Federal 380 HST
- Thread starter John Law
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HarryD
US Veteran
I'm with you, I wish they would have done better. They expanded well but did not penatrate anywhere near deep enough.
That was a good test.Both HST or Ranger do not do good.Makes sense with 380 you cant have your cake and eat it to.I just stick with plain old hydra shok for my body guard.Plus most people aren't walking around with 4 layers of denim on either.If i could get 12 inches of penetration i am happy.And Hydra Shok most likely will do that in most real world shootings.And a few good shots certainly would kill someone.
M E Morrison
Member
That is typical of smaller calibers - you either get penetration or expansion - but not both.
HarryD
US Veteran
That is typical of smaller calibers - you either get penetration or expansion - but not both.
Your correct, he did find a few loads that did pretty well at both. My wife has a Colt XTP 380 so I watched all of his test with special interest. I love the HST's performance he showed in 9mm calaber that I shoot.
When I went back and looked over other 380 tests Shooting The Bull had done it seemed that the HST and PDX1 had almost identical performance. They both had great expansion and only about 8 inches of penetration. The Federal Hydra Shok and the companies that use the Hornady XTP bullets seemed to do well. I have been carrying Black Hills, again it uses the XTP bullet and so far it seems to perform well in my gun. I sent a PM to Shooting The Bull on another forum and asked if he intended to test Black Hills, his responses was that all the XTP bullets seem to perform pretty much the same so he saw no need to test any others. Hope this helps. J L
Is it just me or does that guy on Shooting the Bull seem like someone who irons his underwear?
Regardless people, a .380 JHP ain't never ever gonna go 12" with regularity, at least with any decent mushroom. It's a .380 for cryin' out loud. Get real.
That said, the 12" penetration is an arbitrary number at best. Many of the old legendary rds. such as BPLE & the 125 gr. .357 Mag. never always made 12" in testing and they fared just fine.
Regardless people, a .380 JHP ain't never ever gonna go 12" with regularity, at least with any decent mushroom. It's a .380 for cryin' out loud. Get real.
That said, the 12" penetration is an arbitrary number at best. Many of the old legendary rds. such as BPLE & the 125 gr. .357 Mag. never always made 12" in testing and they fared just fine.
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