.380 ammo

[MARINE DIVISION TWO]

My Firestorm 380 feeds everything I put into it,Federals are my defense round.

[snakeman21]

I sold my Firestorm .380 because I was appalled at the outrageous price of .380 cartridges.

I liked my Firestorm, it was a good little gun, if a little snappy, and always went bang. But I ultimately decided that I wanted a larger caliber, and found it a little ridiculous that I was paying the same price for .380 ammo that I would for .45.

[tursky4]

Plink away. Works in my LCP.

http://www.freedommunitions.com/380-...fm380r100r.htm

Have a highpoint 380 and have been feeding freedom since i got it never had one problem.. and for the price cant beat it...

[renalp]

I just got my first .380... where is the best place to get ammo for it? What sort of prices are reasonable?
...
How is Magtech defense ammo? I thought Magtech was a cheaper name but I see +P (I didn't know .380 had +P?) Guardian Gold for around 11.99 for 25 rounds... not sure if it's any good.

You are correct that there is no SAAMI specification for .380 +P, so when manufacturers make the "+P" claim, either it's marketing hype, or they're exceeding industry guidelines. According to a recent thread on this forum, Underwood "+P" ammo is dangerously overpressure, if the maker's claims are true.

In my Bersa, I stick with SAAMI spec ammo. For practice, whatever's cheap (under $14 / 50), except Sellier & Bellot, which is the only ammo the Bersa has ever had trouble with. SGammo.com has some good prices.

For defensive puposes, Speer Gold Dot is my all-around choice. In .380, it has a decent balance of expanson vs. penetration.

[mrnyman]

My BeRsa feeds everything i give it , but it is exceptionally accurate with Winchester Silvertips so when i do carry it that is what i carry in it.

MagTech is made in Brazil, very good ammo , nice strong brass casings , the problem with them is that they need a lot of velocity to expand well , probably not ideal in a small Gun.

[GonzoGeezer]

Freedom Munitions will often have their Blaster training ammo in .380, loose pack, reman, blemished brass. Right now they're asking about 20¢ a round plus shipping. This is the cheapest I've found short of a private sale or rare show deal.

[ifman]

I appreciate all of the replies.

To start to break it in yesterday, I got 200 rounds of Fiocchi FMJ from my LGS, 15.50 a box. The only cheaper ammo they had was S&B but I avoided it due to warnings about Bersa's not liking it. I also grabbed a box of Fiocchi JHP because I thought 20 dollars for 50 rounds of JHP in .380 was a decent price. I figured this ammo would suffice until I put in an online order.

I got to the range and started shooting the FMJ. After a couple magazines, I got a failure to feed, the cartridge seemed to jam up on the feed ramp. A magazine later, my wife had the same problem. At this point I figured we must be limp wristing. We both are used to more recoil, and seemed to be underestimating the Bersa, which was awesome to shoot IMO.

I intentionally limp-wristed a mag to see if I could recreate it, and sure enough I almost immediately got a failure to feed. Fair enough, reminded myself and my wife to focus on proper stance and grip and went on shooting.

Then the double-feeds started... I didn't realize the first time it happened, I thought it was just a failure to feed, but when the slide didn't lock back when my wife *thought* she had finished her magazine, she pointed down range and pulled the trigger once more, sure enough, boom. That happened once or twice more.

At this point we were 100 rounds in and decided to call it a day.

Here are some notes regarding my preparation of the Bersa before the initial break-in.

I removed the slide to clean it earlier in the day, but found the recoil spring very difficult to get off of the barrel. I left it on because I read about people having trouble getting them back on... maybe this was a mistake. I cleaned the bore with Hoppes, cleaned the slide and all of the parts with CLP, and left a thin layer of CLP on the rails (a mistake? I saw CLP oozing out of the slide when shooting). I wiped the spring as well as I could with it still on the barrel, and sprayed it with a thin layer of CLP. Upon reassembly, I noticed that the ejection port seemed not close all the way, due to a notch on the left side of it, but I looked at some pics online and I see the same thing.

What I did not do, is strip and clean the magazine. Should I do this? I read some people say they did, some didn't. I wonder if that could cause the feed issues. I also have seem some people say they polished the feed ramp, but it was my understanding that other than cleaning it was ready to go out of the box.

I also know Bersa will recommend trying other ammo, which I will eventually, but I have two more boxes of Fiocchi FMJ's I will probably try after cleaning the gun again and cleaning the magazine. Generally I have never had trouble with Fiocchi's in any other caliber, but most of the ones I've bought in the past were loaded in the USA, these ones were loaded in Italy, not sure if that matters.

Anyways, I appreciate any suggestions people have.

[Valorius]

You are correct that there is no SAAMI specification for .380 +P, so when manufacturers make the "+P" claim, either it's marketing hype, or they're exceeding industry guidelines. According to a recent thread on this forum, Underwood "+P" ammo is dangerously overpressure, if the maker's claims are true.

Underwood ammo is perfectly safe to fire in any modern firearm.

ALL +P ammo exceeds SAAMI guidelines, it's what makes it +P!!!

In my Bersa, I stick with SAAMI spec ammo. For practice, whatever's cheap (under $14 / 50), except Sellier & Bellot, which is the only ammo the Bersa has ever had trouble with. SGammo.com has some good prices.

For defensive puposes, Speer Gold Dot is my all-around choice. In .380, it has a decent balance of expanson vs. penetration.

You realize that your Bersa is proof tested to 180% of max SAAMI pressure, right? All guns are. That means even if you're firing +P ammo that's 40% overpressure, like Speer Gold Dot LE Only 9mm+P+ is, you still have another 40% of safety margin.

Standard pressure gold dot flat out lacks adequate penetration in all the tests i've seen.

[renalp]

I'd suggest:

Disassemble and clean the mag, and check for any burrs or sharp edges.

The recoil spring should come off with a twist and pull. Make sure it's reinstalled correctly (smaller, tighter end toward the breech).

Don't attempt to polish the feed ramp. It's part of the alloy frame, and you don't want to damage the anodizing.

And, as you know, try different ammo.

[renalp]

ALL +P ammo exceeds SAAMI guidelines, it's what makes it +P!!!

Uh, no. SAAMI publishes +P specs for 9 mm, .38 Spl, .45 Auto, and maybe others, but not for .380 Auto.