Congrats! When I briefly carried a .380 back in the day, I just carried with FMJ ball ammo. No hollow points at the time would reliably expand and penetrate. That may have changed, I'm sure others will chime in. Good luck!

 

Thank you. I've been carrying double stack nines for years, but with my various ailments, it is uncomfortable to carry anything that weighs more than a pound to 18 ounces.

 

For 380 carry I go with Hornady Critical Defense. However the barrel lengths I carry 380 in are 3.9 and 3.8 inches (Beretta 80x and CZ 83). At 3.25 I expect the G42 will be close in velocity but still less. Without getting into a debate on the validity of meat target vs gel. I would check out Paul Harrell 380 videos on YouTube. Some very informative and interesting results.

 

Handgun Self-Defense Ammunition - Ballistic Testing Data

Lucky Gunner tests more than 110 different 9mm, 45 ACP, 40 S&W and 380 ACP handgun self-defense ammunition loads in ballistic gel with analysis and video.

www.luckygunner.com

The .380 tested was all shot out of a g42. I like Winchester flat point and hornady American gunner.

 

Hornady Critical Defense. Best performing .380 SD round out there hands down.

 

+1

 

Underwood Xtreme Penetrators. Never fail in my G42. Impressive ballistics. Penetrate like ball ammo, except they do lots more damage than ball ammo.

 

I don't have my 42 anymore but I tried a few types of defense ammo in it. Hornady XTPs and Federal Punch never gave me an issue. My 42 didn't like the Sig V-Crown BUT I tried the 365 (short barrel) version not the regular V-Crown. The 365 version is kind of underpowered, in one test one of the 365 rounds only got 775 fps in an LCP. I think I got one of the underpowered rounds cause that was the one and only hiccup my 42 ever had. The standard 380 V-Crown should be just fine though, as long as it doesnt say 365 real big on the box its the normal version. FMJ always ran 100% as well.

I've carried 380 hollowpoints on and off but I always go back to FMJ. I gave up on finding a 380 hollowpoint I was comfortable with. The flat nose FMJ is my preferred carry round in 380. If I absolutely had to carry a hollowpoint in 380 it would be the Hornady XTP.

 

I bought some Hornaday Critical Defense for my Glock 42. While cycling some rounds through, one jammed. Shooting for 50 years, this has happened, but this Hornaday round was different. The bullet pushed about 1/8 inch into the casing. I don't think I'd be comfortable with this in my gun.

 

As others have already mentioned, Hornady Critical Defense works just fine.

 

I carried the 42 for a few years, I watched several YT vids then went with Federal Punch, I still carry it in my 27.

 

Hornady Critical Defense is among the worst defensive handgun ammunition available.

It's tested against FBI spec "heavy clothing" only, and it under-penetrates (10 1/4 inches for .380 ACP Critical Defense).

The best choices for .380 defense ammo are FMJ, Federal HydraShok Deep, Underwood Xtreme Defender, and any load with the Hornady XTP bullet.

 

Lcp max owner here.
Prefer: Fiocchi extrema 90 gr XTP, Precision one 90 gr XTP and Defiant munitions 80 gr copper controlled expanding JHP.

If I had G42, would just use Underwood 90 gr XTP +P over above.

 

My wife uses Federal Punch HP in her G42.
I use fluted ARX Inceptor in my LCP, they perform better than HP in shorter barrels.

 

The Inceptor ARX are some of the best grouping .380 rounds out of the G42, too.

 

Any reputable company that uses the 90gr. XTP bullet. Black Hills, Hornady, Underwood, Fiocchi etc.

 

I’ll be waiting for your impressions after your range visit this weekend.

I like the Double Tap offering.

 

Hornady Critical Defense need speed to expand and penetrate. I use the .38 special for home defense in my 4" revolver. Out of long barrels it seems to work pretty good, short barrels and slow calibers are a problem.
So the Critical Defense .32 ACP and .44 special doesn't work, for the .380 it depends.

 

Might want to try the Underwood 90 gr. XTP +P for self defense.

 

I carry a G42 now as I age. I have tested and chronographEd number of defense loads. Underwood’s 90 grain XTP +p’s were at least 125 fps faster tan any other hollow point load that I shot. I now carry that load and it runs flawlessly in my G42…

 

I have heard guys recommend the Lehigh Defense round and swear by it. I do not own a 380 anymore but when I had a Glock 42 I shot 95 grain jhp gold dots from it as my carry ammo. I had no problems at all once the factory magazine issues were figured out.

 

Question for those running Wincheser Flat nose in their 42's, any malfunctions?

I have been thinking about trying it out but I keep reading different problems. I can't find any resent posts of problems and part of the failure to feed in the past could have been the older style mags, etc.

Would appreciate any real world expericnce. Obviosly I'm going to try some in mine but again curious before I buy some.

Thanks,

MIchael

 

I no longer own my 42 but I did carry Winchester flat nose in it, never had an issue. I still carry Winchester flat nose in my LCP and again no issues. I would recommend buying 2-3 boxes and running at least one box (preferably 2) then keeping one box for carry ammo. I have carried 380 hollowpoints in the past but always go back to fmj, I gave up on finding a 380 hollowpoint that I'm comfortable with. I have the Winchester load in my LCP which is in my pocket right now.

If you can find it I would go for the Browning Performance Target (BPT) 380, it's the Winchester flat nose (Winchester makes and sells the Browning line of ammo) but it's loaded to the same specs as the Browning defense ammo. I think the Winchester white box and regular Browning training ammo are listed at 950 fps but the BPT load is listed at 1000 fps. Not a huge difference but I'd guess the QC is a little bit better on the BPT load. That said I actually have the regular Browning ammo right now since I found a good deal on it a while back. It's the same as the white box, Winchester cases and all just in a box labeled Browning.

 

I've been carrying a G42 daily since they first became available, but the two I originally bought were the two most unreliable pistols I've ever owned, and a trip back to Glock didn't help at all. When Glock made some changes to the slide stop and mags, they work fine. My current gun has gone over 5k rds since the last malfunction.

My carry load is the Speer 90 gr Gold Dot, I've fired well over a thousand of those through my current gun with no problems. When I hand cycle a round into the chamber and ride the slide forward to avoid beating up the bullet nose from repeated use, there is a slight "hitch" as the bullet hits the feed ramp but they go in without actually hanging up. And as mentioned, no problems in actual use.

I prefer the sharp nose profile of any JHP over RN, even if it doesn't expand all the time. Even the winchester 85 gr Silvertip seems to work better on bad guys than ball, despite shallow penetration.

 

Speer Gold Dot 90 gr.
My gun was used when I bought it and I tried 100 rds of problem free Speer JHP.
Add the fact that that’s our issued load and it was pretty easy choice.

 

Speer Gold Dot 90 gr.
My gun was used when I bought it and I tried 100 rds of problem free Speer JHP.
Add the fact that that’s our issued load and it was pretty easy choice.

Do yall issue the 42?

 

Powerball..............I think made by cor-bon.
Has a little plastic ball in the hollow point cavity to help aid in those guns that don't Like to reliably feed hollow point ammo.

 

It is made by Corbon. I have used it in a 42 before also with no problems. I do not know if they make it anymore or not

 

Standard pressure flat hardcast bc I like exit holes