What Wonders Await in the Wonderous Land of 380?

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hdwhit

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I have a post up on the autoloader forum asking why I shouldn't succumb to the desire to buy a Ruger LCP at my LGS. Of course if they don't succeed in talking me down off the ledge and I buy the pistol, it will become a matter of pride to reload for it.

I currently reload 25 ACP, 9mm, 38 Special and 45 ACP. Is there anything about loading for the 380 those calibers haven't already prepared me to deal with?

Any advice you would give someone their first time out with 380?

The manuals I have give bullet weights between 85 and 115 grains, but 95 and 100 seem to predominate. Any reason to try one first over the other?

Forewarned, as they say, is fore-armed, so thanks for any help you can give.
 
Try a few loads and see what works for your gun. When I did load .380 ACP for my wife's Walther I liked the 95 grain TMJ and 100 grain JHP bullets but only because they shot well in her gun. I also used Unique and Win 231 but never strayed much beyond those two powders. Just a matter of seeing what works for you and your gun.

Ron
 
hdwhit said:
ut 95 and 100 seem to predominate. Any reason to try one first over the other?
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Not in my opinion, but I haven't worked a great deal with .380s. If your pistol likes a certain 95 or 100 Gr bullet, I doubt it will be the weight that makes the difference. I used to have a Colt Mustang years ago, and it shot everything about the same.
 
The only real quirk that I have noticed with 380 is that brass quality, or at least it's thickness, seems to be lacking in comparison to the other cartridges I load for. Many headstamps refuse to give me good neck tension. Winchester is the probably the worst offender. That caught me by surprise. I have always found them to be very good in 9mm and 38 special.
 
Yea, like .32 ACP brass, case wall thickness is all over the place. You need a tight sizer.
 
Walkalong wrote:
You need a tight sizer.
Click to expand...

Any experience with which company's sizing die tends to run a little tight?

I bought Lee Speed Dies (before they stopped making them) for 38 Special and 45 ACP because I never intended to load more than a thousand or so rounds of either and they were by far the cheapest thing available. The name was something of a misnomer because they are anything but speedy, but they work fine every time.

All of my other dies have been RCBS and they have been perfect. When I started reloading 9mm, I bought a Lee 3 die set and was not happy with it at all. I replaced it with a set of RCBS dies and they, too, have been perfect. So, if I don't hear someone say that Lee or Hornady or Forster or whoever is the one to get for 380, I'll probably default back to RCBS.
 
I own a set of Lee and a set of Lyman dies for 380 reloading. The both work about the same to me. Yes, sometimes the brass can be thin walled and cause problems but my dies will even size the Winchester brass OK almost all the times. I have tossed a few out of a couple K that has weak tension though. Mostly used 100 grain bullets either lead or plated and HP38 with good results.
 
I load pretty much exclusively 95-100 grain RN bullets these days in my 380 ACP guns depending on what brand/style I find. Currently, I use plated bullets from Berry. They work in all my 380s.

Except for the small size of the case, I do not find any difficulty loading 380 ACP. I think my sizing die is an RCBS but it may be a Redding. It sizes the case enough that I always get the "Coke bottle" waist on the loaded cartridge. I generally prefer to taper crimp in a separate step from seating, but that is just me. I do that with all my semi-auto cartridges.

I mostly load with Unique and 700-X. I'm sure I've used others along the way. Generally, other cartridges drive what powders I have on hand and 380 ACP gets what is on hand.

Once in a while, I'll get an off brand case head that does not fit well in my shell holder/plates and it gets discarded.

My PPK is the most fussy about bullet shape. Pretty much only RN bullets work in it. My Beretta M84 doesn't care what it gets fed. I've even loaded 110 grain 357 JHP hollow points for it and they were 100% reliable They were just a bit anemic.

Many years ago, I loaded and shot a bunch of Lee 105 grain SWC. They shot well in the Beretta. I stopped casting for a while and picked it up again last year. I am planning to load some 105 SWCs in 380 ACP again, powder coated this time.
 
I've loaded a ton of 380acp and, to the best of my recollection, haven't had any problems with neck tension.
I use a Lee carbide die set, and get a fairly noticeable "coke bottle" affect, which I'm okay with.

