I got my Fiochi Extrema at Sports World.
I got my Fiochi Extrema at Sports World.
after watching that I'll have to make sure the bad guy takes his heavy coat off.
Jumping off point: http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/
As far as I'm concerned, .380 pistols come in two flavors:
The "semi" compact blowback guns like Walther and browning bda with their 3.5 inches, and the tiny locked breeches with their 2.5 inch barrels, like the kel tec or ruger.
Chuck Hawkes didn't specify which pistol he carried, or whether or not he tested them. But most of the recommendations were for the older, blowback flavored guns. In my case, that's the .380 in question here. All I know is he said the "truncated cone" design might cause feeding issues, and that this made the xtp a garbage round not even worth considering. His personal pick was the federal hydras or Corbon loads, although the former seems too low in penetration (10.5 from most tests I see) or very hot for .380 (Corbon). I also haven't ever seen the Corbon for sale in anything but .32 NAA, oddly enough.
I've seen those Lehigh rounds on other forums when I asked about this topic. I'm still really skeptical with its reliability, as even the manufacturers seem to be pretty cautious to recommend it unless you know it works. I also haven't seen it available anywhere but their site.
I really don't want to do the "shoot a ton of different types till you find what works", simply because I don't have the time or money to shoot more than once a month, at most. And assuming my pistol eats what I give it, I'm still unsure of real life performance. Like I said, a lot of people criticize the xtp for lack of expansion, and as I'm not a ballistics expert or coroner I'm not sure how important that really is.
There's not a lot of info I can find about +p .380 rounds by buffalo bore and others. As these exceed SAAMI specs I assume, are they safe to use? Will they cause any reliability issues or undue wear, particularly in the older blowback .380s?
The "semi" compact blowback guns like Walther and browning bda with their 3.5 inches, and the tiny locked breeches with their 2.5 inch barrels, like the kel tec or ruger.
Chuck Hawkes didn't specify which pistol he carried, or whether or not he tested them. But most of the recommendations were for the older, blowback flavored guns. In my case, that's the .380 in question here. All I know is he said the "truncated cone" design might cause feeding issues, and that this made the xtp a garbage round not even worth considering. His personal pick was the federal hydras or Corbon loads, although the former seems too low in penetration (10.5 from most tests I see) or very hot for .380 (Corbon). I also haven't ever seen the Corbon for sale in anything but .32 NAA, oddly enough.
I've seen those Lehigh rounds on other forums when I asked about this topic. I'm still really skeptical with its reliability, as even the manufacturers seem to be pretty cautious to recommend it unless you know it works. I also haven't seen it available anywhere but their site.
I really don't want to do the "shoot a ton of different types till you find what works", simply because I don't have the time or money to shoot more than once a month, at most. And assuming my pistol eats what I give it, I'm still unsure of real life performance. Like I said, a lot of people criticize the xtp for lack of expansion, and as I'm not a ballistics expert or coroner I'm not sure how important that really is.
There's not a lot of info I can find about +p .380 rounds by buffalo bore and others. As these exceed SAAMI specs I assume, are they safe to use? Will they cause any reliability issues or undue wear, particularly in the older blowback .380s?
Good post, thanks. Unfortunately, I'm assuming a lot of those 20+ penetrations for the .380 are all unexpanded rounds. Not to mention that more than 18" is often considered a negative, or at best overkill. And from that chart, the xtp still seems like a no-brainer.
Most of you seem to be saying the gold dots win. Any negatives with the hornady?
Edit: those Sig V Crowns look promising. Those are the only ones on the list I've never even heard of. Anyone know where to find them?
I've seen this one. Those were fml, if I remember correctly.
At the end of the day, I know I can compromise with fmj and have it be 100% reliable with consistently more than adequate penetration. But I'd rather carry modern HP, if possible.
I wonder how caliberz with even worse reputations like .32 or .25 cap would've done with ball ammo? I feel like the .32 would have similar results, of course with a slightly bigger hole in .380....
I never had anything in my Keltec other than the 90 grain Corbon. 1050fps. Its hard to find, and expensive, but it shoots well in my gun.
One time, I had a deer on the ground, so I opted to test the pocket pistol on real time skin, bones, guts, etc. I got a complete pass through, hitting one rib on the way out.
I like real time testing.
One time, I had a deer on the ground, so I opted to test the pocket pistol on real time skin, bones, guts, etc. I got a complete pass through, hitting one rib on the way out.
I like real time testing.
Your next problem is finding a good source of ammo. I got 2 50 round boxes of gold dots from sgammo awhile back.
Sgammo has 50 round boxes of gold dots, xtp, hydra shok and hst right now. Just checked out the hst, not good in 380
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Haha if I had the money and food wasn't so valuable, I'd shoot some cow carcasses for "real world" results. Seems a bit morbid, though.
Did the round expand well? Fragmentation from the bone at all?
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