There needs to be a fourth option. I trust factory ammo just fine, I just don't want to pay for it.
His defense in the first trial cost $100,000.
Yeah, that's a lot more than a box of factory ammo for $25.00. You could think of it as insurance. If you think this insurance is actually worth anything, and you think you need it, then go for it. The ammo makers are going to make way more than $100,000 on their ammo sales for every guy that needs to defend himself specifically for using handloaded ammo in an SD shooting.
The way I see it, my defense attorney can just point out that using handloads is legal. Most of the factory SD manufacturers sell their bullets as components in 50 rd boxes for use by end consumers. Dozens of manufacturers are selling me self defense bullets, powders, primers, and reloading equipment. What else is it for? I don't worry about it, because the chance I ever have to shoot someone is so remote I really don't care. And if I end up going to jail for doing something perfectly legal, then so be it.
Some things I won't do because they're illegal. Some I don't do because they're plain wrong. I'm not going to avoid doing something perfectly ok and legal just because 1 guy in a million had an issue with it.
To beat a dead horse, I'll add my 2 cents on the Bias case, once again. That case was going to trial, anyways. The guy had powder residue on his hands. She had none on her hands. She had a bullet hole in the back of her head. Doesn't matter what the gun was loaded with. He was going to face prosecution and an expensive defense either way. If you think a little GSR on her head would have avoided a trail, you gotta be crazy. Even if you believe 100% the defense's GSR testing of the handloads, it's still a difficult pill to swallow, because a distance of 3+ feet from the muzzle is still difficult to achieve to the back of your own head. The prosecution chose a distance of 3 feet to show that it was impossible that it was suicide. The defense should have been able to show that the loads left no residue at even so much as 12" for this to even matter. But they couldn't. All they could do was open the tiniest window of doubt. So it's actually good for his defense that he was a reloader.
This is all aside from the fact that the defense claimed the shooting was a suicide. If someone commits suicide, then it doesn't matter what you carry, because you won't be the one deciding which ammo is used. And thirdly, even if you DO believe this made a difference, the answer is simple. Don't use super light plinking loads for SD.