120grn bullet for 380acp?

[miner49r]

I am picking up a 380 pistol in the next few days and was looking to see what reccomended loads would be. The 49th Lyman Handbook shows loads for a 120grn cast projectile. (Lyman #356242) It's a bit on the heavy side but I have a LEE HP mold that throws a 117grn boolit I might try out.

Anyone have experience with heavy 380 boolits?

Alan

[RobsTV]

Lee 356-120-TC with OAL of .971 works fine in S&W Bodyguard 380 and many seem to use that boolit in 380's, so should not be a problem if they chamber and cycle (unlike the Lee 358-105-SWC that I gave up with here in 380 as it needed seated too deep).

Now plan on running the MiHec 9mm 125 gr. four cavity HP from recent group buy in the 380 as soon as it arrives.

[Boolseye]

I've shot 115 gr. 9mm fmj in a .380, but they bulged the case pretty good. Better off with 100 gr. or smaller, I recommend the Lee 356-102.

[RobsTV]

If buying another mold for 380, I would also recommend the 356-102-1R. While the 356-120-TC works well, it seems a little harsh shooting. The 356-102 just shoots as if it was made for the gun.

[dkf]

I would expect the base of a lead bullet to get deformed slightly due to being seated deeply and hitting the thicker part of the case. I load 115gr XTPs in .380 with HS6 and they do push the case out a bit mid way down. I have found you want to stick with plain brass and don't use nickel brass for longer bullets. I would just get a 95-100gr mold for .380. It will work better for the cartridge and you will use less lead.

[miner49r]

All great advice guys. Lighter loads will be in the making. (woohoo! another new mold!)

Just wondered if there might be some merit in the heavy load in Lyman manual.

[Buzz64]

Ranch dog made the 'best' little boolit mold around for the 380. Not the heavy weight but the perfect boolit for my ppk/s. NOE is doing them now.

[Garyshome]

120 gr is too heavy for a 380. Just look at the factory loads most common for the 380. You should take a hint.

[.5mv^2]

I use my Lee 105 swc in my 380s, they cut nice clean holes. Use the same bullet in 9mm, 38 spl and 357.

[rintinglen]

I have shot the 356-242 -122 in the 380, but it hits way off from point of aim in my Walther PPK/s. We're talking on the nature of a foot high at 10 yards. It is reasonably accurate, no evidence of tumbling, and groups are round. The increased recoil caused the safety to come on a few times, so I discontinued that load. I think that boolit weight is too heavy for this cartridge. I would recommend nothing heavier than the LEE 102 grainer, especially if you have one of the plastic pocket pistols.

I was lucky enough to get a RD back when he was still in business and that is my go-to boolit for 380 now.

[Iron Mike Golf]

In that the 380 is a blowback...

Not all are. P238, Star S, PK380, Mustang, LCP, 380 Govt, Hellcat, Pico are recoil operated.

[turbo1889]

The heaviest I've run in the 380 were 130+ grains. and I routinely run 125gr. loads in one specific custom configuration. That's a little too heavy in my opinion for most uses but is good for my specific application (Fat nosed smooth sided flat base pure lead pills with a plain-base gas check made from aluminum pop can metal swagged/crimped on the base and then tumble lubed. The idea is a load that has the lowest possible collateral risk for dealing with vicious canine trouble at point blank range when they chase me down on my bike and try to chew me up where application may be required in a very urban area with a lot of other people around and a lot of hard roadway surfaces that could create ricochet risk with a regular load and so far they have served excellently in that role with multiple real life applications so far and rarely even exit the target.) but if you go that heavy you start needing a custom mold that puts as much weight in the nose forward of the case mouth as possible to keep the seating depth down to something half way reasonable to allow a decent powder charge. I started out using a 125gr. mold I already had that was a two way mold with a short squatty TC nose over a long undersize forward band that was for use either in 36-cal revolver cartridges or 9mm semi-auto guns but eventually went to a total custom boolit design for that load. The nose of my custom loads is so fat and broad with only a quick curve at the very forward nose edge that most people are surprised that they feed reliably. Made the mold myself just by reshaping the tip of an appropriate diameter drill bit and using a good jig and drill press on a Lee two cavity 32-cal revolver mold.

