I'm shocked... P380 actually worked!

[dsk]

I just ran 100 rounds of ammo through my P380, 50 of Herter's FMJ followed up by 50 Fiocchi FMJ. For the first time in the 3-4 years that I've owned this pistol it went through two entire boxes of ammo without a single failure. The last thing I did to it was put some Mother's polish on a bore swab and chuck it in a drill, and buffed the snot out of the chamber. Previously I've replaced recoil springs, put in a Lakeline striker, polished the slide rails, de-burred the striker channel, and installed MagGuts kits in the mags... all in an attempt to get the thing to be able to go more than 50 rounds at a time without a failure to fire or fully chamber. It always went through the first box of ammo just fine, but then the next box would give me grief as the gun got dirty and would go click almost as often as it went bang. This time it went all the way, and frankly I'm shocked. I'm almost afraid to try three boxes of ammo next time, since that might be pushing it. But now that I'm in $650 for the pistol, $40 for the striker, $100 for the springs and mag kits, and roughly $700 worth of ammo (not to mention the cost of range visits and hours of my time) I might finally be closing on in having a reliable and pocketable back-up gun at long last. Now to go back to Cabelas and buy some more ammo...

[Bills1873]

Now that's perseverance! Good job on getting it to run right. I'd probably never shoot more than 100 rounds before cleaning anyway. Enjoy success stories! Keep us posted

[Bobshouse]

FIOCCHI!!???? No way.

[CJB]

I just ran 100 rounds of ammo through my P380, 50 of Herter's FMJ followed up by 50 Fiocchi FMJ. For the first time in the 3-4 years that I've owned this pistol it went through two entire boxes of ammo without a single failure. The last thing I did to it was put some Mother's polish on a bore swab and chuck it in a drill, and buffed the snot out of the chamber. Previously I've replaced recoil springs, put in a Lakeline striker, polished the slide rails, de-burred the striker channel, and installed MagGuts kits in the mags... all in an attempt to get the thing to be able to go more than 50 rounds at a time without a failure to fire or fully chamber. It always went through the first box of ammo just fine, but then the next box would give me grief as the gun got dirty and would go click almost as often as it went bang. This time it went all the way, and frankly I'm shocked. I'm almost afraid to try three boxes of ammo next time, since that might be pushing it. But now that I'm in $650 for the pistol, $40 for the striker, $100 for the springs and mag kits, and roughly $700 worth of ammo (not to mention the cost of range visits and hours of my time) I might finally be closing on in having a reliable and pocketable back-up gun at long last. Now to go back to Cabelas and buy some more ammo...

The ol' chamber polish trick! Glad it worked. Next time, do that FIRST!

[CharlieR]

No luck with Fiocchi here.....mine gets a steady diet of Remington UMC, PMC Bronze, and PriviPartizan. It eats all of those fine. WWB, and others it FTF. So I feed it what it likes. Defensive ammo, PDX1, HST, Hydrashock, and Gold Dots all feed well.

[dsk]

The Fiocchi FMJ I used came in a red box, and appears to be high quality as not only did it have a cannelure on the cases but it was also noticeably more powerful than the Herter's stuff. I don't know where I bought it, but if I find some more I'm going to use it as a possible defense load.

[SmokyT]

I just ran 100 rounds of ammo through my P380, 50 of Herter's FMJ followed up by 50 Fiocchi FMJ. For the first time in the 3-4 years that I've owned this pistol it went through two entire boxes of ammo without a single failure. The last thing I did to it was put some Mother's polish on a bore swab and chuck it in a drill, and buffed the snot out of the chamber. Previously I've replaced recoil springs, put in a Lakeline striker, polished the slide rails, de-burred the striker channel, and installed MagGuts kits in the mags... all in an attempt to get the thing to be able to go more than 50 rounds at a time without a failure to fire or fully chamber. It always went through the first box of ammo just fine, but then the next box would give me grief as the gun got dirty and would go click almost as often as it went bang. This time it went all the way, and frankly I'm shocked. I'm almost afraid to try three boxes of ammo next time, since that might be pushing it. But now that I'm in $650 for the pistol, $40 for the striker, $100 for the springs and mag kits, and roughly $700 worth of ammo (not to mention the cost of range visits and hours of my time) I might finally be closing on in having a reliable and pocketable back-up gun at long last. Now to go back to Cabelas and buy some more ammo...

