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Posted On: 8/14/2022
By: PAT WINSTON
A: Thanks for reaching out Pat! In all honesty, you may not even notice a difference between a 90gr and a 95gr load. (To be sure, a bullet's weight is measured in grains, where one grain equals 1/437.5 ounces.) Now, one performance difference you may notice is recoil, because recoil energy is determined by four factors: bullet weight, muzzle velocity, propellant charge weight and firearm weight. Your S&W weighs 1.16 lbs, and we can reasonably assume a 380 ACP cartridge has 3.5 grains of propellant. That means this PMC cartridge ought to hit you with approximately 2.96 ft lbs of recoil energy. In comparison, a 380 round with a 95 grain bullet and resultantly lower 945 fps muzzle velocity will produce approximately 3.15 ft lbs of recoil energy. That's so slight a difference that I'd be truly surprised if you could feel it! (You can play around with the recoil calculator here if you like: shooterscalculator.com/recoil-calculator.php)
You can expect the cartridge with the heavier, slower-flying bullet to produce a trajectory which falls off faster – but again, the difference will be so small that you may not even notice it. Really, I'd advise using the same bullet weight for practice as you would for self-defense. Doing so will help you enjoy more realistic conditions while you're sharpening your skills with your everyday carry pistol.