I haven't loaded any plated or cast, but mostly Sierra JHPs, and a bunch of Hornady XTPs, both 90gr, driven by a book max load of Bullseye.
 
I like AA#2 for .practice .380 loads, meters great in .380 size charges. HP-38 worked well for me also.
For Full power stuff I have had good results with CFE-P.
No help on Unique or 700X in .380 sorry.
The RMR 100gr RNs shot well for me but I think the Xtreme 100gr RNFPs were maybe a bit better.
I don't know if RMR will have any more of the 100gr Hardcore RNs as I believe they are changing suppliers.

RMR has pulled 90 gr Gold Dots in stock now for $136/k before the 5% THR discount.
They also have their made in house 90gr HPs for $104 a K before discount. Haven't used any of them so I don't know how they shoot. (I have some of the 124s and they appear to be well made, need to do tests on them)
 
I have to admit not reloading much for the 380 but do like the LCP's size and weight. Once I developed shotshell rounds that ran 100% in it, my "farm" 1911 spends a lot more time locked up.
 
hdwhit said:
All of my other dies have been RCBS and they have been perfect. When I started reloading 9mm, I bought a Lee 3 die set and was not happy with it at all. I replaced it with a set of RCBS dies and they, too, have been perfect. So, if I don't hear someone say that Lee or Hornady or Forster or whoever is the one to get for 380, I'll probably default back to RCBS.
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Can't argue with that. A set of RCBS dies is what cured my .32 ACP issues. I bought RCBS for .380 long ago and never had issues.
 
Biggest issue you're likely to have is how similar 380 and 9mm brass looks and keeping them separate.
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That I have sorted out ;) they can be sorted by length or diameter.
 
HDwhit in loading for the 380, one thing to keep in mind is that there are some cases with a step inside. They should work OK, but keep in mind as it may create a slight bulge when loaded. Another thing I did is that for some bullets I did not use an expander at all. Just sized, and seated the bullets.

I am using RCBS dies for the 380. And for sorting I'm using the shell sorter plates with the metal 380 insert.
 
I bought a PK380 this winter because I thought it would be a fun plinker. I really hated that pistol and I also found 380 to be a pain to reload. The brass is so thin that if its not in the shellholder just right it will get crushed by the die. I crushed probably 1 in 30 when sizing and 1 in 50 when seating bullets. I sold that for an LC9s and won't be getting another 380 unless its in a very interesting gun like a colt 1908 or an old PPK.
 
What Wonders Await in the Wonderous Land of 380?

Crushing the thin little cases and trying to find the suckers after you shoot them:)

I have found that HP38 works well but I am sure there are many others,

Just make sure your resizer is lined yo or you will crush a few.

I carried the Ruger LCP for a long time (fits in my Speedo:scrutiny:) but I sold it for the SW Bodyguard which I like more better.
Used to collect all kinds of 380's My favorite is the Sig 230/232 and Beretta 84FS (too big to carry) but a accurate gun.
 
Rule3 wrote:
...trying to find the suckers after you shoot them:)
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Yeah.

I already lose about 35-40% of my pistol rounds "to the weeds" and the rate could go higher with the smaller cases. :uhoh:

I guess the one benefit is that since I'll statistically have no cases left after about the fourth loading, I won't have to worry about trimming cases. ;)
 
MtnCreek wrote:
Biggest issue you're likely to have is how similar 380 and 9mm brass looks and keeping them separate.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I crossed a beautiful - and cheap - used pistol in 9x18 Makarov off the list when I thought about the headache of trying to sort 9x18 from 9x19 brass.

I load very low volumes and I do it slowly so I don't mind sorting out brass and inspecting it, but trying to sort a 9x18 case that has stretched from a freshly trimmed 9x19 case seems to be borrowing trouble.
 
cfullgraf wrote:
I mostly load with Unique and 700-X.
Click to expand...

Strange as it may sound, I have never loaded anything with Unique. In the pre-internet days I just didn't seem to be able to find it anywhere and the Blue Dot I had been using in shot shells worked well in my 45 ACP and the 800X worked well in 38 Special.

I love 700X in 25 ACP! 1.5 grains under a 35 grain Hornady XTP was to me an ideal load.
 
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