Looking for some 380 ACP Reloading Advice

[California-Dude]

I’m a very competent handloader with decades of experience. That said, all my self defense weapons are loaded with factory ammunition. I recommend the same to everyone.

That's good advice and exactly what I do with my Kahr Arms P380. It's such a finicky eater that only the Hornady Critical Defense is kept in the gun for self defense. My Bersa 380 seems to gobble up almost all of my handloads without an issue. I keep max loaded Spear 90 Grain HP handloads in it. Your advice is very sound though.

 

[California-Dude]

Possibly. May be different thickness or hardness. For example on some reloaded 9mm I see a visible difference in diameter, I can see exactly where the bullet is within the case. On some others, notably Blazer cases, that step for lack of a better term is not visible. It has never presented a problem for me however.

Hey AccelR8, that kind of confirms what I am seeing. I never have any problems with Blazer, Speer, Federal and Winchester. PMC, GFL, Norma and Sig casings seem to give the most issues. I am thinking I will hold those aside for a bit and see if the overall failure rate improves.

 

[rr2030]

A side note here: Every FTF/FTE is a training opportunity.

 

[Gabe22BR]

Let me throw a wrench in here…
I used lees dies to load 380ACP- getting the exact same thing problems your getting..

I used my cousins RCBS dies, didn’t have the first FTF, or FTE …
Looking at the seated bullet from a Lee die, it set off to one side… not fitting into my Dillion ammo checker…

A few 1000rds later on the Lee sizer, the carbide insert came out… dies came out of the press & into the garbage- Ordered some Dillion 380ACP dies..

Problem solved !!!

As for you Khar- watch out on using MAX loads… you’ll loose the extractor & little plate at the back.. seen it happen 3x already…

 

[California-Dude]

Let me throw a wrench in here…
I used lees dies to load 380ACP- getting the exact same thing problems your getting..

I used my cousins RCBS dies, didn’t have the first FTF, or FTE …
Looking at the seated bullet from a Lee die, it set off to one side… not fitting into my Dillion ammo checker…

A few 1000rds later on the Lee sizer, the carbide insert came out… dies came out of the press & into the garbage- Ordered some Dillion 380ACP dies..

Problem solved !!!

As for you Khar- watch out on using MAX loads… you’ll loose the extractor & little plate at the back.. seen it happen 3x already…

Hi Gabe. Interesting observation on the die brands. I will give that some thought as RCBS dies are around $60.00 Copy that on the Khar P380. It's a nice little pocket gun and reasonably accurate but is pure blowback functioning. I don't max load for rounds going into it. My Bersa Firestorm on the other hand is more of a beast and purchased on the recommendation from my local gunsmith who genuinely tried to break one and did not succeed. It actually impressed him. In that I do load max loads with either Hornady or Speer JHP for defense. Never had a FTF or FTE with those rounds which I isolate to only using Winchester, CCI or Federal Brass. Thanks for the great info