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ShootingTheBull410 Concludes His Quest for the Ultimate .380 Round

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ShootingTheBull410 has just finished his exhaustive, intensive Ammo Quest for .380 ACP pocket pistols…gel has been cooked, shots have been fired, bullets have been weighed and measured and conclusions have been drawn. If you’re carrying (or considering carrying) an LCP, a TCP, or maybe the rumored new GLOCK 42, this might be useful information. Here’s a video summary of all the test results, a guide to how all the ammo performed and which were the clear winner(s).

0 thoughts on “ShootingTheBull410 Concludes His Quest for the Ultimate .380 Round”

  1. I always eschewed the .380 since the second rule of a gunfight is “bring enough gun”. It looks like there are in fact good rounds for a .380 pocket pistol. I carry a 9MM “mouse gun” and while I like it, it is a handful to shoot.

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  2. But he didn’t test any hardcast lead bullets! I really wish he would test hardcast lead bullets. They penetrate better than hollowpoints and yet they still make a relatively large wound channel that is certainly larger than the bullet. As best as I can determine, a .380 ACP 100 grain hardcast lead bullet coming out of a “micro pistol” should make a .45 caliber hole in an attacker regardless of whether the attacker is naked or wearing heavy clothing and a leather jacket. And it will most likely exit the attacker which means two holes to lower the attacker’s blood pressure. And yet I don’t expect the bullet to have enough velocity after exiting the attacker to seriously injure any bystanders.

    I seriously believe that hardcast lead bullets are the only way to go with .380 ACP and tiny (barrels less than 3 inches) pistols.

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  3. That is the Media methodically changing public opinion. They will keep talking about “large ammunition caches” and “Assault Weapons” in such a way as to demonize them and the crazy out of control people that would have them. It’s all part of the grand plan. Seems to be working.

    I really wish old George would just lay low for awhile. He is giving them all the ammunition they need.

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    • That seems to be the tactic of choice. They have admitted as such (albeit quietly); here is the money quote from an article at the MDA site:

      “When Mothers Against Drunk Driving began in 1980, drinking and driving was a generally accepted and more regular occurrence. But slowly, after tragic accidents and much heartbreak, MADD helped change the way Americans thought about alcohol and driving. Due to a newfound stigma and legal liability, Americans created the concept of “designated drivers,” bartenders started calling cabs for customers, police set up drunk driving checkpoints during happy hour traffic, and state legislatures started passing laws that made driving under the influence a criminal act.

      That same type of cultural shift must happen with guns. There is little stigma attached to customers bringing gun with them to the grocery store. There is no liability for gun owners who negligently shoot someone else or whose gun is used to cause harm. Thanks to hard work from the gun lobby, gun manufacturers are not held liable for their products. As a result, manufacturers have no financial incentive to make product improvements that would prevent injuries and save lives.

      Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is working hard to affect this shift. Members across the country are educating other moms about the lax gun laws and policies that contribute to so much senseless death in America. And we will continue our work one law at a time, one business at a time, until the culture shifts back toward responsibility and safety.”

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  4. Good read. Throughout the weird sixties guns were the ONLY thing that kept communication open between my father and me. My friends couldn’t quite wrap their heads around the concept of an armed hippie. Dad got it though: “boy, you gonna’ walk around lookin’ like that, you BETTER be able to back it up!”.

    Thank the stars, we both mellowed and met in the middle while we still had some years together.

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  5. Holy shit, that’s a win. Damn what a great story. Hits home too.

    My father raised my in upstate NY as an anti gunner, I was never even allowed to look at BB guns. The boyfriend of my mother’s friend was an avid shooter and he would take me out occasionally to teach his son and I gun safety and how to shoot; my father never knew about these lessons, he would have shut them down quick. I never forgot those lessons and to this day remember shooting cans on the Erie canal and repeating over and over, “watch your muzzle”.

    After college I left NY (and moved to Texas, yay!) and started my own firearms collection, along the way I became a strong 2A supporter. This past year my father announced he was giving up his golf game of 40+ years. He came to visit, we went to the shooting range for the first time and after shooting my Ruger 10/22 at clays he announced that it was a hoot, I had to pry the rifle from his hands when it was time to leave. He announced on the spot that he wants to buy a .22lr pistol. That was the highlight of my year.

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  6. I read the article, but not all the responses. First i would like to say that a flock is not single action its Dao (double action only). Next is that the flock is not fully cocked by racking the slide. It’s half cocked. The reason it has the same trigger pull is because, while pulling the trigger it fully cocoa then moves the pin safety out of the way before firing. Havig the different pulls in my opinion throws off the first two shots fired from the firearm.

