What to do with 380?

[therubberduckie]

Been loading 9mm and 223 for a couple years. Just plinkers. I'm wanting to work on 380, so I loaded up some ladder test rounds using Titegroup 2.6 to 3.0 grains with a 100gn RNFP plated bullet. My load data says to keep it at .980 OAL.

I now know that I should have tried chambering them before getting all the way to the range, but that's one lesson learned. When I went to put my test loads in my LCP magazine, I found out they are too long. The LCP is my only 380 and the reason for loading these at all.

How important is that .980 OAL? My reloading manual calls it the minimum OAL, meaning I shouldn't go shorter, right? Do I just need to find another recipe that allows me to use a smaller OAL?

 

[madcow]

Your bullet is RNFP in profile, seat it a little deeper to fit your mags, the .980 OAL is for a RN profiled bullet.

 

[Fisher7]

^^^^ correct answer

 

[therubberduckie]

Thank you

 

[noylj]

First, you determine the COL that fits your magazines and chambers in your gun using inert dummy rounds. Next, you start at the start load and work up. Ignore the COL in the manual. Also, start loads are not minimum loads and you can even go below the start load if worried (except, with 296H110)--just keep extrapolated velocity above 600fps, as bullets can, occasionally, stick in the barrel at estimated velocities of <400fps. You only need one or two rounds to verify that start pressure is low and you can work up from there.
A small variation of 0.02" in COL is not a big factor in terms of pressure, but the .380 is a SMALL case.
For lead and plated bullets, the bullet diameter should be at least 0.001" larger than measured groove diameter; otherwise, lead bullets can lead the barrel and plated bullets can produce anything from >12" "groups" at 25 yards to keyholing.

 

[palmettomoon]

Plunk test for chambering, mag fit too. Take your barrel out of the pistol and drop a round into the chamber to see if it fits freely. Back off OAL if needed to fit your pistol. I do this for .45 and 9mm too.

 

[noylj]

Plunk Testing:
The solution to chambering problems is to determine the cause:
Take the barrel out of the gun. Drop rounds in until you find one that won't chamber. Take that round and "paint" the bullet and case black with Magic Marker or other marker. Drop round in barrel (or gage) and rotate it back-and-forth a few times.
Remove and inspect the round:
1) Scratches in the ink on bullet--COL is too long
2) Scratches in the ink on edge of the case mouth--insufficient crimp
3) Scratches in the ink just below the case mouth--too much crimp, you're crushing the case
4) Scratches in the ink on case at base of bullet--bullet seated crooked due to insufficient case expansion (not case mouth flare) or improper seating stem fit
5) Scratches in the ink on case just above extractor groove--case bulge not removed during sizing. May need a bulge buster.

 

[therubberduckie]

So I went back and checked. All the rounds passed the plunk test just fine. They also fit in a known good mag. My guess is that one of my mags is a bit older and just had less room for the rounds. I pushed the bullets in .03 inches and all did fine on plunk test and all mag checks.

Thanks for all the insightful answers.