Chaplain
01-18-2016, 06:04 PM
Honest confession is good for the soul.
I think I might have an addiction. Some time ago I found a used P380 at a Gander Mountain. The were having a 'sale' on used guns. The thing looked hardly shot, had the box and two mags. When I got it home it was so tight I could hardly get it apart. I think the PO bought it, shot it, could not get it apart to clean it, and traded it. It needed the new P380 treatment: polish the ramp and chamber, polish the striker channel, go to range, repeat. Even with all its tightness, and some persnickety behaviour with practice ammo, it shot well, and always flawlessly with Hornady Critical Defense 90gr FTX.
So....
The other week I was in the same store. In the used case was a BLACK P380 for about the same price...well a few dollars more. It was still there the next time I went in. I debated. I hesitated. No one bought it...for a week. So after thinking I would regret not getting it, I took it home. (Wife works across the street; I stop in when picking her up.) This one had no box and only one mag. The salesman said it probably was an 'impulse' trade. Oh well. this one had been shot, at least some. It was a little dirty (and the recoil spring was backwards).
Got it home and stripped the slide. I didn't polish anything, but cleaned out a rather dirty striker channel. After brake cleaner I used Q-tips, CLP, then dry Q-tips until all was clean and dry. Then re-assemble.
I didn't get a chance to go to the range until today (and had not been for awhile, life gets busy).
So....
First mag at the range with the black P380 is practice ammo. Had to help the slide forward once. Well, OK. Another mag. Same same. Hmm.
Switched to the silver slide P380 (using Hornady, which had spent weeks (or maybe months?)) in my pocket. Perfect. Refilled with practice ammo. Had to help the slide. Hmm.
With the Black one, ran a mag of Hornady. Perfect. Wow. There is a pattern here.
I am not willing to shoot the expensive stuff all the time. I want both of these to work with cheaper ammo. But I am at the range. I have a limited supply of Hornady. I have several boxes of assorted cheaper (but not real cheap) ammo. I was getting the same result with two P380s. One (the silver one) had been broke in, prepped, polished. The black one was shot some (don't know how much) but was not polished in the chamber, feedramp and striker channel like the silver one was. But I was getting identical results!
The constant was....drum roll....me. So, a little bit frustrated by this situation, I reloaded, and decided to shoot...um...a little more realistically. The range has an 'official rule' about no rapid fire. But no one said anything to me about the rapid string of double taps (that all went mostly into the center of small targets at 7 yds.) Additionally, I made sure that I was REALLY gripping the P380s FIRMLY.
Guess what! The cheaper ammo cycled perfectly. Two hand isosceles, strong hand, weak hand, both P380s worked perfectly.
Now, I am not the most experienced psitollaro. But I am not a newb. I am more than familiar with 1911 (years ago shot competitively). I've done well in competition with .45 and .40 Glocks. I have acquitted myself well with 9mm Sigs. And I have a P9 Covert I bought new that has had one stove pipe in many years. I carried (and shot fairly frequently - ouch) a Seecamp .32 with no cycling problems (one failure to feed) in maybe 20 years (and that was probably because I had not taken in apart in a long time - too much pocket fuzz fed into it after many mags.) So you would think I should know how to hold onto a pistol.
But apparently, by experimentation, my grip was defective. The P380 simply needs a firmer grip with plain 'ole round nose FMJ practice ammo. I would not have thought that I was 'limp wristing' either of the P380s. This is not likely to be a problem in a stressful situation. There must be just enough extra 'oomph' (excuse the technical language) in the Hornady Critical Defense to overcome the marginal (for p380) grip I had. I can not beleive that BOTH pistols 'shot in' just as I changed my grip.
Perhaps, over time, I developed a grip that was a good compromise for function and fine motor control aim. This makes for a nice group of holes in the paper at the range. The P380 needs more squeeze. At least it seems to work for me! YMMV.
I would not have been quickly convinced if I did not have TWO P380 pistols at the same time, same ammo, same mags, etc. All variables were accounted for. So, the lesson learned is that it is a good idea to have two identical pistols!! No one wants to believe that we are the problem. It must be the pistol, the ammo, etc. But, it seems that my problems were caused by me. So, if your P380 is sometimes not feeding well (mine was not returning to battery, i.e. not fully chambering the next round) try squeezing firmly, and pull through quickly and smoothly. Wow, what a difference.
