.380 Ball for Self-Defense round

[cooptire]

I'm just throwing this out to see how big a dust-up this might bring on.

A good friend of mine and shooter, who is an attorney, told me that he had a very long conversation with a gentleman in Vegas (works as a public defender in Las Vegas for capitol offenses) who has participated in a lot autopsies. He now carries a high quality ball ammo in his Kel-Tec .380 instead of hollow points. His reason was that the Vegas contact recommended full metal jacket or hard cast lead because of the MANY times he had personally seen where the .380 hollowpoints were stopped or deflected by clothing, gear, bones, etc resulting in a non crippling hit to the bad guy. He said he saw the ball ammo working better at slowing down/stopping when used in a self defense role because the HP ammo didn't penetrate deep enough into the body to provide those critical hits that are needed.

Your thoughts?

[david86440]

i'm sure in some situations there are advantages to using ball ammo, but I still feel more comfortable using the Hornady .380 XTP's with controlled expansion. Before that I used Speer Gold Dots.

I have also switched to Hornady FTX's in my M&P340 after running my own expansion, penetration tests.

They seem to make a much bigger hole than ball and if they don't penetrate I bet they still hurt like hell.

[Big Frank]

I only use FMJs for practice, not carry.

The worst a HP will do is act like a FMJ.

[1911 Junkie]

Well, if the guy is doing autopsies on the bad guys, I guess the HP's worked. 

[ericire12]

Location, location, location.

[Sponsor]

[r_w]

There was truth to that. 

Not so much anymore.

[2HOW]

Most people I know carry ball in small (under 9mm) pistols . Only way you can get some penetration. HPs have problems in full power pistols when trying to get thru heavy clothing. The new generation of expanding FMJs will probably be a good choice once the bullet weights get a little higher. The .40 is up to 135 gr. which isnt too bad but there are only a few calibers available.

[Hazcat]

I tested several types of .380 HP and picked Speer Gold Dots because I got 6 inches of penetration, good expansion and weight retention when shooting into compressed phone books. 

Also being here in FL heavy clothing just isn't a factor.

[Badgersmilk]

Sooooooooo, there you are, carrying a .380 to defend your life.  Dirt bag is threatening enough that he's forced you to draw your gun and shoot!  If your problem is clothing stopping the bullet...  You probably should loose this conflict and be killed to prevent further breeding and weakening of the human herd with your stupidity. 

It's a .380!  Head shots!  And plenty of them!  Job done.

[david86440]

Personally, I would rather shoot for center of mass and hope I hit, than try for a head shot in a panic situation and most likely miss.

Sooooooooo, there you are, carrying a .380 to defend your life.  Dirt bag is threatening enough that he's forced you to draw your gun and shoot!  If your problem is clothing stopping the bullet...  You probably should loose this conflict and be killed to prevent further breeding and weakening of the human herd with your stupidity. 

It's a .380!  Head shots!  And plenty of them!  Job done.