[motorcarrier]

I need to break in my new P-3AT and I didn't really like the thought of burning through $36 of my cheapest 100 rounds of ammo. I'm out of town this weekend on a business trip and stopped in a gun store I used to frequent quite a bit. I asked about .380 ammo and at first the owner said no, but then he thought and said he had two boxes of Russian ammo (do Russians even make .380 firearms?). Not only do they say "non-corrosive" but they were only $6 each for a box of 50! I don't know how long he's had them but $10 was scratched out and replaced with $5 which was also scratched out and replaced with $6. When I get home I'll get a photo.

 

[adamsesq]

If they are not brass then do not shoot them - very little Russian ammo is brass. KT didn't design the P3AT to shoot steel or aluminum cartridges and has told us not to shoot them as it can damage the gun.

-Scott

 

[buck1032]

Good catch Adam. I was thinking the same thing. If it is steel cased, I wouldnt shoot in a Kel Tec.

 

[motorcarrier]

I'll certainly reconsider firing the Russian ammo, but tell me how in the world steel cases would make a difference. Bullets, yes, primers, maybe, but cases? Maybe I haven't thought this through, but I just don't see the connection.

 

[adamsesq]

I'll certainly reconsider firing the Russian ammo, but tell me how in the world steel cases would make a difference. Bullets, yes, primers, maybe, but cases? Maybe I haven't thought this through, but I just don't see the connection.

It's the cases that expand and scrape along the inside of the barrel chamber.  It's also the cases that hit the ejector and the extractor has to grab on to.

-Scott

 

[motorcarrier]

I see the reasoning and I guess the steel cases just aren't meant to be fired in non-military grade firearms. But to my other question: I didn't know Russia ever made a .380 but they must have or they wouldn't have made the ammo. Does anyone know if they did?

 

[PF9Newbie]

I see the reasoning and I guess the steel cases just aren't meant to be fired in non-military grade firearms. But to my other question: I didn't know Russia ever made a .380 but they must have or they wouldn't have made the ammo. Does anyone know if they did?

Russian industries have been making ammunition for export for a number of years now for all sorts of calibers, most notably in recent years, Wolf ammunition but there are others also.  The Soviet Union military itself did not make any issue arms in .380 (though they may well have used some captured or purchased arms in this caliber during wartimes of course) but some police and other agencies (the KGB and a couple of others ) did have some sidearms in this caliber at various times.  Note that outside of the U.S. this round is not known as the .380 but has many designations including the 9mm Kurz, 9mm short, 9mm Browning, 9X17, 9mm corto, and others.  and has been widely used throughout Europe and elsewhere as a police and even a military round.

Steel cased ammo is not suitable for the Kel Tec due to the different expansion properties of steel vs brass.  The Kel Tecs are specifically engineered only for brass cased ammo apparently, and steel cased ammo does not work well, and may even damage the gun, according to Kel Tec.

Jim R