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  7. The one very important thing to remember when the police arrive. Move SLOWLY. Comply with their instructions, but do so slowly and methodically. Make any sudden moves and you will probably be shot. Make any motion that could be construed as “aggressive” and you will be shot. You should not be thinking “thank God the cops are here” you should be thinking “I want a lawyer”. If, after the police have taken your weapon, cuffed you and stuffed you, they ask you ANY questions, your only response should be “I invoke my 5th Amendment right to not incriminate myself. I want a lawyer.” It’s not enough to remain silent anymore–you must invoke this right, or silence will be interpreted as guilt. No matter what they do, no matter how they insist “just give us the details and you’ll be on your way”, DO NOT TELL THEM ANYTHING WITHOUT A LAWYER. If that means you spend a few nights in jail, do it. If that means they stuff you in an interrogation room for hours on end with no food or water, do it. Even if you haven’t been charged–ESPECIALLY if you haven’t been charged. If you have not been charged, it means they’re looking for enough evidence to charge you with something. So keep quiet.

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    • Moreover, STFU means COMPLETELY STFU. No small talk unrelated to the case. Not even any seemingly meaningless exchanges. Not before, during, and especially not after you have invoked your right to remain silent. Defendants who have invoked their 5th amendment rights, have later had their subsequent statements ruled admissible because they started talking again. “Started talking again” can include, and this is a real thing, simply responding “Yes” when a detective offered a breath mint. That opened the door again and re-set the need to invoke his rights. STFU means COMPLETELY STFU!!!!!

      Now, you need to be clear about all of your rights, too. It’s not just your right to remain silent. It’s your right to NO searches, NO seizures, NO access to areas of your property not in the immediate area of the crime scene without a warrant. If they’re wandering through your house, they’ll find something, anything, that will look bad to a jury, or find something that could be a whole separate crime itself.

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  8. +1 on rhe affordable carry. If you can’t afford to lose if don’t use it. Unless you are charged and indicted you should still be able to own but maybe not carry. Consider travel with someone who can carry in case Spike Lee tweets your home address.
    Have a good lawyer in your phone. Establish a relationship with one with the understanding that he may get a call some day, maybe for someone you know.
    GZ should teach us all a few lessons by how ir went with him. Before anyone bashes him remember anyone could find themselves on the news.

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  9. New York is going to wave their Magic Princess Wand to make all their crime go away by outlawing the “Assault Weapons”. This will be interesting.

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  10. Just for the record; any dwelling that houses 2 or more separate family’s must be separated by a 2 hour dividing partition [that’s a 2 hour “fire” rating] usually this would be a 2×6 wall insulated [R-19 or better] with double layer of 5/8 drywall or 1″ fire board on “both” sides and “fire caulked” [that sh!t is expensive i can tell you] this is a top to bottom partition, [read, shingles to basement floor]

    what this means is, you aint smelling nothing between those walls [well that is if they followed code]

    of coarse this only applies if your location requires code inspections [i believe this is a national code, but i could be wrong, it has happened once before. lol ]

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  11. No, no… that was my evil triplet. He moved to the Onion Sandwich Islands last year. Go back and check your records; can’t you see I’m busy packing?

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  12. I would try to send that Uzi back to CAI, if it’s still under warranty. This failure rate is completely unacceptable, and the blown primers are just the icing on the cake.

    The design of the Uzi’s wrap-around bolt should keep your face safe from burning gases, but those blown primers are a sign of other defects which are probably unrelated to the feeding problem.

    Send it back!

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  13. If I haven’t already said so, I really dislike this president. Remember all that stuff prior to the 2012 elections when roughly half of TTAG thought Obama was gun friendly? I think that’s well and over now. I’m tempted to host an event at a gun range, but the media would probably take that as an opportunity to show how insensitive I am.

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  14. What does not make a country free (sports, music shows, TV news, and a few clothing stores) the English view of a FALSE FREEDOM. The English only had a Republic for a very few short years under Cromwell after the English Civil War. To understand the English race to day you must go back to their Civil War.. Oliver Cromwell was a English farmer who sold his farm and packed his bags and waited for a boat ride to America (the land of many freedoms)the people wanted him to help and stop their EVIL KING..(Charles got his head cut off) . Cromwell kept giving the people Liberty (a republic) but they could and would not do it right. After his death they put his body on a pole in public to rot… Shows the sick mind set the English have for true Liberty…The biggest holiday in England is about the stopping and killing of the man who was going to kill King James 2ND. and set the people free………See the twisted view they have!

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  15. Neither. I would not live in London under any circumstances no matter how much money it is. In fact I’d tell them I’d happily stick with working nights at Hellmart. At least I’m a free man….for now, anyways.

    Tom

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  16. Hard to decide who is more hateful, this Karlin fellow or our good friend at Esquire, LTC Bateman. For sure, both of them have some really deep-seated psychological issues that need to be treated by a professional, licensed psychiatrist.

    His psychotic screed would be easy enough to ignore except for the sheer ignorance of his target audience, which is what worries me more than anything else.

    Tom

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