I had the opportunity to attend a seminar at Gunsite a few weeks ago, put on by our own Rob Leahy, of Simply Rugged fame.

Rob did a bang up job of coordinating with the Gunsite team, Ruger (who provided guns), Double Tap Ammunition (who provided the ammo), KDM Inc (who provided the suppressors), and NFused (who provided the gun lube) to put one one heck of an instructional week.

Part of the week was to perform ballistic testing in gelatin of various different pistol and rifle rounds by Double Tap. Once the gelatin testing was completed, we had the opportunity to learn about the defensive options in front of, and behind, vehicles. We then took our learnings to practice and shot some of the ammo at targets in/around the 1976 vintage F-150.

I had the opportunity to shoot at the truck first, so it was clean of any bullet holes. I used the Ruger LCP 380 with Double Tap's excellent 380 ACP 95gr. Controlled Expansion JHP round. I was standing about 10-12 yards, at most, directly in front of the old F-150 and fired 4 rounds.

I have to admit that I was astonished at the results! All four rounds penetrated cleanly through the windshield, through the manaquin/target, through the top of the backseat, through the back window, and at least one bullet was found near the tailgate, perfectly expanded. Shock at how well the 380 performed was on most everyone's faces, except perhaps Mike McNett from Double Tap!!!!

Here are pictures:

I can honestly say that this refreshed my outlook on the 380 as a defensive round, especially for those hot summer months where pocket carry is one of the few options and an LCP is nice and flat/light in the front pocket of my shorts.

Thought you guys would enjoy this.

Best,

Matt

aren't effective. So much for that wive's tale.

to SAAMI Specs great penetration and expansion, reliability...I'm not hanging up my 45s, but feel a LOT better about the potential of a .380...
BTW Boge Quinn was there filming and shooting and KDM Inc (who provided the suppressors) is John Killebrew. He was there with us too. He makes a great suppressor!
Also had a guest appearance by Scott T-shirt and his son Jeager...
We want to do a Gunsite 250 Class... 5 days May 2nd through 6th .
rob at simplyrugged.com
You are all invited. It's about 1,500.00 for the week (I am working on a better rate, as we speak)

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

a more extensive review of the 1911, the leather, the bullets/loads tested, and the Ruger plant tour shortly.

I should have mentioned that in my original post. It was misleading, sorry!

Count me in for the 250 class!!!!

Matt

I weighed that bullet core after I got home - 71grs. It had dented the inside of the tailgate and was lying amongst the debris in the bed. Very impressive.

I'm marking on the calendar and with the football looniness starting soon, I'll start collecting cans from the tailgating nonsense in order to make this happen.

This is an interesting technical article about bullet performance in small defensive calibers. It talks specifically about .380 near the end of the discussion.

https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=60

Some Shots at Ammo
Mike McNett (left), President of DoubleTap Ammunition, trains on the range with Travis Roundtree, Manager of Simply Rugged Holsters. The best way to know what users need -- in terms of ammo or holsters -- is to actually use them in a training environment.
The silliness over ammunition has been a long-standing tradition in the firearms trade, much of it from ammunition users – non-sworn citizens and cops alike. Nowhere is it more in evidence than in the inanity seen in the firearms media. It seems that controversy drove magazine sales like it now drives "unique visits," "clicks" and other nonsensical metrics.
The purpose of ammunition in the defensive context is to help you stay alive...
http://www.thetacticalwire.com/features/230046

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

Pretty amazing.