.380 KelTec Loads

[EMC45]

Well I went to the range on Sat. with a few hand guns and a .308 Mauser. I brought the 5 rounds of .380 I loaded with my .223 dies (.223 dies to size the brass down then 9MM dies to bell, seat and crimp) I loaded a Lee 120 gr. TC over 1.6 gr. of Bullseye lit with a WSP. It was uneventful. The round went BANG! And smartly ejected the empty. I was a bit cautious as this is a heavy bullet for the .380, but Lyman had data for it and this load was the starting load. It barked and snorted for sure, but all seemed fine.

[kenjuudo]

The little buggers sure fling the brass don't they?

[EMC45]

I failed to mention that on the same range trip I fired the new Keltec 9MM that a fella had out there. Just some factory ammo. He handed me the gun and said that the hammer wasn't resetting and it would only fire the first few rounds and then he would have to field strip it. SAY WHAT???!!! It was 3 days old or there about. I really was thinking about getting one of these and this has kind of sullied the impression for sure. My local shop (where I got my P3AT) has a couple of the PF9s and they are only $20 more then the P3AT. They even had the SS and grey one. I am very doubtful I will get it now though. I also loaded 20 more rounds of the .380 load last night and plan to go out and let 'em rip!

[Skrenos]

I tried some Lee 102gr 1R bullets in my P3AT and I couldnt even get them to chamber when loaded to proper OAL. They were resized to .355 and I guess my chamber is too tight or something... either that, or I'm a goof and resized them using the .358 die. After seating them a little further in, they feed, but they look awful. Recoil is just as bad as it is with factory ammo. I think I'll stick with my Govt .380. It's much more pleasant to shoot. P3AT will be what it's supposed to be. CCW.