Need advice regarding various brands of .380 Auto brass

[strangwn]

I am selling a friend some range pick-up Winchester .380 Auto brass. He needs additional .380 and I am offering him his choice of S&B(9mm Br. C.), Aguila, GFL, PMC, or PPU. He wants me to advise him which of these would be most like the Winchester. I would also like overall opinions about these .380 brands that I am offering him. Please let me know if this request needs to be in a different section.

[wilecoyote]

if I were the buyer, I would choose GFL (Giorgio Fiocchi Lecco). I wouldn't care about other brands _

[jdfoxinc]

S&B has slightly smaller primer holes.

[lar45]

You could weigh each of the different brands of cases, then check water capacity. If he is going to mix them all together, I'd want something with the same internal capacity.

[wilecoyote]

it happens that G.F.L. has always produced .380 acp, since forever, because it has been the sidearm ammo of the Italian army and police forces until the recent replacement with 9 para. it was probably the most produced and exported caliber (and more reliable & proof-tested cases) ever by G.F.L., with considerable attention therefore to the standards of their brass.

[nhithaca]

See the article on the 380 in Handloader mag. Author found a large discrepancy in the different makes of cases.

[Rodfac]

I've got a batch of Starline that won't take a Winchester Sm Pistol primer, nor will it accept CCI. The primer is a bit too large. I bought this batch through Midway, several years ago and it's all Starline head stamped. This is the only time I've had a problem with Starline brass...and in fact, for all other calibers, it's my #1 choice. YMMv Rod

[ddixie884]

Swage those pockets. I did with the first run of .41spl brass I had made by Star-Line.......

[Dan Cash]

If you are not using the .380 for match shooting (bulls eye) I would not worry about the difference between brands of brass. I load a lot of .32 ACP and .380 ACP and have not observed any significant difference in brands of brass.

[strangwn]

Thanks guys for such good advice. You continue to spoil me with your thoughtful comments.

[FergusonTO35]

What kind of gun does he have? Some guns are sensitive to the size and shape of the rim. Euro .380 is usually good stuff as that cartridge and it's little brother the .32 Auto/7.65 Browning have a long history of police and military use over there. GFL/Fiocchi and PPU are what I would choose out of the bunch.

[strangwn]

Ferguson TO35,
Don't know what kind of .380 pistol he has. Would guess mid-to-high end.

[FergusonTO35]

My Glock 42 eats anything. My Kimber Micro can be picky about rim size due to the fixed extractor.

[Bmi48219]

GFL is tops for quality material and consistent dimensions. PPU .380 too. PPU .380 rim diameter is larger than the others, which I believe helps with extraction. PPU is my choice for .380. Winchester and others are not consistent lengthwise.
My seating die sets bullets to the same length every time so the cartridge OAL will be the same. If brass length varies .5 or 1 mm the brass doesn’t consistently enter the crimp die to the same depth so the amount of crimp varies depending on brass length.
If the acp firearm truly headspaces on the case mouth a short piece of brass can result in a light primer strike. Most acp firearms count on the extractor to hold primer against the bolt face so light strikes are less frequent. A full size case rim helps in this regard too.
Granted .380 isn’t a bullseye round but consistency in all phases of reloading yields optimal results.
Stand a dozen same HS pieces of .380 brass on a flat surface. You will be surprised.