Vintage Llama .380 ACP

I've got a lot to try and squeeze in here so sit back, relax, and scroll slowly.

The right shoulder is still in recovery mode and I am despondent over the reality that the complete rehabilitation will take almost a year.  I am starting over in terms of gaining range of motion and strength back in the arm.  Everything that I can do with the arm has to be retrained.  The surgery was 90 days ago and my penmanship is terrible.  I have written some notes that I cannot later decipher.  I am also told that when I am able to pick up a pistol again I will find that my shooting skills will have deteriorated greatly as well. 

I am trying to find the silver lining in this dark cloud and figure it is two thing:

1. I will have the opportunity to retrain and perhaps lose any bad habits developed over the years.

2. It has forced me to really concentrate on shooting with my weak hand.  At this point shooting with only the left hand is literally all I can do.

When I finally accepted that left handed shooting was going to be all I could do for a year I realized that I was going to have to leave the .45s and .40s in the safe for the time being.  I needed to focus on fundamentals with smaller calibers and work my way up to my cherished .45 ACP.

Llama .380 ACP

Rummaging around in the deep recesses of my safe I found two long forgotten pistols that are perfect for this challenge and this article focuses on the first one which is the Llama .380 ACP.  I purchased this pistol in a small shop when I was in college in 1977.  It was on consignment for $79.00 if I remember correctly.  At the time I was drawn to it because of its resemblance to a 1911 which was not affordable at that time in my life.  I also thought the completely unnecessary ventilated rib across the top of the frame lent a Colt Python coolness to it.  I was able to negotiate it down a few dollars more and briefly cherished it until I took it to the range.  This was my first semi-automatic pistol having only owned two revolvers prior to this purchase.  I was a novice shooter at that time and I blamed the poor accuracy on the pistol.  I was sure it was the pistol and not the lack of practice (my training schedule was to shoot about half a box of ammo twice a year at that point).  Also the Llama would not feed hollowpoint ammunition and, quite frankly, in 1977 there was not a plethora of .380 JHP ammo to be found.

Fast forward to today when I needed to build up my weak handed shooting skills and I realized that the neglected Llama would be the perfect platform to begin with.  It is large enough to fit my hand well and handle the recoil (what recoil there is) of the .380 cartridge.  I also suspected two other things:

1. I would probably find that the past 34 years of retirement  in the safe would actually have improved the accuracy of the Llama.  (It might also have something to do with the fact that I had matured as a shooter.)

2. While it would not feed hollowpoint ammo in 1977 it just might be completely reliable with Hornady's Critical Defense load.

I must be psychic as I was correct on both points.

Back to the Llama


Llama was established in 1904 in Spain and manufactured firearms up until 2005.  In 1992 they went bankrupt and eventually 60 employees reorganized the structure, arranged new financing and operated Llama as a cooperative.  For many years Stoeger was their exclusive importer into the US  and this pistol bears the Stoeger imprint.  


There were several firearms manufacturers in Spain however Llama was at the lower end of scale in terms of fit and finish.  


This 1911 Government Model clone takes down just like a John Browning original with the exception that the barrel does not require a movable link and the slide release lever stakes the barrel in place.

The fit and finish on this specimen is not bad on the exterior but the interior is, in a word, rough.  Hopefully this photo will allow you to see all the tool marks on the interior of the slide.

The slide to frame fit is very gritty and trying to clean the inside of the slide is a frustrating process.  Anything you use to wipe across the interior will catch and leave fiber strands.  Cotton clothes, flannel clothes, silicon cloths, gun swabbing patches, and Mil-Spec oil soaked towelettes all get shredded by the sharp edges left inside the slide.


I also think that the frame mounted safety needs some work.  As this is at least a forty year old pistol it is quite possible that the spring needs to be replaced.  I remember quite well that the safety used to snap into place with a very positive "click" and stayed there until you very intentionally pushed it down.  Now my confidence in it is not as sharp and I began carrying it with the hammer down. If needed I figured that thumbing back the hammer was not going to be that much slowed than releasing the safety (as long as I remembered to do it).


All in all that is about the only negative to this little long forgotten pistol.  The trigger has some minor, light take-up before breaking cleanly at 4.8 pounds.  The sights are all black and small but completely usable with the rear sight being adjustable for lateral point of impact.


Let's take a look at the targets.  Now I will remind you that these are all shot using the left hand only and I was quite pleased that they weren't any worse than they what you see


Here's 36 rounds of PMC 90 grain FMJ ammo fired at 21 feet:

Here's 50 round of Sellier and Bellot 90 grain FMJ fired at 21 feet

And last but certainly not least 8 rounds of Hornady Critical Defense Ammo

I am really happy how well I was able to shoot the Critical Defense load.  While a .380 is the bare minimum of defensive calibers it is good to know that I can leverage the accuracy and expansion that the Critical Defense load offers.


So, what have we learned by all of this!  Well I can think of two things:


1. We should put more practice into shooting weak-handed before something happens that makes it mandatory.
2. If you have old handguns tucked away in the dark recesses of your safe because you weren't happy with them you just might want to go back, clean them up, and see if something has changed in your shooting style that improves their performance.