Quote:
Originally Posted by Erich
In fact, I've worked on one shooting in which a .380 ball round (out of a relatively long barrel) overpenetrated and injured an unintended victim (Rule 4, people). Now I've seen a whole lot of .380 ball rounds not overpenetrate, but this shows how Mas is right when he warns us to consider the dangers of overpenetration, even with mousegun rounds. (I have to say that I've wondered a bit whether the .380 might not just be the perfect storm of perhaps-too-penetrative in a ball round and not-sufficiently-penetrative in a JHP. Given the similarity of the ballistics, I wonder the same thing about the 9x19Mak. Those blowback calibers are sure not 9x19 ball, though, which is pretty much guaranteed to overpenetrate.)
Alas, I'm not with friend flopshank on the 110-gr .38s, either. I'd simply never use such unless I were in dire straits and that was all that was available. But I'm glad that we can all be friends nevertheless.  |
It truly is more pleasant when we can disagree on friendly terms.
I think the first paragraph really gets to the heart of what .380 is, mediocre in every way. While I'm not a pathologist and have only shot paper and Perma-Gel with .380, I think I have a good handle on what it takes to make hollowpoints perform well (better said would be as well as can be expected) in that caliber. I have only tested bullets made be Speer (Gold Dot) and Hornady (XTP and FTX bullets). Both makers bullets only expand to about .420", or so, in caliber and no more. They put on the brakes, but minimally. Think of them as wadcutters with little petals folded over and lying relatively flat along their sides. In the cases that they don't expand, they will almost always (everytime I've seen actually) tumble and travel backwards like a wadcutter.
I've read Golden sabre tests in which penetration was shallow, so I'm not really hot on that load. I hope to test it in the future, so my mind is still open. I don't remember where I got the idea in my head, but I'm not hot on the Hydra-shok in that caliber at all. Like .32 ACP, I think the .380 is one of those calibers in which FMJ vs. hollow points may be a six of one/half dozen of the other decision. I know I don't like the idea of overpenetration (in the trade I work in, mistakes may cause another person their life, and that truly is one of my worst fears. I'd rather have it be me), or the narrow type wounds round nose bullets are likely to leave.
As far as 110 gr. .38+P goes, at that lower weight, bullet design must really work in conjunction with the light weight or shallow penetration is a real likelyhood. DPX, once expanded, essentially acts like a wadcutter with sharp spider-like fingers sticking out. There is no full mushroom to stop the bullet too soon, but every bit as much expanded diameter as other loads. I fired a single round in Perma-Gel and it penetrated to 12 3/4" IIRC. I'm after 12"-14" penetration, YMMV. Corbon's very hot loaded (think .357 magnumish muzzle blast and recoil) .38+P 110 gr. JHP acts somewhat like a well designed .380 bullet (IIRC and it penetrated ~ 15" in P-G IIRC), so I really don't think that 110 grs. is too light for caliber, but think it's the lower limit. I have tested no other 110 gr. .38+P loads.