I'm still stacking .380 ACP

[gmerkt]

Last year, I loaded up everything I had here. Lately, I saw some Freedom Arms .380 ammo advertised for 25 cents a round. New, not reman. Brass case, free shipping over $150. Then I went, Hmmm. When I've been reloading .380, I bought CCI primed cases from Rocky Mountain Reloading, 13 cents each. Then I bought Berry plated bullets for 10 cents each. Plus I provided the powder in small quantities that I got for free. Yet with my labor input, it still comes out to 23 cents per round. For two more cents per round, I'd be crazy not to try the Freedom Arms. So I sent away for 500 rounds, I'll see if it's any good.

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[TTSX]

I was lucky enough to find a case of 1000 .380 for $200 last year. That's pretty good. Don't shoot it enough to justify loading, though.

 

[gmerkt]

I was lucky enough to find a case of 1000 .380 for $200 last year. That's pretty good. Don't shoot it enough to justify loading, though.

That was a good score.

Although I've previously never much liked .380, I've had several over the years. Never shot them much. When I inherited a bunch of guns in 2024, there were many .380's in the lot. Five Colt Government .380's, which I didn't like. Those and the two Ruger LCP's went away. Also a couple of Berettas, a 70 and an 85F. The latter of which was a pretty nice little gun but I didn't want to keep them all. What I wound up keeping was a Beretta 84F and a CZ83. I decided I liked shooting those, but they were both blow-back actions. With nearly as much recoil as a 9mm. So I bought a Walther PD380, which works on a locked breech, minimal recoil. I also wanted a Glock 25, which is hard to find. I made one of those by getting a Glock "upper" from a member here paired to a generic lower that I bought online. The Glock .380 is a little weird, supposedly it's a blowback action, but the bbl. pivots down and locks to the rear like a 9mm and the recoil is reduced. I guess what it lacks is the bit on the bbl. that locks briefly to the slide in the larger offerings.

It's too bad I didn't like the Colt Govt .380's, those have a locked breech action like a typical 1911. But in my experience of them, they weren't all that well made, had a few problematic issues. I couldn't see firing one of them on a sustained basis, like at the range for enjoyment. One was a Mustang, it was a little better made than the earlier models. They were made at a time when Colt was trying to compete with imported .380's. You look at one of these Colts, then look at a Beretta, no contest. My interest is not in the mini-.380's, only larger ones that are comfortable to shoot.

 

[Knobgoblin]

Who's got the O.G. mac-11?

 

[gmerkt]

The Freedom Arms ammo arrived today. I guess it's worth what I paid for it, 25 cents a round. The cartridge brass is new Xtreme brand. The bullets are plated (as stated in their information) but look a little rough. I've bought boxes of Xtreme plated bullets from Midway before, they were nicer than these. We'll see how it shoots when I get a chance to get out and do it.