Best .380 ACP Ammo?

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breandan81

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I just bought a bersa thunder 380 cc. I like it.. a lot.. haven't taken it to the range yet. This will (provided it feeds the first hundred rounds without a failure) probably be my carry gun for the next year or so at least I might go to a keltec at some point after all though. Possibly I would carry both. Call me a traditionalist but I think a mossberg 500 is better for home defense, especially since I really don't want something that overpenetrates when I live in an apartment. Also being at the wrong end of a shotgun would be *very* intimidating. For now however... (next couple weeks) all I have in the house is a 380 pistol. I bought speer gold dot ammo... it looked good wasn't too cheap. It has nickel plated cases, 6 serrations. Is this good ammo? Is there one that would be better? .380 is not a big round, I'd rather carry a parabellum, but 380 is easier to conceal an less snappy on a small gun. Long story short, I want the best ammo I can get in my magazine, so just asking for advice.
 
I like silvertips , too. Mine are in a Colt Mustang Pocketlite ( very small gun ).

Shot it in a cellar once , throught 3/4 plywood , and 2 slats of an oak pallet , even though it was wood and not a "water filled person" it expanded in a textbook way before bounching off the cement wall behind it.

I , do not usually do that kind of stuff , I punch paper with it primarily , but it's easy to find stories about .380's bouncing off of people or being too weak to matter. So I wanted to see a bit for myself.

I don't believe those stories anymore.
 
Our Tactical and Advanced Tactical shooting instructor told us that they carry solids, never HPs, because they will simply expand and fail to penetrate enough to do any significant damage. He liked Win Clean. I do as well.
 
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I'm a believer in using FMJ in the 380. I feel the extra penetration is better than expanding in a round with marginal stopping power. Skeeter Skelton felt the 380 FMJ was about as effective as a 2" 38 Special with RNL.

it's easy to find stories about .380's bouncing off of people or being too weak to matter. So I wanted to see a bit for myself.

I don't believe those stories anymore.

I personally know of someone who was shot in the mouth with a 380 FMJ at a range of about 10 feet. The bullet was deflected by their teeth and/or roof of the mouth, exited under the chin and lodged in their chest being stopped by the breastbone. They fully recovered after returning fire killing the BG. You don't have to believe it but I saw it happen.
 
I love these guys who gripe about anything less than 12" of penetration...Got a little science experiment for you. Stand against a wall and measure how far from the wall to the front of your body. Unless you're well overweight, 12" will be sufficient to exit most average bodies! That puts 6" penetration deep enough to get to heart, lungs, etc. I also wouldn't want a bullet to be 6" deep in my forehead. I carry a .380 with Silvertips daily. I used to carry a .45, but got tired of accomodating the extra weight. I'm compromising a bit though, as I just put a deposit on a PF-9, only because it's the only gun light enough to tempt me to step up from my P3AT.
 
an off-duty cop let me try his new 'off-duty' pistol which was the Bersa Thunder .380 about 2 months back, I was impressed and I've had several different .380's includes Walther (great gun but hard for me to hold w/out thumb knuckle getting scraped by slide), CZ83 (sort of wish I had kept) Colt (good gun but again no fun to practice with) and now a BDA (GREAT gun). whatever ammo you choose buy enough of it to practice with checking POI and getting used to recoil, shoot various ranges from 6 ft. to 20 ft or more. IMO use FMJ loaded relatively hot. you definitely want adequate penetration, no telling you may have to fire at a BG hiding behind partial or full cover.
 
I personally know of someone who was shot in the mouth with a 380 FMJ at a range of about 10 feet. The bullet was deflected by their teeth and/or roof of the mouth, exited under the chin and lodged in their chest being stopped by the breastbone. They fully recovered after returning fire killing the BG. You don't have to believe it but I saw it happen.

I don't have a problem with an assailant recovering, but the question is whether he had the ability to return fire after being hit in the mouth.
 
I don't have a problem with an assailant recovering, but the question is whether he had the ability to return fire after being hit in the mouth.

It was the good guy who was hit in the mouth. The bad guy was killed when thegood guy drew and returned fire with a 9mm hitting the bad guy with 3 rds, one of which was instantly fatal.

People are capable of "impossible" things when they want to be sure they live. Roger Donlon, who is the first Medal of Honor winner in Vietnam, was shot through the stomach with an AK from the side. He tore off 2 pieces of Tshirt, stuffed them in the entry and exit wound and continued to fight for 5 hours. He dragged wounded comrades, moved a 60mm mortar, was wounded two more times before the fight was over and a lot of other things in the following 5 hours. You can read Robin Moore's "The Green Berets" or Donlon's MOH citation linked below and not believe it if you want.

http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/citations_living/vn_a_donlon.html
 
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Combination here

...

