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380 ammo
- Thread starter michael t
- Start date
The weight difference is negligible. Some bullet designs have a reputation for reliable expansion: Remington Golden Saber and Speer Gold Dot are two examples.
It has to do with bullet shape, alloy mix, jacket design and bonding methods. This all has to work together at a given velocity range to be most effective.
Larry
It has to do with bullet shape, alloy mix, jacket design and bonding methods. This all has to work together at a given velocity range to be most effective.
Larry
Something I tried to cobble together from various manufacturer or tester sources:
.380 ACP Cartridge Ballistics and Performance
A factor I've yet to include is muzzle flash.
By performance stats and by user comment on online boards, it seems the Gold Dots and the Golden Sabers come out on top, with the latter deriving some sentimental plus from having the heaviest bullet of the lot. I guess it depends which side of the fence you prefer: light and zippy, or heavy and steady.
hth
.380 ACP Cartridge Ballistics and Performance
A factor I've yet to include is muzzle flash.
By performance stats and by user comment on online boards, it seems the Gold Dots and the Golden Sabers come out on top, with the latter deriving some sentimental plus from having the heaviest bullet of the lot. I guess it depends which side of the fence you prefer: light and zippy, or heavy and steady.
hth
I just got a Kel-Tec 3AT and I'm currently trying to find the best carry round. The 380 is such a marginal round that I worry about lack of penetration. If a JHP does open up, it could easily reduce penetration to an extent that the round looses effectiveness. Because of this, I'm starting to look at JSP (jacketed soft point) rounds. These won't expand like a JHP, so should have better penetration.
Safety First
New member
I'm using .380 Gold Dots jhp in my P3at...POWER-BALL will be sending out there 380 ammo in about a month according to a rep at corbon...I will try it to see how it compares to the Gold Dot
Way back when, I tried many different .380acp loads in my PPK clone. The 102gr. Golden Sabre was one of the most accurate loads. And it was very reliable. Its shape is much closer to ball ammo than something like a Hydra-Shok, or even a Gold Dot. So reliability and accuracy camer first.
Then I tested some in wet newsprint, and it gave about 75% of the penetration and "wound channel" of the 9mm round I was comparing it to. It mushroomed reliably with up to 5 layers of denim in front of the newsprint. The 9mm would mushroom reliably up to 7 layers.
I didn't do expansion testing on any other rounds, because I had already decided on the Golden Sabre for reliability and accuracy. But it seemed good enough to me.
Then I tested some in wet newsprint, and it gave about 75% of the penetration and "wound channel" of the 9mm round I was comparing it to. It mushroomed reliably with up to 5 layers of denim in front of the newsprint. The 9mm would mushroom reliably up to 7 layers.
I didn't do expansion testing on any other rounds, because I had already decided on the Golden Sabre for reliability and accuracy. But it seemed good enough to me.