So, lets talk 380 ammo. [...] What do you carry? –Uncle
The words “what ammo for my Back-Up Gun (BUG)” usually start a flurry of comments, the volume of which is only surpassed by a good “Glock sucks/Glock rocks” or “AR-15 vs. AK vs. M-1″ discussion. (By the way, Glock sucks and you can pry my AR from my cold, dead hands… but can you pass me an en bloc clip?)
With a .380, you’re going to have to make a choice: utter reliability or a chance at expansion. In the far distant past (say, the late 1980s), the wisdom was that no .380 ammo would go fast enough to expand… so just use FMJ, it’ll feed better anyway. In the modern era, there’s a bit of choice in .380 ammo… and the hollowpoints expand now!
The problem is that all guns vary. Just because your buddy uses Magtech 180 grain .40 S&W in his XD, it doesn’t mean you can, too– you must check for compatibility. Also, that brand new Lightning-bolt Super-Penetration Hyper-velocity ammo that just came out might not work for you– check it out first.
Case in point, in the comments from above linked post. Here’s my contribution:
90 grain Speer Gold Dots.
I love ‘em. I have a supplier who keeps some in stock always (he’s the Speer distributor in my area), they are pretty zippy, and my LCP loves them. But just a few comments later, Diomed comments:
Since my LCP chokes on Gold Dots, I stick with ball.
Okay, two guys with Ruger LCPs… one LCP works perfectly with a certain round, the other chokes on it. Now imagine that Diomed was a buddy of mine who didn’t check his gun/ammo pairing, and found out that the two didn’t play nice with each other at a bad time… like in the middle of a self defense situation. Is ammo expensive now? Yep. Is .380 had to find? Oh yeah. Was it worth it to put a box of Gold Dots through my LCP to make sure it liked them? Oh, yes. (My LCP will feed Gold Dots reliably, but you cannot use the slide lock to put the first round in– you have to slingshot it. But since I load the same way every time…)
As to why one guns likes X and the other doesn’t… (shrug) I have no idea. Maybe Diomed’s LCP has microscopic burrs on the feed ramp. Maybe the guy who worked on the feed ramp on my LCP made of more pass and polished it a bit. Maybe the person who took the barrel out of the machine was the first son of the first son of a first son who was born during a solar eclipse.
Oh, and that Magtech ammo I used as an example? My XD loves to eat it. So much that the slide unlocks a split second before the pressure fully drops, which causes some wonderful flashes in low light…