.380 ACP Fun

Daddyursus · Oct 20, 2013

Last week I received some remanufactured ammo from Webbs Brass. So yesterday, I put my Beretta mod. 70S and Makarov IJ70-17A in my range bag and went to the outdoor range at my club.
I forgot how fun the .380 is to shoot. The low recoil and accuracy of the guns and ammo was a blast. I know the round is disliked by many but my friends there with their Glocks and1911s were curious. I just had to share a few magazines with them. So I'm curious, anyone here experience the oohs and awes when they go to the range with something not normally in others range bags?

hairba111 · Oct 20, 2013

Aside from my several 1911s, I own two 380 caliber firearms; a Colt Mustang (old model) and a SIG P238...............plus the P238's big brother in 9mm, the P938. Not only are they fun for me to shoot, the kids and ladies enjoy them also.

If anyone gives you grief, just tell them the 380 round is also known as the 9mm short.

alucard0822 · Oct 20, 2013

380 used to be the "big bore" pocket gun caliber, where lots of people carried even smaller calibers from 22 to 32acp, wasn't till recent that service calibers could be stuffed in subcompacts.

Mark75H · Oct 20, 2013

I have 4 .380's One is the king of recoil: Grendel P-10. Definitely one of the guns that gave .380 the reputation for hard to handle heavy recoil and poor accuracy.

At the same time I bought a FIE Super Titan because it was the same caliber and has a double stack magazine; generally a copy of a Browning BDA. Its a generally bland gun, recoil is moderate.

#3 is an early KelTec P3AT. It does what George Kelgren hoped the Grendel would. Its the second smallest .380 currently made, shoots accurately and reliably with moderate recoil. In no way would I say either of these have 'light' recoil.

#4 is the only gun people notice at the range. An ERMA "Baby Luger" reproduction of the 13/16 scale Luger .380 prototype (my brother calls it Colonel Klink's gun). Unlike the ERMA .22 it does not use an aluminum alloy frame, its 'real' metal. It uses the famous Bourchart/Luger toggle with a simpler non locking, blow back mechanism. Its a little picky about ammo, but with stuff it likes it functions reliably. It ejects empty shells any direction it pleases ... some go straight up, some go a little to either side and a very few go back (yeah, one out of 200 or so taps you on the head) or ahead (very distracting). The combination of the toggle action and blowback gives very light recoil; by far the lightest of the 4.

I would like to compare the ERMA to other .380's that are claimed to have light recoil.

Machodoc · Oct 20, 2013

My wife and I went to the range today, and two of the dozen, or so, pistols that she fired were .380 cal. Her top three favorites for the day were a CZ 83, then a Sig P230, and finally a Star BS in 9 mm P.

She also liked the Ruger P345, but wasn't used to it and didn't get near the pattern that she was printing with the other three ... but she liked the power! What a change from the woman who, two years ago, was very apprehensive about being around guns, and was frightened by the noise.

Augie · Oct 20, 2013

Still need to get this Beretta out to the range and see how it does,I have the ammo.

somd_mustangs · Oct 20, 2013

My Husqvarna M1907 is kind of a "what's that?" - looks like a custom long-slide Colt Model M - not surprisingly, almost identical other than the slide length. Re-chambered for .380 ACP it's a sweet gun to shoot. With the original 9mm Browning Long barrel the recoil is pretty brutal. I love the lines on this gun, it just looks "right." Not so fond of the teeny sights.

Machodoc · Oct 20, 2013

Augie said:
Still need to get this Beretta out to the range and see how it does,I have the ammo.

Augie - I've got the same pistol ... a WWII bringback that I call "The Queen of Hearts" (the reason should be obvious from the photos). Coincidentally, that was one of the pistols that my wife and I took to the range to shoot today. The trigger pull on the thing is pretty dreadful!

metalman3006 · Oct 20, 2013

Augie said:
Still need to get this Beretta out to the range and see how it does,I have the ammo.

I have one too.

fivepointstar · Oct 20, 2013

how about some pics of the Beretta and Makarov...Sweet guns!

j8064 · Oct 20, 2013

.380 is a fun round and easy to reload. In fact it's one of the calibers that got me into reloading umpteen years ago. Since then many other calibers have taken priority on my bench and at the range.

After seeing some of the other pics I'm almost embarrassed to post my .380 family.

But, what the heck. They're all part of my collection and fun shooters...

ithacaartist · Jun 16, 2020

Mark75H said:
#4 is the only gun people notice at the range. An ERMA "Baby Luger" reproduction of the 13/16 scale Luger .380 prototype (my brother calls it Colonel Klink's gun). Unlike the ERMA .22 it does not use an aluminum alloy frame, its 'real' metal. It uses the famous Bourchart/Luger toggle with a simpler non locking, blow back mechanism.

Here's a thread that addresses the ammo sensitivity issue: https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=218955&highlight=erma

The KGP series by Erma uses steel in most of its construction, but the grip frames and triggers are Zamak (zinc, aluminum, magnesium, and copper) castings. Check your gun with a magnet and you will see. The older La- and Ep/Et-22s were sort of the opposite, with only the barrel liner, breech block, and internals made from steel.

Erma's toggle pistols had nothing to do with prototypes of any original Parabellum pistols. The knee-joint locking mechanism in a real Luger's action, adapted from the Borschardt pistol, was "stolen" by Borschardt from the Maxim machine gun. Erma pistols are straight blow-back action, and the toggles are simply a design feature used for achieving the visual style.

Georg Luger had a handful of prototypes made in smaller format/caliber. There may have been a .380, but there was definitely a .32 ACP or two, marked "GL" on the rear toggle link. Mike Krauss made a run of them, but I've heard they don't function very dependably.

Holger Schlemeir, from Brussels, has had his book about Erma's history and models produced published as of last year. The English version is also in the works and should be available in the relative near future. It will be the definitive reference volume form now on.

Superreverb · Jun 19, 2020

My sweet shooting Remington Model 51

mawkie · Jun 19, 2020

Ohhhh, me likey! Love the early 51s with the plunge cut slide serrations. Reminds me of an early Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless.

.380 ACP Fun

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