Xtreme Plated in .380

[Tony k]

Tried out some 100gr Xtreme Plated RNFP loads yesterday and thought I'd share my results.

Kahr CW380
CCI small pistol primers
Mixed brass
Oal .950"

Bullseye 3.0-3.3
Power Pistol 3.7-4.0

All the bullseye loads cycled the pistol well but we're very sooty. I was impressed with accuracy and couldn't detect much variation across the loads.

3.7- 3.9 grains of power pistol were slightly under powered- I had at least one stove pipe with each load. Like with the bullseye, pressure was too low. Sooty cases AND unburned powder. I was certain that 4 grains of Power pistol was going to be a good load and I had loaded up 50. Again, sooty cases, unburned powder, and a couple stove pipes. Accuracy was acceptable for my interest, but not as good as the bullseye.

I had tested these before with Berry's bullets and had very different results. The bullseye loads we're not nearly as sooty, and I didn't have the cycling issues as I had with the power pistol. I attribute it to the .001" smaller diameter. I don't think I'm getting as much neck tension as I did with the Berry's (.356"), and probably less resistance as it travels through the barrel, resulting in lower pressure.

I had a hard time deciding on what Oal to use since this is a flat point bullet and most published data is for round nose. The .950" fit in the magazines well and also passed the plunk test with ease. However, I had about 5 rounds where the ojive area of the bullet made contact with the slide stop, thus causing a stoppage. Just something else to consider when choosing an OAL.

Next I'll run both powders up to Max published loads AND drop the OAL to .945". I know standard practice is to start low again when you shorten pistol cartridges, but because pressure is so low I believe I can skip that safely.

Stay tuned!

 

[LiveLife]

2004 Alliant load data lists the following - http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=182147&d=1364769070

100 FMJ-RN Bullseye OAL 0.975" Max 3.3 gr 985 fps 20,100 PSI
100 FMJ-RN Power Pistol OAL 0.975" Max 4.6 gr 1,035 fps 20,600 PSI

While your Bullseye loads look OK, I think your Power Pistol loads are too low. I would try 4.2 and 4.4 gr loads next.

When I did load development for X-Treme 100 gr RNFP, I used .945" OAL for my TCP 738 and produced good accuracy with W231/HP-38 loads without sooty cases or slide cycling issues - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/380auto-x-treme-100-gr-rnfp-range-test.748320/

 

[Tony k]

When I did load development for X-Treme 100 gr RNFP, I used .945" OAL for my TCP 738 and produced good accuracy with W231/HP-38 loads without sooty cases or reliability issues - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/380auto-x-treme-100-gr-rnfp-range-test.748320/

Yep. Your thread was one of the few that suggested an OAL for this bullet.

Did you ever get around to testing bullseye and BE 86 or did you just stick with hp38/231due to Good results?

 

[LiveLife]

Did you ever get around to testing bullseye and BE 86 or did you just stick with hp38/231due to Good results?

The 2.6/2.8/3.0 gr W231/HP-38 loads were developed for wife's range practice with the TCP 738. When she shot them, she liked them so much and told me to not mess with something that's not broken.

I do want to test Alliant's new Sport Pistol for 380Auto as my Pro Auto Disk meters it with less than .05 gr variance (Yes, less than .05 gr variance) and due to burn rate around W231/HP-38 with very promising results with RMR 115 gr FMJ - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/new-alliant-sport-pistol.816514/page-5#post-10598431

 

[Tony k]

The 2.6/2.8/3.0 gr W231/HP-38 loads were developed for wife's range practice with the TCP 738. When she shot them, she liked them so much and told me to not mess with something that's not broken.

I do want to test Alliant's new Sport Pistol for 380Auto as my Pro Auto Disk meters it with less than .05 gr variance (Yes, less than .05 gr variance) and due to burn rate around W231/HP-38 with very promising results with RMR 115 gr FMJ - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/new-alliant-sport-pistol.816514/page-5#post-10598431

That sport pistol sounds really interesting. I'm sitting on about 3 pounds of Bullseye, and I was hoping to standardize for 45acp, 9mm, and 380.

I dropped my pro auto disk on the floor and it broke off the hopper neck. Yes, it was empty. I used that as an excuse to buy the new pro auto drum. I love it. Sadly, even it won't throw 800x with anything less than a .4 grain variance. But that's for another thread.

 

[Tony k]

Caution: loads discussed below are at or above published max loads.

Did some quick tests yesterday. Tested 3.4 and 3.6 grains of bullseye. 3.4 still had a small amount of soot. Both shot accurately.

With Power Pistol I had good results with 4.4 and 4.6 grains. Very clean burning and the stovepipe issues I had with the lower charges went away.

