Precision One Ammunition is a company out of South Carolina that is doing a great job making affordable, accurate, and reliable ammunition. In this ammo test I will be taking a look at their highly regarded .380 ACP 90r XTP load. I love some good .380, and I had high expectations for this load. I wasn’t disappointed.
Precision One has been a niche maker of some impressive ammunition for years now. If you’re not familiar with them:
(Precision One) manufactures new and remanufactured ammunition. Our company goals are to bring a consistent and accurate round to the marketplace. Only top quality components such as the brass, powder, primer, and bullets are used in all of the manufacturing processes. Most factory ammunition for the consumer is made with generic powders and broader tolerances. Our products are developed for optimum accuracy and functionality with tighter tolerances using top name brand products.
These statements were all proved true by my testing. I was happily surprised that a brand I’d never shot before was loading such good, clean ammo.
Accuracy and Basic Performance
I fired this load from my SIG P238 Emperor Scorpion. This is a very good, solid, and reliable .380 pistol that’s very popular on today’s carry market. I fired this load at 15 yards for accuracy from standing and discovered that it was really impressed. My average for five shots at this distance was 2.5”.
I had no reliability issues with the ammunition at all. The gun fed, fired and ejected all rounds like it was a walk in the park. The recoil was a bit greater than some other .380 ammo I’ve used, but it wasn’t a wrist-wrencher by any standard. Follow-up shots were fast and I had no problem staying on target through the recoil.
Velocity for ten shots was 845fps over my Oehler 35 P chronograph.
Ballistic Performance
I received a 10% FBI gel block from Clear Ballistics for my testing. The load was fired from the P238 at a range of ten feet to simulate a CCW encounter. The bullets fired into bare gel penetrated to an average depth of 13”. This was very, very good for a .380 hollow point and that performance translated to excellent results through everything but the heaviest materials.
The bullets achieved excellent expansion and penetration through normal fabric (left bullet) and denim right bullet), but it choked a bit going through leather (middle bullet). You can see the middle bullet has leather fibers stuck in the tip. Despite that, this bullet managed to pass through 13” of gel as well, despite tumbling and yawing.
Other rounds fired into leather and heavy material expanded just fine. You can see in the below photo that there is leather in the center of the bullet and that it expanded perfectly.
I would not call these results erratic, as they just can’t always be predicted. Seeing one expand and another not isn’t always encouraging but, just like the occasional flyer, you can’t always guarantee that an individual bullet will do exactly what it needs to do.
Wounding Capacity:
The Hornady XTP bullet is a known, proven performer and Precision One loads it in a very stout way. The load generates a tremendous amount of power for a .380. The wounding ability of this bullet is already great to begin with, even with some clogging.
Wound channels were deep and wide for a .380. The permanent wounds began at about 2” in the gel and displayed a cavity about 5” long and about .5-.6” wide. Combined with the great-for-caliber penetration, the load was capable of delivering excellent wounding results.
The clogging is somewhat of a concern, but seeing it still penetrate to such an extent with a wad of leather jammed in the cavity was encouraging. Plus it didn’t over-penetrate, which is a concern of mine when it comes to EDC situations.
Overall Impressions
This was the first Precision One Ammunition product I’ve tested. They sell in 50-round boxes and are quite affordable as personal defense rounds go at $28.99. I really appreciate the accuracy, power, and reliability in my P238 and what this company does for the everyday shooter.
Ratings (out of five stars):
Accuracy: * * * * *
This load produced excellent groups and was very easy to make hits with.
Handling: * * * *
Recoil was reasonable and rapid follow-ups were not a problem. The SIG P238 is an easy gun to handle and this load made it just that much easier.
Reliability: * * * * *
I experienced no problems of any kind while shooting this cartridge.
Terminal Performance: * * * *
This is a very good, powerful .380 personal defense load that uses a proven bullet. I wish it did a little better when shooting through thick materials, but it demonstrated good expansion and excellent penetration for the caliber.
Overall: * * * * 1/2
Good, quality self-defense ammo comes in many forms. This is one of them. I was happy with it and my P238 was happy with it, but my gel was quite unhappy…and that’s a good thing.
Better ballistics through science and technology is opening up my mind to carry a .380.
I’m seriously considering carrying a .380 for my EDC.
Tom,
I have a little Taurus 380, weighs only 11 oz. I have carried as my only weapon. It’s a great little gun. However it does not have an automatic reset for the internal hammer (you must rack the slide again if you should get a light firing pin strike, or any other reason the round doesn’t go BOOM!) For this reason I usually carry it as a backup only.
Skip to 7:00 or so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNtPHYwcDts
What ever happened to STB410?
Health issues 🙁
Good price for 50…I “may” get a 380 for deep concealment. Had one before(TCP) with zero problems. Mebbe a LCPII.
I’ve decided to stick with my original design LCP. Ruger did a redesign of the LCP and made a much better trigger in it’s 2nd gen version which I have. The 2nd gen original LCPs are now selling in the $150-170 range. With Hogue grips this makes for a near perfect mouse gun. It’s still not as much fun to shoot as my P238 but it disappears into a pocket like few other handguns.
I’m quite happy with the Remington RM380. Why don’tcha give it a look see?
Usually, plugging up the cavity in a hollow point bullet results in more penetration, not less. The bullet doesn’t expand and acts like an FMJ.
