.380 ball or hollow point

[jjohnson]

Quality JHP

I carry JHP in my Makarov.

I'd use ball if I hadn't already shot thousands of rounds including hundreds of JHP, with zero malfunctions due to ammo, so I'm confident it'll do the job. Many cheaper hollowpoints in pistol calibers don't expand reliably, so I carry MagTech Guardian Gold JHP. They're NOT as high priced as some like COR-BON, but I think they're a step up from some others. I still rely on shot placement. I figure... IF it expands, that's a bonus, but between a marginal caliber (IMHO) and likelihood of having to shoot through a heavy coat (here in Minnesota) I'd aim for center of mass and hope it'd do the job.

 

[Claude Clay]

silvertips

if you have a winter-- jacketed of course

 

[robsc]

You say that the .380 hollow points don`t expand reliably. Then that unexpanded hp is a fmj. What`s the difference between the two? Use both.
arrrrrrrgh!!!!!! which one is first in the barrel hp or fmj
Scenario--
It`s Saturday night and you are home alone on the computer when the back door starts to be kicked in. There are seven armed men, two of them have ar15s. They have cut your land phone wires and they have a cell phone blocker. All you have is a .380 with tactical hp or fmj. OK, you can have a 9mm.
trivia question: got courage?
ok, pass it off thinking it won`t /can`t happen to you.
Scenario-- You are driving along the road and the red oil light comes on in your car/truck. Do you merely turn up the radio and ignore the red light?
take a long hard look at those seven armed men with two ar15s kicking in your back door.

 

[KBintheSLC]

For sub-calibers like 380 and 32, I like hard cast flat nose bullets. They penetrate nicely and they permanently disrupt more tissue than round nose ball. Flat nose bullets also do a better job at cutting through bone rather than deflecting.

It`s Saturday night and you are home alone on the computer when the back door starts to be kicked in. There are seven armed men, two of them have ar15s. They have cut your land phone wires and they have a cell phone blocker. All you have is a .380 with tactical hp or fmj. OK you can have a 9mm. trivia question: got courage?

Thats funny... 7 armed men and all you get is a pistol. I doubt it matters which one you choose... unless you have a sandbag bunker for cover your likely to be screwed.

 

[gglass]

.380 Performance:

James Bond never seemed to have a problem.

Seriously... The .380 cal round is also known as the 9mm short. It is a 9 x 17mm round as compared to the popular 9 x 19mm luger round. It has an average muzzle velocity of around 950 fps compared to the average 9mm lugar's 1050 fps.

In FBI ballistics testing .380 acp rounds penetrated bare ballistic gelatin to an average of 12.5 inches and clothed gelatin to an average of 14 inches. The average expansion of most tested JHP hollow points was .48 inch.

Lethal? According to FBI accepted minimums for stopping force the .380 ACP is well within department ballistic standards.

With good shot placement, the .380 acp JHP round can be as effective as a .45 acp round.

Tested ammunition:
* .380 ACP 85 grain Winchester Silvertip JHP
* .380 ACP 88 grain CCI/Speer JHP
* .380 ACP 90 grain CCI/Speer Gold Dot JHP
* .380 ACP 90 grain Federal HydraShok JHP

 

[oldhack62]

...i load alternating fmj+p and winchester silvetip hollowpoints in my .380...

And what would that '+p' round be? It's my understanding there is no SAAMI .380ACP "+P" rating. Hot-loaded, surplus Santa Barbaras would be the closest I can imagine.
Otherwise, I concur: I load alternate Winchester Silvertips and FMJ in my .380 AFTER I make sure ALL will feed reliably. I figure if my 8-round mag aimed properly doesn't stop a BG, it probably doesn't matter what I was shooting anyway.

 

[oldhack62]

...It`s Saturday night and you are home alone on the computer when the back door starts to be kicked in. There are seven armed men, two of them have ar15s. They have cut your land phone wires and they have a cell phone blocker. All you have is a .380 with tactical hp or fmj. OK, you can have a 9mm.
trivia question: got courage?

No, I probably don't possess that kind of 'courage' so much as survival instincts. I don't WANT to be in that situation, EVER. But, I prepare for it, just the same. And, in the house, I DO have 9mm (and .45, for that matter, backing up a 12-gauge shotgun). I don't rely on .380ACP everywhere, you know.

 

[makarovnik]

James Bond never used a .380 in any movies. He used a PPK in 7.65 (32acp). They are close in power but some say the .32acp penetrates the skull better. I'm not saying it penetrates all tissue better but .380 FMJ has been known to ricochet off skulls.

 

[notorious]

The 380 is a finicky beast. The only thing you need to worry about is reliability in these little guns. Find a round that feeds and functions well in your particular gun, stick to it.

I have a LCP and it jams with 1 major brand FMJ but feeds another one just fine. Haven't tried the JHP stuff in it yet, but it's not going to be my primary gun.

If I need to pull the LCP, it's going to be dump the whole mag at 3 yards or less type of situation.

 

[LightningJoe]

Hard to do anything to improve a mousegun caliber. Lengthening the gun's barrel would help, but then you wouldn't have a mousegun and so no reason for the mousegun caliber.


FMJ is probably the way to go for .380, .32, and .25. If shot placement and a little bit of penetration won't suffice, you need a better caliber.

 

[notorious]

The 380 is more than sufficient to put down a zombie, just make sure you get it in the golden triangle area so it penetrates the thinner parts of the skull instead of the top of the head which is too hard to penetrate consistently with a low power round.

 

[Newton]

Depends on barrel length.

