Latest in 380 self defense ammo?

Hornady Critical Defense is my go to. Otherwise, any flat point FMJ.

bersaguy said:

Hornady Critical Defense is my go to. Otherwise, any flat point FMJ.

Click to expand...

Same here as well as Federal.... well, whatever they are calling hydrashoks this week.

My most critical aspects of round performance are repeatable POI and reliable feeding & ejection.

Terminal ballistics - for me - are in fact a VERY distant third.

Todd.

Do an internet search for lucky gunner labs. The link should come up.

I prefer Hornady American Gunner because the .380 ballistics tests I've seen show the best results from Hornady's XTP bullet. If I were to go back to FMJ, it would be the SIG Elite 100gr flat point. That's what I used to carry.

I use the Underwood load with the extreme defender bullet. Looks like a flat tipped phillips screwdriver. It gets good reviews. I use it in my LCP, G42, sig 230.
Shoots a hair low in all of them. About an inch @15yds. No malfunctions of any kind.

Win PDX or Federal HST for me in .380 ACP.

Stay safe.

Just image search for "luckily gunner ballistics gel 380"

Buffalo Bore is another contender, they always have a powerful for the caliber round.

Tinman357 said:

I use the Underwood load with the extreme defender bullet. Looks like a flat tipped phillips screwdriver. It gets good reviews. I use it in my LCP, G42, sig 230.
Shoots a hair low in all of them. About an inch @15yds. No malfunctions of any kind.

Click to expand...

This is what I run in my lcpII and my glock. Also my Ruger carbine.

I would be curious to see those "good reviews" of the cavitator bullets in .380. All I saw thus far said that they require velocity to work. Their performance in 9mm was better than the traditional hollowpoints, in particular at the consistency and reliability, but only because 9mm is able to drive them at a certain speed. The .380, even in Underwood loadings, is not likely to propel a cavitator fast enough.

zaitcev said:

I would be curious to see those "good reviews" of the cavitator bullets in .380. All I saw thus far said that they require velocity to work. Their performance in 9mm was better than the traditional hollowpoints, in particular at the consistency and reliability, but only because 9mm is able to drive them at a certain speed. The .380, even in Underwood loadings, is not likely to propel a cavitator fast enough.

Click to expand...

How much speed is required?

I've got a couple boxes of these Pentagon Hollow Points to play with. I plan on loading them the same as any other flat-nose lead .380ACP: 2.5gr. Bullseye @ 0.885" COAL for paper and up to 2.8gr. for velocity. I'll let you know how they do for FFF in my various .380's.

Tinman357 said:

I use the Underwood load with the extreme defender bullet. Looks like a flat tipped phillips screwdriver. It gets good reviews. I use it in my LCP, G42, sig 230.
Shoots a hair low in all of them. About an inch @15yds. No malfunctions of any kind.

Click to expand...

That is my choice also for my LCP II. No w80 JHP is likely to expand out of a short barrel. The Extreme Defender. Uses fluif transfer to achieve a wound cavity. It is a mean 380 bullet.

with the way ammo isn't on dealers shelves right now it kinda depends on what you've been able to squirrel away over the years

fxvr5 said:

How much speed is required?

Click to expand...

Honestly I don't know. LeHigh make a gold standard in this area, which is supposedly better than challengers like ARX. Their 90 gr 9mm load clocks at 1350 fps, the 65 gr .380 is at 1150 - only 15% less. This clearly throws a shade upon my claims of the required velocity. In the same time, after a few years with Extreme Penetrator on the market, LeHigh developed something under a name of "Extreme Cavitator", which is designed to accomplish what X.Penetrator does, but in low-pressure rounds like .32 ACP. I haven't seen any research or comparisons about its performance. The bullet sure looks goofy.

I load mine with XTPs and don’t worry too much. It’s extremely rare that I’m slinging a 380acp though

Don't load your gun with anything you can't afford to blow off at the range.

Underwood XTP standard pressure and FNFMJ
I don’t carry my TCP often a S&W 642 took its place ...

In my G42, I carry either Hornady CDs or some kind of flat nose FMJ.
But it’s not carried much, I like a j frame when I can pocket it.

Lefty

Any of the Lehigh bullets (or similar) as they seem like the best compromise between expansion and penetration...