You may want to consult with your attorney about the wisdom of carrying handloads.Why not carry handloads? I trust mine better than any factory load. My carry loads are new factory primed brass, Weighed charges, finished off by a die that again full length sizes the case and will remove (or crush case) if any sizing defects or bulges were created in loading process.
It is a myth that hand loads will make you any more liable than factory loads In Georgia, Deadly force is deadly force. When deadly force can be used, you can use a stick to the head, hand load, factory load, 50 BMG, spiked mace on a chain, concrete block.. ..Take your pick.You may want to consult with your attorney about the wisdom of carrying handloads.
It is a myth that hand loads will make you any more liable than factory loads ...
All I know is, I’m sick of the latest and greatest SD ammo sold in 20rd boxes for well over a dollar a round. None of it does anything better than the 9mm +P+ BPLE that was widely available for $18/50rd preplandemic. Or Rem-UMC 357mag 125gn SJHP that was $50/100.
Keep your magic bullets, I stick with the classics.
In your l.E. career, did you know any Snipers, Marksman observers, (whatever you want to call them) that loaded their own sniper ammo? I knew several, because we could load so much more accurate ammo than we could buy.I'd not be quite so emphatic, as there are a number of circumstances where the use of handloaded ammunition may create more of an exposure to doubt, as well as potential civil liability.
Sure, its' easy to state that deadly force is deadly force, but if a question arises regarding the circumstances in which the deadly force was used, as stated by the victim using the handloads, it may be less easy to answer than if factory ammunition was used.
For example, the big names in ammunition have been reported to keep exemplars of their production runs, meaning the ammunition can be checked against it, if needed. If the distance alleged between attacker/victim may become a question - meaning creating doubt of the veracity of the victim's claims in other aspects, in the minds of investigators and jurors - the use of factory ammunition allows for checking forensic evidence with similar ammunition. Not as easily done with handloads, since it's only the victim's word how the ammunition was created and loaded. Look at the link below, scrolling down to the section on Gunshot Residue Analysis:
https://nj.gov/njsp/division/investigations/trace-evidence.shtml
It may be a fuzzier matter to debate whether loading their own defensive ammunition shows any particular state of mind of a victim, and it's often claimed that a good attorney can overcome smoke & mirror claims and problems that arise in an investigation and court case ... but that still costs money and time, and why create a situation where the attorney has to work any harder (and charge you more money) than must be done?
Also, as a former avid handloader myself, I've seen how some components (primers) can unexpectedly become an issue, as well as monitoring the amount of powder in a hopper, temperature humidity during handloading, etc may introduce factors not anticipated.
As a LE firearms trainer who has also worked in classes attended by private citizens, I've seen more ammunition-related failures occur with handloaded ammunition than with factory ammunition ... and that's considering that factory ammunition has been involved by the many hundreds of thousands of rounds, which is a LOT more than handloaded ammunition has been brought to classes.
When obvious handloaded ammunition problems have arisen during classes, the usually responses from the shooters affected by them has been, "But that's never happened with my handloads before?!?", or, "But that's never happened with the handloads my friend has made for me before?!?". Maybe not, but it sure happened that time on the range, causing a problem for the shooter and slowing everything down for everyone else while the resulting problem had to be corrected. Imagine that happening outside the range, when someone desperately needed the ammunition to work as desired?
Not saying it can't happen with factory ammunition. Just saying that I've seen it happen much more often with handloads people have brought to a range session, and among a much smaller sample size than with factory ammunition.
You pay your money and you take your chances.
Absolutes are hard to come by, granted.
In your l.E. career, did you know any Snipers, Marksman observers, (whatever you want to call them) that loaded their own sniper ammo? I knew several, because we could load so much more accurate ammo than we could buy. ...
It is really not about how premium or "precision" a batch of ammo is. It is about how well the rifle likes it. You mess with powder charge and seat depth, you can turn a 1/2 moa into a quarter moa rifle. Most of the L E. Snipers I trained with and shot with were barely sub MOA shooters. They are usually lost as last year's Easter egg on the 1000. If I threw factory ammo in my 1k rifle, I would probably look just as lost.Sniper gave way to precision rifle shooter.
