.380

Al W.

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I recently purchased a pistol that chambers .380 so of course I'm loading for that now.
What do you guys use for your .380 loads ?
So far I've been experimenting with a wide ranging selection of projectiles and powder charges.
I've been liking Power Pistol as it runs clean.
Have had charges as low as 3.6gr up to 4.3 gr. All of the charges cycled the gun.
Various bullets , a real grab bag.
Today I was shooting , 100gr plated bullet ,.973 OAL and , 4.3 gr Power Pistol.
That was the most successful load.
Tried the same formula with a 95gr coated bullet and the gun did not like that at all. Wasn't grouping well at all.
Shot some factory PPU FMJ and the gun was somewhat erratic .
My load with the Berry's 100 gr was the accuracy winner but felt a bit hotter than the PPU rounds.
The gun is a blow back with a 3 inch barrel , so its pretty crisp with the 4.3 gr charge . I plan on running up a few with a 4gr charge.
I'm having fun with it and am on paper at 25 yards, so, so far , so good.
What do you folks like ?
 
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I started out with Power Pistol then moved to Universal. Always the same bullet - Berry's 100-g plated. 3.4-g Universal is a max load with the 100-g plated - per the Hornady manual - and I've zero issues or indications of pressure with that load.
 
"The gun is a blow back with a 3 inch barrel"

Yup, that describes about 95% of all .380 pistols ever made!

Just use any faster powder, "Power Pistol" is about as slow as you should go for .380. Just use manual data, there is no reason to try to hot-rod any blow-back gun. If you have a chronograph then buy a few different factory loads and just try to duplicate velocity by experiment.
 
I bought an LCP II last year. I still don't have dies for it, but that will happen soon.

I bought a bunch of MAXXTECH ammo on sale and found it didn't burn that clean - I got powder 'spots' on my hand & wrist when firing it at the range (but I keep my brass!). So I'm very interested in 'not so hot' .380 loads since it is such a small lightweight pistol.

I currently have 231, Bullseye, Unique, and 2400 in my inventory, so at least a few of those will be put to use for it.
 
Xtreme bullets 100gn cfe-pistol 3.8gn no complaints

Sent from my LGL164VL using Tapatalk
 
Like the man said you don't want to hotrod a blowback pistol. Personally I use almost exclusively Bullseye with occasional forays into 231. It is a fairly easy cartridge to load and a very pleasant one to shoot. I use mostly Berry's plated and sometimes SNS coated bullets. At the velocity you will be dealing with they will give excellent results at a reasonable cost.
 
I've been reloading (and experimenting) for over 50 years. IMHO, there is no need for any powders other than Bullseye or Unique. The former for .380.

I haven't tried Unique yet.
Been using the BE for 9mm and .38 , was happy to find that the PP was a cleaner burn for the 9. Sticking to BE for the revolvers because its hard to beat perfection.
 
"The gun is a blow back with a 3 inch barrel"

Yup, that describes about 95% of all .380 pistols ever made!

Just use any faster powder, "Power Pistol" is about as slow as you should go for .380. Just use manual data, there is no reason to try to hot-rod any blow-back gun. If you have a chronograph then buy a few different factory loads and just try to duplicate velocity by experiment.

My recipe is from a manual, its baked up from the Alliant data site. Thats a light load , they state that the max load is 4.8 PP . I found that 4.3 was a more than snappy enough. I'm going to 4. tomorrow.
Don't have a chrono ! Mo'Money !
Guess thats next...
 
Like the man said you don't want to hotrod a blowback pistol. Personally I use almost exclusively Bullseye with occasional forays into 231. It is a fairly easy cartridge to load and a very pleasant one to shoot. I use mostly Berry's plated and sometimes SNS coated bullets. At the velocity you will be dealing with they will give excellent results at a reasonable cost.

I like .380 !
There will be more in my future.
I have lots of BE and some , PP and SP.
Alliant
 
"The gun is a blow back with a 3 inch barrel"

Yup, that describes about 95% of all .380 pistols ever made!

Just use any faster powder, "Power Pistol" is about as slow as you should go for .380. Just use manual data, there is no reason to try to hot-rod any blow-back gun. If you have a chronograph then buy a few different factory loads and just try to duplicate velocity by experiment.
I was trying to be non brand specific. Intentionally.
Its an IMEZ Makarov from the 90's an export model with the adjustable sights.
Its interesting.
There will be others. I like the E. Euro service type pistols. Very simple.
 
Like the man said you don't want to hotrod a blowback pistol. Personally I use almost exclusively Bullseye with occasional forays into 231. It is a fairly easy cartridge to load and a very pleasant one to shoot. I use mostly Berry's plated and sometimes SNS coated bullets. At the velocity you will be dealing with they will give excellent results at a reasonable cost.

Alliant data always states max load, I've been cutting them back 10%. That still seems hot but I am getting good results , I may try a group of 3.8 gr and 4. gr. If I'm on paper at 25 yards it works for me !
The .380 is fun, Im new to that round .Enjoying the ride.
 
3.1gr titegroup with a Hornady 90gr XTP. cartridge overall length 0.965"
 
100-grain X-Treme plated. 2.7 grains of Accurate #2. The real challenge, for me, was finding something that was bulky-enough to dispense such a small weight of.
 
I haven't tried Unique yet.
Been using the BE for 9mm and .38 , was happy to find that the PP was a cleaner burn for the 9. Sticking to BE for the revolvers because its hard to beat perfection.

There are some issues with metering and cleanliness with unique. I admit that. During the recent "shortage" all I could get was bullseye, so I "converted" all my pistol rounds over.

Short story long, after a year of having various "issues" (nothing big or safety related - just not 100% happy with the results) I converted my 45 Colt, 41 mag and other large calibers back to unique.

They call it "unique" for a reason.
 
3.1 grains of Bullseye with a 100 grain Berrys plated works great in my Bodyguard and PPK. One upshot of loading 380s is that no one does it so you can pick up lots of brass at the range.
 
I don't shoot .380 a lot so I load only one bullet, Hornady 90 gr. XTP. Great bullet, good accuracy, and not much more cost to buy over plated or lead bullets. I've tested several powders and get more consistent velocity with AA#2 powder. I've also tried Shooters World Clean Shot which uses the same load data as AA#2. Powders in the Unique and Power Pistol burn rate always gave erratic velocity and as much as 200 fps differences. I recommend a faster burning powder. I've always used CCI 500 primers. Watch for Hornady 90 gr. XTP's on sale for a great .380 load.
 
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