Can we revisit the 380 carry ammo question?

[torrgar9]

Just finished breaking in my P380. Seems to like Hornday Critical Defense, Fiocchi ball, not at all.

[SlowBurn]

I'm hoping the Xtreme Penetrator round proves as good as the early reviews. If it does, I also hope Lehigh Defense is smart enough to change the name.

[jlottmc]

Once again, I'll leave this here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNtPHYwcDts

[DavidR]

Once again, I'll leave this here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNtPHYwcDts

4 of the 5 winners are "unobtainium". Hornady doesn't make the Critical Duty anymore, Precision One, Fiocchi and HPR don't ever seem to be in stock. That leaves only the Federal Hydra Shok.

The Hornady results are puzzling. Critical Defense didn't penetrate but Critical Duty did. They both use the FTX bullet. From what I've read, the Critical Defense is the same as the Critical Duty except it has the plug in the hollow point.

Critical Defense runs flawlessly in my CW380 but I had a couple of failures to go into battery with Hydra Shok. I plan to try the Hydra Shok again.

[miketafc]

I also changed my 380 ammo after watching the Ammo Quest results. Unfortunately the federal hydra shock ammo caused several failure to feed and failure to lock open after the last shot problems in my Kahr CW 380.

i researched and found several other tests that had excellent penetration and expansion results using Hornady critical defense FTX ammo. Also the ammo quest results were short of FBI's standards which are not necessarily the only way to measure the effectiveness of personal defense ammo.

I've since gone back to critical defense which has proven to be 100% reliable in my 380. To me that's the most important factor.

[kwh]

My understanding is that Hornady Duty is made more for penetration and Defense is skewed toward expansion. In the strange world of short barrel defensive pistols, the Duty hit the sweet spot in expansion/penetration in the .380. Opposite results in the 9mm short barrel. Agree penetration is most important after reliable feeding , but I would also prefer to dump all of the energy into the B.G.

[Rubb]

Hornady does not and has not made Critical Duty in 380.

[DavidR]

Hornady does not and has not made Critical Duty in 380.

I think you're right. The Hornady ammo in the video is Critical Defense and Custom.

[Ljutic]

I like the testing this guy does. Here's the big list. You'll have to move down the page to the 380 tests.

http://mousegunaddict.blogspot.com/p/ammo-tests.html


Federal Hydra-Shok or Remington Leadless FNEB depending on the time of year.

[DavidR]

Regarding Hornady, the Custom (no longer made) used the XTP bullet while the Critical Defense uses the FTX bullet.

[rwehnau]

Another source of informal and unbiased ammo testing of 380 http://www.bersachat.com/forums/foru...380-Ammo-Tests

[100percent]

If I am going to be on the street with my 380 LCP, I try to use Magtec FMJ. I get about 1000fps with them. Never had a misfire since I bought a few bulk packs of them in 08. For fun, I use 105 grain SWC. With as fat and big some of these "gentle giants" are, I want to be able to go through and don't want the parachute to open early

Personally it is better than a sharp stick.

I don't want to go off topic but if you use the same bullet in both 380 and 9 you get roughly 2 extra grains of powder in the 9mm. Significant. If you use a 40 you use roughly the same amount of powder as a 9 but are pushing a bullet maybe 50% heavier.

[happypuppy]

Can we revisit the 380 carry ammo question?

Another option would be underwood ammo. The loads are hot and he has stock in a wide variety of types of bullets and weights. He has +p as well. I have used his ammo in the past and it's high quality new starline brass etc

[CPTKILLER]

I agree with the Buffalo bore hard cast 100gr. I keep it in my CZ 83 that stays all of the time in the console of my Jeep in Texas.

This is legal in Texas. When I forget to carry my Kahr MK9, the CZ 83 is always there and a great backup weapon.

[TheLastDaze]

Shooting the bull is spot on... and yes we can revisit the .380 defensive ammo topic.....

I bought some Lehigh X treme SD from a guy who's p380 wouldn't even cylce ball ammo so he dumped it on me... HAPPILY.... This stuff is a no brainer guys, not sure it will cycle in a Kahr or not but my LCP eats it....

if you haven't already seen the updated video from shootingthebull check it out...