use self defense ammo or practice ammo

I use a much cheaper, but similar shooting ammo for practice. The bullet is the most expensive component in your ammo. Don't need them for punching paper. For that matter, wadcutters are preferred.

The only stipulation I would make is that if your practicing includes quick reloading with speedloaders, pick a bullet type similar to your defense ammo for that. Wadcutters don't work so well in speed loaders, and semi-wadcutters work, but not so great.
 
Mike and Tim I think answers my question to the best of my thinking, Shoot and practice with what you'd carry for SD at all times or reload to similar loads.
My thoughts on this is Memory. MY WHOLE BODY GOES THRU A MEMORY THING WHEN I PRACTICE WITH USING MY SD AMMO. I don't want any surprises at the wrong time. The biggest difference in handling is when I practice with my GP 4.2"
357. Plink ammo feels like I'm shooting BBs. SD ammo fels like it has real substance not just bang then air. Maybe I'm wrong on this, but for me until someone comes up with better advice I will stick to using SD ammo 99% of the time.
I havn't yet learned reloading but now that i'm semi retired, maybe I can with a little help from my friends.
 
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I'd say find the closest shooting "plinking ammo" you can to match your SD load- or roll your own, but I find the cost of most trustworthy SD ammo to be prohibitive.

I like Pikie's advice of shooting at least 5 of your SD ammo of choice each time (or so) you go shooting - preferably the ones that have been in your cylinder for the past week or so.

Shooting the ammo you carry has value, but I believe the best thing to do is get as much quality practice as possible. When it starts to be in the neighborhood of $1/bang, I can't afford to be shooting all that much. The quality practice, the better.

Before someone says "it's your life and the life of your family, don't make any compromises," taking care of said lives also involves taking good care of vehicles, buying healthy food, assorted medical costs, etc., etc...

Ed McGivern recommended using a .22 handgun to practice because it allowed high volume shooting. If a .22 is good practice, then so is a mild .38, etc...

The only exception would be a load that shoots to a very different POA than your carry load, causing you to habitually aim to a different spot than your duty load will hit.
 
I will buy a jacked bullet if they are really cheap on sale. If I continue to carry my 9mm Shield often might invest in some hollow points, might not. I use a 150gr. full wadcutter in my Colt Cobra and am experimenting with a 240gr. full wadcutter in my Mountain Lite. I shoot Lee's 230gr. truncated looking thingy in my LW Commander.

I wonder if good and lotsa practice isn't more important than how shiny your HP is?
 
I practice mostly dry fire first of all. The second most common is what ever is cheapest. But every time I do live fire I always start and finish off my session with at least 1 cylinder of my self defense ammo.

Some time the good stuff is all I shoot but that is getting less common.
 
You can certainly practice with plinking ammo, but at least run a few rounds that approximate what's in your home defense or carry gun, just to recalibrate yourself.
If you don't shoot frequently, I'd try to practice at least 100-200 rounds of .22 or .38 (or whatever is cheap) every time, if you must, just to stop from getting way too rusty.
Depends on how much you shoot, how frequently you shoot, how many guns you have, and what kind of access you have to a place to shoot.

I load my home defense gun with full power .45 s/d ammo, and only shoot full power 200 grain XTPs for practice, but I can reload them somewhat reasonable.

I try to shoot at least 100-200 rounds of whatever a week (I used to go to the range every day without fail.), spend some quality time with a bigger boomer when I have more time to burn. I reload, and live just a few miles from an outdoor range. I think I average 600-800 rounds a month, over my shooting lifetime. Last month I took a week off, and shot about 4000 rounds that week. Some .22, some 9mm, quite a bit of .38, a lot of 9mm, some .45 acp, and a LOT of .41 magnum.

TLDR:
I guess what I'm trying to say, is in the long haul, shoot what you can where you can, as often as you can, and don't sweat the details too much. Just don't let your home defense or carry gun become a stranger.
 
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Accuracy is in the hands of the shooter, NOT the firearm and its ammo! If you are very wealthy, shoot only the most expensive ammo to your pocket book's desire...if you are on a budget, shoot the lesser target rounds. You will not notice a difference into a paper target...as long as you keep you chamber, bore and muzzle clean and dry.

Oh, and stay away from foreign and cheap target rounds for practice. Buy common name brands.
 
I think it's best to utilize a load that has equal power as your SD load. If you can shoot a practice load that has the exact same recoil as a SD load but with a cheaper bullet would be a wise idea. The most costly thing I pay for is self defense bullets.
 
I practice with my own reloads ( FMJ but similar recoil to my carry ammo )....7 or 8 boxes a week with my tactical drills..in and out of holster, speed reloads, etc...

I shoot about 2 boxes a year of my carry ammo....just to make sure it still runs 100% reliably thru my primary gun .
 
I guess what I'm trying to say, is in the long haul, shoot what you can where you can, as often as you can, and don't sweat the details too much. Just don't let your home defense or carry gun become a stranger.
Click to expand...

I think this nails it on the head.
 
Despite what the armchair experts tell you, shoot "cheap" for fun and load performance ammo for SD.
Just as you won't notice the heavier recoil when shooting performance loads under pressure, neither will it adversely impact your ability to shoot, or hit the target.

The competition shooter, and the "expert" with money to earn will of course tell you you MUST train with performance ammo...shooting a thousand rounds a week, when the reality is your odds of being in a "gunfight" are somewhat LESS than being in an airliner "mishap!"

Sure you want to be confident, but when the time comes, whether your 9mm is carrying 330 lf-ft KE loads or 430 lb-ft KE loads won't make ONE WHIT of difference in how you deliver the shots.
 
I shoot hand loads almost exclusively, no matter what. I load my SD loads and plinking loads to the same POI and shoot both loads regularly. I know all about the idea of legal issues involving hand loads for SD, and I don't care. When I pull the trigger I want to know what's going to happen with that round, and my hand loads give me the accuracy and dependability to do that. In the last 30 years I would guess I have probably shot up maybe 5-6 boxes of factory ammo in all of my guns combined, and of them none were in my revolvers.
 
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