First priority in a defensive cartridge is adequate, but not excessive, penetration. The bullet needs to get deep enough into the target to cause incapacitating damage. However, energy is wasted if it passes all the way through and keeps going. In ballistic gelatin, the optimum depth is 12″ to 18″. Second priority, after adequate penetration has been achieved, is expansion to maximize diameter of the wound. The problem with calibers like the .380 is that they use up most of their limited energy in penetration leaving little for expansion. What should be remembered is that you don’t want the reverse — a wide but shallow wound that doesn’t penetrate deeply enough to incapacitate the bad guy.
ShootingTheBull410 found that all of the cartridges that use Hornady’s XTP bullet performed well. It seems to be perfect for the .380. Federal’s Hydra-Shok was the next best choice. Their HST cartridge, which performs very well in other calibers, is short on penetration because it expands too easily.
This is what I carry in my Springfield 911 after much research into the best .380 self defense load. This load and others that perform similarly well, including the Hornady Custom XTP and Federal Hydra-Shok, have made the .380 a perfectly viable self defense caliber in recent years.
.380+9mm =.45 I make joke ha ha
Somewhere in the world, a mechanical engineer just started ranting about imperial-metric unit conversions and has no idea why.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOwCXXpEP50
So, this ammo sounds great, but I’m now wondering if its +P rated, or not?
It is available in both standard pressure and +P.
It’s not “+P,” and at 845 FPS it’s only running 142 foot pounds. I’m torn between this and the much more powerful – for a .380 – Buffalo Bore stuff in my Smith BG 380 that isn’t rated for “+P.” My Sig P365 is nice, but has significant primer swipe – perhapa a stronger recoil spring would help. Still, a .380 in the pocket is a lot better than a full sized .40 sitting in a safe.
What did you think of STB410 putting the BB stuff in the ‘not as good as FMJ’ category, for underpenetrating when it expanded, and acting like FMJ when it didn’t expand (in other words, as good as FMJ some of the time)?
(3:20 into the ‘final wrapup’ video in the comments above)
I think that the .380 is a mediocre caliber that barely performs well with JHPs or FMJs.
Are you sure?
https://www.underwoodammo.com/collections/handgun-ammo/products/380-acp-p-65-grain-xtreme-defender?variant=7865927794745
My SWBG.380 has run a couple mags of BB 90s without issue other than snappy recoil…but I’m told that with old/dirty mags the increased slide velocity can cause FTF when the mag doesn’t present the next round fast enough and or the slide bounces forward off the stops due to excessive energy.
I trust the guys who reported it, so there is something there, and I’m loath to test much in my EDC BUG. Just something to be aware of.
you should try underwood they make some awesome rounds
gonna take a look see in regards to 9×18.
I was recommended a .380 cal is a best for a few. Which one is #1 you recommend?
EUGENE
“I would not call these results erratic, as they just can’t always be predicted.”
Isn’t “can’t always be predicted” pretty much the very definition of the word “erratic”?
This is shitty ammo, if this review is even truthful, he got REALLY lucky or they sent him some hand inspected, pristine examples to do his test with. Everyone I know of that bought this crap ammo regretted it. Some of if will work, a lot of it won’t. Don’t waste your money, spend a little more for good ammo that always works…..this isn’t it.
What does it do badly? I live near them and have tried the subject .380, several of their 9, 5.56, and .40 loads. I even bought a bunch of blems. In fact, I buy mostly blems and bulk. I shoot a lot, and compete, in 3 disciplines. The only one of their loads I didn’t like was the subsonic 9mm.
I had the owner/manager approach me at a public range and give me his card when I was testing out an echo trigger I had just installed (multiple mag dumps). He was also handing out samples to guys doing more precision stuff. Still have the card in my truck. Do you compete locally? I’ve done some cursory searches for competitions with no luck.
While I like XTP bullets in a number of different calibers, I decided to go with handloaded Remington 88 gr JHPs in my Taurus PT58. The load below squeezes about out all you can get from a SAAMI spec 380 ACP. These rounds have been fired in a number of different 380s and have functioned flawlessly. I attribute this to the nice rounded profile of the JHP nose.
Ballistics calculated using Quickload for 4.0″ Taurus PT58 barrel
88 gr JHP / 4.1 gr Universal / 0.960 OAL
19520 psi / 1119 fps / 244 ft-lb / 93.4% Burn / 88.6% Fill
The ballistic performance of commercial 88 gr JHP Remington rounds is mixed due to marginal velocity to get uniform expansion of the JHP bullet. This load bumps up the velocity enough so this is no longer a problem. If you reload, try this load. I think you will really like it.
have you tried any 100gr .380 bullets?? i think they would do much better in penetration
My P238 is my go to for summer/deep concealment and an absolute pleasure to shoot.
.380 ACP has come a long way. Lucky Gunner has some great data about the currently available loads – you can meet FBI standards with .380 out of a small barrel these days – just do your research.
Underwood xtreme penetrator or defender ammo is the another great option. No hollow point to plug and produces similar or better wound cavities than HPs. And great penetration for a 380. Fourteen inches plus. YouTube vids abound.
Ah, but do the make anything in 6.5 creedmore?
Get serious boys and girls. P232 and Underwood Extreme Defender .380 +P. 65 gr. can say hello at 1400 fps. You don’t want to clean up the bio-hazard.
used this ammunition in BOTH my fierarms. ruger LCP and P238. flawless… fires, ejects, repeat x 2000.