I was killing (no pun intended!) some time this afternoon and decided to test some .380 ammo I had on hand. My carry gun is a SIG P238. I've often mentioned that my carry ammo is Buffalo Bore 100 gr. hardcast flat nose.
The BB 27A/20 is pretty powerful ammo. It will penetrate 32" of ballistic gelatin, and will go through just about anybody, bones and all. It works for me. I carry 7+1 in an OWB holster @ 3 o'clock, and two more 7 rnd. mags at 8 o'clock. Overpenetration could be an issue with this ammo, depending on where you used it.
Earlier, I had carried Hornady CD. Some people simply advise to carry FMJ in a .380, because of its marginal power, especially if the target is wearing heavy clothes or the aiming point is blocked by an arm or something. Others advise against this because the hard round nose tends to "slip" through tissue without causing much damage or impact, short of a head shot.
So, I wanted to just see how they compared, when shooting into something really solid, sort of bone-like: solid wood. The "test" was firing each round into a stack of 2 x 4's. The boards were tacked together, and resting on solid concrete, to eliminate "give" or "bounce" of any kind. Range was 3 feet. Here are the results:
PMC Bronze, 90 gr. round nose FMJ: almost all the way through 1st board, slightly dented 2nd board. You could see the nose of the bullet just flush with the bottom of the 1st board.
Speer Lawman, 95 gr. round nose FMJ: through 1st board, 1/3" into 2nd board. You could see the base of the bullet about even with the surface.
Hornady Critical Defense, 90 gr. HP, cone shaped with elastic "filler" in the HP: came about 1/8" short of going all the way through the 1st board.
Buffalo Bore 27A/20, 100 gr. hardcast flat-nose: completely through first 2 boards, 3/4" into 3rd board.
This wasn't a professional laboratory test or anything, but it was fun. Conclusion: I think I'll stay with the Buffalo Bore.
The BB 27A/20 is pretty powerful ammo. It will penetrate 32" of ballistic gelatin, and will go through just about anybody, bones and all. It works for me. I carry 7+1 in an OWB holster @ 3 o'clock, and two more 7 rnd. mags at 8 o'clock. Overpenetration could be an issue with this ammo, depending on where you used it.
Earlier, I had carried Hornady CD. Some people simply advise to carry FMJ in a .380, because of its marginal power, especially if the target is wearing heavy clothes or the aiming point is blocked by an arm or something. Others advise against this because the hard round nose tends to "slip" through tissue without causing much damage or impact, short of a head shot.
So, I wanted to just see how they compared, when shooting into something really solid, sort of bone-like: solid wood. The "test" was firing each round into a stack of 2 x 4's. The boards were tacked together, and resting on solid concrete, to eliminate "give" or "bounce" of any kind. Range was 3 feet. Here are the results:
PMC Bronze, 90 gr. round nose FMJ: almost all the way through 1st board, slightly dented 2nd board. You could see the nose of the bullet just flush with the bottom of the 1st board.
Speer Lawman, 95 gr. round nose FMJ: through 1st board, 1/3" into 2nd board. You could see the base of the bullet about even with the surface.
Hornady Critical Defense, 90 gr. HP, cone shaped with elastic "filler" in the HP: came about 1/8" short of going all the way through the 1st board.
Buffalo Bore 27A/20, 100 gr. hardcast flat-nose: completely through first 2 boards, 3/4" into 3rd board.
This wasn't a professional laboratory test or anything, but it was fun. Conclusion: I think I'll stay with the Buffalo Bore.