Who here loads their carry ammo?

[tnhawk]

I've used both for carry, but prefer to use factory for carry.  My reloads are close to factory and dependable, but I prefer factory ammo if I must defend it's use in a court room.

[div]

Currently I have factory ammo in my handguns and hand loads in my 9mm carbine next to the bed. I don't have any issue carrying hand loads, just shooting all the factory up first. In the carbine I can shoot 1 inch groups at 25 yards with a hand load, or 5 inch groups with factory. I prefer to know where my bullet is going. Sent from my One using Tapatalk

[Jonnin]

But it could be a problem in a Civil Case. Additionally, the predictable gun shot residue from factory ammo is documented and predictable. Possibly a factor that may save your butt and support your defense. Just because it has never happened, doesn't mean it can't.

 

I honestly doubt anyone would know unless the case went to the national level with all the outrage etc. 

I mean, take mine.  I load a factory speer bullet into a speer marked case.   It looks like something you could buy.  It would not stand up to a disassembly and chemical decomposition but why would they DO that??   Its going to perform exactly like a factory round and it looks like one.  There is no cause to take a closer look.

 

You get in court, you pay an expert(s).  Your expert outlines the reason to make your own (1/10 the cost) and the physics (identical performance).  Non-issue goes away.  I will take my chances.  Odds of being in a shooting in the first place are very, very low.  Odds of them tearing down the ammo after that,  almost nil.

Edited August 11, 2014 by Jonnin

[Guest DixieLandMan]

I use only factory in my carry loads.

[JAB]

But it could be a problem in a Civil Case. Additionally, the predictable gun shot residue from factory ammo is documented and predictable. Possibly a factor that may save your butt and support your defense. Just because it has never happened, doesn't mean it can't.

 

Actually, it has happened.  Not necessarily a self defense case but there has, apparently, been such a case (New Jersey v. Danny Bias) where the inability to recreate gun shot residue from hand loads resulted in a man being charged with murder in what was probably a suicide.  Apparently, the guy's wife was going to shoot herself in the head, he attempted to grab the gun and it fired.  Because the hand load he had in the gun was a light load (ironically, so that his recoil sensitive wife could use it for HD, if necessary) it didn't leave appreciable gsr so the authorities felt there was no way that the gun was next to her head - or even in her hand - when it was fired.  Further, because the guy had used a few, slightly different recipes and different types of brass for the ammo he had loaded the results weren't duplicated even when his hand loads were tested (the tested ammo taken from his house was, apparently, in brass with a different headstamp than that which was in the gun and so was likely a different recipe.)  Massad Ayoob was involved with this case and uses it as an example for why, in his opinion, loading a gun with other than factory loads when the intended use is self/home defense is a bad idea.

 

All that said, if I needed to defend myself and all I had on hand were my hand loads, I'd stoke up and take my chances.  As others have said, I imagine that if a shooting is justifiable, otherwise, then I doubt that the ammo used would make much difference in most cases.  Still, I prefer to carry only factoy ammo.  Given that, once I have tested for function and so on, I am unlikely to fire more than a couple of boxes of each caliber of carry ammo per year I consider the cost difference to be negligible. 

Edited August 13, 2014 by JAB

[BigK]

I trust my handloads, but prefer to carry factory SD ammo. I don't shoot enough SD ammo to notice the savings or warrant the perceived risk.

 

Even if nobody has ever been prosecuted for using handloads, I feel better knowing thers's one less thing to defend if, God forbid, I ever find myself in court. I can always use one less thing to worry about.

[daddyo]

Factory only.

[Wingshooter]

I carry factory in my EDCs. I wouldn't want to open myself up to more scrutiny if I ever did have to use a hand load. I really don't think it would be a problem, but the added hassle/stress of maybe having to duplicate a round or prove data is not worth it to me. That being said, I carry hand loads in my 44 when I'm in the deer woods. If I get a chance to use it instead of my rifle, I want my own recipe.

[Spiffy]

Never had a factory hollow point round be a dud........have had my reloads be duds. The only think it cost me was time on a stage.  I had the shop order me 200 round of Ranger T +p+. That should do me for quite a while.