I'm in the same boat with my P380. I have alanyzed, identified and eliminated most bugs. In the process, I spent more money on parts and ammo than what I paid for the gun. I think I've finally made it to work reliably to the point that I can carry it with confidence.

[DevinBreeding]

The Fiocchi FMJ I used came in a red box, and appears to be high quality as not only did it have a cannelure on the cases but it was also noticeably more powerful than the Herter's stuff. I don't know where I bought it, but if I find some more I'm going to use it as a possible defense load.

from what I've seen, all fiocchi fmj 380 ammo is like this. It was my favorite ammo until I bought my CW380.

[Ron AZ]

Great, and aren't they great to shoot when you get it humming along smoothly?

You could try to stretch it beyond two boxes and a hundred rounds. But I usually find that is enough fun with it each time. And why do you care IF it hiccups after 100 rounds when it is dirty IF when it's cleaned after each range session you always get 100 rounds trouble-free each and every time. That's all I need to give me confidence to carry. It is not a SHTF gun.

[Bobshouse]

Everthing is game in a SHTF situation, lastly being a sharp stick.

[Ron AZ]

Everthing is game in a SHTF situation, lastly being a sharp stick.

Sure Bob. But I have better choices for a SHTF gun as long as I can get to them. And my clean P380 will be good for awhile too!

[dsk]

A pistol that only works 100% when it's squeaky-clean and oiled is probably not something I'd have a lot of confidence in, because it tells me the gun is reliable only under ideal circumstances. If just a little bit of powder fouling can cause it to malfunction, then so could pocket lint, insufficient lubrication, the way it's being held, or simply the time of day. I've got a bunch more ammo to test it with, but I'm not yet ready to go back to the range and burn it all up.

[Bobshouse]

I haven't "cleaned" my P380 in 4 months. By cleaning I mean more than running a boresnake down the barrel and wiping it down. It's my everyday carry and will be for the unforeseen future.

[dsk]

Well, I went ahead and tried it out again today with 200 rounds of ammo (100 each PPU and Geco FMJ). Everything went smoothly until round #59. Failure to fully go into battery, requiring a push of the slide with my thumb. Two more rounds later, light firing pin strike. This went on all the way through the second box of ammo, with every third or fourth round either a light strike or FTRTB, by which time I decided not to waste the remaining 100 rounds of ammo.

That's it. This pistol works as long as it's clean, but not once the chamber gets dirty. Ironically I have never had a failure to feed or eject with this pistol in the 2000+ rounds I've run through it.

[dsk]

UPDATE: Looking at the pistol this evening, the chamber actually isn't that dirty at all. A loaded round drops right in, wiggles around and falls right back out. I think the issue may be the extractor. It holds a loaded round very tightly, and only the sharp tip of the hook touches the case rim. My new theory is that as the pistol gets dirty it has more trouble overcoming the heavy extractor tension as it tries to chamber a fresh cartridge. I may have to buy a spare extractor, then go to work modifying one of them to reduce the tension somewhat. So the saga continues...

[Cogburn]

I just got my P380 back out because I need a very concealable pistol for carry at work. Other than a limp wrist around 50 rds, I was able to put 115 rds through it before it started hiccuping on Lellier and Bellot ammo. That was a shocker because it hates that ammo but I bought it in bulk before I knew. PMC Bronze kept running through without issue until I finished 150 rds. I was shocked because I have never had this thing perform that well for me with either ammo. It was normally 75 rds and may as well stop shooting because it's just gonna fail to feed and fail to eject. It is well past its break in period with 700 to 800 rds through it. I have not replaced any parts and with the way it performed on this outing I think I will leave it as is for now. I am curious to know what range ammo people have the most success with as I am going to burn up the L&B and will need to restock. I carry with Hornady Critical Defense which always performs spectacularly.

[livefreeordie1]

Would you knowingly put half ass fuel in your truck?

[SlowBurn]

If I was going to shoot that much in one session I'd bring a brush or snake and run it through the barrel occasionally.