Lee .358" diam 105 grain SWC lead bullet for 380 acp Beretta Pico?

T

TheGuyOfSouthamerica

Moderator
Hi,

Has anyone done this:?

Using an Beretta Pico 380 acp. Reloading the 380 acp with cast lead .358" Diameter 105 grain Semi Wadcutters? These are 38 spl bullets but Lee states on their Website they work for 9mm Luger as well and so theoretically they should work for the 380 acp as well (assuming reloaded propperly seating 'em deep in order the SWC does not interfere with the case mouth headspacing).

Or using again the Beretta Pico 380 acp with reloads with 120 grain lead Lee .356" Diameter Truncated Cone bullets. These are 9mm Luger bullets.

Both should be more effective than an round nose and still have propper Penetration if no bone is hit (being those of an flat meplat leaving an greater entrance hole).

Please any experiences with these reloads for 380 acp.
 
Have you slugged the barrel on the .380?
Before I tried the .358's I think I'd do that first.
Also, I can find nothing in any of my manuals relating to a 120 grain bullet for the .380.
Please be very careful there.
 
I have loaded heavier than usual bullets in .380, they shoot well.
Unfortunately, I have not shot Lee designs and cannot tell you if they will function.
As you note, the question is whether they can be seated deep enough to fit magazine and chamber.

I have some BBI 125 gr truncated cones that, when seated to the edge of the bearing surface, will load and shoot in my CZ but not my Colt .380, they will not clear the magazine.
 
Dear Jim Watson,

What about load data for 125 grain bullets?

I have VV N340 powder (scavenged from shotshells but factory confirmed it is Vectan A1 or VV N340 powder). The other shotshells may be 700X type powder (not sure).
VV N340 is somewhat similar to Unique.

How deep do you seat the 125 grainers, Truncated Cone you said?, how much powder and which one? Have you chronoed them?
 
Gigantic pictures aside, .358" diameter is the wrong diameter for .380 ACP, regardless of the weight.
"...Lee states on their Website..." Lee does no load testing of any kind themselves.
Cast truncated cone bullets feed like hot dam in 9mm. Should in the .380 too.
 
Thanks OHeir

Yes I believe too it is best to not use the 38 spl diameter bullets in the tiny 380. Better just use the 120 grain TC .356“ diam cast bullets. Put powder as such that it cycles reliably and not passing over that point.
 
It depends more on the chamber than the bore.
If a nominally oversize bullet will seat in a case and then chamber FREELY in the gun, it will shoot ok.
A major cause of excess pressure is what experimenter Clark calls "bullet pinch."
Another cause of excess pressure is restricted powder space. If you have to seat a bullet deeply because of its length and weight or its bearing surface, you will have to go with a much lighter powder charge.

I had a 9mm P that would feed 158 gr .358" semiwadcutters and it shot them very well.
 
Thanks for sharing Jim Watson,

Yes I seat my "Nagant" style 357 mag Wadcutters deep in order to reduce powder and get same velocity as for an 9mm Luger (see Picture below). Reducing empty airspace Volumen (seating depth) let's you regulate pressure, velocity and powder Charge econimizing the caliber.

What is <<Bullet pinch>>?

The tiny Beretta Pico 380 acp I do not want to stress too much although it is rated for +p 380 acp ammo.

I have found even the 124 grain Lee Truncated Cone bullets in 9mm Luger in order to go into battery they have to be seated deeper than the Reloading Manuals state. If the normal OAL is observed there is allways an "foreward assist" needed since they get an FTF. That is due to a Piece of lead is between case mouth and it can not headspace or the cone may be to Long grabbing the rifling. I do not size the lead bullets but use them "as cast".
So cast bullets have the tendency to seat deeper.

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Anyone loading the 105 grain Lee SWC .358" Diameter bullet in the 380 acp?

Anyone loading the 105 grain Lee SWC .358" Diameter bullet in the 380 acp?

I got my Hornady 380 Auto die set already and waiting for the concealed carry pistol to arrive.

Need an answer guys.

First Hand experiments are welcome!

Or should I load the 380 acp with my 120 grain Lee Truncated Cone .356" Diameter bullets? (for 9mm Luger actually is that mold).

Which one would be better?
 
copy protection--see almost any college paper

Note: load data, in fact any data, is NOT copy protected. The FORMAT of the data is protected. Thus, we should be able to reference any data we want, and give proper attribution, as long we have do not use original formatting.
 
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I use it as-cast (unsized) and tumble lubed for the 9x19s and it does well. There is no reason not to use it in .380 if you want, just use the start load and work up like always.
Be sure to make up a couple of inert dummy rounds to establish a COL that will fit the magazine and feed and chamber before you start loading any.
If you can't find load data, use 115gn lead bullet start loads.
120 gn is near the upper limits of the cartridge for its size, but there is data available—but is there data for lead bullets?
 
I havent shot the bullets you ask about, but I shoot the Lee 358-125gr RF. Drops at 130gr from my mold and shoots very good with 2gr Bullseye at about 650fps seatd to the crimp groove.
100gr RF Ranch Dog is good with 3gr Bullseye for about 860fps.

We're shooting these in 9 or 10 different .380's and I size them all .358. It would be better to slug your gun though to find out what dia you need. All of ours need at least .357 dia.

You can use jacketed data for cast bullets, but not the other way around.
 
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