Thread: Colt Mustang .380

I have a Colt Mustang .380 stainless that will not feed any sort of Hollowpoint ammo. It will not pick on up to save it's own life or mine for that matter. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening. I've tried different brands and nothing works. It feeds ball ammo just fine. Thanks yawl.

Have you tried different brands of HP ammo? Mine feeds Hydra Shok and Critical Defense just fine. Tried a different magazine? If it is stripping the round out of the magazine but then nose diving on the feed ramp, then you might have to polish the feed ramp. Just get some metal polish and sit down with it for a while and make it shiny. If it is bad enough to where you can feel imperfections with your fingernail, you might have to start with some very fine grit sandpaper then polish it smooth. I love the Colt Mustang and have owned a pocketlite and my current nickel plated one. They have never given me problems.

Here is a frame capture from a vid of my pistol. This is during the feeding of the round into the chamber. It the HP round is catching on the top of the barrel hood, then I would say it is your magazine not indexing the round for proper feeding. Ball ammo might still work because it is a little bit longer and might not hit the barrel hood where the HP jams it up. You might also try polishing the underside of the barrel hood if you think this is where it is jamming up. If all else fails, try Corbon's Pow'rBall ammo. Its good stuff and has the same profile as a FMJ round.

i believe the recoil springs wearout quick in the mustangs. Both my buddy and myself have had to replace them.

Thanks for all the information! Sounds like I need to do some polish work first. This pistol was inherited and I know it has not been fired all that much. It is a series 80 MK IV if that makes any difference to you all. I will let you all know how the polished ramp works out.

Originally Posted by RollingThunder

I have a Colt Mustang .380 stainless that will not feed any sort of Hollowpoint ammo. It will not pick on up to save it's own life or mine for that matter. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening. I've tried different brands and nothing works. It feeds ball ammo just fine. Thanks yawl.

Then use BALL AMMO.At the fps of a 380 hollow won't open any way.

There is also cobron powerball which is supposed to be awesome stuff.

Easy on the polish, the gun is designed as a controlled feed type, which means it relies on some resistance as it feeds.

First, the bullet doesn't ride the ramp, it glances off off the top 1/4, then hits the top of the ramp and goes into the chamber.

If you're experiencing what the photo shows, that's not a feed ramp problem, that could be an over tight extractor or chamber/barrel ramp problem.