The Browning Black Label Medallion 1911 chambered in .380 ACP is a nice shooting lightweight pistol. We ran several handloads through the pistol and show what worked best.
Thanks for the review and loading info. My wife just bought this exact model this weekend as her first pistol (...and first gun period!!). Figures she’d buy one that I don’t reload for but any reason to buy more loading gear is a good one. 😁😁 After showing her how to take it down, I was impressed with this little beauty. It really is a perfectly proportioned mini 1911. I can see how it’s size would make it an awesome deep concealment pistol......if that was an option for us. We’re Canadian so it’s not. 😢😢
You are very welcome I am glad you liked the video and got some good info out of it! Congratulations on your wife's new pistol that is very exciting!! That is true, there is no such thing as too many calibers to load for you just start to prioritize some of them!!! I must admit this is one of the finest .380 ACP handguns I have ever handled and I was impressed with the accuracy and quality of them overall. I don't think you could go wrong with these little things! Hopefully one day it will become an option, keep fighting the good fight! Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
They really are great little guns I wound up purchasing this one and I don't have a single regret about it, in fact i liked it so much that I wound up buying another one! They are quite accurate, I routinely shoot a 10" gong at 100 yards with it with a good load the gun is far more accurate than I am! Thanks so much for watching! -- Jeremiah
Thank you very much we appreciate the kind words, I never really planned to cover the 380 Auto but this little gun impressed me and actually made the cut. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
Best Gun/Ballistics/Hand-loading video I've ever seen. I wish more content providers would adopt a similar format. I was surprised to see his level of detail in a video on the 380. Excellent!! While the Browning 1911 380 is one of the most powerful 380's on the market, Charter Arms has a 3" revolver with a slightly longer "effective barrel" (i.e. a 4.5" distance from base of the primer to the crown of the barrel). Even if you factor in the pressure loss across the forcing cone, the Charter Arms 380 at least matches the muzzle velocity of the Browning. And the Charter Arms handgun has the advantages/disadvantages of a revolver at almost half the price of the Browning. Really enjoyed this video. thanks
Thank you very much we do our best to be very thorough in our testing and evaluation. We were tired of folks shooting at steel and just giving their opinions on how the firearm performed and not providing any tangible testing that the viewer could see. So we decided to start making these videos, in a similar fashion to how we do our magazine. I wish others would at least adopt some sort of testing procedure as well so there are tangible results the viewer can see. You don't have to take our word for it just look at the testing and see for yourself. The Proof is always on the paper. I would love to try out the Charter Arms Revolver in 380 Auto. If there is enough interest from others we'll test just about anything we can get our hands on. Thank you so much for the suggestion, the kind words and feedback we greatly appreciate it! --Jeremiah
I just purchased a 1911-380 right after a friend bought one from a gun show. Being a lefty the ambi thumb safety got me. The market is thin on aftermarket parts, but its not bad as is. I’m glad I found your channel, I wondered what would work after I shot enough factory to reload.
I am a big fan of these little 1911s, I am not a huge .380 Auto fan but I try to remain unbiased in all of our testing. These are some of the nicest .380 Autos I have ever handled though. I was quite impressed! You'll have to let us know how yours performs! Thanks for watching! --Jeremiah
Jeremiah once again job very well done. Some good handloads from the little 1911. I’ve been handloading and carrying the 9MM Browning for close to twenty years now,(Walther PPK/s) the case as designed by Browning is best with bullets weighting 90-95 Grs. Due to its very small powder capacity. That little 1911 really performed great showing the accuracy that can be obtained from the mind of John Moses Browning.
Thank you very much for the kind words. John Browning certainly knew what he was doing. These Browning 1911s chambered in .380 ACP are some of the most accurate and comfortable pistols I have shot chambered in .380 ACP. They certainly impressed me! Thank you for watching! --Jeremiah
Thanks for showing the magazine disconnect *hazard* device. I almost bought one, but that hazard device is a non-starter. Fortunately, I’ve since learned this can easily be upgraded/repaired by removing nub on back of trigger pad. If I do end up buying one, I’ll immediately remove it, just as I did in my Browning HiPowers. Good review.
Absolutely! we try and show as much as possible and provide as much information as we can. I personally am not a fan of magazine safeties and I never understood why they put them on firearms especially one like this. I have heard that they are easy to disable and ours is sitting in the vault waiting for just such a modification to be made. Thank you for watching, glad to hear you enjoyed the video!
