July 30, 2015
By G&A Online Editors
Think you can't find something good to feed that .380 micro pistol of yours? Think again.
Federal Premium Ammunition just added .380 Auto to its collection of Personal Defense HST ammo. The .380 joins 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP in the HST lineup.
The newly designed round is specifically tailored to provide the most benefits possible to a defensive shooter carrying a .380 handgun.
"Federal Premium Personal Defense HST offers everything needed in a personal defense round: consistent expansion, optimum penetration and superior terminal performance," said Mike Holm, Federal Premium product marketing manager.
The 99-grain .380 round was redesigned from the ground up, including new alloys, jacket thickness and taper and hollow point geometry to make up for the limited energy and space available from the round.
"In short, it was an exhaustive process," Holm said. "It's a completely new bullet design. We didn't just take a 45 ACP, 40 S&W or 9mm HST bullet and make it smaller."
Of course, the .380 HST doesn't stack up to the performance of its larger siblings when it comes to performance in the FBI Ammunition Testing Protocol.
"With bare, calibrated 10 percent gel, you can expect 8.5 to 9.5 inches of penetration," Holm said. "The 380 Auto was not built for breaching heavier material, so if you expect to shoot through auto glass or plywood in personal defense situations, we recommend you pick a larger caliber HST."
In bare ballistic gelatin, which accurately simulates human tissue, the .380 HST round showed an expansion of more than half an inch. Heavy clothing does temper the expansion of the round.
In a 3.75 inch barrel, muzzle velocity was measured at 1,030 feet per second with 235 foot-pounds of energy. The energy of the round reduced to 215 at 25 yards and 195 at 50 yards.
The .380 Auto Personal Defense HST retails at a suggested price of $25.95.
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