ChuckS1
US Veteran
Titegroup for me, too.
Favorite powder for .380 acp?
- Thread starter Triggernosis
- Start date
bigggbbruce
Member
Progressive hp38/231 meters good for small charges.
And hand cramps
And hand cramps
BE or 231, whichever one of them I have the most of at the time.
Collo Rosso
Member
WST
HP-38 has gotten to be a favorite for many cartridges, to the point that I'm saving it for 'special needs' reloading. I have Bullseye, Red Dot, Titegroup and Unique that I have plenty of on hand and even Power Pistol. The BE, Red Dot and Titegroup all work well for what I and my wife do with it, which is basic range SD practice.
From 2-3/4" barrel Sig P238, 4.9 gr AA #5 gave 837 fps with Berry 100gr RN, SD only 6! AA #5 meters beautifully.
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2024
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 0
I also like using W-231 from 3.1 to 3.3 and my Sig P-238 has no problems.
halfmoonclip
Member
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Messages
- 185
- Reaction score
- 165
Bullseye, 3.2/95FMJ/902'sec, from a BG 2.0.
The Bullseye meters well, and, now, apparently won't be available. I've an 8lb keg, and use it in virtually everything.
Moon
Dillon 550; in fact, the .380 was the first autopistol round I ever loaded.
The Bullseye meters well, and, now, apparently won't be available. I've an 8lb keg, and use it in virtually everything.
Moon
besshoudini
Member
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2024
- Messages
- 25
- Reaction score
- 17
aa5
My wife pretty much shoots .380 exclusively out of one of those Ruger Security Lite-rack .380s, so I reload a lot of it these days.......just finished another 1K. Like many others my go to powder for it was W231, but when it got hard to find during the panic I switched to W244. It is advertised to burn cleaner, and is supposedly cleaner to manufacture, and I've found it to be more generally available and cheaper than W231 and just as accurate. For bullets I use whatever is on sale at American Reloading, usually 95-100g ball....or 95g JHP of some type. The ball rounds use 3.5g and the JHP use 3.7g (which chronos at over 1000 fps). Those are my two standard loads for it these days...though I have bought one of the Lee 6 cavity molds for it and plan on trying some this summer.
Attachments
Hoosierville IRN
Member
Bullseye. .380 is a small case capacity, and I've found this fast powder works well. YMMV.
RevV67
Member
- Joined
- May 18, 2025
- Messages
- 34
- Reaction score
- 49
For what it's worth, Hodgdon confirmed to me that HP-38 and Win 231 ARE the same powder.
When I asked why the load recipes for the 2 powders are sometimes different for otherwise identical loads, the answer was that reputable sources of load data publish actual loads and results from their own testing, and the slight differences in data between HP-38 and Win 231 are probably due to differences in batches, not differences between the 2 powders.
RevV67
Member
- Joined
- May 18, 2025
- Messages
- 34
- Reaction score
- 49
As a soon to be first time owner of a 380 (a BG 2.0), I thank you all for sharing your powder recommendations. Fortunately I have some 231/HP-38 that I use for loading 32 H&R.
FOLLOW UP QUESTION: What kind of projectiles do you all suggest for plinking? What manufacturers?
FOLLOW UP QUESTION: What kind of projectiles do you all suggest for plinking? What manufacturers?
Model 15-4ever
Member
Titegroup for practice loads. Power Pistol for field loads.
Similar threads
