95 grain
Standard · ball · the practice load
The most common .380 load on the shelf and the one most pistols are regulated for. Full metal jacket, round nose, feeds in nearly everything.
Pistol ammo · the pocket-pistol round
95 grain ball for the range and hollow points designed for short barrels, over the counter in Kearny Mesa. And the check we make with every .380 buyer: the box may say 9mm somewhere on it, and it is still not 9mm Luger.
Start here
Which .380 Should You Buy?
.380 lives in small pistols, and small pistols are the ones most likely to be particular about ammunition. Start there.
- Range practice
- 95 grain full metal jacket, the standard .380 load. It feeds in almost everything and it is what most .380 pistols are sighted for.
- Carry in a pocket pistol
- A hollow point its maker says is designed for short barrels, bought new. Put at least a box through your pistol before you trust it — little .380s are the pistols most likely to be fussy about a bullet's nose shape.
- A first pistol
- A small cartridge does not always mean a gentle pistol: very light .380s can kick sharply. If you can, shoot one before you buy one. The ammunition is the easy part.
One cartridge, four names
John Browning designed .380 ACP in the early 1900s for small pistols that did not need a locked breech. Europe calls it 9mm Kurz, 9mm Short or 9x17mm; America calls it .380 ACP or .380 Auto. They are all the same round, and a box marked any of them fits a .380 pistol.
It is shorter and less powerful than 9mm Luger. That is the point of it: a cartridge small enough for a pistol that fits in a pocket.
The number on the box
90, 95 and 100 Grain: What the Weight Changes
.380 comes in a narrow range of weights. What matters as much as the weight is the barrel you fire it from.
90 grain
Lighter · faster · hollow points
Common in defensive hollow points. The lighter bullet is a little faster, which some designs use to help a hollow point open from a short barrel.
100 grain
Heavier · flat nose · a little more mass
Less common. Often a round-nose flat-point bullet, chosen by some shooters who want a bit more bullet weight from a small cartridge. Try it in your pistol before you buy much of it.
What a short barrel does
Most .380 pistols have barrels under three and a half inches, and a short barrel costs velocity. A hollow point designed around a longer test barrel may not behave the same way out of a pocket pistol. That is why some makers publish loads specifically for short barrels — and why the box, not the caliber name, is the thing to read.
Counter mistakes
Four Rounds With 9mm on the Box
The number nine is on at least three different pistol cartridges, and we see them mixed up at the register.
.380 ACP, 9mm Kurz and 9mm Short are one round
Same cartridge, different names. A European box saying 9mm Kurz or 9mm Short, or a metric box saying 9x17mm, is .380 ACP and fits a .380 pistol.
9mm Luger is longer
9mm Luger (9x19mm) is a longer, more powerful cartridge. It will not fit a .380 chamber. A .380 round can drop into a 9mm chamber — and it must not be fired there. If the box and the barrel do not say the same thing, stop. Our 9mm page covers the round most people actually mean by “nine.”
9mm Makarov is in between
9mm Makarov (9x18mm) sits between .380 and 9mm Luger in length and uses a slightly wider bullet. It is interchangeable with neither. If your pistol came from Eastern Europe, read the barrel before you buy.
.38 anything is not .380
.38 Special, .38 Super and .38 S&W are different cartridges entirely, mostly for revolvers and a few larger pistols. The extra zero matters. Our .38 Special and .357 Magnum page sorts those out.
On the shelf in Kearny Mesa
.380 ACP Loads We Have Carried
Real boxes that have been across this counter and on the deals board. Pictured as printed, so you know what you are looking for on the shelf.
Recent .380 ACP boxes on this counter came from Federal, Freedom Munitions — and that is a record of what we have sold, not a promise of what is on the shelf today. The shelf moves daily and this site is updated by hand, so call or text before you drive out and somebody will go and look.
Why there is no price on this page
Ammunition pricing moves with the wholesale market, and a figure printed next to a caliber is wrong within weeks. So we quote .380 ACP on the phone, with a number that is true today. The one exception is the deals page, where a fixed price on a fixed quantity runs for a fixed week.