I also took the oal down from .950 to .945. That cleared up issues with slide stop interference.

So these charge weights have me rifling through reloading manuals and online data. I'm above most max charges, and most published loads seem way too low.

The only "source" that lists loads as high as mine are Steve's Pages. I think his stuff is just compiled from older sources.

 

[Zendude]

Using Xtreme 100 grain plated bullets for 380acp, both 2.8gr and 3.0gr of Bullseye at .950 OAL work well for me.

 

[Tony k]

Using Xtreme 100 grain plated bullets for 380acp, both 2.8gr and 3.0gr of Bullseye at .950 OAL work well for me.

Hmm... that's where I expected to end up. What pistol are you loading for?

One factor I haven't addressed is bullet tension. The bullets seem to seat very easily. I attribute that to the diminutive scale of the 380 cartridge, but maybe I should experiment.

I'm loading on a lee classic turret with the pro auto drum and crimping/ removing the bell with the lee factory crimp die. (Also, save your fcd bashing or praise for a different thread unless you have a truly relevant point).

I've always set pistol crimp dies to "just remove the bell" for cases that space off the mouth. Maybe I need to set it a touch lower.

 

[Zendude]

I had to get a Lee undersize 380 die because of neck tension issues.

 

[Walkalong]

The only "source" that lists loads as high as mine are Steve's Pages.

Where you can find some hot loads I wouldn't necessarily recommend.

There is really no sense in hot rodding the .380. It can't be much more than it is, safely.

I've always set pistol crimp dies to "just remove the bell" for cases that space off the mouth. Maybe I need to set it a touch lower.

No, you're doing it right.

The bullets seem to seat very easily.

No amount of taper crimp can make up for poor neck tension. You need a tighter sizer, or your expander is too big, or both. It's easy to check out, size some cases and seat some bullets without expanding the neck. If it is still easy too easy to seat, your sizer is too big.

.380 brass neck wall thickness is all over the map, with RP being one of the thinnest. Pick some of it out for your test if it is in the mix.

.380 thrives on fast to medium fast powders. It just cannot take much advantage of the medium slow to slow pistol powders. Bullseye, AA #2, N310, WST, W-231, etc.

 

[LiveLife]

.380 brass neck wall thickness is all over the map, with RP being one of the thinnest. Pick some of it out for your test if it is in the mix.

Remington must have finally gotten the memo from us reloaders. Along with CBC, newer RP headstamp 9mm brass have thicker case walls to cause chambering issues in my newest Lone Wolf barrel with tighter chamber.

 

[TheDomFather]

Tried out some 100gr Xtreme Plated RNFP loads yesterday and thought I'd share my results.

Kahr CW380
CCI small pistol primers
Mixed brass
Oal .950"

Bullseye 3.0-3.3
Power Pistol 3.7-4.0

All the bullseye loads cycled the pistol well but we're very sooty. I was impressed with accuracy and couldn't detect much variation across the loads.

3.7- 3.9 grains of power pistol were slightly under powered- I had at least one stove pipe with each load. Like with the bullseye, pressure was too low. Sooty cases AND unburned powder. I was certain that 4 grains of Power pistol was going to be a good load and I had loaded up 50. Again, sooty cases, unburned powder, and a couple stove pipes. Accuracy was acceptable for my interest, but not as good as the bullseye.

I had tested these before with Berry's bullets and had very different results. The bullseye loads we're not nearly as sooty, and I didn't have the cycling issues as I had with the power pistol. I attribute it to the .001" smaller diameter. I don't think I'm getting as much neck tension as I did with the Berry's (.356"), and probably less resistance as it travels through the barrel, resulting in lower pressure.

I had a hard time deciding on what Oal to use since this is a flat point bullet and most published data is for round nose. The .950" fit in the magazines well and also passed the plunk test with ease. However, I had about 5 rounds where the ojive area of the bullet made contact with the slide stop, thus causing a stoppage. Just something else to consider when choosing an OAL.

Next I'll run both powders up to Max published loads AND drop the OAL to .945". I know standard practice is to start low again when you shorten pistol cartridges, but because pressure is so low I believe I can skip that safely.

Stay tuned!

