Glock sent me a new G42. Love the little gun, but my grip makes it difficult for me to shoot. I am constantly inducing malfunctions, something that happens on no other platform for me. Two guns, exact same issues. Seems I am dragging my thumbs against the slide and causing all kinds off issues.
When I worked EXTREMELY hard to focus on keeping my hands/thumbs away from the slide I had no issues. Then I went back to my original grip and the issues returned. FTE, Stovepipe, failure to lock back, not picking up the next round in the mag.
Maybe I ride my thumbs too high on all guns and just get away with it, but with 42 I can't.
May have two people interested in buying it here, but if they don't it will be up for sale here in a week or so.
So color me interested. What's the thought on HD ammo in 380? GD, Hornady, HST? I fully understand we are not getting 9mm performance but what's the best compromise for the G42?
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
I favor Buffalo Bore's so-called +P hard cast bullet offering. My LCP eats it without fail. As much as I like this load, and despite the fact that it has higher velocity than factory ball, I won't claim it or any other .380 to be an effective defense round. The LCP is the pistol that rides in my pocket when I'm too lazy to carry a larger and more powerful handgun. If I do buy a M42, the reason is that I enjoy shooting, tinkering, and reloading for handguns.
I use Hornady custom with the XTP bullet. I guess ball is good too but I worry about it over penetrating. I have no real world info on the XTP round other than tests I can read online and videos of her tests on YouTube. Look up a YouTuber called "shooting the bull".
He did a pretty exhaustive test of. 380 ammo out of a small Taurus or Sig pistol, like the size of an LCP. That XTP bullet was his winner in terms of consistently getting at least 12" of penetration, consistent expansion and no denim plugged rounds. Think they expanded up to around 0.43" maybe. I'm going off memory. Besides Horaday custom, there is the American Gunner version, Fiocchi loads that round as well as Precision. That's just where I ended up landing, it's still a .380 and thus a compromise gun for me.
Drew
I use these in my G42 as a BUG.
https://underwoodammo.com/product/ha...me-penetrator/
In all honesty, my decision was based on info that George posted and tests I saw on YouTube.
Last edited by cornstalker; 04-26-2018 at 07:41 PM.
DocGKR posted up late last year on a thread about .380 ammo and at that time his recommendation, besides a lightweight J Frame..., was ball, including the Lehigh XP, as well as XTP and Hydra Shok...
I don’t know anything on this subject, beyond what I have read on PF, but I have been using 90 grain XTP Bullets as loaded by Underwood and Black Hills, and the HST, and all have fed in my 42. Been meaning to try the Lehigh penetrator load.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
WWB fmj flat point feeds fine in my (wife’s) recent 42, FWIW.