliber is right on the edge of penetration versus wound channel. Pretty much any ball ammo would do OK for you. You might have to search to find hollow points that your pistols like. Some people used to carry one hot hollow point in the tub and ball in the magazine just to ensure reliable function. I have would the Russian stuff to be the dirtiest, but have not tried the Herters referred to above.

I have had issues with Winchester white box and Sellier & Bellot .380 rounds. Neither feeds well in our Bersas. If I'm not mistaken the Herter's .380 is made by Sellier & Bellot. We've had good luck with Remington, MagTech, PPU, Fiocchi, and Freedom Munitions reloads - although I will no longer buy ammo from Freedom Munitions due to a bad experience with never getting credit for their "brass credit" program - the ammo is fine, but I won't buy from a company I perceive as not honoring their commitments.

I use Herter's in .380,9mm and 38spl all the time without issues in all my guns.I find it cleaner than Win. and Rem. and when Cabela's run a sale it's very affordable. I have the LCP and P238 and have only had issues with the HPR and Win. train and defend brands. If it works without being to dirty then buy when the price is right. Sportsman's Guide has been a good place to find .380 for a fair price.

In reality, .380 Auto ammo is still probably the most scarce ammo today. I would think anything you can find will due until things loosen up a bit more. For SD .380 ammo I recommend Hornady Critical Defense if you can find it. Speer Gold Dot is a close second, again, if you can find it...

Good luck.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Don't forget Remington Golden Saber.

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John

Jimmy

Take a look at Dansammo.com
He has Fiocchi 380 FMJ for $280 a 1000 rds thats $14 a box
And JHP for $360 a 1000 thats $18 a box

Grat guy to deal with

I like Remington and Federal 95 gr FMJ. Winchester FMJ FPs are a bit
slow out of my guns compared to the other brands.

I bought a Diamondback .380 a year or so ago. I tried only solid bullets because I had heard enough about lack of penetration with hollow-points.

I bought Winchester, Remington, Speer Lawman, Blazer, Fiocchi, PMC, and Federal. Only the PMC and Blazer fed reliably and the PMC was the most accurate.

I would suggest you buy as many brands and find the most accurate that feeds reliable.

Good luck.

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Have guns...will shoot'em.

I have had too many Remington DUDS over the last 35 years and therefore I personally avoid Remington ammo. I am NOT just talking about their Rimfire stuff either.......... I have had Duds in both .38 Special and 35 Remington calibers.

I find that both CCI/Speer and Federal are the best of the major manufacturers. I also have had 100% reliability with Buffalo Bore but have not tried their offerings in 380 acp.

Jimmy, Since you didn't mention which .380's they carry my info will be generic.
I carry a Bodyguard 380, which have fed any ammo I put in it. For target ammo I use winchester white box or american eagle primarily. For self defense rounds I carry Hornady Critical Defense, though I have shot Winchester PDX1, Gold dots, Federal Hydrashock, winchesters new "train & defend" and even Sig Saurs new ammo succesfully through it.
My wifes is a Glock 42. It does not like reloads at all or the aluminum cased federal ammo. But it shoots all premium rounds we've loaded. She too carries Hornady.

380 ammo is starting to become more redilly available. I've had no trouble finding target rounds or sd ammo (though I already have enough). Recently, I was able to buy (20) round boxes of Winchester "Defend" ammo at Dicks for $16.95 per box.

Hope this is somewhat helpfull!

Stay safe out there.

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Stay protected my friends.

I'll second this choice, i found they worked very well in my sigma 380 and did quite a bit of damage.

My Walther PPK/S gets fed/shoots nothing but Buffalo Bore +P. When I load it I have a 90 gr JHP in the pipe and the first round in the mag is the same. The remaining rounds are 100 gr Hardcast F.N.

Bob

Jimmy

I see that you are in Florida too.
I do gun shows every weekend, and there is an
abundance of .380 ammo of all types at the shows.
PM me where you are near, and I get you some more info.

Stu

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NRA Benefactor/Cert Instructor

Get some good fmj ball for defense and practice.Hp is a waste of time in 380. There to light and fail to penetrate to vitals. The S&B ,Fio and PPU are good heavy ball at good speed around 900-1000fps. 380 ball rarely pass's through a body. The ball feeds better .

SGAmmo has some pretty good prices on .380 ammo right now. for instance, 50 round boxes of Remington HTP hollow points for $18.95, and 25 round boxes of Remington Golden Saber for $12.95. More hp than fmj in stock right now it seems.

This is an argument for sticking with 9mm -- cheaper & more widely available. It's a larger round, yet it costs less.

I have also had feed issues with WWB in my Bersa 380 Plus. I found that it dose not like flat point bullets. All round nose and winchester train and defend HP cycle just fine.




In this world a man must either be anvil or hammer.

Can't vouch for Dan, but Fiocchi is a good ammo company. I've never had a single problem after many thouhsands of rounds of their ammo over the years.

When it comes to practice ammo, I'd say anything that runs the gun is a go. Defensive ammo is another story. In terms of reliable function, I prefer Remington 102gr GS. Primarily because the nose of the bullet has a nicely rounded ogive which feeds VERY reliably in my Sig P232. Many direct blow-back .380s have feed ramps that are partitioned, or have trouble feeding some types of hollow point ammo. Federal Hydrashok also feeds pretty well in my P232. Both the Hydrashok and Golden Saber have "decent" testing results in comparison to other .380 loads. Still waiting on Federal to come out with a .380 HST.

When I carried a 380, the ONLY round I felt safe packing was Buffalo Bore's 100 gr. +p hard cast round. You're not dependent on expansion and you will get guaranteed penetration. As the old saying goes, a bad guy will bleed more out of two holes than one! That said, overpenetration is the biggest concern.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O3b3ZGmZuT0

i use Buffalo Bore hard cast flat nose in my Micro
Desert Eagle. Reliable and from what I've read it's a good penetrator.

I watched this video for the first time this weekend. Have a Kahr P380 and a Sig 238 and have fired many different loads thru them and always wondered about the terminal ballistics of this ammo in these short barrels. This guy has done extensive testing on many different loads. He threw out a lot of my favorite ammo.

Final Results of the .380 ACP Ammo Quest | Shooting The Bull