Do P380's create "smileys" on bullet faces?

Re: Do P380's create "smileys" on bullet faces?

I've finished reading the discussion on the LCP site in the referenced link. True, no kabooms or real problems yet. So everyone with a LCP is happy since what you can't see won't hurt you. Or will it?
One comment in the linked discussion even indirectly referred to those like me as "trolls" for making an issue about smileys. Whatever.
It really comes down to this...when we buy a handgun we're stuck with it and might as well rationalize that it's the greatest!
I wrote a blog about rationalizing applied to handguns a while back. I'll dare to post it here, following.....

Rationalize...'to attribute (one's actions) to rational and creditable motive without analysis of true and especially unconscious motives...; to provide plausible but untrue reasons for conduct'...from Webster's Dictionary.

Aren't dictionaries amazing books? A lot of truth in that definition. Especially as applied to firearms. Over quite a few years I've done just that in purchasing firearms, especially handguns. Every one initially was the best handgun in the world. Until my rationalizing was proven wrong.

Like the Bond derringer I just had to have. In 9mm, this was going to be the ultimate SD carry gun for me. Oh, the glowing reports on their website, snake killer, cowboy shootout winner, and 9mm the perfect manstopper. BS can sell anything, and I'm a sucker for fancy advertisements. Well, yes, it shot bullets out the barrel, but left your thumb bloody due to the engineering mistake of putting the breech lock bar on the wrong side. And the recoil, well you'd remember it for a long time! Heavy as a lead brick too!!

Glocks are OK if you don't mind owning a clunker. No way to conceal one of these in your pocket. But after all, the NYPD carried them with mind boggling success. If it's good for them it's good for us dumbies too!! Mine came from a trade-in by the Kentucky FBI, a well used model 19, refurbished with an obvious new barrel. Shot good, but couldn't even carry it in an IWB holster. Couldn't sit down without it digging into my gut. Gave it to a son for target shooting. Rationilizing failed again.

Ah Ha! the ultimate pocket gun arrived. We all got on the KelTec bandwagon with first the P32 and then the P3AT. (A few "lucky" guys had SeeCamps, but none of those were available, more on that later). Well, the P32 shot bullets out the barrel, the recoil wasn't bad if you didn't mind the looong trigger pull. But worthless for SD since most JHP ammo for the thing didn't expand worth a darn in either wetpack tests or gelatin (by GoldenLoki's reports). A nice chrome plated one suffered a failure of the frame hole that holds the dissasembly pin. (Got my money back from dealer friend on that one.) Then also you've heard of rimlock. Surely you've heard of rimlock. Well, it's the only mistake John Browning ever made with the design of the .32acp cartridge which has a rim, like a .22 round. The shorter JHP's would lock up in the magazine, permantely jamming the gun. How could we be so stupid to rationalize that pistol??
Enter the P3AT!! Oh man, this is the perfect SD pocket pistol!!. Lighter than a new born sparrow and shoots a 9mm bullet. Only problems, the looong trigger pull, recoil hurts your trigger finger, no lock back on last round, just goes 'clik' after that, polymer housing problems with cracks, and the miserable smiley problem. After the first round all ammo is damaged after that. Might as well buy used toilet paper too, same difference. All efforts to 'fix' the smiley problem failed, even the Flyer cut on the feed ramp didn't completly cure it.
So how in this great high tech age did Ruger ever decide to copy the worst pistol design ever invented? And how sick is the vast American public that rationalize and buy all of the LCP's being sold. Even I suckered for one, junk gun. Worst case of rationalizing I've had.

Should I go one? If you've read this far without wanting to hang me by my toes, or worse, I'll just mention a few others.
Advertisements go a long way to sell guns. NAA is no exception. I got on that bandwagon too. The first 380 broke the second range trip, the MIM trigger casting fell apart, second shot. How's that for a good deal during a serious SD situation. Rationalization!!
Makarov's are the answer, I thought, cheap and use a 9mm bullet. The one I got was "new" from war surplus, even had a chrome plated barrel. Again, like a Glock, ain't gonna pocket carry, but who cares, I rationalized I got the best deal ever. Even could get some Russian ammo for it that had fair wetpack results. But then the flaw surfaced. On a range trip with a grandson, the gun went ballistic, full auto and emptied the magazine, fortunately down range. Turns out, there's no firing pin spring, and if you hold the tigger back, like Brandon did, during firing, the slide cycles with the firing pin exposed that sets off the following rounds. Lemme out of that lemmon!!
Did I mention SeeCamps. Good friend had one that we did several range tests with it. Our rationale was it would shoot good and even show fair, but inconsistent, wetpack results. Did the keyholing of the bullets bother us, we rationalized that this might be good for more damage to the villian during SD. Keyholing? Bull, that's a defective design, period. And how about recoil? You can read all the rationalized reports about how this guy and that guy can handle the recoil just fine. More bull, I'd rather shoot my .357magnum j-frame snubbie than any more SeeCamp crappola.

I've really only started on all the stupid rationalizing I've done over the years. Owned, traded, sold, gave away over 50. But you get the idea. So before you sucker for your next handgun purchase, try to read between the lines and look for the truth. Bet you'll find it hard to find!

Cheers,
og........who is the world's biggest sucker for rationalizing.


(Go ahead and ban me from the site for my remarks. I've been banned from other sites before by site admins who just couldn't stand hearing the truth!)

Re: Do P380's create "smileys" on bullet faces?

Yes, that's right, my remarks are only opinions, nothing more. I'm not a John Browning or a Bill Ruger. Just an ordinary CCW owner.
I'm not a member of the ElsiePea site and don't even read there. But the link above about smileys caught my attention so I took time to read all the pages. I was surprised that links to my threads about smileys on USRange were given. And even one poster implied that guys like me concerned about smileys are "trolls". I really resent implications on a site where I'm not a member and can't defend myself. I don't plan to register there and post any replies. I think moderators on sites that allow insulting remarks about folks, regarding gun subjects, that are not even members are being unfair.

Regarding smileys, I've said it before at several sites, I didn't invent smileys. A man on the original KelTec site years ago, "Flyer", was the one who discovered them. He thought he cured the problem with the half-moon cut on the feed ramp. Even KelTec adopted the cut on the second generation P3AT. Obviously that didn't cure the problem and smileys still occur on KT's and the LCP. No big deal except for the setback that happens with the bullet. This has got to raise chamber pressure. Not much maybe, but who knows over time what damage it might do to the barrel. Probably nothing.
All I've done over time is try to evaluate the effect and see if any way it could be eliminated easily on several P3AT's and the LCP I've owned. I've tried punch marks on the magazine to hold the rounds in place. I've ground off the slick, black paint hoping to produce some friction. Nothing has worked. The only locked breech pistol I've found that has no smileys on JHP ammo and only a small nick on longer OAL FMJ is the Kahr P380. The P380 is not a target pistol but a top pocket carry self defense weapon. And for that reason most of us would only carry JHP in it. Again IMHO.
Would a smiley affect JHP performance. An expert gelatin tester reported that it would on KTOG...
http://www.ktog.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1237693987
So what I plan to do from here on is ignore anymore insulting comments, like "big tado about nothing", and leave people to their own choices.
So fine. If you don't think smileys are a 'fact' and only an opinion, that's your call.
In the meantime, I hope this site continues to emphasize the P380 and not LCP's or P3AT's. That's the only reason I'm here.
Cheers,
og
Oh, BTW, my "hobby" is mostly found at www.usrange.org in the Ammo and Ballistic section.