Before you drive out
Buying .380 ACP in California
A few minutes longer than buying anything else, and almost every problem we see at the counter could have been sorted out at home.
- .380 ACP is handgun ammunition, so 21 and over in California. At 18 to 20, call first.
- Every ammunition sale in California happens face to face at a licensed vendor. State law, not our policy, and the reason there is no cart on this site.
- Bring your California driver's license or ID card. If it reads FEDERAL LIMITS APPLY, bring a passport or certified birth certificate as well.
- Every purchase runs a DOJ eligibility check with a state-set fee collected on the state's behalf — not our charge, and we do not mark it up. The most common reason one fails is a stale record, not eligibility.
General information, not legal advice. Reviewed — the rules that govern every purchase are published by the California Department of Justice.
Ammunition and accessories only — no firearms, and no shooting range at this location. If you need somewhere to shoot what you buy, we keep a list of ranges around the county. Se habla español.
Common questions
.380 ACP Questions We Get at the Counter
Real questions from real customers, answered the way we answer them in person.
Is .380 the same as 9mm?
No. .380 ACP (also sold as .380 Auto, 9mm Kurz, 9mm Short or 9x17mm) is shorter and less powerful than 9mm Luger (9x19mm). 9mm Luger will not fit a .380 chamber, and a .380 round must not be fired in a 9mm pistol even though it may drop into the chamber. Buy the cartridge your barrel is stamped for.
Is 9mm Kurz the same as .380 ACP?
Yes. 9mm Kurz, 9mm Short, 9x17mm, .380 Auto and .380 ACP are all names for the same cartridge, and a box marked any of them fits a .380 pistol. 9mm Makarov (9x18mm) is a different cartridge and does not.
What .380 should I carry in a small pistol?
A hollow point its maker says is designed for short barrels, bought new, and proven in your own pistol with at least a box of practice first. Small .380 pistols can be particular about bullet nose shapes, so reliability in your gun matters more than any number on the box.
What grain .380 should I buy for the range?
95 grain full metal jacket. It is the standard load, it feeds in nearly every .380 pistol, and it is what most of them are sighted for. If you carry a 90 grain hollow point, practicing with it now and then tells you how your pistol handles it.
I am 18. Can I buy .380 ACP?
Call us before you drive out. California sets 21 as the minimum age for handgun ammunition and 18 for rifle and shotgun ammunition, and .380 ACP is handgun ammunition. If you are between 18 and 20, we would rather talk it through on the phone than turn you away at the register.
Do you have .380 in stock, and how much is it?
Call 858-987-0509 or text 310-499-3499 and we will quote today's price and check the shelf while you are on the line. The catalog carries no prices because ammunition moves with the wholesale market; when .380 is on the weekly deals board, the price is published on the deals page. This site is updated by hand, so treat nothing on it as today's inventory.
Stock & deal questions
Tell us the pistol and we will go look
Text is usually faster than a call. Send the pistol, what the barrel is stamped, and whether it is for practice or carry — somebody will walk to the shelf and tell you what is actually there.
Se habla español
- Ask if your caliber is in stock today, and what it runs.
- Ask what the in-store Deal of the Week is before you drive out.
- Ask what to bring for the California eligibility check.
- Ask anything about a load, a caliber, or your gun. No pressure, no attitude.
- Phone
- immediate during business hours
- Text
- anytime — immediate during business hours, forwarded after hours
- Hours
- Mon – Fri 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM · Sat – Sun 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Where We Are
LAX Ammo San Diego4411 Mercury St, Suite 103San Diego, CA 92111
Kearny Mesa, San DiegoOpen in Google Maps
Hours
- Mon – Fri
- 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Sat – Sun
- 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
Call or Text
858-987-0509Calls only
310-499-3499Text only
Text anytime. Anytime — immediate during business hours, forwarded after hours.
Before You Visit
- Bring your California ID — every ammo purchase needs an eligibility check.
- Purchases happen at the counter. No online checkout, and we don't ship ammo.
- Ammunition and accessories only. No firearms, no range at this location.
Se habla español
How California's ammo law works