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Most reliable ammo?

7739 Views 16 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  wyntrout
What ammo have members found to be most reliable/trouble free for our P380's? ???
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My P380 seems to like about any round that goes in it. The only round that did not work well was 102 grain golden sabrea and that was because the round was hitting the inside of ths dlie lock and pre engaging the slide stop. Went bang every time but the slide stop issue was something I ahd to work out. I got a new slide stop lever from kahr but I have since shot up all my remaining 102 godlen sabres and just moved on to other good defense rounds. I hve no issue withthe 90 hp corbona nd the borbon powerball, which I am carrying in it now. Not so sure if the P380 kahr is picky. Most of the bigger kahrs are certanly not ammo sensitive. My PM9 will shoot anything that goes into the pipe...
Excellent results with Hornady hollowpoints. Mine also balks with Golden Sabers.
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that Sportsman's Guide has MFS (Hungarian) .380 ACP 95 grain FMJ.
* Brass-cased
* Boxer primed
* Reloadable
* Non-corrosive
* Current production
* Muzzle velocity: 984 FPS. Muzzle energy: 204 ft. lbs.
WX2-177124 50 rds. .308 ACP 95 - gr. FMJ Ammo
$17.47 Club Price $16.60

I just ordered 10 boxes.

Wynn
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I was breaking in my new P380 yesterday and I had trouble with Fiocchi FMJ. I experienced the slide locking prematurely on Remington UMC FMJ and Winchester USA FMJ that has the full rounded top, but no other type of failures. The only round that was 100% and not causing any premature slide locks was the Winchester USA 100 round value packs, with the flat tops. I realize shooters have had problems with the slide stop and premature slide locking with certain types of ammo. ???
I think I would ask kahr to send you a new slide stop. You should not be having issues with the slide stop doing it with all those rounds you mentioned.

have u tested to see if those rounds are indeed hitting that inside of the slide stop lever??? eliminate any possable chance of your thumb hitting the slide stop lever by accident.

they should all clear that slide stop lever...

I doubt if more rounds down range will solve that issue..

If kahr says they willsend you a new slidelock lever, then do alittle experimenting. Get a fine small file and take the lever off the gun and just file a tad bit and I mean a tad bit off the inside of the slide lock lever where it is hitting the rounds. You should be able to see that very easily by take the slide off and inserting the slide stop lever and then inserting a loaded magazine. You should be able to see those rounds hitting the lever, file just a tad bit in that area, smooth and try again, when they clear stop and go out and shoot it and see if it locks your slide open on the last round. If it does that then you have fixed the issue and just keepthe new slide lock lever as a spare. You arenot taking off hardly anything in that area, so go slowly. If the rounds brush by the slide lock lever, that is ok, just as long as they don't try to pick up the slide lock lever. that is what you are trying to achieve..

You can't hurt anything by doing this as a new one is in the mail and if you take off to much on the inside of the slide lock lever, it will indeed work perfect BUT it might not lock open on the last round.
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Mine sure likes Speer Gold Dots and that's what I carry. Finally have three more boxes of it coming from Midway.
I had problems with Fiocchi FMJ also.
f4f
3 of my buddies and I have P380's and often go to the range together. Last week, one of the guys had a box of Fiocchi FMJ. He couldn't get it to cycle. Two of us tried the same ammo with the same result, all had FTF's. Wouldn't use that stuff on a bet.
FWIW, I did the 200 round break-in on my new P380 today and also had trouble with Fiocchi 95gr FMJ. I couldn't get through a magazine of it without a failure of some kind. Usually the slide would fail to return to battery.

I cycled 150 rounds of Speer Lawman with no issues and 28 rounds of Fiocchi extrema JHP (Hornady XTP bullet) with no issues.

Has anyone tried the Selier and Bellot 92gr FMJ? I depleted nearly my whole stash of .380 for the 200 round break-in and have ordered some S&B to replace it.
Great results with S&B 92 grain FMJ. Mine does not like the Fiocchi 95 grain JHPs. The OAL is a bit to long and had some feed problems with Golden Saber and that is why I stick with Gold Dot.
so far the only ammo i have had problems with was Winchester white box flat nose i had a failure to feed in almost every mag(was during break in). but i have also shot 100rd of pmc bronze 25rd of hornady cd and 20 rd of speer gold dot without a single problem
camper said:
Great results with S&B 92 grain FMJ. Mine does not like the Fiocchi 95 grain JHPs. The OAL is a bit to long and had some feed problems with Golden Saber and that is why I stick with Gold Dot.
Glad to hear it. I ordered 400 rounds of the S&B and 80 rounds of Gold Dot.
Since I've been a forum member I've noticed that in most cases of ammo issues the culprits are primarily FMJ ball above 90 grain weight. Are 95 grain and higher simply over taxing the p380?

http://www.chuckhawks.com/ammo_by_anonymous.htm
wyntrout said:
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that Sportsman's Guide has MFS (Hungarian) .380 ACP 95 grain FMJ.
* Brass-cased
* Boxer primed
* Reloadable
* Non-corrosive
* Current production
* Muzzle velocity: 984 FPS. Muzzle energy: 204 ft. lbs.
WX2-177124 50 rds. .308 ACP 95 - gr. FMJ Ammo
$17.47 Club Price $16.60

I just ordered 10 boxes.

Wynn
Wynn, I hope yours works better with that ammo than mine did. I have two boxes and with a new pistol could not get it to feed at all. Also for some reason I had several light strikes that failed to discharge. Not sure why because immediately switched to PMC brand and ran 50 rounds flawlessly. I have marked this brand off my list. Just one opinion your results might be different.
got2hav1 said
[/quote]
Wynn, I hope yours works better with that ammo than mine did. I have two boxes and with a new pistol could not get it to feed at all. Also for some reason I had several light strikes that failed to discharge. Not sure why because immediately switched to PMC brand and ran 50 rounds flawlessly. I have marked this brand off my list. Just one opinion your results might be different.
[/quote]

That's strange. MFS is supposed to be a good Hungarian manufacturer of military ammo as well. Decent ball ammo should feed better than anything else -- weird.

I still don't have my P380 -- 10 months and 14 days waiting. I have 200 rounds of Aguila and 500 of the MFS. I think yours is the first negative I've seen on the MFS. I'll just have to wait and see.

My new PM45 went back to the mothership last Tuesday because of feed problems. When I could get the first round in the chamber, it shot real well and I did better with it than my PM9. We have several things to look for on new Kahrs now, 45s in particular. The notch in the slide not having been machined out in the lower front just above the recoil spring and the "stripper" part of the slide that pushes the cartridge toward the chamber resting on top of the first round in a FULL magazine, causing the stripper to ride OVER the cartridge instead of pushing it from behind. Mine had only the latter. I hope this is the only "tweak" mine needs. Kahr paid for the shipping so I didn't feel any pain at all. I still have my PM9.
Wynn
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