For those not understanding why Taurus would make a .380ACP revolver, it’s for countries that will allow people to buy guns but not those with cartridges that have ever been used by their own military. Like Mexico.
That's true that's why 9x21 was invented in Italy and it's more powerful then the military own 9x19 handguns😂 political people who make laws are just stupid lol
@tyler1768 ; My understanding is Taurus is coming out with a 9mm cartridge between. 380 and 9x19 to comply with new Brazilian laws. Germans had "9 mm Ultra" 50 years ago to do that.
You need one of those t-shirts that says "In my defense, I was left unsupervised." to wear to the range. That way when people start saying "WTF?" you can just say "I'm hearing a lot of questions that are very well covered by my T-shirt." On a serious note, I immediately got where you were headed with the concept. Being able to dump five rounds of .380 into center of mass vs only being able to get a couple of .38s on target because of recoil is not nothing. Add in the factor that you're likely to practice more with an easy shooting gun, and the fact that you have no worries about potential feed issues, it's a good idea.
In around 94 TX State Police studied 1 shot stops past 10 years their State. In order: .357, .45, I don't recall, and .380. They thought 9's tended to overpenetrate, drilling holes, but .380 caused more tissue damage w hollowpoints.
No you do not need adult supervision. You need to remain unbridled and allowed to dream up things like this and bring them to life. Reminds me of monster garage but more polished. I think this would be a hoot to shoot. Looking forward to more videos on this!
Hey, Tinker...Alan Jones writes a column in Shooting times called The Ballistician. Back a year or so, he did an article about ammo performance in moon clip revolvers. Seema he and his team ( Either at CCI/ Speer or at the crime lab he once worked at) found and odd thing. Both the models 1917 Smith & Wesson AND the Colt revolvers shot a little faster than a 1911 semiauto pistol. They doped things out and figured the only reason for that was...One: that barrel/cylinder gap didn't lose all that much velocity, and Two: That jump in the cylinder let the bullet get up enough gumption to plow right into the rifling with little resistance. In a semiauto chamber, the rifling "lead" is SO close to the bullet. In a revolver...it's not. Gives one a little something to think about, huh?
@@guaporeturns9472 But all things are NOT equal revolver vs. semiauto. And Jones and crew checked out a 9mm moonclip revolver vs. 9mm semiauto and saw similar results. As I recall, none of the crew had a 10mm revolver...so they couldn't check those out.
@@guaporeturns9472 Ballistics By The Inch (BBTI) did extensive testing and their findings inspired my tests, which produced similar results. Of course this can very on a gun-by-gun basis depending on how tight the cylinder-gap is.
.380 in a proportional length cylinder like the sky marshal seems like the ultimate deep cover revolver. Maybe not for your gorilla mitts, but for my hands it sure is.
Great idea and video. Better keep carrying those fmj ammo or buy some phillips screw driver type ammo like underwood defender or lehigh defense defender. There is no hollow points on the market that will expand from that short barrel. I have a keltec p3at and did my homework. Have fun.
They make 2 now. One is a pitbull with a 3" barrel, which uses internal retention clips instead of moon clips and holds 6. I own one and it's great. The other is new and called the coyote. I think it's on their undercoverrete frame, it hold 5, has a 2" barrel and uses moon clips. It looks slick and is very tempting to get.
Poor impulse control, lack of adult supervision, plus pizza, a bottle of wine after hours in my shop. Add a Colt officers model slide,1 Essex 1911a1 frame and a box of parts and tools. I disavow all knowledge of any actions taken at any time after 9 PM.
I use to fire .380 out of a 6"Taurus model 66 .357 years ago.As I didn't have any adult supervision I use to wrap a bit of ripped newspaper around the .380 case so it fitted in the chamber.Quite a lot of unburnt powder as I recall and they probably came out of the business end at about 650 FPS although I had no way to measure the speed other than how far they went into something.
I love your FrankenGun approach. Your fiber optic front sight should be an industry standard. I can see the pros of guaranteed bullet feeding, which can be an issue with ammo like Underwood’s Xtreme Defender. However, my Glock 42 eats those just fine, not to mention the barrel is 3.25” and its 6+1 capacity doesn’t hurt either. The Taurus revolver is quite pricey on their website, and oddly, it appears to be their only .380 handgun in production. Great video. Keep it up.
I've always understood that the .38 s&w was making a center fire cartridge that duplicated the .36 Colt Navy.While the .380 was transposing the s&w to an acp.
.380 acp in a snubbie revolver makes sense for all the reasons you describe. I would love to see a dedicated revolver frame for the .380 to maximize the compact dimensions you could get. The Taurus .380 (which seems impossible to get) is the only revolver I know of that seems to have had its frame made to take advantage of the small OAL of .380 acp cartridge. I believe that the 2 charter arms models (pitbull and coyote) are using frames designed around longer cartridges. Keep up the good work, your channel is amazing and this project is a fantastic proof of concept!
I like the cylinder-swapping mechanism on those; push a button and you can swap 'em out very easily. Astra did this on their Police model in the 1970s.
The S&W Model 940 (1991-1998) was chambered in 9mm, the 940-1 was chambered in 356 TSW, a lengthened 9mm case. I never thought of using 380 ACP in either of them.
Why not? Certainly better than a 38S&W conversion and no decent commercial loads for that cartridge AFAIK. The clips seem a bit too loose for quick use though, but the potential is there.
@@tinkertalksguns7289 Sounds like a good plan. On the 380, there was once a need for larger cartridges to achieve more power due to the powders of the time. Longer cartridges lose barrel length compared to shorter ones in the same gun, and the 380 has matured into being up to the job now so this does make sense and adds to the fun factor at the same time.