I load my 380 with Dutchloads.. 8 shot max

First shot, chambered, is Hydra Shok JHP 95gr, and the remaining 7 load mags start off with FMJ 95gr, JHP 95gr, FMJ, JHP, etc.

Tested many times at the range and 100%, no failures of any kind.


LS
 
silvertips

I think I'll invest in some silvertips then. I understand the reasoning behind the advice to use FMJ, but I am extremely worried about over-penetration too. I don't mind killing or paralyzing the BG, but I don't know if I could live with myself if I killed a secondary, especially if it was a little kid in a nearby apartment or car or something. Consequently, I am quite comfortable with the idea of not having an exit wound at all. That having been said the frangible stuff just seems a bit suspect to me. As for partial cover... well lets hope not, no matter what my little 380 was loaded with I would be kicking myself for not buying a snubby 357 mag at that point. Also, I took my bersa to the range today. It is a wee bit snappy, but that's to be expected in such a small gun esp since it's straight blowback. one thing I'm worried about is the slide failed to lock after the last round several times. I also had two failures to feed in only 50 rounds. I took it home, cleaned and oiled it again. The guy at the range said I should put a few hundred rounds through it and if that stuff is still happening send it in for service. The failure to feed I think may have been due to the cheap practice ammo I was using. I was kicking myself for forgetting to bring a few rounds of the defense ammo I bought. Any thoughts on something simple I could do to make this thing more reliable?
 
Yes, besides good/new ammo

...

Unless you're reloading your own, and know that each bullet is getting the proper powder load, etc., I strongly suggest only new ammo, be it Federal Eagle or Winchester (white box)

But, the failure to feed may well be that your magazines need to be cleaned, checked for burs, etc., and when I had the same issue with my Sig 232, every 3rd or 4th round, it would jam, I took apart my mags, cleaned them with a dry lubrication and cleaner in one, called EEZOX (synthetic cleaner/lubricator) and after cleaning them, put a fine coat on the insides, the springs, let stand for 5 mins, as it bonds to metal, then did a light dry wipe of them, and put them back together.

This solved that problem, and thus far, 450 rounds without any failures, just 100%


LS


PS.. small spray can goes a loooooong ways, as you spray anything VERY lightly. NO "more is good" needed with this product. Less IS more.
 
Unless you're well overweight, 12" will be sufficient to exit most average bodies! That puts 6" penetration deep enough to get to heart, lungs, etc. I also wouldn't want a bullet to be 6" deep in my forehead
Click to expand...

That's what I used to think also but you need to take into account things like heavy clothing, bones, shoulders and arms (they aren't always directly in front of you facing you, and if they are, chances are their arms will be in front of their COM. Gelatin is just to approximate penetration in pure muscle tissue, the human body is an obstacle course of hard things as well. From the sternum to spine isn't too far but when you have a moving enranged or drugged up target you may not get that shot.
 
You folks need to look into CorBon DPX - its a solid copper slug, whose petals peel away like a JHP. But - there is no jacket - its a solid.

Depending on your source, it gets good penetration in ballistic testing, it will penetrate car doors and it reliably expands in situations where JHP's disintegrate.

Here are some interesting links:

http://www.snubnose.info/wordpress/tactics/farnam-does-more-testing-on-cor-bon-dpx/
http://www.chuckhawks.com/cor-bon_DPX_pistol.htm
http://www.ktog.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=104;action=display;num=1147392682
 
Not to be too crass but, ya gotta make it through the hard candy shell before you get to the gooey center.

The third thing a bullet encounters in a COM shot is bone.

1. Clothing
2. Flesh
3. Bone
4. Stuff that matters and acts somewhat like ballistics gel.

If you are confident your .380 can smash through that bone, you are far more optimistic than I. Ballistic gel tests are awesome and great for comparing one round against another. However I would be cautious about any real world extrapolations.

When you are assaulted by a bad guy made out of ballistics gel, that will be the one and only time that you will know precisely how deep your ammo penetrates.
 
I use a Kel-Tec P3AT from time to time. Here are my 3 Carry loads: The Winchester Silvertip, Corbon Powerball (Polymer tip, expands like a Hollowpoint, bullet is 70 grains), and Remington Golden Saber JHP which is at 102 grains. I would get a Hollowpoint load because even if it doesn't expand (and it's questionable coming out of such a short barrel), it functions like FMJ.
 
Clipper:

While you are correct Re: body thickness, the projectile also needs to have sufficient power remaining when it reaches the spine after the first 7" or 8" of penetration. Ergo, if the round is able to penetrate 8" V. 12", better to take the 12" version in the assumption it will retain enough power to disable the spine, thus stopping the attack.

Doc2005
 
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