markr6754
Member
I always considered the top end for 380 ACP to be 100gr, and have many rounds of experience with 100gr FMJ and 100gr Plated RN.
I recently picked up Nosler 9th edition and was surprised to find only one load listed under 380ACP...a 115gr JHP. I had to change the specs in Reloaders Workshop to even permit me to use these in 380ACP, as the specs for the cartridge max out at 100gr.
One powder I recently acquired, merely due to a lack of anything else, Hi-Skor 700-X was one of the listed powders for this heavy projectile, with loads from 1.5gr to 2.5gr.
My original plan was to fire these from my RIA Baby Rock M1911A-380, my only steel frame 380 ACP. I made up a small ladder in the middle with 10 rds each from 1.9gr to 2.1gr. using 115gr JHP RN bullets from Everglades, along with TulAmmo SPP.
Well, you know the old adage about plans. While preparing for a range session with my son I just grabbed boxes of ammo off the shelf, mostly 9mm and 380ACP. Between the 150 rds of 9mm I shot, and the 60 rounds of Winchester factory in 350 Legend, I was spent. My son wanted to continue, so he picked up the box of 115gr 380 ACP, fired all 30 rounds...never said a word. It didn't come to my mind, either as he was firing away...but I noticed that some of the cases were ejecting over the wall and landing in the adjoining empty stall. I was chasing the spent cases, noticed they were all nickel, but even that, and the strong ejection pattern, didn't clue me in that these were my test loads.
I realized the next day while I was cataloguing the fired ammo that he fired these off in one of his plastic, striker fired pistols. After my queries he reported that everything fed and cycled well, no indication of excessive recoil...in fact, the only remarkable thing he noted was that at 7 yards he couldn't see where any of the rounds landed. I wasn't spotting, so I don't know where they hit, either.
In the end, it appears that one can load 115gr JHP projectiles in 380ACP, shoot them, and live to tell the story...even if the bullets vaporize immediately on exiting the barrel.
I recently picked up Nosler 9th edition and was surprised to find only one load listed under 380ACP...a 115gr JHP. I had to change the specs in Reloaders Workshop to even permit me to use these in 380ACP, as the specs for the cartridge max out at 100gr.
One powder I recently acquired, merely due to a lack of anything else, Hi-Skor 700-X was one of the listed powders for this heavy projectile, with loads from 1.5gr to 2.5gr.
My original plan was to fire these from my RIA Baby Rock M1911A-380, my only steel frame 380 ACP. I made up a small ladder in the middle with 10 rds each from 1.9gr to 2.1gr. using 115gr JHP RN bullets from Everglades, along with TulAmmo SPP.
Well, you know the old adage about plans. While preparing for a range session with my son I just grabbed boxes of ammo off the shelf, mostly 9mm and 380ACP. Between the 150 rds of 9mm I shot, and the 60 rounds of Winchester factory in 350 Legend, I was spent. My son wanted to continue, so he picked up the box of 115gr 380 ACP, fired all 30 rounds...never said a word. It didn't come to my mind, either as he was firing away...but I noticed that some of the cases were ejecting over the wall and landing in the adjoining empty stall. I was chasing the spent cases, noticed they were all nickel, but even that, and the strong ejection pattern, didn't clue me in that these were my test loads.
I realized the next day while I was cataloguing the fired ammo that he fired these off in one of his plastic, striker fired pistols. After my queries he reported that everything fed and cycled well, no indication of excessive recoil...in fact, the only remarkable thing he noted was that at 7 yards he couldn't see where any of the rounds landed. I wasn't spotting, so I don't know where they hit, either.
In the end, it appears that one can load 115gr JHP projectiles in 380ACP, shoot them, and live to tell the story...even if the bullets vaporize immediately on exiting the barrel.