In answer to your question, no. Nobody was allowed to use anything other than the best factory ammunition that could be sourced. Too much potential for exposure to unnecessary liability, or at least the perception of it, if an incident resulted in the big orbital magnifying glass being brought to bear upon each and every minute aspect of events.
Joking aside, once one type or another of premium precision ammunition was selected, and each rifle was checked with it and a dope card created for the rifle shooter and the particular rifle/ammunition, consistency was always checked and rechecked.
When claims and lawsuits can result from civilian LE actions, it's preferable to avoid any needless opportunity for exposure to anything that could be made into an issue. Even if it's not an issue, it can still become an exercise in time and money to deal with it. Especially when paid "experts" are a dime a dozen who can be brought in to testify to jurors.
This is something that may easily change from one agency to another, though, and there are more than 17,000 state and local LE agencies in the US.
It is really not about how premium or "precision" a batch of ammo is. It is about how well the rifle likes it. You mess with powder charge and seat depth, you can turn a 1/2 moa into a quarter moa rifle. Most of the L E. Snipers I trained with and shot with were barely sub MOA shooters. They are usually lost as last year's Easter egg on the 1000. If I threw factory ammo in my 1k rifle, I would probably look just as lost.
None. My theory is that if you can shoot 6 " groups at 1000, 100 yds is a cake walk. Some of my guys used to have trouble shooting a 90 with hand gun every quarter. We quit practicing at 25, 15, 7, and 3 yards and started practicing at 50 and 100. Once they figured out 100 yard, the 25 yd and under qualification course was a cake walk.How many LE snipers are taking a shot at 1000 yd in the line of duty?
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When the question of handloads versus factory loads for self defense came up in this thread, I suggested using "search" to catch up on the long and in depth threads that had already gone very deep into the topic. Its kind of like "headspace". It does not need to be done over. The uninformed might spend the effort to catch up
I'll put out the standard
Ready? OK,here is the reason. If you are involved in a SD shooting death,you essentially confess to a homicide. Now you provide evidence the homicide was justified.
Ballistic forensic evidence might be critical to your defense. Maybe there are no witnesses. All you have is a dead body and a story.
Ballistic evidence can add credibility to your story. Gun shot residue,for example.
A police forensic lab or defense firearms expert can go buy the same factory load that was in your gun and conduct tests that will be admissible as evidence.
You won't be able to get admissible evidence from handloads. The lab can't go buy your handloads to test.
That is the issue. Carry handloads and you give up ballistic forensic evidence as an element of your defense.
To answer your question, No. I'm not a lawyer,I don't have the time or resources. Once again,why waste the time and energy to re-invent the wheel and hijack this thread off into the weeds?Can you link me a reported/recorded example of when such a situation in terms of ballistics testing being unable to be performed came up? Not you heard it from someone, but there’s a report or news story you can link us to that will show this.
It didn't answer mine. It was a bunch of speculation and repeated stuff someone else heard from what someone else said. I saw no court citations of cases that came down against handloads. Saying handloads for self defense increase your liability is like saying using a weapon that has been in any way modified from factory will increase your liability. If you miss mister Perp and hit miss Judy Joe on her Sunday stroll, all those factors can come into question. In a "good shoot", it's all pointless and meaningless.To answer your question, No. I'm not a lawyer,I don't have the time or resources. Once again,why waste the time and energy to re-invent the wheel and hijack this thread off into the weeds?
Because it seems not many folks have the energy to use the "search" function,I did it for you. I first came across the advice I repeated via Massad Ayoob.
If you will go to the link below,the first that I found with "search" you will see the weigh-in of all the legal minds here at TFL. They have written and researched the topic in depth. Please go read the thread linked below and see if it does not answer your question.
Your question is not a new one. As I recall,Spats McGee addresses it in that thread.
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=599906&highlight=handloads+for+self+defense