Something in the 90-115 grain weight range is a must better choice for "regular" cast boolit loads for the 380 cartridge and the guns that fire it. But if you really want to go heavier it is possible, just be warned it isn't that easy and the loads are best used for point blank applications where you want to reduce collateral potential.

[warf73]

I would love to see that boolit from the mold you made, sounds very interesting.

Warf

[pt4u2nv]

I have been working on cast in my 380 Bodyguard the last several weeks and just tried the Lyman 90 gr RN with 3.2 grs of Unique powder , sized at .356, seated at .980" and what a winner !!! 5 shot 1" groups at 7 yds and no issues with chambering, leading etc. In the last several weeks I have tried the Lee 356-105-SWC and Lee 356-102-1R with and without PB gaschecks and none shot close to the Lyman 90 grain without gascheck. They shot decent but not near the accuracy of the 90 gr Lyman. I tried the PB gaschecks on the Lyman also but the base of the 90 gr is too short to stop the GC from covering the lube groove.

[2wheelDuke]

I think 100gr is about the limit, but to be fair, I've never tried a 120. I got the Ranch Dog mold back when they were in business and never looked back. They shoot great out of the P3AT. With Bullseye powder and working up into RD's data, I've seen 1000fps average on the chrony from my P3AT.

[RobsTV]

I have setup the MiHec 9mm 125 gr. 359-125, sized to .356 and seated with short enough OAL to cycle in 380 Bodyguard, then gave up on this idea. Yes, according to QuickLoad data it can be safely done, however that small amount of powder it would use would reduce speed to being so slow that non-expanding HP's would be useless.

[casterofboolits]

Back in the 80's I had three 380's. An FIE, a Colt government model and a Mustang.

I developed a load using the H&G #275 09-125-SWCBB sized .356 over a mild load of BlueDot. Feeding and function were perfect and penetration was amazing. After five shots, splinters were being blown out the back of a seasoned oak 4"X 4" taken from a 100 year old barn. I was getting into IPSC big time and I sold the 380s.

Overall, I was quite happy with the results of my little experiment.

The 90 to 100 grain range would probably be the better weight range for the 380s.

[turbo1889]

For the heavy end in the 380 Blue dot is a good choice but in the usual shorter barrel lengths you can squeeze out just a little more muzzle velocity while keeping pressures still within sanity by using Herco instead. Slow enough for the heavy weights in this cartridge but just snappy enough to help with the shorter barrel length while still handling the heavier weight. Same thing is true for IMR-4756. Try all three and see which works best.

[M99SavNut]

The heaviest I've run in the 380 were 130+ grains. and I routinely run 125gr. loads in one specific custom configuration. That's a little too heavy in my opinion for most uses but is good for my specific application (Fat nosed smooth sided flat base pure lead pills with a plain-base gas check made from aluminum pop can metal swagged/crimped on the base and then tumble lubed. The idea is a load that has the lowest possible collateral risk for dealing with vicious canine trouble at point blank range when they chase me down on my bike and try to chew me up where application may be required in a very urban area with a lot of other people around and a lot of hard roadway surfaces that could create ricochet risk with a regular load and so far they have served excellently in that role with multiple real life applications so far and rarely even exit the target.) but if you go that heavy you start needing a custom mold that puts as much weight in the nose forward of the case mouth as possible to keep the seating depth down to something half way reasonable to allow a decent powder charge. I started out using a 125gr. mold I already had that was a two way mold with a short squatty TC nose over a long undersize forward band that was for use either in 36-cal revolver cartridges or 9mm semi-auto guns but eventually went to a total custom boolit design for that load. The nose of my custom loads is so fat and broad with only a quick curve at the very forward nose edge that most people are surprised that they feed reliably. Made the mold myself just by reshaping the tip of an appropriate diameter drill bit and using a good jig and drill press on a Lee two cavity 32-cal revolver mold.

Something in the 90-115 grain weight range is a must better choice for "regular" cast boolit loads for the 380 cartridge and the guns that fire it. But if you really want to go heavier it is possible, just be warned it isn't that easy and the loads are best used for point blank applications where you want to reduce collateral potential.

The .380 Velo Dog round? My goodness, but I am so encouraged by someone with a proper perspective about people and hostile dogs, and the very best kind of interactions between them! May your number increase!!!!!!