Special reloads or Quality factory SD ammo?

[Dragon55]

I wish I had stated it like this:

Do you reload your own SD ammo or do you use factory SD ammo?
* I use my own reloads for my SD ammo
* I use factory SD ammo

If anyone else reads this far down the posts before responding please consider the phrasing above.

Thanx,
Eddie

[alloy]

* I use my own reloads for my SD ammo

I didn't vote because of the specially prepared, special part. It's all target/range ammo to me, all prepared the same way, one round at a time, and a bit milder than a few hollow point store bought loads I've shot.
Add 1 for handloads.

[Edward429451]

Amazing on the turnabout of the general consensus. A couple years ago most were vehemently against reloads for SD...probably Mas Ayoobs fault.

(That is so funny! I forget who said that but I'm still laughing...)

[CraigC]

Amazing on the turnabout of the general consensus. A couple years ago most were vehemently against reloads for SD...probably Mas Ayoobs fault.

You ain't kiddin'! I remember a thread not six months ago where most were pretty frothy about it.

[Fullthrottle]

Doby: I was NOT getting "pissy". Sorry if I did not understand what was asked(or if I put it out there in a poor manner). I am not real hip on this whole forum or computer thing. I guess that is the price to be paid for notes left behind on the net vs. talking person to person!

Back on topic(ish): I personally have had no bad loads in the last 5yrs I have personally owned a fire arm(loading only 6months)! Probably put 8k rounds a year through my various guns. So to be clear, I don't have a preferance!

[Dragon55]

Close to 50/50 Hmmmmmmm?

[Dragon55]

..............

[Ken - Oh]

The gunwriters are ammo company schills and get commissions for sayting that stuff because when they do another 4 billion dollars of ammo is sold...

I firmly agree with that!

How many of you actually think the police lab would analyze the ammo? This isn't NCIS or Law & Order. How many think they would go far enough to tell if you were using factory ammo or handloaded? How could they tell? I have one gun right now with 10 year old South African ammo in it. Do you think they could differentiate that from a handload?

You are going to court based on whether it was legitimate self defense or not as defined by your state law and the local prosecutor.

If you are worried about using ammo that is "inhumane", then maybe you had better not use anything more than a .25 acp. (or better yet, a boxing glove). After all, a .40 or .45 is more lethal than a .25 or .32. And certainly not something named "Magnum"!

[N.H. Yankee]

Reload your own and shoot someone and a prosecutor will kiss you for handing him this case. I use what is used by law enforcement such as gold dot, HST etc. That way I can't be accused of intentionally loading an evil, lethal, overkill homicidal maniac round. I like something with the name DEFENSE in it, some of us remember the insane media campaign launched upon Winchester Black Talon as an evil overkill invention made for gun nuts and good for homicidal use only!

Winchester now has a very similar round called the Ranger and golly gee it pure as the driven snow, its shed its evil talon wings. Sadly there are jury members that are ignorant of guns and ammo and buy into whatever BS line the prosecutor sells them. Then you get the anti's or little ole lady's who hear a name like, "GASP" black talon! Now you may realize how all the politically correct names came about like "GOLDEN SABER" .

[ZeSpectre]

redacted

[Dragon55]

Since I did a less than stellar job wording this poll initially I'm gonna weigh back in once more.

I wish I had come up with a way of taking the 'ammunition for prosecution' angle out of this question altogether. (Even though no one has ever come up with a single example of where this was the deciding factor in the success of a prosecution after a SD shooting.)

My intent was simply which you would trust more to save your life. For all intents it could just as easily have been against a bear or cougar.

I strongly suspect that a large majority of the respondents do not reload. So, I understand the voting.

It's just that I think of similar situations such as.............

If I was extremely good at repairing brakes would I send my lovely wife to a brake repair shop for some strangers to fix her brakes??? No, I wouldn't. I would fix them because it would make me more 'comfortable'.

So, if I had reloaded enough to feel very good about what I was doing I can't see me trusting something spit out by the zillions from a machine over something I had crafted myself.

OK.....there I have biased this thing.

voting up to this post 42% reload 57% factory

[Ksmoker]

You are forgiven my brother, some people love the attacks from the keyboards that's not your fault.
I am comfortable with my reloads & have my Glock equipped to shoot them, that doesn't make me any better or worse than the next guy to come on here.
I don't spend a lot of time with the what if's on any of these forums, some people have nothing else to do.
Enjoy your shooting & reloading as much as you can.
Everyone have a safe & Merry Christmas...

[CraigC]

Reload your own and shoot someone and a prosecutor will kiss you for handing him this case.

Really? On what factual data do you base this statement???

[David Wile]

Hey Craig,

You know you cannot win this argument. The idea has been spread and prettty well accepted that loading your own ammo will result in an automatic judgement against you for both criminal as well as civil charges, and it does not matter on bit that no definitive study has ever been done to give the story any veracity.

The fact is, if you ever have to shoot someone in any self defense situation, there are a lot of law enforcement folks, both cops and prosecutors, who are very likely to make your future life a living hell, and it does not matter whether you loaded your own ammo or not. The politics of the location where the incident took place will play a very important part or how or if the shooting will be prosecuted. You could be unlucky enough to have truly shot someone in self defense, and even if the evidence may support your innocence and you eventually win your case, you may lose everything you own in paying for your defense. The whole thing may have nothing to do with justice; it may have everything to do with personal gain by one or more people in the prosecutorial system.

I realize what I just described sounds very un-American, but it is what it is. If someone wants to prosecute you even though you truly were defending yourself or someone else, it really doesn't matter what bullets you were shooting. Look at what so much of this argument has been about - reloads or factory loads making a case for prosecution. Instead of reloads vs. factory loads, we should be considering the more central problem of prosecutorial misconduct and its ignoring justice.

