I fired the bullets from 5 feet through 2 layers of denim in front of the gel. The 380 bullet from Sierra has a huge hollow point, and weighs 90 gr. I push them just a hair over 1000 fps, and they are very accurate in my G42. I bought them from Midway, but apparently it was a 1 time run from Sierra, and they are not available any longer. Good thing I bought 200 at the time, because it's a nasty little bullet.
As typical of most 380 hollow points, penetration was limited to just over 8", but it left a decent wound cavity.
Expansion was picture perfect, and it retained 100% of it's weight.
Next up was a cast 38 Special +P from an old Lyman mold. These weigh 135 gr. cast from a 50-50 mix of pure lead and clip on wheel weights. It runs 960 fps, and fully penetrated the 12" of gel, stopping just at the end of the block. It shed a bit of the hollow nose portion, but overall looks like a great performer for a defensive load.
Next was the 45acp Lyman Devastator pushed by 6.5 gr. of Unique. It lived up to it's name, producing a massive cavity, and fully penetrating the block, and just denting the phone book backer. It shed several petals of the nose portion that jutted off creating secondary wound channels.
As a result of these tests, I feel pretty comfortable carrying any of these bullets for defensive use.
I EDC a .380, but don't ya just love a .45? 