I have one of these and love the gun but the magazine disconnect is a problem. I've been meaning to take the trigger out and look and see what is going on there and it's good news to say it's easily modified. We can't blame Browning in reality it's some lawyer somewhere that thought of this.
Hello, great video. I run 3.2 gr Titegroup with the same bullet (Hornady 90 gr XTP HP) in my little Sig P238 pocket pistol. It works great, but I didn't know the velocity, so thank you for the chrono info. PS ... after seeing this video, I'm now a subscriber.
Bruce, Thank you so much for watching and sharing your experience with us I like those Sig P238 pocket pistols along with the Colt Mustangs as well they both hold a special place in my heart. We are glad that you found the video informative and helpful. Thank you for subscribing and for all of your support! -- Jeremiah
They did a really good job on these they are super cool and a lot of fun to shoot. A great way to introduce kids to the platform and a lot of fun to plink with as well. Overall I am very pleased with the firearm and since this video has been published I have put hundreds more rounds through the gun without a single hitch. Thanks for watching!
I agree in full these are some of the nicest Pistols I have fired in .380 ACP. Browning certainly knew what he was doing and I think he would be proud! Thank you for watching! --Jeremiah
Been looking at one of these I want the one with the rail mount tho my opinion is you need a light for any gun that your gonna use for defense or carry
They are really nice firearms, I think one with a rail would be great for self defense I personally am a big fan of having a light on my carry gun or at the very least with my carry gun. Thanks for watching and commenting! --Jeremiah
Im not a fan of the plastic guide rod either however seeing that I have lots of guns with plastic guide rods that never gave me problems Im cool with the design now.
I must admit that after many rounds through this gun the plastic guide rod has held up quite well and has not given us a single problem. While I think I would still prefer a metal one I can not knock on the plastic too hard. Thank you for watching and sharing your experience it is greatly appreciated! --Jeremiah
Certainly a good looking handgun and it appears to have enough size to be reliable. In my experience with a small number of micro 380s once they have been shrunken to a certain point failure to feed and failure to eject drills are all to common. Your XTP load at over 1000 fps with quite good accuracy should be a real dandy for self defense.
@@roustabout4458 It really is, we were really impressed with the performance of this handgun. We agree in full we have also experienced a lot of failure to feeds in those smaller .380s. Indeed it should be a worthy self defense load Those XTPs showed excellent accuracy in this handgun. A lot of records have been set with those bullets. It would be interesting to check bullet performance from this handgun and see how well they penetrate and expand. Perhaps something to revisit in the future.
Handloader TV what do you guys think is the reason the small 380s have feeding problems.i have a Taurus with that problem I don’t trust it too many feeding problem I just put it in the safe. Thanks
My carry loads (S&W 637 38Sp Snub Nose and 380ACP guns) are all with Hornady Critical Defense FTX ammo. It is interesting to compare your Load #4 (Av Muz Veloc = 1082 fps and Muz Energy = 234 ft-lbs) with those. Hornady rates their 90gr 380 FTX at a Muz Veloc = 1000 fps and Muz Energy = 200 ft-lbs. Now I've seen Hornady's 110gr FTX achieve a Muz Veloc = 959 fps and Muz Energy = 225 ft-lbs out of a S&W 637 38Sp. So your Load#4 has more Muzzle Energy from the Browning than a Hornady Critical Defense FTX 110gr 38 SP +P bullet has from a S&W Snub Nose. Impressive!
First of all thank you very much for sharing those numbers and figures, I feel that folks like you add a lot of value to the comments section. It makes it a place where folks can come and learn from others experience and that is what the comments section should be all about! Indeed, it has a longer barrel than the S&W snub nose I think that certainly helps but it is very interesting nonetheless. We have some interesting articles coming out in the next issue of Handloader on snub nosed revolvers I think it'll be a great read and an informative article. At any rate thanks again for watching and the kind words! --Jeremiah
I assume you are referring to the magazine safety? If so all you have to do to is depress the magazine release while maintaining pressure on the grip safety and pull the trigger to drop the hammer, just ensure the manual safety is not engaged or bumped with your hand while depressing the magazine release and pulling the trigger. Of course ensure your firearm is clear before dropping the hammer. I hope that makes sense! Thanks for the question!
Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment I think that is what the comment section is all about! A place where folks can come to and hear others personal experience and thoughts on the cartridge results and other things and hopefully learn something as well. So thanks for sharing your thoughts. --Jeremiah
Great question, they do make a 4.25 inch barrel but this is the compact model so it has a slightly shorter barrel of 3, 5/8". Thank you for the kind words and taking the time to watch the video! --Jeremiah
This is the exact cleaning procedure as stated by the manual. C L E A N I N G T H E M A G A Z I N E Frequently inspect magazines to determine the need for cleaning as lubricant and dirt will gradually collect in the mechanism. Normally, the magazine should be cleaned after firing 500 to 1000 cartridges. 1 Clean the magazine by spraying it both inside and out with an aerosol solvent that will not adversely affect the polymer magazine follower or corrode the metal components. 2 Cycle the magazine follower to loosen and remove dirt and grease. 3 Depress the follower and, using a cleaning rod with a tip and patch that will fit into the top of the magazine, clean any deposits of built-up material from the front of the magazine. 4 Spray the magazine again with polymer-safe solvent both inside and out, to loosen debris. 5 Shake all excess solvent from the magazine and dry with a cloth or blow dry with compressed air, if available. Hopefully that helps you out and makes sense. I believe the magazine can be disassembled as well but I think that would be rather extreme in most cases. I sadly don't have the magazine or gun in front of me currently to take a closer look. If that doesn't work let us know and we can take a closer look at the gun we have and see just how to disassemble the magazine. Thanks for watching and great question! --Jeremiah
Indeed, they are small and a bit expensive but the quality and craftsmanship is just as good if not better than most of your full size 1911 handguns and this particular one is very accurate as well. Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
If only I had started these videos earlier perhaps the company would still be around, sadly they went under many years ago. It is a Konig Jager Super Bench and they are fantastic but they were expensive and they are very difficult to find now even on the used market. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news! --Jeremiah
That would be nice to see the option, I personally am a big fan of having options, that said this is one of the nicest firearms chambered in .380 Auto that I have handled. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
The distance to the target was stated as 12 yards but after checking the range it was actually 15 yards which is the distance we test all of our handguns at on video this provides a good baseline should you want to compare this video with others. Thank you for watching and good question.
Sadly the rosewood is not real, it's a high quality artificial product but it's not real wood. That said your point is proven in your question it's very hard to tell the difference and it looks quite sharp and should hold up a little better than wood. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
It really depends on the load but overall I would say it is pretty light, if you watch the shooting scenes and see how far it jumps off the rest that will kind of give you an idea. It is a pretty light gun so there is a little bit of muzzle flip but it still allows relatively easy follow up shots. Thank you for watching and good question!
this is true at 3:30 we state that the hammer can be dropped meaning the gun can be fired without the magazine by depressing the magazine release. Thanks for watching!
we know of quite a few wildcat 470s, however the only one that I can think of off the top of my head that even comes close to what your describing is the .470 MBOGO but I am unsure of the parent case on that particular cartridge. the .416 Ruger is based off the .375 Ruger and necking up to 470 sounds like quite a stretch.
Handloader TV, I know it wouldn’t have much of a shoulder, but I think it would have like .062 which is case width minus.470 or .031 from case wall to edge of the bullet. I was thinking it might be like the .470 Capstick. That case doesn’t have much of a shoulder either.
@@imfromthestreets5856 That sounds about right to me. I do know of the .470 Capstick and I believe the parent case is the .375 H&H mag which means it also has a belt. I am not sure that it has been done with any documentation however further research would be required. I would look into cartridges of the world and wildcat cartridges I & II for reading material.
@@imfromthestreets5856 Perhaps I should have asked earlier. What exactly are you trying to do? find dimensions to a chamber? see what ammo fits in your rifle? or wanting to build a wildcat 470 based off the 375 Ruger? or perhaps just interested in cartridge collecting?
The target was 15 yards away, a little close but we test all of our handguns at that distance so our videos are directly comparable to each other. We are planning on doing more testing in the future at further ranges provided there is enough interest in the subject. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
Thank you for watching and thank you for the feedback. This one I believe was about a 50/50 split between the gun and loading for it/load review. We did our best to cover everything in detail including handloading. What specifically would you like to see more of in loading for the .380 Auto? If you have any questions we read every comment and do our best to respond to everyone and answer any questions.
What a beautiful gun. Contemplated buying one for CC, but I'm not interested in a plastic 1911. Can't believe the very company that invented the 1911 would create such a pile of shit.
It is a beautiful gun. It is a durable polymer and we would say just as strong as similar polymer framed guns, smiths, glocks, etc. And it also shoots very well it is just not your traditional build material.
@@patforet7336 They really are quite accurate for a .380 Auto and what a great point a great way to introduce kids to the 1911 without the recoil and to have something that fits their hands a little better and is lighter. Thank you for watching!
