Concealed Carry Ammo - Factory Rounds or Your Reloads?

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For SD carry I'll stick with what law enforcement uses -- Gold Dot, HST, Ranger or Golden Saber.

No offense intended to reloaders here. If you've got your act together I don't doubt your reloads are just awesome.

But, if I have to go to court (God forbid) my attorney can tell the jury that his client was using exactly the same round that many police agencies use.

And that's a non-starter. It gives the prosecutor no where to go. :)
 
Same here, I've shot thousands of my own reloads and never had a problem, then again I'm using a hand press and taking my time, no high speed automated progressives to worry about problem powder drops.
Click to expand...

Yep.

My dad bought me a single stage Rock Chucker press in 1976 (I was 10 years old), and I still load my ammo with it. I use a powder measure to drop the charge in the scale pan, and weigh/adjust every one before going into a case, and then moving it to the loading block.

Then they're all viewed with a light to insure that all have equal powder before bullets are seated.

I have firearms that have never had a factory cartridge shot or chambered in them.

In fact, self-defense is the only use I have for factory centerfire ammo.

;)

Daryl
 
Model 36 .38spec. with 168gr Keith SWC over 4.5gr Unique. I carry this when I can't get factory "FBI" loads (158gr lead hollowpoint SWC). I load this ammo by itself and only on a single stage machine. I have never had it fail when firing it off yearly.
 
Factory only for me too...165gr hydrashocks in my .40 M&P full size, 147gr Federal HST in my Kel-Tec PF9, and soon 180gr Gold Dot for short barrels in my new Springfield EMP .40 :D
 
Gold Dots, though I do think that the fears of using handloaded ammo are unfounded. If I ever have to use my CCW, I think the ammo question will be the least of my worries.
 
I carry 150 Grn SWC (Lyman 358477) pushed by 5.4 grns of unique in my 642.

But since this topic has shown up again, I'm just sorry I'm out of pop corn, cause its gonna get interesting.
 
Oh, no! Not this topic again! Last time it came up I got so worried and confused that I resolved to carry my CCW unloaded to avoid possible legal action. It works, not a single process server has showed up with bad news! :rolleyes:
Microwave popcorn OK, Captain? :D
 
My reloads only.

I know other places in the USA are screwed up. But here if it's a justifiable shoot. You can't be sued. It's the LAW! :D
 
Both/either. I haven't bought factory .38 special or .357 magnums in so long that I can't remember. I have lots of factory and reloaded ammo for various autoloading pistol calibers. Despite the never ending claims that "wisdom and prudence demand carrying only factory ammo" I don't buy the hysteria. If you are justified in using lethal force it shouldn't matter. As for reliability.......... Sunday I had one of my .45acp reloads that I loaded 20 years ago require 3 hits on the primer before it fired. Other than that they have always performed as expected. OTOH I recently had a premium self defense factory loading fail to fire. Being curious, I disassembled the round -the primer had no anvil.
 
Handloads, or??

You may make the best loads in the world but in court they can unmake your otherwise wonderful defense. Handloads are great for practice and function, but I would also make certain to practice with factory loads...the ones you carry for self-defense. I am sure you have all noted that many factory loads have the labels, "Personal Defense" or "Self Defense" on them. Those are the ones that will be the hardest to challenge after a shooting. I don't fool myself into thinking that there aren't lawyers out there who WILL both sue and/or prosecute over a shooting. No matter if the law says they can't do so. They all want to the first to have a landmark challenge to any law or situation. It really doesn't matter to those guys whether their work is fair or not, right or wrong. They want the 'corner office'. And they'll go across your, or my, back to get it.
Empirically, factory loads have a better track record for safe power levels and controllablility and continuity between rounds than handloads do.
Having done with that I am NOT an attorney and am not giving legal advice. Just my dos centavos. Regards.
 
Duplicate threads merged and resulting thread moved to General Handguns.

The merge may result in some discontinuity in the discussion.
 
I was hoping to see this as opinions from 2 different groups. Those that carry and those that carry and reload. It seemed that the SemiAuto group was more responsive than the Handloaders. I didn't expect that.

I find it weird that lawyers would try to find you guilty of malice for defending yourself against a BG by using Reloaded ammo. Like the fact that you defended yourself with a lead bullet would create an "evil" intent.

ME: "I thought he was going to kill me, so I shot him"
LAWYER:"Ahhh but did you use a bullet"
ME:"Yes I did"
LAWYER:" and did that bullet contain Lead"
ME:"Yes it did"
LAWYER:"So you were trying to kill him with lead poisoning"

How stupid is that. Like a Copper jacketed bullet, or any metal moving at 1100 fps and ripping thru his flesh, wasn't the deadly part of this situation. It's sad that the world makes us carry a firearm to defend ourselves. Sadder still that we have to be scrutinized for defending ourselves at that level. I hope I wasn't eating peanuts while I was reloading. The BG might be allergic to nuts.
 
As often as this argument comes up no one has ever documented a case where using hand loads has made any difference in any SD trial.

Hornady 124gr XTP over 6.0gr Power Pistol for me in my 9's.
 
When I took my concealed carry class I asked the Instructor about using reloads for self defence and he stated that there was nothing to the myth about using reloads. No one can prove you intentionally loaded that ammo for a particular situation. If they can say you did then they could say you bought a particular ammo for that situation. All my ammo is used for whatever I need to use it for, period.
 
Rethink that...

I agree that it doesn't matter morally. It absolutely does matter legally. The last thing responsible gun owners need is to lose a case because of careless or lax attitudes.
If the poster above doesn't feel that there are no cases where ammunition has mattered in a use of force trial perhaps he would consider reading some of Mas Ayoob's experiences. In over 39 years of police work I have seen several cases where the DA tried their best to put the person who defended themselves on trial and they have always micro-scrutinized the ammo used. This is a reason that police agencies stipulate ammo for carry by their folks. Over the years manufacturers, like Winchester with their 'Black Talon', have adapted their advertising to desensationalize their products because of various complaints and challenges. Black Talon ammo is still available, just not by that name or with a black projectile.
If we put a little effort into what we're doing when we carry we can protect ourselves in the sad cases where we need to use force to preserve ourself. If we go through life pretending that 'it doesn't matter morally or legally' we are losing the situation before it ever occurs.
 
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