Tumbling Bullets?

[ezypikns]

I was at an indoor range this evening when the young man in the lane next to me excused himself and asked if I had seen anything like the bullet holes in his friend's target. The holes were ragged and elongated (in a vertical plane). I asked what ammo he was using and he showed me a box of PMC .380 cartridges. Don't know exactly what kind of weapon he was using. Looked like a Bersa. Range was no greater than about 20 ft. What would cause a bullet to tumble that drastically over that short a range?

Thanks

 

[XD40Assassin]

Maybe hes got some rifling issues?

 

[EghtySx]

I'd look at the muzzle first. That is the exact reason we don't want to go pokin our rifle barrels into the ground when we are out hunting.

 

[XD40Assassin]

Yup did that with my shotgun a year ago. Stopped in the desert to take a pee and when I picked up my shotgun, BOOM went the tip of the barrel like in the cartoons. Good thing thats all that happened and I still have that thing. $75 shotgun so it wasnt too big of a loss. I take it you were making a different point though? :banghead:

 

[stans]

Wonder if the pistol in question is actually chambered in 9mm Makarov? The Mak round is the same length as the 380, but has a larger diameter, so a 380 will chamber and fire, but the bullet will bounce down the barrel and will be extremely unstable in flight.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

First, check the ammo -- is it correct for the pistol? As Stans said, if it's a 9mm Makarov, you can shoot .380 ammo in it (or at least in some Maks) but it will not shoot accurately. That's the most likely cause.

If it IS a .380, then check the barrel. Is the muzzle dinged? Is the rifling washed or rusted out?

You can change barrels easily on the MAK, and if it's a 9mm Mak, a simple barrel swap to .380 would cure the problem.

 

[Texian Pistolero]

In my younger, dumber years, I hand loaded some 180 grain .38 bullets I got from God knows where. (To be fired in a four inch, blue steel, Ruger Security Six revolver.)

On my (then) preferred test medium of choice (metal stop signs on dirt roads in the West Texas outback), I noticed irregular elongated holes in the test medium, (said metal stop signs), a clear evidence of tumbling.

I realized that if you can get a bullet to tumble, it renders moot any earnest consideration of whether it is a hollowpoint, and/or whether it expands.

I tested one of my "tumblers" on a West Texas black and white skunk, and it expired like a pole-axed mule.

The downside to this load is that it is quite heavy and kicks like a "beeeech"!

In my eclectic reading since,

I have since learned that the British government in WW II,

desperate to make their preexisting stock of otherwise staid Webley .38 revolvers, more impressionistic upon hardened bodies of the evil Hun,

went to a 180 grain .38 loading,

which would have the same upside/downside attributes of my own discovery.

If I had to go this route,

I would Dutch load my six cylinders with:

penetrator,

tumbler,

penetrator,

tumbler,

penetrator,

tumbler.

(repeat as necessary.)

Next?

 

[mfree]

Original loading for the Webley Mk. IV was the 38/200, a 200gr soft lead bullet.

I think they "went to" the 180gr to get a jacketed ball round to satisfy Geneva.

 

[rick_reno]

A friend I shoot with was getting this night with his Ruger 44 mag - at 50 ft. indoors. After our indoor bullseye match we shoot whatever we've brought, and he's been shooting his 44 mag. He'd picked up some new ammo - commercial - and the bullets were tumbling.