Buffalo Bore 380 ACP +P 90gr JHP – Proven Pocket Carry Load

Description

The Buffalo Bore 380 ACP +P 90gr JHP is the straightforward choice in Buffalo Bore’s 380 range: a conventional jacketed hollow point loaded fast enough to actually work. 90 grains at 1200 fps produces roughly 288 ft-lbs, with a flash suppressed powder behind it. Twenty rounds per box, item 27C/20.

• Buffalo Bore 380 ACP +P 90gr JHP Overview
• 380 Auto +P Hollow Point Ammo Ballistics
• Why The 90 Grain JHP Pocket Bullet Opens Reliably
• Specifications
• Carry Notes For This High Velocity 380 Defense Load

Buffalo Bore 380 ACP +P 90gr JHP Overview

This is a lead core jacketed hollow point, the design most people picture when they think of defensive ammunition. Nothing exotic, which is rather the point. What makes it work in a 380 is the velocity, not the cleverness of the bullet.

At 90 grains it sits at the light end of the calibre’s range, and that is deliberate. Lighter means faster, and speed is what forces a hollow point cavity open. A 100 grain bullet ambling along at 900 fps is where the 380’s poor reputation came from.

Buffalo Bore loads the Buffalo Bore 380 ACP +P 90gr JHP to +P and uses a flash suppressed powder. The flash point matters more in this calibre than most, because a 380 is the gun people carry when they are not carrying a gun, which means it is the one they will have at night.

380 Auto +P Hollow Point Ammo Ballistics

The published real gun figures are useful because they cover small pistols rather than test barrels. A 3.75 inch Browning BDA gives 1218 fps, a 3.5 inch Walther PPK gives 1200, a 2.75 inch Colt Mustang Pocket Lite gives 1123, and a Kel-Tec gives 1100 fps.

Those work out to roughly 297, 288, 252 and 242 ft-lbs. Set against a typical standard pressure 90 grain load at around 1000 fps and 200 ft-lbs, even the smallest pocket pistol firing this 380 Auto +P hollow point ammo is producing a solid twenty percent more.

The number that actually matters is the 1100 fps floor. Hollow point expansion is a velocity problem, and a bullet designed to open at 1000 fps and delivered at 1100 has margin. A bullet designed for 1100 and delivered at 900 does not, which is the situation most 380 owners are unknowingly in.

Why The 90 Grain JHP Pocket Bullet Opens Reliably

Hollow point expansion is not magic, it is hydraulics. Tissue is forced into the nose cavity, pressure builds against the cavity walls, and the bullet peels open. Below a threshold velocity there is simply not enough pressure to do it, and the bullet behaves like a round nose.

The 380 lives close to that threshold, which is why the calibre divides opinion so sharply. Loaded to +P and kept light, a 90 grain JHP pocket bullet arrives with margin rather than hoping. That is the whole design argument in one sentence.

The trade, as always, is depth. This will not penetrate like the hard cast flat nose in the same catalogue, which is rated for over twenty inches. What it gives back is a wider wound channel and far less risk of passing through a wall behind your target.

For most people carrying a 380 in town, that is the right side of the trade. A high velocity 380 defense load that opens is doing more useful work than a deep penetrator, unless your particular circumstances say otherwise.

Specifications

Carry Notes For This High Velocity 380 Defense Load

There is no SAAMI specification for 380 Auto +P, so read the designation as simply above standard pressure. Use it in a sound modern 380 in good working order. An older or well worn blowback design deserves a gunsmith’s opinion before it becomes a steady diet.

Test feeding with a box. Small 380 pistols are individually fussy, and a 90 grain JHP pocket bullet feeds differently from the ball ammunition most of them were proofed with. One box through your own gun is the only proof worth having.

Expect real recoil from a tiny gun. A pocket 380 has almost no recoil system to absorb anything, so pressure goes straight into your hand. It is manageable, but it is not the gun you remember from shooting cheap ball.

Rotate your carry rounds rather than chambering the same one over and over. Bullet setback is a genuine pressure concern in a small autoloader, and flash suppressed 380 carry ammunition is no exception to that habit.

Flash Suppressed 380 Carry Ammunition Availability

This flash suppressed 380 carry 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 an all copper bullet see the 380 ACP +P 80gr Barnes TAC-XP, and for maximum penetration the 380 ACP +P 100gr hard cast. You can also browse our full ammunition selection.