Reloading 380 ACP

[ColoBill]

I am trying to find load data for the 380 ACP Cal.   I want to use Missouri Bullets 95 Gn Coated and Winchester 231 powder.  I have looked through the Lee Manual and the Lyman manual, plus tried searching the internet.  All that I find is Jacketed 90 grain plus several others that don’t fit.
So can anyone tell me where to look for this information if it exists.  Also have tried several different forums but I would like to see this type of information in print rather than hear say.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Bill

[SoCal]

Lyman 49th edition has 380 ACP pg. 339 for 95 grain lead, that's probably about as close as your going to get.  Have you considered using the 95 grain FMJ and stay in the bottom half of the load data?

[Wobbly]

• The reloading Rule of Thumb is this... Use the next heavier bullet of the same construction.
In the Lyman #49 they only list a 90gr and 120gr in lead. One would generally hope for a 95 or 100gr bullet to use this rule.

• So we need to get inventive. Lyman #49 does list a 90 and 95gr in an FMJ. If we study that entire list we note that for the heavier 95gr bullet, loads are generally decreased by an average of 0.1-0.2gr. This suggests that a load for 95gr LEAD bullet could be extrapolated by decreasing the published 90gr Lead load by 0.1 to 0.2gr when using W231.

What's going to allow that to be safely done is that you'll begin loading at the Starting Load, which probably will not operate the gun. That is to say you'll have feeding or extraction errors. That being a "given" I certainly wouldn't load more than 8-10 at any increment. Then you'll slowly work up in 0.1gr increments until the accuracy gets to something you can start liking.


I have looked at Winchester load books back as far as 1979 and find nothing else listed that's going to help you.

Hope this helps. 

[ColoBill]

Thank you for the information.  At least I now have a starting point,  I won’t be loading a lot of these as I only want to stay proficient with this gun.  Probably not more than 4 or 5 magazines a month.  As I enjoy the reloading part of shooting as well as shooting it will give something to do.
Thanks again Bill

[Wobbly]

This sounds like me and 32ACP !!

It's a great practice cartridge because it's cheap to shoot and fun to reload, but you won't catch me carrying it or entering any competitions with it !

Remember.... If the distance (or range) from Max to Min with your chosen powder and the published 90gr load is (say for instance) 0.7gr, then the range for the decreased load with the heavy 95gr bullet will also be very near 0.7gr. So that will put some overall limits on your new load. That should increase your comfort level.

Please let us know how this works out.

All the best.