Fortunately for me, I have never had to fire a shot in anger or distress. If I should ever have to do so, however, I hope I do not wait to consider the politics of shooting someone causing me harm. I hope I would be able to make my decision to shoot based simply on whether it was required to save myself or someone else. If I should ever be placed in such a situation, like you, Craig, I too will be using ammo that I made myself. Whatever else comes, the fact that I used my own ammo will not have anything to do with justice in the outcome of the experience.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

[Sport45]

Originally Posted by Dragon55

If I was extremely good at repairing brakes would I send my lovely wife to a brake repair shop for some strangers to fix her brakes??? No, I wouldn't. I would fix them because it would make me more 'comfortable'.

Funny you should mention that. I do my own brake work because I trust my work as much as a garage's and save money.

I reload and trust my loads, but I buy my SD ammo. Go figure...

But then, if you look at my stocks of handgun bullets hardly any of it is great for SD loads. Mostly FMJ, LRN, and SWC. I do have one bag of Rem 125gr JHP in .357 and most of my 158gr SWC are swaged HP from Zero. The Zero bullets don't seem to be as soft as the Remington 158gr +P LSWCHP bullets I bought loaded in '98 (and still have 45 in the box).

[Tex S]

I wonder if the cops would even know you were using handloads. What if you loaded a Golden Saber bullet in a Remington case. Is the forensics guy actually going to test the gun powder residue to see if it is W231 or some factory powder?

I think its probably a long shot.

[Ken - Oh]

I absolutely agree with Tex and David.

And I doubt that in the vast majority of jurisdictions they would even be able to tell the difference between a Golden Saber and a bulk hollow point, assuming there was enough intact to inspect it.

Ayoob, et al, only have their jobs because they bring in advertising dollars by promoting what the advertisers are selling. Furthermore, how many people would read his columns if he admitted that it makes virtually no difference what someone uses in a self defense shooting. If you use anything beyond rubber bullets, some sleazy lawyer can claim that you selected your ammo for vicious purposes.

[CraigC]

You know you cannot win this argument.

I don't know, this one's going pretty good.

...the difference between a Golden Saber and a bulk hollow point...

Exactly and this is a very good point. At some point, it has to be taken on faith. There is absolutely no way to prove beyond any doubt that the round fired was factory or a handload. What we need is more states to pass castle doctrines like Florida's and a few others. When the shooting is legitimate, no other legal action can be taken against you. Then this would all be moot.

[Ken - Oh]

What we need is more states to pass castle doctrines like Florida's and a few others. When the shooting is legitimate, no other legal action can be taken against you. Then this would all be moot.

Agreed!

Ohio has that protection too but it only applies in your home or car in Ohio at this point in time. We are hoping to get it extended.

Ken

[dakota223]

Best solution, call your sheriffs department ask them what they use. Reason Being if its good enough to save their lives its good enough to save yours. With having the same ammunition you put yourself in good light when it comes to the reloading issue! I reload for practice carry speer gold dot for self defense or hornady xtp. These two choices is what the sheriff and police department use here. one box last a long time that way too.

[CraigC]

Reason Being if its good enough to save their lives its good enough to save yours.

I'm not real nuts about this as a general policy. I'd say take it into consideration but bear in mind that a police department might be using whatever the lowest bidder offered. Rather than what's the most effective. The government couldn't turn a profit pimping out supermodels, why trust their choice in ammunition???

[Doby45]

I'm not real nuts about this as a general policy. I'd say take it into consideration but bear in mind that a police department might be using whatever the lowest bidder offered. Rather than what's the most effective. The government couldn't turn a profit pimping out supermodels, why trust their choice in ammunition???

Spoken for truth, brutha!

[ipscchef]

Just my 2cents. I carry handloads in my 340pd because I have found a load that sends a 124gr. Gold Dot out at about 1170fps. from my 1.78"bbl. and have found this to be a controlable round that should be effective, if God forbid, I should ever have to use it in to defend my family, self, or another person.
As far as legal issues, my wife and I had a lengthy discussion with our family laywer and his spouse a few months back about when self defence is justifiable in our state (Pa.). His wife is the District Atty. for Franklin County where we live. She stated that if the use of deadly force is justified there would never be a concern of what was used to defend onesself, family, or another person that one was trying to protect and was specific on the point of the type of ammunition, whether factory or handloaded as long as it was legal to have. To her as the D.A. she would NEVER consider this to have any bearing on the case. Her statement was "In a case of justifiable self defence the instrument used would have NO BEARING on the outcome of the States decision if the instrument as long as the device was legal to posess initialy"

Bill Henderson

[Jim243]

Thank you Ipscchef.

As I was reading the posts, the only thing that came to mind was this is all a crock of you know what!!

Then I thought that, I might be inhumane by using a butcher's knife or a base ball bat or a tire iron or a ball pien hammer or a bottle of booze (hold it I'll save the booze for afterwards) or a chain saw or a hatchet or a... O the heck with it I'll just shoot the scum bag that is attacking my family and since all my handguns have my own reloads in them and I don't reload for shotgun, I guess the peice of garbage will be getting commercial ammo in the face.

Jim

[smleno1mkIII]

I've also heard many times from many people one of the people is a hunter safety instructer. I also know a gunstore owner and a sheriff deputy that told me the same thing that you will lose in court if you shoot someone with your own extra effective handloads if you use them they consider it premeditated. But I think they also said something about the laws differing state to state but I'm not shure ill have to ask agian.