Though the .380 auto round, or .380 ACP, is often thought of
being too small for self-defense, it has earned its place in history. At
roughly the same time he was designing the .45 round, John Browning also
created the .380 auto round. Colt first
introduced the round in 1908 as a low-recoil alternative to be used in early
blowback pistols. Because of the low recoil, the slide and recoil spring take
the brunt of the force when shot.
The .380 has seen its share of war-time usage, especially by
the Germans and Italians. In fact, it is storied to be the round used to start
World War 1, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, along with his
wife. In the early portion of the 20
th century, the .380 was
extremely popular among military and law enforcement organizations around the
world.
However, as the 9mm popularity began to spread, many
departments switched from using the .380 as their primary weapon to using it as
a secondary, or concealed, backup. In fact, most believe the reason it is still
popular today is because of the easy at which you can conceal the gun, due to
their small size. On a side note, when “Defense Distributed” 3-d printed a
firearm for the “Wiki Weapon” project, the .380 was the caliber of choice.
Each box contains 1,700+ once fired brass shell casings with a nickel finish. This is unprocessed brass sourced from commercial shooting ranges. It has not been cleaned or resized and still contains the spent primer.
This brass contains different manufacturer's headstamps. It is recommended that all brass be inspected prior to being reloaded and fired.