Wanted to post about some recent fun I had with my 6.5" Bullberry .380acp. This is my stress relief barrel that is frequently taken out on the back porch along with a box of ammo. I just shoot until the stress goes away

I set the barrel up with Williams rear and T/C front Silhouette sights, along with Herrett style T/C wood forend and a custom grip I purchased off of Ebay a while back.

This setup barely has any recoil and feels like I am shooting a 22mag. With the .380acp loads I shoot it is getting 1270 fps with Spanish Santa Barbra European police 90Gr. JSP, and 1180 fps with a 100Gr. Dynamit Nobel load using a Jacketed Soft Point with a tiny hollow point dimpled into the surface of the meplat. Both are available through SOG the first for $80.00 per 100 case and the second for $90.00 per 1000 case.

Groups were at 50 yards using a padded adjustable pistol bench rest. Normally I shoot it freehand and even a lot one handed like an olympic free pistol. This is what I sometimes do to de-escalate stress

Do any of you have barrels set up primarily for the sole purpose of fun stress relief shooting, and if so, what are they and what kind of shooting do you do for such fun?

Yep.......357 Max. I shoot everything out of it. .38 spls, .357 mags, and .357 maxs. Hardcast bullets and a whole bunch of plinking targets (out on the farm we usually shoot up all the old veggies). Never had any issues with ringing in the chamber and just run a patch thru it every once in a while.
Nice looking rig there...at one time I thought about having one chambered 9mm...for cheap ammo and fun.

quote:

Originally posted by skb2706:
Nice looking rig there...at one time I thought about having one chambered 9mm...for cheap ammo and fun.

Thanks! BTW, your 357Max rig sounds like a lot of fun

I also have a 6.5" TCA 9mm barrel I shoot a lot in the same configuration, it's just that right now, very good .380 ammo is very cheap and available

The 9mm barrel produces fantastic 357mag type velocities with the right ammo, and is a lot of fun to shoot game and varmints with as an open sighted pistol rested on the tops of fence posts.

Wow!!

What neat idea!!

I had thought about getting an 8" 9mm for kinda the same purpose, because of cheap ammo and my 550 Dillon is set up for 9mm once in awhile. Never thought about a .380. Those are some really good groups too!!

Thanks for the idea!!

quote:

Originally posted by Lowrider 49:
I had thought about getting an 8" 9mm for kinda the same purpose, because of cheap ammo and my 550 Dillon is set up for 9mm once in awhile. Never thought about a .380. Those are some really good groups too!!
Thanks for the idea!!

When I got it off of Ebay, I never knew how accurate this .380 barrel ould turn out to be. My only thought was "hey, that will be a lot of fun to plink 25 and 50 yard targets with."

Not quite as cheap as a 22lr barrel, but the .380 Bullberry and 9mm TCA 6.5" barrels are very cheap to shoot and have little recoil. I also have a 6.5" 22Short made by Mike Bellm that in addition to being extremely accurate and fun to shoot in this format, is also a great short range Varminter here on the farm. Almost no recoil with this one

BTW, except for the .380 which has Silhouette sights, all of these 6" barreled Contenders holster well in an Uncle Mike's nylon large frame 4" revolver holster.

I also have an 8" 44mag with machined in brake that I holster in a Uncle Mike's nylon large frame 6" revolver holster.