.380 ACP self defense ammo

[Shuz]

I cast RCBS 35-90 RN and Lee 356-102 out of pure lead. I size them to .356 in an old Lyman 45 that has a home made top punch with a small pin protruding out the bottom. The bullets mash a bit during sizing, but end up having a very cute hollow point nose and the overall diameter is still .356. I then load them up with either 2.6g of Bullseye or 2.4g of surplus NM-04 and the results were great. At 15 yards, my Ruger LCP placed all shots into 3" to 4" and penetration was 1-3/4 Spokane phone books in the case of the Lee and 1-1/2 phone books for the RCBS boolit. Each boolit only lost approx 3g of weight, and mushroomed to slightly over 1/2"!!
A Spokane phone book is around 4-1/2" thick.
For me...that's good enuf for "close social work".

[EMC45]

Sounds like you found a winner!

[MtGun44]

Saturated wet phone books are a useful test media, with the expansion matching the
expansion in calibrated ballistic gel but with almost exactly 1/2 the penetration found in gel.

Bill

[Bret4207]

I've told this story before, mostly because it's the only one I got, but I used an 85 gr boolit from an Astra Constable 380 to do in two coyotes. The one I shot through the top of the shoulders the boolit came out the brisket and left a good 1" hole. My mould casts a FN. If you don't push the range out too far the 380 works at least as good as a 22 mag and nearly as well as a 38 S+W and the standard 9mm. Each encounter will vary, but it's not a terrible little field gun.

[EMC45]

My Constable is super accurate!

[Bret4207]

They are shooters, I gotta say that. I just wish they'd taken the material in front of the trigger guard and profiled more like a Walther PP. Be easier to find holsters that way, and I think it looks better.

[Shuz]

FWIW--the phone books I used were dry.