Ammo choices for the 380 Shield EZ

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Green855

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I have a M&P Shield 380 EZ. Are there any 9mm ammo classifications that would work in this gun. I do respect the rule of
use only ammo as marked on the gun. The 380 auto or 380 ACP & 9mm are essentially identical except for certain case shapes & dimensions. I'm hardly an expert with the knowledge to figure it out myself. But 380 (for me) has become as rare as hens teeth, yet my dealer always has some 9's on the shelf. Is there a 9m type that will go with a M&P 380 EZ? Thanks for the advice.
 
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Green855 said:
I have a M&P Shield 380 EZ. Are there any 9mm ammo classifications that would work in this gun. I do respect the rule of

use only ammo as marked on the gun. The 380 auto or 380 ACP & 9mm are essentially identical except for certain case shapes & dimensions. I'm hardly an expert with the knowledge to figure it out myself. But 380 (for me) has become as rare as hens teeth, yet my dealer always has some 9's on the shelf. Is there a 9m type that will go with a M&P 380 EZ? Thanks for the advice.
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If it's 9x17, which I highly doubt is stocked since it's .380 in it's metric form, then sure. 9x18 Makarov no, 9x19 Para also no.

Them being identical with the exception of certain case shapes and dimensions makes them different. I know ammo is hard to come by these days, but with some pistols you need to use the ammo designed for the pistol.

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Green,

The 380ACP is also known in Europe as the 9mm Kurz and 9mm Corto, it is also known by it's metric designation: 9x17. The 9mm Luger is a 9x19, and the 9mm Makarov is a 9x18. Neither the 9mm Luger nor the 9mm Makarov are interchangeable with the 380.
 
Definitely bad idea, especially with EZ model which can be very picky with their own caliber.

.380 and 9 may look similar, but they are different. Even you somehow feet the bullet into the chamber, ignition may simple destroy the pistol.
.380 is shorter than the 9, so when 9mm bullet sits at chamber wall the casing will stick out.
Also 9 has wider RIM than .380 so you may have even problems with chambering the round.
 
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The bullets are the same diameter and that's about it. There is no 9x19mm (aka 9mm luger, 9mm parabelum) that you can safely fire in your 380acp pistol.
 
Thanks for all the good advice on my asking if 9's will go with my 380. So I guess I will be making my daily call over to my dealer to hear him say to me again "Yes we have no 380 Today". I will just have to be patient & practice with my M&P S&W 22. Thank you.
 
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Midway had Winchester 380 a day or so ago, got the notice and was surprised to see it still there. Set up automatic notifications with the online dealers and be ready to buy as soon as you receive it.
 
Generally, the ballistic performance with .380s is such that using quality ball ammo is the simplest answer. The first thing you have to get is utter reliability, and .380s have a reputation for being somewhat finicky. (I don't think your model has that reputation; I've only briefly shot one.) I have a Glock 42 (which I wrote up somewhere here) and it took several hundred rounds of ball before it would work reliably even with that, and then a bunch more hot Fiocchi HP ammo (chosen because it seems to be about the only .380 HP that comes close to meeting the FBI/IWBA performance standards) for testing - and then finally after maybe 700 or so rounds, it got the point where it would work with Black Hills Honey Badger (which has relatively little recoil impulse due to the light weight of the round).

I tend to buy ammo in case lots, generally multiples of 1000 rounds at a time when I see a decent deal or ammo I find desirable. Right now, that is likely a little hard to do and certainly not cheap.
 
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