Buffalo Bore 380 ACP +P 95gr FMJ-FN – Solid Straight Line Penetrator

Description

The Buffalo Bore 380 ACP +P 95gr FMJ-FN is the jacketed cousin of Buffalo Bore’s hard cast 380. It runs 95 grains at 1150 fps for roughly 279 ft-lbs, does not expand, and delivers about 20 inches of straight line penetration. Buffalo Bore’s own claim for the line is that it betters American made 380 ammunition by 150 to 200 fps. Twenty rounds per box, item 27B/20.

• Buffalo Bore 380 ACP +P 95gr FMJ-FN Overview
• 380 Auto Flat Nose FMJ Ammo Ballistics
• Why The 95 Grain Full Metal Jacket Bullet Drives Straight
• Specifications
• Where This Non Expanding 380 Carry Load Belongs

Buffalo Bore 380 ACP +P 95gr FMJ-FN Overview

The bullet is a full metal jacket with a flat nose rather than the usual rounded profile. The jacket fully encloses the core and there is no cavity, so there is nothing to expand and nothing to shed. What leaves the muzzle arrives essentially intact.

That flat meplat is the design. An ordinary round nose ball bullet tends to slide tissue aside and can deflect or tumble off bone, which squanders the depth its construction ought to give. A flat nose stays point forward and cuts a full calibre hole the whole way.

Against the hard cast load in the same catalogue, the Buffalo Bore 380 ACP +P 95gr FMJ-FN trades a little penetration for jacketed manners. It feeds like ball ammunition because the profile is close to what your pistol was proofed with, and it leaves no lead fouling behind.

380 Auto Flat Nose FMJ Ammo Ballistics

The published figures come from real pocket pistols. A 3.75 inch Browning BDA gives 1145 fps, a 3.5 inch Walther PPK gives 1120, a 2.75 inch Colt Mustang Pocket Lite gives 1042, and a 2.75 inch Kel-Tec gives 1019 fps.

Those are roughly 276, 264, 229 and 219 ft-lbs. A common standard pressure 95 grain ball load runs near 950 fps for about 190, so even the smallest gun here is delivering something like fifteen percent more, and the full size pistols closer to forty five.

Energy is not really the argument though. A non expanding bullet spends its energy on depth, and the 20 inch figure Buffalo Bore reports is far past anything an expanding 380 will produce. That is the number that makes this 380 Auto flat nose FMJ ammo worth considering.

Why The 95 Grain Full Metal Jacket Bullet Drives Straight

The whole debate about the 380 is really a debate about expansion. Will the hollow point open at the speed a short barrel delivers, and if it does, will it still reach anything important afterwards. This load declines to take part in that argument.

A 95 grain full metal jacket bullet with a flat nose keeps its weight and its frontal area and simply keeps going. There is no cavity to plug with denim, no jacket to separate from a core, and no threshold velocity to worry about. The failure modes that make people nervous about the calibre are not present.

The flat nose is what turns depth into a useful wound rather than a neat hole. A 95 grain full metal jacket bullet with a wide meplat crushes and cuts as it passes, so the channel is full calibre with sharp edges from entry onward, which a round nose of the same weight will not produce.

Against the hard cast version, the practical differences are fouling and feeding. A jacketed bullet leaves no lead in the bore and its profile is closer to the ball your pistol was designed around, which in a fussy pocket gun can be the deciding factor.

Specifications

Where This Non Expanding 380 Carry Load Belongs

Be honest with yourself about backstops. Twenty inches of penetration means a 380 Auto flat nose FMJ ammo load goes through a person and carries on into whatever is behind them, and then through interior walls. In a flat or a house with other people in it, a hollow point is the responsible choice.

Where it fits is outdoors, in heavy clothing weather, or for someone who has decided that unreliable expansion is the bigger risk in this calibre. Those are defensible positions and a non expanding 380 carry load serves them properly.

There is no SAAMI specification for 380 Auto +P, so read it as simply above standard pressure. Use it in a sound modern 380 in good working order, and get a gunsmith’s opinion first if your pistol is an older or well worn blowback.

Confirm feeding with a box. Flat nose profiles are close to ball but not identical, and small 380 pistols are individually particular. Deep penetration 380 ACP ammunition is no use at all if it hangs up on the feed ramp.

Deep Penetration 380 ACP Ammunition Availability

This deep penetration 380 ACP ammunition is in stock and ready to ship from MAG5 Firearms, a family owned FFL dealer in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Ammunition orders ship to most states, and local customers are welcome to pick up in the shop. If you need case quantities or a standard pressure version, call us and we will check what our distributors have on hand.

Manufacturer details are on the Buffalo Bore site. For the cast bullet version see the 380 ACP +P 100gr hard cast, and for an expanding bullet the 380 ACP +P 90gr JHP. You can also browse our full ammunition selection.