ammo suggestions (380)

N

Nifer

New member
I got my Walther PPKS recently, have only had time to feed 100 rounds through it. All 100 were FMJ.

I am looking for suggestion on self defense/personal protection ammo. I have picked up 1 box of Federal Hydrashock and 1 box of Triton Quik Shok at the local gun show, but have not had a chance to test fire these to see if the gun likes them or not.

I would like to know if there are any other suggestion for ammo for this. This will be my CCW gun most likely, and I would like something with good velocity AND expansion. Any help will be appreciated.

JR
 
It's going to be hard to get good penetration and expansion from a short barrel .380.

There are only four loads I'd consider for my backup/jogging gun (Mustang Pocketlite) for carry:

Speer or ProLoad Gold Dot
Remington Golden Sabre 102gr
Hornady XTP
Any good ball ammo

Anything else doesn't have the penetration I consider crutial for stopping a threat that doesn't want to be stopped.

What's in it now? Fiocchi ball, until I can thoroghly test it with hollowpoints.
 
The Federal Hydrashock is the best Defense/personal protection in 380 ammo IMHO.
That is what I use in my 380's. I also have Winchester silver tips.
On one of the mag's I stagered the federal and winchester rounds. but over all prefer the Hydrashock.
Goldon Saber would be a exellent choice.

Check out this web page!

http://www.recguns.com/IVG10.html

Tony
 
Cor-Bons are about the hottest conventional JHPs. Their 90 gr. +P gives 1050 fps and 220 fpe.

http://www.cor-bon.com/ammo.html

You might try the RBCD Performance Plus ammo. They use what they call a Total Fragmenting Soft Point made of metal powder and a binding material. It spreads out and fragments when it hits resistance, no ricohets. The .380 round, 50 gr. gives 1500 fps and 280 fpe. It's expensive, and there's not a lot of real-world data on effectiveness, but tests I've read suggest that it would create a softball sized wound channel starting an inch or two into a bad guy's torso.

http://www.rbcd.net/Personal Defense Ammo.htm
 
I don't think you can go wrong with Hydrashoks, but at the same time, I would not even begin to count on the round expanding. If it expands, that is a bonus. I have Hydrashoks in my .380, but they are slowly getting cycled out and I am just replacing them with ball ammo since really penetration is the key thing you want from the caliber. Ball will do that and do it much more cheaply than expensive defense ammo.
 
I agree with everything that Double Naught Spy said. I stick with the ball and am quite comfortable with it. Whatever you pick, make sure reliability comes before, "what the studies have shown...."
 
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