[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. Exactly so...at least in the few that I saw as well. The most lucky fellow I know is a friend of mine (police officer) who was shot with a .380 using ball, but penetration was extreme. He was shot by a burglar using a 380 and was hit through the bicep of one arm (no bone hit) and the bullet then entered his torso near the front of his chest (between the ribs; no bone hit) and traversed along the inside of his musculature (no lungs or anything else hit), exited the opposite side of his torso (between the ribs; no bone hit) and then through his other arm and again (you guessed it), no bone hit. We did not recover the bullet. Normally a sideshot that is through and through like that and at about heart level would be most serious. He spent three days in the hospital and that was mainly for the doctors to make sure no infection set in!

It would appear that the 380 "overpenetrated", but in fact, it struck very little. A few inches of muscle in each arm and a tiny bit of tissue between the ribs twice and just grazing along the inside of the man's musculature. Every gunshot wound can be unique and have unexpected results.

Best.

PS: I have never seen such a stream of gals visiting a single man before in my life...or since and the man who shot the officer was caught that very day and is currently doing life.

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. I flat do not know which is better. In the .380 it seems that we can get expansion but less than ideal penetration or penetration but no expansion. Were I going to carry a .380 for self defense, it would probably be loaded with Corbon DPX. I am told that the current bullet has been tweaked from the early batch I tried and penetrates a bit more. My second choice would probably be Hornady XTP in guns that would feed it or Federal Classic JHP in those that are more picky or if I couldn't find the DPX or XTP so I guess that puts me in the expansion camp. With unobstructed frontal shots, I THINK we'd get adequate penetration and expansion.

Best.

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. It is by no means exhaustive, but here is a thread that might be of interest.

http://handgunsandammo.proboards36.com/index.cgi?board=terminal&action=display&thread=1159426128

On the wadcutter issue, the few that I've tried from the snub had average velocities of less than 600 ft/sec and sometimes closer to 500 ft/sec, which is just too low in my opinion.

Best.

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello, sir.

This pretty much sums up my feelings toward the handgun as a "stopper" of "determined men" whose sole mission is to kill or maim you for shooting them. Probably any decent hit will "stop" a person with some degree of working common sense at the time; they'll be worried about themselves and break off the attack...if they can, but there are some out there who simply will not quit unless physically unable to carry on.

http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/Have%20No%20Faith.htm

Best.