Reloading .380 Auto

[moosie]

Just came into possession of a .380 auto.  For reloading, can I use the sizing die from my 9 mm?  What about the bullet seating die?  I would suspect that I would need to buy crimp die because of cartridge length, but whatever advice you can give me would be appreciated.
Moosie

[rmagill]

my best advice.......When in doubt, buy the proper dies. Neither of mine are marked .380/9mm   One set is marked .380 the other set is marked 9mm

[geezerbiker]

9mm Luger dies are too large in diameter to size .380 and too long to crimp .380 auto.  You could seat a bullet in a sized and flared case but why?  You need to spend the money on another set of dies if you want to properly reload this round...

Tony

[Bubber]

Short answer, no.
 
Long answer. I have tried a lot of thing in my life just so see if I could make it work. Some pretty dumb things. I blame being raised a farmer and poor. Then I became an engineer, where people much smarter than myself taught me how to make things work. Which really just made it worse. However it taught me to pick my battles.
 
Go buy the right dies.

[Land_Owner]

The advice above +1.

I have an unmatched pair of Walther PPK handguns (1 blue; 1 SST) in 380 Auto and reload and shoot thousands of 104 grain cast RFN's over IMR 700X through them annually.  The 380 Auto will "cure" any lead deficiency PDQ and although it is a "mouse" of a bullet when compared to the 357 Magnum, 45 ACP or Colt, I find I more often shoot the 380's for financial and other "cerebrial" reasons.  It is cheap to reload at less than 4.5 cents per round, particularly when casting my own bullets, looks and feels nice in the hand, is reasonably easy/light to conceal/carry, I shoot them well, and dammit the blue one was the suicide gun of a very close associate.  I think dearly of Mike while trying to shoot out its barrel.  It's a love-hate relationship with that PPK.

I'm 6' 04" by 240 pounds of attitude, and I approve this message.

[Lloyd Smale]

380s are one of the only handgun rounds ive never reloaded. There just so tiny that my big fingers fumble around with them to much. That and the only guns i have in 380 are a couple lcps and there hardly plinking guns anyway.

[Savage]

I don't reload .380 for the same reasons as Lloyd. I'm getting a lot of .380 brass mixed in with my 9mm these days in my range brass. I've had to add another sort check just before tossing the brass into the case feeder. If I miss one, it usually pops out of the shell plate @ station 2 on my 650 when the priming punch seats a primer. I've got a dozen or so primed .380 cases that came from before I started the final sort. I'll likely press those primers out and reuse them.
Savage

[gr8ful]

My Lee die set says .380ACP/9mm and I use it to load both.  The only difference is how you adjust the seating die.  Just like .38 special and .357 magnum.  If your die only says 9mm it will not adjust down far enough to put a proper taper crimp on the .380s.

[stimpylu32]

If you look at the case drawings for both , you'll see that that the 380 is quite a bit smaller in Dia. than the 9mm parabellum .
 
http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd380acp.jpg
 
http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd9parabellum.jpg
 
stimpy

[cybin]

The .380 is quit a bit smaller in diameter than a 9mm and is 2 millimeter smaller in length--(about .079 thousands of an inch--English) If a set of dies are marked .380/9mm they must be European--and mean 9mm Kurtz--(9mm short). Plus .380 brass is thinner than 9mm brass--probably because the presures are different.
cybin
 
 
 

[1sourdough]

 One of the more popular powders for the 380 is Win 231, good reviews in several manuals. I load 90-100 grn bullets with it for my LCP & Sig P238, no adverse issues.

[gr8ful]

The .380 is quit a bit smaller in diameter than a 9mm and is 2 millimeter smaller in length--(about .079 thousands of an inch--English) If a set of dies are marked .380/9mm they must be European--and mean 9mm Kurtz--(9mm short). Plus .380 brass is thinner than 9mm brass--probably because the presures are different.
cybin
 
 
 

No the die says .380ACP/9mm and I have used it to load .380 ACP and 9mm luger ammunition that feeds and functions in my Keltec p3at and s&w mp9.  When I get home I will measure some of the loaded rounds.  Could be they are sizing the 9mm a bit smaller than spec??  Either way they work.

[mechanic]

Quite a bit of difference in case dimension between the two.  Not worth risking poor feeding or split cases. 
Ben

[Savage]

Like Stimpy pointed out: the 9mm is about .020 larger in the web area than the .380, not to mention the 9mm is a tapered case. That difference is enough that generally a .380 case pops out of the 9mm shell plate on the priming operation if it gets mixed in with my 9mm cases. If I ever decide to load .380, I'll buy the appropriate dies.
Savage

[rdmallory]

The Lee die is for .380ACP/9mm Kurz Short not the same round as 9mm Luger

Doug

[stimpylu32]

The .380 is quit a bit smaller in diameter than a 9mm and is 2 millimeter smaller in length--(about .079 thousands of an inch--English) If a set of dies are marked .380/9mm they must be European--and mean 9mm Kurtz--(9mm short). Plus .380 brass is thinner than 9mm brass--probably because the presures are different.
cybin
 
 
 

No the die says .380ACP/9mm and I have used it to load .380 ACP and 9mm luger ammunition that feeds and functions in my Keltec p3at and s&w mp9.  When I get home I will measure some of the loaded rounds.  Could be they are sizing the 9mm a bit smaller than spec??  Either way they work.

The fact that they work is no real surprise to me , the fact that your extractor is holding the case of the 9mm enough to allow the round to withstand the force of the firing pin contact is all that lets the weapon function , no way it is properly head spacing in the chamber though .
 
stimpy

[gr8ful]

If they are 9mm Kurtz wouldn't the case mouth flairing, bullet seating, then taper crimping operation open the dementions back up? After all they shoot the same diameter bullet. The only way the 9mm lugar can be larger at the mouth is that the brass is thicker. The crimping die is easily adjusted to smooth out the flair and provide the crimp.  If the case is the proper length, and the original thickness, why wouldn't it be head spacing correctly on the rim?

[stimpylu32]

You got a point , I just didn't think that far ahead I guess    Your right about the bullet bringing the case mouth back to spec even if the sizing die did make it smaller .
Good catch , even I have my dumb axx attacks sometimes ! 
 
stimpy

[YRUpunting?]

You got a point , I just didn't think that far ahead I guess    Your right about the bullet bringing the case mouth back to spec even if the sizing die did make it smaller .
Good catch , even I have my dumb axx attacks sometimes ! 
 
stimpy

We'll forgive ya stimpy.  No ones head is right after moving.  I figure it takes about 6-12 months before reasonable thought returns. 

[gr8ful]

Lol, I can't wait to get home and measure some of my 9mm reloads.  Honestly I had never really looked at the specs on the two cartridges.