Sellier & Bellot's .380 uses a 92-grain full metal jacket, an in-between weight in a caliber where nearly everything else is 90 or 95 grains. It leaves the muzzle at 955 fps with 186 ft-lbs of energy. From a 25-yard zero it sits 2.0 inches low at 50 yards and 14.1 inches low at 100, but treat those as reference numbers only: a .380 is a 7 to 15 yard pistol, and inside that distance every load compared here hits to the same hold. Its recoil energy is the second-lowest of the six loads here, above only the PMC 90-grain.

The head-to-head is mostly about recoil. PMC Bronze 90-grain runs 6 fps faster at 961 fps and produces about 4 percent less recoil energy in the same pistol. Winchester USA 95-grain matches the Sellier & Bellot exactly at 955 fps, but its heavier bullet means about 6 percent more recoil, and PPU 94-grain at 951 fps kicks about 4 percent harder. CCI Blazer Aluminum 95-grain TMJ is 10 fps slower and still produces about 5 percent more recoil energy. Tula 95-grain is the outlier: 1,017 fps and 218 ft-lbs, 62 fps and 32 ft-lbs ahead of the S&B, with about 18 percent more recoil energy and a steel case that some ranges will not allow. Muzzle energy across the other five spans only 185 to 191 ft-lbs, so on paper they are the same load with different recoil.

This is a soft-recoiling practice load for anyone who shoots a small .380 a lot and wants a step up in bullet weight from a 90-grain without the extra recoil of a 95. If you carry a 90-grain hollow point, note that Speer Gold Dot 90-grain JHP leaves at 1,040 fps and produces about 10 percent more recoil energy in the same pistol, so this Sellier & Bellot is a mild stand-in rather than a match. If you want the fastest ball in the set to see how your pistol handles a hot load, Tula 95-grain at 1,017 fps is the one to try, steel case and all.