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Berry's .356 (9mm) 115 grain bullets
- Thread starter the45er
- Start date
Berry's doesn't offer light .38 cal bullets.
Yes they do: https://www.berrysmfg.com/products/preferred-plated-bullets/plated-pistol/380-caliber
Reloading101
Inactive
In my Modern Reloading, Second Edition by Richard Lee, it lists a 115 Grain Jacketed Bullet under the 380 Auto. It only has 2 different loads though, so I'm not sure how popular / safe it is.
I have personally loaded a few hundred of the Berry's 100 grain plated bullets though. I enjoy shooting them for plinking rounds. I never have really tested them for accuracy though, because I only shoot them out of my little pocket guns.
I have personally loaded a few hundred of the Berry's 100 grain plated bullets though. I enjoy shooting them for plinking rounds. I never have really tested them for accuracy though, because I only shoot them out of my little pocket guns.
Hodgdon's online reloading data for the 380 ACP shows loads for all bullets at .355" diameter. 9mm are .356 while 38's are obviously .380". Ergo, the diameter published in the manual for the 380 auto is closer to the nominal diameter of a 9mm than it is to an actual 38 caliber. After all, the 380 Auto is also called the 9mm Corto (short). I think I'll be ok as long as I load a published load for 115 grain bullets.
the45er, the 380 Auto shoots a .356" bullet. Actually SAAMI list it as .3565". See page 50 of this document: http://saami.org/specifications_and...ownload/Z299-3_ANSI-SAAMI_CFPandR.pdf#page=10
The link I provided is to .356" bullets specifically for the .380 Auto.
and see this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.380_ACP
38's are NOT obviously .380".
.38 caliber bullets for 38 Special and 357 Magnum revolvers are .357" and .358". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.357_Magnum And see page 44 and 47 of the SAAMI document.
9mm bullets are .355". Actually .3555 according to the SAAMI document page 27.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9×19mm_Parabellum
The link I provided is to .356" bullets specifically for the .380 Auto.
and see this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.380_ACP
38's are NOT obviously .380".
.38 caliber bullets for 38 Special and 357 Magnum revolvers are .357" and .358". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.357_Magnum And see page 44 and 47 of the SAAMI document.
9mm bullets are .355". Actually .3555 according to the SAAMI document page 27.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9×19mm_Parabellum
The SAAMI standard more specifically says: .380 ACP bullets are 0.3565"-0.003". That is, 0.3535"—0.3565". Anywhere in that range is a standard size, which is to say, the 9 mm (0.3525"-0.3555") is included as long as the bullets aren't in the smallest thousandth in that range.
Some cartridges that have been widely used have more range than that. .32 Automatic, for example, has a 0.006" span of bullet size, from 0.3065"-0.3125". I have an old French MAB with a groove diameter that is 0.309", but the US jacketed loads are mostly either 0.311". It doesn't care. Swaging a bullet down a bit extra doesn't require proportionately greater effort; just somewhat greater effort until the difference gets pretty big. Less so with the softer plated bullets and even less so with still softer lead bullets.
The main problem with swaging bullets down several thousandths is not with developing a load to safe pressure, but is with accuracy. Once you swage down more than a couple of thousandths it becomes difficult to keep the swaging perfectly symmetric so groups often start opening up or else just aren't that great to start with.
Note that the .380 is a lower pressure round than the 9 mm, and the smaller powder space combines with that to make it more critical to control the powder charge. As you go to a longer bullet that seats even deeper, pressure sensitivity to charge error will increase because the powder space is getting smaller. Note that with 100 grain bullets Hodgdon has loads with 231/HP38 that only span a couple tenths of a grain from minimum to maximum, so with a 115 grain bullet that charge and range would be even smaller if you used that powder. This is getting to a smaller range than most powder measures can hold tolerance to, which is why you aren't finding such loads listed in many places. The manual authors don't trust the handloader to be able to control the charge closely enough.
Some cartridges that have been widely used have more range than that. .32 Automatic, for example, has a 0.006" span of bullet size, from 0.3065"-0.3125". I have an old French MAB with a groove diameter that is 0.309", but the US jacketed loads are mostly either 0.311". It doesn't care. Swaging a bullet down a bit extra doesn't require proportionately greater effort; just somewhat greater effort until the difference gets pretty big. Less so with the softer plated bullets and even less so with still softer lead bullets.
The main problem with swaging bullets down several thousandths is not with developing a load to safe pressure, but is with accuracy. Once you swage down more than a couple of thousandths it becomes difficult to keep the swaging perfectly symmetric so groups often start opening up or else just aren't that great to start with.
Note that the .380 is a lower pressure round than the 9 mm, and the smaller powder space combines with that to make it more critical to control the powder charge. As you go to a longer bullet that seats even deeper, pressure sensitivity to charge error will increase because the powder space is getting smaller. Note that with 100 grain bullets Hodgdon has loads with 231/HP38 that only span a couple tenths of a grain from minimum to maximum, so with a 115 grain bullet that charge and range would be even smaller if you used that powder. This is getting to a smaller range than most powder measures can hold tolerance to, which is why you aren't finding such loads listed in many places. The manual authors don't trust the handloader to be able to control the charge closely enough.
So, I assume that .355 bullets can safely be loaded in a 380 ACP as long as the load is for 115 grain bullets, correct?
Yes.
74A95--nice catch and a good explanation of this stuff. Way too often I've heard people go off on folks that don't know the real diameter of a '.38' or that don't realize that a .357 magnum and a .38 special can use the same bullets if you are reloading.
Unclenick...thank you. It's kind of like having Stephen Hawking motor over and explain algebra problems to me when I'm having trouble.
Unclenick...thank you. It's kind of like having Stephen Hawking motor over and explain algebra problems to me when I'm having trouble.