A poor man's defensive handgun ammo quandry

What would you do if you were in my situation?

  • Shoot less.

    Votes: 26 30.2%

  • Shoot ball for defensive ammo.

    Votes: 30 34.9%

  • Shoot reloads for defensive ammo.

    Votes: 30 34.9%
  • Total voters
    86
  • Poll closed .
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Consider getting a cheap used .22 pistol Simply shooting more will do you more good than any other single thing you can do.
 
:)Due to the financial situation here in America I am having to watch my money as well. I try to go shoot as often as I can. As for using my expensive defensive ammo I use it when I can, but not at the expense of my other responsibilities. I know they say to practice using your defensive carry loads, and I would agree but shooting something like Winchester NATO (for ex.) is better than not shooting at all.
 
Pretty good advice here, practice with the cheap stuff, or a 22. And when not at the range keep loaded with high performance JHPs (Gold Dot, HST, Ranger T-series, or Gold Sabers)
 
Mike1234567 said:
My opinion...

Practice with cheap reloads (try to match bullet weight and velocity to your SD rounds).

Defend with quality JHP factory loads (I like Federal HST).

Verify your SD rounds cycle reliably (I prefer 200 rounds with no malfunctions)... some say 50 rounds is enough.

ETA #1: The above stated, one your budget, some folks will say load some decent JHP ammo to as close to factory specs as you can and buy some really good factory loads when you can afford it. I'd worry a bit about doing that but when money is really that tight then sometimes we just don't have another choice.

ETA #2: I didn't vote because my opinion doesn't match the choices.
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Good idea imo.
 
Do you really need to practice with your carry ammo? Are your perceptions and shooting so finely tuned that shooting the cheap stuff will throw you off?
Get an airsoft and wear it out.
 
I voted for carry reloads for self defense. That's what I do. I'm not worried about the prosecutor saying anything about it.
 
You don't need to practice with expensive defensive ammunition. That's just silly. If it's that much different than practice ammunition, then you're buying the wrong practice ammo. I find there are significant differences in Wolf/Tula/Brown Bear and my defensive loads (and even some practice ammo such as Federal American Eagle 9x19mm 115 grain FMJ--felt like Speer Gold Dot in my EMP).

Do some comparisons of your defensive ammo, some reloads, and reasonably priced commercial practice ammo. If it's in the ballpark, you're done.

1) Accumulate defensive ammo over time. Get one box per month. Don't shoot it; just carry it. Rotate it out after a year of carry if the gun was never dumped in a puddle.

2) Use additional ammo search engines
ammoseek.com
ammoengine.com

3) Reload practice ammo built to have similar recoil characteristics as defensive ammo.

4) Shoot LOTS of 22 LR.

5) Do only function checks on new mags with the ammo.


Additionally, don't empty the chamber on your defensive pistol. Keep it in there until you do routine cleaning. If you chamber a round too many times, it may set back into the case and possible cause pressure problems. My rule is that a round will go into the chamber up to two times. It gets shot on the third loading since it's now in my "shoot this!" bag.
 
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I am disabled and on a fixed income and in a wheelchair 90 percent of the time[heart]. I use ball and semi wadcutter ammo all the time in my revolvers. Even for self defense.
 
I had to budget my shooting after the birth of my two girls as well. I had reloaded before having a family, but I found I couldn't afford the nice bullets (GD, Sabres, XTPs and so on) so I started casting. I bought a Lee Pro pot USED, a couple of moulds USED and scrounged a lot of lead. I can reload my .45s for about $.06/round. I can't remember the last time I bought brass-scrounge that too.

I also have fallen for the "use store bought defense ammo" line. So I have some 7 year old Glassers for carry. I have started to think that my lead round nose reloads wouldn't be a problem in court.
 
1. Yes
2. Accuracy is king, penetration is queen, the rest is where the debate starts.
3. It may be a more appropriate discussion for a civil lawsuit. If you are being prosecuted its only icing on a rather substantial cake.
 
For the price of a 22 to practice with you could buy 3-4 thousand plated bullets to reload and practice with.
I think you should practice with what you carry.
Hollowpoints that are reliable ( In your Smith that would probly be just about everything) are a better idea.
 
