The 380 Auto Cartridge

The 380 Auto cartridge was introduced to the U.S. shooting world in 1908 when Colt chambered it in the Pocket Automatic. The Pocket Automatic was a compact well built pistol designed by the famous John Browning. The 380 Auto cartridge was also taken to the European market as the 9mm Browning Short cartridge. During the era that the 380 Auto cartridge was released many people thought that a 32 caliber firearm was a large caliber, therefore the 380 Auto cartridge made a huge splash. The 380 Auto cartridge was so compact that it could very easily be chambered in any pistol that could handle the pressure of the 32 Auto cartridge, only the 380 Auto cartridge offers distinct and significant advantages Ballistically.

Right after World War 2, there were no American gun manufacturers were chambering pistols for the 380 Auto cartridge. With that in mind there was still many options to get imported surplus or new pistols chambered in the 380 Auto cartridge on the market for the American shooters. During these times the factory ammunition loads were all loaded with the 95 grain full metal jacket bullet with velocities around 950 feet per second. But since there seems to be numerous variations in chamber and bore dimension for the pistols chambered for the 380 Auto cartridge, that many factory loads do not meet the 950 foot per second velocity.

Then in the 1970's new higher quality pistols started to appear on the American market. Around the same time that these higher quality pistols started hitting the market so did different types of ammunition. Hollow point bullet in the 380 Auto cartridge began to hit the U.S. market and with these newer hollow point bullets came improved terminal ballistics for the 380 Auto cartridge. With the 380 Auto cartridge being a good performer and a good compact package pistols chambered for the 380 Auto cartridge has always been a very popular back up gun for peace officers, home defense, and for those wishing to have a very concealable pistol. While the 380 Auto cartridge will never topple the 9mm Luger cartridge in performance, the 380 Auto cartridge is far beyond the performance of the 32 Auto for defense when loaded with modern ammunition.

Many of the 380 Auto chambered pistols have very basic sights better designed for concealed carry, which makes these pistols ideal for deep concealment and for back up firearms for officers. The other common thread between the pistols chambered for the 380 Auto cartridge is that the trigger pulls happen to be rather heavy, with the heavier trigger pulls the pistols chambered in the 380 Auto are not designed for target or hunting but there are exceptions. There are may quality pistols chambered in the 380 Auto cartridge firearm manufacturers like Walther, Sig, Beretta, and other will give exceptional results when loaded with good quality ammunition.

Although the 380 Auto cartridge is not widely reloaded like some of the other ammunition on the market, the 380 still carries a very strong following of support for its use and for its daily importance I the shooting world. Because the 380 Auto cartridge is bit cheaper than the 9mm Luger cartridge it does enjoy some extra popularity due to this difference. It also has a bit less kick than the 9mm Luger, although I dispute this claim, it does enjoy being popular with the recoil shy crowd. With the 380 Auto cartridge nicely filling the gap in between the 32 Auto cartridges and the 9mm Luger cartridge, the 380 Auto cartridge has the great potential to stick around for a great number of years.