I think I might have an addiction. Some time ago I found a used P380 at a Gander Mountain. The were having a 'sale' on used guns. The thing looked hardly shot, had the box and two mags. When I got it home it was so tight I could hardly get it apart. I think the PO bought it, shot it, could not get it apart to clean it, and traded it. It needed the new P380 treatment: polish the ramp and chamber, polish the striker channel, go to range, repeat. Even with all its tightness, and some persnickety behaviour with practice ammo, it shot well, and always flawlessly with Hornady Critical Defense 90gr FTX.
So....
The other week I was in the same store. In the used case was a BLACK P380 for about the same price...well a few dollars more. It was still there the next time I went in. I debated. I hesitated. No one bought it...for a week. So after thinking I would regret not getting it, I took it home. (Wife works across the street; I stop in when picking her up.) This one had no box and only one mag. The salesman said it probably was an 'impulse' trade. Oh well. this one had been shot, at least some. It was a little dirty (and the recoil spring was backwards).
Got it home and stripped the slide. I didn't polish anything, but cleaned out a rather dirty striker channel. After brake cleaner I used Q-tips, CLP, then dry Q-tips until all was clean and dry. Then re-assemble.
I didn't get a chance to go to the range until today (and had not been for awhile, life gets busy).
So....
First mag at the range with the black P380 is practice ammo. Had to help the slide forward once. Well, OK. Another mag. Same same. Hmm.
Switched to the silver slide P380 (using Hornady, which had spent weeks (or maybe months?)) in my pocket. Perfect. Refilled with practice ammo. Had to help the slide. Hmm.
With the Black one, ran a mag of Hornady. Perfect. Wow. There is a pattern here.
I am not willing to shoot the expensive stuff all the time. I want both of these to work with cheaper ammo. But I am at the range. I have a limited supply of Hornady. I have several boxes of assorted cheaper (but not real cheap) ammo. I was getting the same result with two P380s. One (the silver one) had been broke in, prepped, polished. The black one was shot some (don't know how much) but was not polished in the chamber, feedramp and striker channel like the silver one was. But I was getting identical results!
The constant was....drum roll....me. So, a little bit frustrated by this situation, I reloaded, and decided to shoot...um...a little more realistically. The range has an 'official rule' about no rapid fire. But no one said anything to me about the rapid string of double taps (that all went mostly into the center of small targets at 7 yds.) Additionally, I made sure that I was REALLY gripping the P380s FIRMLY.
Guess what! The cheaper ammo cycled perfectly. Two hand isosceles, strong hand, weak hand, both P380s worked perfectly.
Now, I am not the most experienced psitollaro. But I am not a newb. I am more than familiar with 1911 (years ago shot competitively). I've done well in competition with .45 and .40 Glocks. I have acquitted myself well with 9mm Sigs. And I have a P9 Covert I bought new that has had one stove pipe in many years. I carried (and shot fairly frequently - ouch) a Seecamp .32 with no cycling problems (one failure to feed) in maybe 20 years (and that was probably because I had not taken in apart in a long time - too much pocket fuzz fed into it after many mags.) So you would think I should know how to hold onto a pistol.
But apparently, by experimentation, my grip was defective. The P380 simply needs a firmer grip with plain 'ole round nose FMJ practice ammo. I would not have thought that I was 'limp wristing' either of the P380s. This is not likely to be a problem in a stressful situation. There must be just enough extra 'oomph' (excuse the technical language) in the Hornady Critical Defense to overcome the marginal (for p380) grip I had. I can not beleive that BOTH pistols 'shot in' just as I changed my grip.
Perhaps, over time, I developed a grip that was a good compromise for function and fine motor control aim. This makes for a nice group of holes in the paper at the range. The P380 needs more squeeze. At least it seems to work for me! YMMV.
I would not have been quickly convinced if I did not have TWO P380 pistols at the same time, same ammo, same mags, etc. All variables were accounted for. So, the lesson learned is that it is a good idea to have two identical pistols!! No one wants to believe that we are the problem. It must be the pistol, the ammo, etc. But, it seems that my problems were caused by me. So, if your P380 is sometimes not feeding well (mine was not returning to battery, i.e. not fully chambering the next round) try squeezing firmly, and pull through quickly and smoothly. Wow, what a difference.