I AM WORKING UP SHOT SHELL LOADS IN 380 AUTO BY CUTTING DOWN SPEER SHOT SHELL CAPS. PROBLEM IS DUE TO SMALL CASE CAPACITY WHEN I ADD A 2.0 GRAIN CHARGE OF RED DOT AND SEAT SHOTSHELL I END UP WITH A COMPRESSED LOAD. AM I MAKING A BOMB?

Close. Since the capsule and shot are likely weigh more than hardball and seating the capsule deep in the case reduces the normal capacity, you might want to reduce charges even more. Since you have to single load anyway, you might look into finding a case of similar diameter(9 Steyr,9 Largo,?), don't have any reference material with me, then partially sizing the upper portion of the case to fit ahead of the chamber (maybe 32ACP die) and load using punched card wads 2 below and 1 above the shot and seal with Elmer's. Use about 50% of a regular starting load to begin with. Also, get a 1# bag of #12 shot(will last forever), even #9 is pretty big for this use.

THANKS FOR THE REPLY BLACKHAWK 44. THE SHOT CAPSULE WITH SHOT WEIGHS 40GR. THATS HALF THE 80GR. WEIGHT OF THE BULLET LISTED IN THE MANUAL THAT CALLS FOR A 3GR. CHARGE OF RED DOT. THE 380 CASE IS SO SMALL THERES ALMOST NO ROOM FOR POWDER ONCE YOU GET AN OAL THAT WILL CHAMBER. TALKED TO THE BOYS AT MY LOCAL RELOADING SHOP THEY THINK IT WILL BE SAFE. IM GOING TO TEST FIRE TOMMORROW, WILL LET YOU KNOW RESULTS.