"Hawke" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:
"Wes" wrote in message
...
Hawke wrote:

If you have a .380 why would you want to use lead bullets? Guns that
shoot .380 ammo are not good for anything but short range self
defensive
purposes. They are not guns that people shoot very much.
Actually my Bersa 95. normally using some reloads built around a 102g
Lee RN is one of my
favorite guns. Cheap to shoot, actually has a bit of recoil and easy to
conceal and
carry. Fixed barrel blow back, pretty accurate. Knocks over the plates
on the plate rack
reliably.

Ed likes a .32 Mag iirc, so don't diss minor calibers.

BTW, if Hawke etc. don't know this, the .32 H&R Mag is a hunting caliber
for small-to-medium game, not a defense caliber. I bought my Ruger SSM
specifically for hunting javelina, which weigh around 50 lb.



It may be that the .32 Mag used to be a hunting caliber but not any more.
If you look around at some of the new guns chambered for this caliber you
will see most of them are designed for self defense. Particularly the
small frame revolvers. The advantage in using this caliber is that you can
get six cartridges into the small frame revolvers that up to now only held
five. The .32 Mag has been around a long time and has been out of favor
because it's not a very powerful cartridge. But in a small frame modern
revolver it's now right about on par with the .38 spl. I also have a
friend who shoots that cartridge out of a Thompson Contender. It's great
for target shooting. The accuracy he gets from that thing is exceptionally
good. So it's looking like an old unpopular cartridge is making something
of a comeback. Personally, I don't see much use for it though.

Hawke

It was never very popular but it's not that old (1984). Like some other
hunting cartridges for handguns it has good penetration but little stopping
power. I'd consider it to be a lousy defense gun but a good killer, due to
the penetration, and it was never really made for defense in the first
place.

I think it was _Guns & Ammo_, or one of the other shooting magazines, that
tested it in a Ruger SSM and shot the tightest groups they'd ever shot in
any revolver. If the shooter is up to it, it's good out to 100 yards on game
up to the size of javelina or coyotes, etc. -- it shoots flat for a handgun
cartridge. This particular shooter is not good out to 100 yards with a
handgun. g

--
Ed Huntress