32 ACP pistols it replaced, no nation retained it as a military service cartridge for very long after the war (when it was largely replaced by the more powerful 9×19mm Parabellum). 380 ACP was considered to be a moderately powerful service pistol round before World War II when compared to the. The Italian Army used the Beretta M1934, but the Italian Air Force and Navy stuck with the 7.65mm/.32 ACP when they adopted the Beretta M1935. Popular German built commercial models, such as the Walther PPK were very popular with German officers. It was also used extensively by Germany, who captured or purchased hundreds of thousands of pistols in this caliber during World War II. It was later adopted by the armies of at least five European nations as their standard pistol cartridge before World War II Czechoslovakia (Vz.38), Hungary (FEMARU 37M), and Italy, all of whom used domestic designs, as well as The Netherlands and Yugoslavia, both of whom adopted the FN Model 1922.
380 ACP has experienced widespread usage since its introduction in the United States (1908) and in Europe (1912). There have also been some relatively diminutive (blowback-operated) submachine guns, such as the Ingram MAC-11 and the Czech vz. 380 ACP, such as the Remington Model 51, Kel-Tec P3AT and Glock 42 all three being designed to be lighter than blowback-operated. 380 ACP does not require a locking mechanism, there have been a number of locked-breech pistols chambered in. 380 ACP, but the required weight of the slide and strength of the spring makes this an unpopular option. Blowback weapons can be made in calibers larger than.
The higher the power of the round, the heavier the slide assembly has to be in order for its inertia to safely absorb the recoil, meaning that a typical blowback pistol in a given caliber will be heavier than an equivalent recoil-operated weapon. A drawback of the blowback system is that it requires a certain amount of slide mass to counter the recoil of the round used. Blowback operation also permits the barrel to be permanently fixed to the frame, which promotes accuracy, unlike a traditional short recoil-operation pistol, which requires a tilting barrel to unlock the slide and barrel assembly when cycling. Using blowback operation, the design can be simplified, and lowered in cost a locking mechanism is unnecessary, since the mass of the slide and strength of the recoil spring are enough to absorb the recoil energy of the round, due to the round's relatively low bolt thrust. These relatively low-powered designs were intended for blowback pistols which lacked a barrel locking mechanism, which is often required for any handgun firing a round more powerful than a. 380 ACP was designed to be truly rimless, and headspaces on the case mouth instead of the rim for better accuracy. 38 ACP design, which was only marginally more powerful. 380 ACP cartridge was derived from Browning's earlier. 380 ACP does not strictly conform to cartridge naming conventions, named after the diameter of the bullet, as the actual bullet diameter of the. 380 Auto, 9×17mm, 9mm Browning, 9mm Corto, 9mm Kurz, 9mm Short, and 9mm Browning Court (which is the C.I.P. It was introduced in 1908 by Colt, for use in its new Colt Model 1908 pocket hammerless semi-automatic, and has been a popular self-defense cartridge ever since, seeing wide use in numerous handguns (typically smaller weapons). The cartridge headspaces on the mouth of the case. 380 ACP (9×17mm) ( Automatic Colt Pistol) is a rimless, straight-walled pistol cartridge developed by firearms designer John Moses Browning. Test barrel length: 3.75 inches (95.3 mm) 380 ACP pistol cartridge by Sellier & Bellot.