For a four inch barrel, I'd be happy with a JHP. But for a pocket pistol such as the LCP or P-3AT, using JHP is pointless.

I carry flat nose FMJ, preferably Buffalo Bore hard cast, in my LCP.

You also have to bear in mind that American mass produced .380 JHPs are incredibly weak loaded, Double Tap's Gold Dot offering is a different matter.

 

[jjohnson]

Re: "Got Courage?"

Yep, I don't count on 380 hollowpoints expanding. Let's say for sake of argument, 1 out of 3 doesn't expand. I'd still carry them because (a) my 380 feeds them reliably and (b) that still leaves me 2 out of 3 that WILL expand.

And expansion, in my world, is a good thing.

 

[notorious]

As long as it's reliable, that's all that matters.

 

[MCgunner]

http://www.hornady.com/story.php?s=786

This stuff looks good for expansion, .380 or otherwise. I wanna pick some up to test in .380 and 9mm eventually. I currently load 90 grain XTPs in the .380 and 115 grain XTPs in the 9 and both are 100 percent. This new stuff has the same ogive shape as XTPs, so should be fine in my guns.

 

[brett30030]

Scenario--
It`s Saturday night and you are home alone on the computer when the back door starts to be kicked in. There are seven armed men, two of them have ar15s. They have cut your land phone wires and they have a cell phone blocker. All you have is a .380 with tactical hp or fmj. OK, you can have a 9mm.
trivia question: got courage?
ok, pass it off thinking it won`t /can`t happen to you.
Scenario-- You are driving along the road and the red oil light comes on in your car/truck. Do you merely turn up the radio and ignore the red light?
take a long hard look at those seven armed men with two ar15s kicking in your back door.

I hate it when that happens. Good thing i have learned about a zombie army from all the stupid posts about them. Eat their brains boys!!!

Scenario: You make up a couple of goof ball scenarios and see who calls BS on it. What do you do then?

 

[Bryan_Willman]

An important question is how well can you shoot the ammo in question? Having it be a great stopper doesn't help much if the recoil is so bad you always miss.
Having tried several different cartridges with a keltec p3at, I would argue that for a gun that size you need to consider the shootability of the cartridge carefully, which means you have to go to the range and try it. (Because the guns has zero reserve of shootability.)

There is a variety of evidence, all anecdotal (to my knowlege) that corbon DPX is very well suited to tiny pistols like a p3at.

Remember that any gun fired through the mouth at the back of the neck, through an eye ball, or through an ear, will likely do huge damage.

As for the 7 men with ARs, apparent neo-Manson Family members, that's why you keep a 12ga with 00 buck at home. Especially suited for idiots who charge single file through a door. (Why, pray tell, would they not just shoot you through the window?)

By the way, there IS a real scenario like that I worry about. People who steal cars, and then ram shop doors as a way of forcing entry (it has happened to my neighbors). If I'm not there, it's an insurance problem. If I am there, the sorts of people who drive a car through a locked steel door on purpose are an obvious threat. So I will keep a 12ga shotgun there too. But they are more likely to run when confronted with it than to open fire on me with machine guns.

 

[Newton]

I'm going to change my stance slightly after reading about Hornady's new .380 Critical Defence ammo.

This sounds very promising.

But I note from early testing that it is still loaded very light, sigh......

 

[notorious]

CorBon all the way. A light bullet has to be balanced by high velocity.

 

[40jjb]

380

The cor bon power ball at 1100 FPS Its like a 9mm

 

[tblt]

102 gr golden saber expands great in water

link to my test below

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=410045

 

[IMTHDUKE]

It`s Saturday night and you are home alone on the computer when the back door starts to be kicked in. There are seven armed men, two of them have ar15s. They have cut your land phone wires and they have a cell phone blocker. All you have is a .380 with tactical hp or fmj. OK, you can have a 9mm.
trivia question: got courage?
ok, pass it off thinking it won`t /can`t happen to you.
Scenario-- You are driving along the road and the red oil light comes on in your car/truck. Do you merely turn up the radio and ignore the red light?
take a long hard look at those seven armed men with two ar15s kicking in your back door.

So what's the point? Suppose only one guy in an Apache gunship rips the roof off your bedroom with a Hellfire rocket and his next pass he strafes you with his 30 mm Chain Gun?

 

[Matt-J2]

Scenario--
It`s Saturday night and you are home alone on the computer when the back door starts to be kicked in. There are seven armed men, two of them have ar15s. They have cut your land phone wires and they have a cell phone blocker. All you have is a .380 with tactical hp or fmj. OK, you can have a 9mm.
trivia question: got courage?
ok, pass it off thinking it won`t /can`t happen to you.

I guarantee that particular scenario absolutely 100% cannot happen to me at present. I don't have a back door.

 

[wuchak]

It`s Saturday night and you are home alone on the computer when the back door starts to be kicked in. There are seven armed men, two of them have ar15s. They have cut your land phone wires and they have a cell phone blocker.

Meanwhile, back in the real world....

If seven armed men storm your home with the intent of killing you then you are going to die, unless you have a bullet proof safe-room. Uh-oh, they are after the millions in bearer bonds that unknown to me were hidden under the floor of the safe-room. Oh, since this scenario is so ridiculous as to be well into the realm of Hollywood fantasy, I'll be having sex with Katie Morgan when the door is kicked-in.

 

[wuchak]

I like Double-taps 90gr Speer Gold Dot JHP loading. It's standard pressure and the clock it at 1000fps out of the P-3AT. It feeds reliably in mine and the recoil out of it feels lighter than the S&B FMJ loads.