I think if I were in that situation, I'd just stick with whatever happened to be in the gun, cut back on my shooting and focus on getting other things taken care of.
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Winner winner chicken dinner. Stick with what you have. If you only have $20a month to shoot trading in or buying anothe setup is not really an option. I would say keep reloading for practice. Get factory ball or try to find some Federal Hi-shocks for self defense which are much cheaper than premimum defensive ammo and only shoot enough to know it feeds and keep shooting reloads for practice.

In the end there is not enoug $$$ in the budget to do anything else.

Good luck
 
1. Federal HST has fed well in every pistol I've tried it in, and is tied for first with the 4th generation Ranger-T bullet for most consistent, strong performance.

2. HST is cheaper than any other premium bullet, keep looking online and in person and you can usually find it for about $20-25 a box.

3. Practice using reloads with the cheapest bullet you can find, or use a mold and make your own.

That's my advice. Buy two-three boxes of HST, fire a magazine full of them, two if you have enough, through your pistol just to be sure, and practice as much as you can get around to with the cheapest reloads you can make. Try to tailor your loads to match the HST ballistics as best you can, make sure your pistol likes that arrangement at least in a general sense.
 
Thanks to everyone for all the responses.

The Watchman, yes, I was in the Marines for 4 years as a data network specialist (just about the most POG MOS you can get). As far as giving me some defensive ammo, well, that's very generous of you but I wouldn't feel quite right about it. Maybe if I get hard up enough I will.

A buddy with a squirrel problem is borrowing it at the moment, but I do own a Hi-Standard .22 pistol. The controls are nothing like either my gun or my wife's but it's still practice. Also, a member here has offered to give me a laser dry fire trainer that he has sitting in his safe. So there is another way to practice.

I really like the idea of finding a defensive load and trying to duplicate it with reloads for practice. I'm going to have to start looking into that and see what I can get in loaded ammo and bullets for reloading.

This discussion (and some others I've been having at work) have given me some ideas about how I might be able to pick up a little extra cash to keep me shooting. Wish me well as I try my hand at some of those!
 
DBryant... If Watchman sends you a box and I send you a box this can be done throught the "Pay It Forward" forum. So, when times are better for you, then just help somene else in the future.
 
Pay your bills, buy good quality food, save for your children's education, and shoot whatever you have in the gun for defense loads.

If you have a $20 margin at the end of the month you'd better stop shooting altogether until you get things sorted out. Best of Luck.
 
I voted for carrying reloads. Bad idea? Maybe. But its better than shooting through what needs to be shot and hitting something that doesn't.
 
Maybe I'm missing something simple, but what do people mean by ball ammo?
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FMJ smooth. round nose bullets. No soft or hollow point present.

DBryant, as an aid to making your practice even cheaper I think I'd be looking at getting into scrounging for lead and get into casting your own bullets. The melting pot and molds will cost up front but from that point and with some scrounging you can mold up bullets for basically free. They need to be lubed with something but as I understand it a small bottle of Allox goes a long way and avoids the need for a lubrisizer press. Maybe look around to see if anyone in your area is already casting their own and would allow you to help out with the lead scrounging and casting steps in exchange for bullets. If you can set up something like that you won't even need to come up with the front money for assembling the casting setup.

In any event I suspect that as long as it could be shown that you're not making up any "special dum-dum super killer bullets" or whatever the prosecutor's claim would be that any attempt to show that you were out to purposely maim or kill anyone would soon come to an end in a court case. And the added cost to set that aside would turn out to be minor compared to the rest of the legal cost.
 
So, if you were in my situation what would you do?
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I built my pile one box at a time usually 2 boxes a month, I got my .45acp in 09 and since I've bought over 1000 rounds and I’ve shot well over half and I’m still buying.

Shoot one buy one that’s my goal now.
 
Mike, what is the "Pay if Forward" forum? It sounds like a really good idea.

To all those who have suggested casting my own, I was talking to a friend at work and it turns out he has an old melting pot that he would be happy to give me (made by Lyman, he thinks). It was given to him and he never got around to using it other than to fire it up once to be sure it worked.

Another gentleman says that he has a line on some lead for me as well.

I have to say, I've been really blown away by the response, both by guys I know only casually at work and by people on this forum that I really don't know at all. This just goes to show: Gun guys are great guys!
 
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