Please let me know what you find out. I just loaded 100 rounds of 380 with unique and I'm heading to the range tomorrow to test them. I will post my findings as well. I wanted to use bullseye but couldn't find load data for Berry's 100gr HBRN

 

[TheDomFather]

Ok ready to go tomorrow I will be testing:
100gr Berry's HBRN
3.9gr Unique
CCI 500 primer
.980 oal
Glock 42

 

[TheDomFather]

Ok ready to go tomorrow I will be testing:
100gr Berry's HBRN
3.9gr Unique
CCI 500 primer
.980 oal
Glock 42

 

[LiveLife]

I wanted to use bullseye but couldn't find load data for Berry's 100 gr HBRN

2004 Alliant load data lists 100 gr FMJ RN loaded to .975" for Bullseye and Unique. 3.3 gr max charge is listed for Bullseye and 4.3 gr for Unique - http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=182147&d=1364769070

Ok ready to go tomorrow I will be testing:
100 gr Berry's HBRN
3.9 gr Unique
.980 oal
Glock 42

Berry's hollow base acts like bullet loaded longer and Unique prefers to be loaded near the top. Since 4.3 gr Unique is listed as max charge for 100 gr FMJ RN with .975" OAL, especially for Glock 42 with stiffer recoil spring, how about loading some 4.0 gr and 4.2 gr rounds to compare?

 

[Tony k]

Ok ready to go tomorrow I will be testing:
100gr Berry's HBRN
3.9gr Unique
CCI 500 primer
.980 oal
Glock 42

Let us know how much you love "flaming dirt"

.980 worked well for me when I tried Berry's bullets in my cw380.

 

[Tony k]

No amount of taper crimp can make up for poor neck tension. You need a tighter sizer, or your expander is too big, or both. It's easy to check out, size some cases and seat some bullets without expanding the neck. If it is still easy too easy to seat, your sizer is too big.

.380 brass neck wall thickness is all over the map, with RP being one of the thinnest. Pick some of it out for your test if it is in the mix.

I could also just go back to using .356" bullets. That size is more common in the plated bullet category.

It's not just RP 380 brass and it's not just case thickness in my experience. Rim and extractor grooves are all over the map, and I have YET to find a spent 380 case that meets the minimum oal of .675". Most of them are between .664 and .671. I even had a Winchester case that was so short (.659) my firing pin could barely dent the primer, much less fire the round.

SAAMI? Never heard of her.

 

[Walkalong]

Remington must have finally gotten the memo from us reloaders. Along with CBC, newer RP headstamp 9mm brass have thicker case walls to cause chambering issues in my newest Lone Wolf barrel with tighter chamber.

Interesting.

 

[Walkalong]

It's not just RP 380 brass and it's not just case thickness in my experience. Rim and extractor grooves are all over the map,

True.

I could also just go back to using .356" bullets.

Yea, if that was/is working, you can always just do that.

 

[Tony k]

No amount of taper crimp can make up for poor neck tension. You need a tighter sizer, or your expander is too big, or both. It's easy to check out, size some cases and seat some bullets without expanding the neck. If it is still easy too easy to seat, your sizer is too big.

Just checked. I can seat bullets easily after sizing, but it's got better tension than if I run the expander. Setting up the pro auto drum is maybe trickier than I thought. Getting it to fully actuate without expanding the case mouth too much might be where I need to tinker.

 

[LiveLife]

Remington must have finally gotten the memo from us reloaders. Along with CBC, newer RP headstamp 9mm brass have thicker case walls to cause chambering issues in my newest Lone Wolf barrel with tighter chamber.

Interesting.

I have planned to do another "myth busting" case wall thickness thread identifying some headstamp cases with not-so-consistent case wall thickness.

I was going to post thicker RP case wall change for 9mm on that thread. Stay tuned.

 

[TheDomFather]

Let us know how much you love "flaming dirt"

.980 worked well for me when I tried Berry's bullets in my cw380.

Ok so these shot like crap for me out of my glock 42. It didnt help that my sights that I just replaced last night were off a bit. They are now fixed and I have now loaded a set of test rounds (30) speer gold dot hollow point with 3.1 grains of bullseye to see how they shoot. I would post a pic of the target but it was embarrassing. .930 is the OAL I loaded them too hopefully these shoot better than the Berrys

Anyone have good load data for these Speer 90gr Gold Dot Hollow Point?

 

[Tony k]

Ok so these shot like crap for me out of my glock 42. It didnt help that my sights that I just replaced last night were off a bit. They are now fixed and I have now loaded a set of test rounds (30) speer gold dot hollow point with 3.1 grains of bullseye to see how they shoot. I would post a pic of the target but it was embarrassing. .930 is the OAL I loaded them too hopefully these shoot better than the Berrys

Anyone have good load data for these Speer 90gr Gold Dot Hollow Point?

What do you mean by "shot like crap"?

 

[TheDomFather]

What do you mean by "shot like crap"?

I would say crap means huge groups and about 25% of my CCI primers would not ignite. I just posted a new thread as this is the first time I am shooting reloads out of my G42 and wondering if the rumor that CCI primers are hardest out there is true. I just made 30 test rounds with speer gold dots and Remington 1 1/2 primers as I hear they are softer than the CCI SM pistol primers.