Do you reload your own SD ammo?

[ArchAngelCD]

I would think if I had to use my handgun in a SD situation and had to actually shoot someone, the only time the ammo would be a factor is if the DA was convinced it was a bad shoot and went at me with everything he/she could think of.

If I handload a .38 Special with a 158gr LSWC/HP it's hard to call that more deadly than a Winchester Ranger, Speer Gold Dot or Federal Hydra-Shok round. After all, if it was good enough for the FBI......

BUT, as said in this post many times already, why chance it? (what a shame..)

 

[Hawk]

Thanks, Mr. Ayoob, that was pretty much what I was thinking. Mall ninja ammo has no positive attributes and may have negative attributes. In the absence of any good reason to carry ninja ammo, there simply doesn't seem much point in the enterprise - economy certainly isn't part of the equation.

I don't reload any semi-auto chamberings as my range runs hot in 12 hour stretches and watching once-loaded Starline sail into somebody else's bucket gets old in a hurry. Hence, my practice and carry ammo are both factory loadings - specifically, Fed HSTs. I reload revolver rounds but don't carry the things.

Someday, we'll do a survey with "priorites".
I won't carry handloaded ammo.
I won't carry ninja ammo or overtly "killer" decorations.

But I'll cheerfully pin the grip safety on a 1911 and remove firing pin block parts if needed to make the thing run right.

I suspect my acceptance of pinned grip safeties over "Punisher" grip panels is a minority opinion.

Before anybody strokes out on me... I've replaced the piece that needed the FPB removed and the pinned grip safety is academic only. My current EDC is "factory stock".

 

[massad ayoob]

ArchAngelCD, as you say, why chance it? Agreed.

Let me emphasize once again that I for one think the "regular bullets weren't deadly enough for you" attack is the lesser argument against handloads. The strongest is the inability to duplicate gunshot residue testing to confirm your account of the incident, given that the courts are most unlikely to take your word for what was in the fatal load. Since so many self-defense shootings can occur at "powder-burning distance," this is more important than most realize.

I've been doing the expert witness thing since 1979. Most people wouldn't believe the BS that opposing lawyers will fabricate or grotesquely blow out of proportion when they know they have no case, but have to make political points with a prosecution or go for some $$$ with a civil lawsuit. I was involved in two homicide cases that went to trial just last month. The good guys I was retained to speak for won both, but each also went through roughly three-year ordeals before being exonerated. Both were clear-cut self-defense shootings, as the juries in each case ultimately confirmed.

The more BS attacks by unscrupulous lawyers that you can avoid by not giving them anything to work with, the better.

 

[mavracer]

Massad,
what's your opinion on Doubletap/Bufflo Bore ammo?is there any record of std factory vs. botique?

 

[Double Naught Spy]

The strongest is the inability to duplicate gunshot residue testing to confirm your account of the incident...

Right, so it isn't so much that hand/reloads will get you convicted as it is that they are useless or nearly useless in substantiating a shooter's claims via GSR.

Strangley, people translate the above quote to read

Massad Ayoob doesn't recommend using handloads for SD because it can be used against you in court.

 

[Cosmoline]

Thanks for dropping by Mas!

One of these days I should post a PDF of a typical pre-trial in limine motion even in a little fender bender. You'd be amazed what kind of nonsense the plaintiff attorneys try to get in front of the jury, from how much insurance you have to your lapsed car registration from ten years ago. I have to put my hip waders on to do the motion practice.