Any suggestions, aside from get a bigger gun , on a good load for the .380 acp. Need a deep concealment/backup and the flat slide of my ppk is easier on me than my j frames. I was thinking about the DPX ammo but cant find any data to support this, so any suggestions?
.380 ammo choices
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Any suggestions, aside from get a bigger gun , on a good load for the .380 acp. Need a deep concealment/backup and the flat slide of my ppk is easier on me than my j frames. I was thinking about the DPX ammo but cant find any data to support this, so any suggestions?
Search thru here, this is a favorite topic. There is a recent test of the new Hornady rounds.
Erich
Member
You know, Steve Camp's post here last week on the newest Hornady Critical Defense ammo for the .380 certainly looked promising.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/695107034/m/5071005733
I can tell you that I've worked on a couple of .380 _hollowpoint_ shooting cases in which the rounds didn't penetrate adequately (you've got a lightweight bullet traveling pretty slow and then the hollowpoint opens and acts as a brake). I've worked on many .380 FMJ cases and found the rounds always penetrated adequately. Personally, I'd use the hottest .380 FMJ that functioned well in a PPK, though I'd consider that new Hornady stuff.
Best of luck with it, amigo.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/695107034/m/5071005733
I can tell you that I've worked on a couple of .380 _hollowpoint_ shooting cases in which the rounds didn't penetrate adequately (you've got a lightweight bullet traveling pretty slow and then the hollowpoint opens and acts as a brake). I've worked on many .380 FMJ cases and found the rounds always penetrated adequately. Personally, I'd use the hottest .380 FMJ that functioned well in a PPK, though I'd consider that new Hornady stuff.
Best of luck with it, amigo.
Erich
Member
I disagree.
The Kel-Tec has a locked breech and is probably safer and more reliable with more powerful ammo than the blowback SIG-Sauers or Walthers.
I found that my SIG-Sauer P232 would not run reliably with extra-power Double Tap .380. My friend's P3AT liked it just fine. I'm not saying that Kel-Tecs aren't schlocky-feeling guns (their actions remind me of the feel of the little plastic "Zebra Gun" pistol that my little brother used to play with when he was eight), but I believe that their locked-breech mechanism is stronger than and capable of handling more powerful ammo than those on a Walther or SIG-Sauer .380 pistol.
If you go away from conventional-power .380s, fire enough of the round to be very sure that it will properly actuate your Walther. Blowbacks are "engines" that function only with "fuel" of a certain power range. Get too much energy into the slide and weird things start to happen: on my P232 with the powerful Double Tap .380s, the slide velocity was too high to ensure that the rounds fed properly out of the magazine for smooth functioning. Possibly I could have fixed this with stronger magazine springs and a more powerful recoil spring (although the mainspring of a blowback is also part of the equation), but I'm not an engineer and don't have that much time to burn so I simply decided to use ammo that was within the gun's design parameters.
The Kel-Tec has a locked breech and is probably safer and more reliable with more powerful ammo than the blowback SIG-Sauers or Walthers.
I found that my SIG-Sauer P232 would not run reliably with extra-power Double Tap .380. My friend's P3AT liked it just fine. I'm not saying that Kel-Tecs aren't schlocky-feeling guns (their actions remind me of the feel of the little plastic "Zebra Gun" pistol that my little brother used to play with when he was eight), but I believe that their locked-breech mechanism is stronger than and capable of handling more powerful ammo than those on a Walther or SIG-Sauer .380 pistol.
If you go away from conventional-power .380s, fire enough of the round to be very sure that it will properly actuate your Walther. Blowbacks are "engines" that function only with "fuel" of a certain power range. Get too much energy into the slide and weird things start to happen: on my P232 with the powerful Double Tap .380s, the slide velocity was too high to ensure that the rounds fed properly out of the magazine for smooth functioning. Possibly I could have fixed this with stronger magazine springs and a more powerful recoil spring (although the mainspring of a blowback is also part of the equation), but I'm not an engineer and don't have that much time to burn so I simply decided to use ammo that was within the gun's design parameters.
flop-shank
US Veteran
Erich, did you se my write up on Fiocchi Extrema .380? That is a deep penetrating hollowpoint, featuring the Hornady 90 gr. XTP bullet. I figured those would be right up your alley, and they're only about $23.00 for a box of fifty.Originally posted by Erich:
I can tell you that I've worked on a couple of .380 _hollowpoint_ shooting cases in which the rounds didn't penetrate adequately (you've got a lightweight bullet traveling pretty slow and then the hollowpoint opens and acts as a brake). I've worked on many .380 FMJ cases and found the rounds always penetrated adequately. Personally, I'd use the hottest .380 FMJ that functioned well in a PPK, though I'd consider that new Hornady stuff.
A search in the Test Bed forum at www.stoppingpower.net should yield useful Gelatin test results. IIRC the Golden Sabre was a little on the shallow side as far as penetration is concerned. www.brassfetcher.com should have useful info also.
The thing that I found out about golden sabres are the muzzle flash is pretty big.. I just switched over from my golden sabres to hornady TAP XTP. They are exclusively made for cabelas, and what I have found out about these are no muzzle flash. To me that is important as well as shot placement. They are extremely accurate with zero muzzle flash. They feed the best from all the other 380s that I have fed, my Sig 232 and Ruger LCP. I am highly recommending these because I just compared them at the range on Tuesday. As a matter of fact, I have switched all my calibers over to the hornady TAPs.
If you're having timing problems (as opposed to breaking parts) a fresh sets of springs to match the load is the usual fix. I use hot .380 handloads that ruin the cases for reuse, but the pistol is sprung and timed for them, so there are no reliability issues.
Erich
Member
I'm sure that's exactly what I said. I'd have had to orchestrate the recoil spring, mainspring and magazine spring to match the load.
flop-shank
US Veteran
My hunch is that DPX is as good as it gets. I've never fired .380 DPX , but hope to test it this year. The Barnes X bullet seems perfect for the .380.
flop-shank
US Veteran
I just looked over on www.stoppingpower.net . DPX gelatin test impressed me that it's an underpenetrator. I may still try it myself, but it's definately a back burner type project.
Ron Thompson
Member
What about Corbon PowrBall in 380?
flop-shank
US Veteran
They shot it into gelatin at www.stoppingpower.net . Look there for results.
Trigger Finger
Member
One of the guns Buffalo Bore tests it's 380 ammo in is a PPK/S I believe. I think it should be ok to shoot occasionally. I think this is the hottest 380 ammo I have found.
Call me old fashioned but I like the Winchester Silvertips. The new Hornady ammo is also worth a look!
Call me old fashioned but I like the Winchester Silvertips. The new Hornady ammo is also worth a look!
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