The Taurus 692 has two swappable cylinders, one for 38 special/357 and one for 9mm. But TK Customs also sells a 380 moonclip for the Taurus 692. So technically you get 4 calibers in one revolver. Now thats a prepper handgun for sure.
Yes, the Makarov is 9.2 mm in diameter if I remember correctly. It would already require a lot of extra work compared to the 380. Also the availability and price of the cartridge would make that work a significantly worse option. Mere lack of adult supervision would no longer suffice as an explanation.
First thought. In standard loads, Gained about a 1/4 inch of bullet travel. Reduced empty case capacity that just wastes powder and adds to recoil (in standard loads).
Wow. What should we talk about next week? 😆 No seriously, I think it’s a fine idea. I’m a little jealous I didn’t think of it. If you get some 38 Special moon clips you wouldn’t even have change cylinders, 380 ACP or 38 Special. Man, I like it.
@@tinkertalksguns7289 Thanks. I remembered something my dad use to say, “Measure twice, cut once” Unfortunately I remembered that after a ruined a factory barrel. 🤨
I love the idea of .380 ACP; I wanted one of the Taurus J-frame .380s but I didn't like the trigger, I always wondered if I missed out on a cool gun or was it junk?
Great vids! I loved the idea that it makes sense if you squint and turn your head slightly sideways 😂. I don't have a shop, but I been following a similar squint by using 38 Short Colts & Magtech 38 Special Shorts in my Bodyguard & 638 (Bodyguard) and even my Model 36.... I'm more accurate left handed, and they are less snappy and more fun even right handed. Looking forward to chrono text etc... How does 95gr .380 at what 800-ish fps? compare to 125gr at 650-ish fps?
So you have a .380ACP revolver, but you need the moon clips to shoot it. Wouldn't it be nice to dispense with the moon clips? What you need is 380 Auto Rim. There is enough rim on a 38 Super case that it will headspace in a 38 cylinder. Trim the 38 Super case back to 17mm and presto, 380 Auto Rim!
I do have plenty of .38 ACP ammo brass, and I have fired it in my .38 Special revolvers. But part of the idea here was readily available ammo. The dirty little secret here of course is that if I buy some .38 Special clips I can still load .38 SPL in in this gun. I do need to chamfer the chamber edges though; the ammo I was using tended to hang up on the cartridge lip.
The only issue is the larger base diameter of the 9mm, but it ought to work; I've test fired .380 in a 9mm handgun without bursting the brass. The 9mm clips I used for this didn't hold the .380 brass though, and required modification to work.
A 380 ACP J Frame?! What the Hell, Tinker? OK, how does this even make sense? DOES it make sense? Have a watch dear viewer and judge for yourself. The reason for .380ACP or 9mm rimless moon clip revolvers is the fast reload but there are better low recoil caliber options for pocket and concealed carry revolvers like .327Mag and .32Mag that have better ballistic performance from short barrels and reloads that conceal better laying flat in the pocket. Also .380ACP and 9mm ammo would be cheaper and more available but it has to be rated for revolvers or you can get bullet creep or crimp jump. Yes .380ACP and 9mm is a good option but I still think .327Mag or .32Mag is the better option because of better ballistic performance and ammo concealability not to mention better reliability without bullet creep or crimp jump. BTW, .355 to .356 diameter and .357 to .358 diameter does matter in autos where you get keyholing from unstable oversized bullets but maybe not so much in revolvers however could result in being less accurate with undersized bullets. I have had this happen before using different diameter bullets where 9mm autos would not shoot oversized .357 diameter 9mm bullets but .38Spl. revolver would shoot them without keyholing.
thought what a good Idea less recoil than a 38 special, but how is it compared to the old 38 S&W , got an 80 yr old gun chambered in that not easy to find ammo for but lot more fun to shoot than the 38 special.
380 defensive ammo usually does not expand in gel. And if it did, it would not have enough wt to penetrate. I use FMJ for 25, 32, and 380. With all of the free bore, I wonder if that gun might be safe with 9x19 standard velocity loads. The pressure on a revolver as I understand it hits max as the bullet enters the barrel throat.
There are actually several of .380 ACP JHPs that meet FBI standard in gel and do expand. With the proliferation of micro-.380s ammo companies have been doing some serious work developing loads.
The testing I've seen, gel & meat targets, indicates the .380 defense loads perform better out of autoloaders with a minimum of 3.5" barrels. The performance difference between 2.75" & 3.5" was considerable.
@@Gieszkanne The pressures are also dependent on the degree of confinement. Excessive free bore should lower pressures. I think neither of us know. There are 9x19 mm revolvers. The cylinder in question is rated for + P. I would be worried also about the frame of the gun. I have not yet seen any of the defensive 380 go through the denim layer and then expand in gel. They may be out there, I just have not seen it and I still would prefer FMJ because penetration is more important. Regularly I watch tools and target. I will check his 380 videos.
@@Salieri47 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Hv2KKgy_efY.html Is a tools&target with FMJ, underwood extreme penetrator, and a hollow point. Nothing very impressive. The main thing that the hollow point load had going for it was that it is loaded to a higher velocity. No notable expansion.
Rimless cartridges do not belong in revolvers used for defense. The juice ain't worth the squeeze. And spare me the stories of the military using revolvers in .45 ACP _when they had no other choice_ to arm millions of soldiers on short notice. Better to use something like the Magtech .38 Special Short load, or handload lighter loads in .38 Special cases. For that matter, .38 Special wadcutters have very light recoil and have been proven better for self defense than the .380
@@tinkertalksguns7289 I wasn't debating the "revolver clip thing" Rimless cartridges are not designed for revolvers. There are lots of alternatives for lower recoil .38 Special ammo...or you could use a small revolver chambered in .32 H&R or .32 Federal Magnum and use .32 S&W Long ammo.
