Steel185
Member
Does anyone know where I can find the laws on home defense in relations to ammo? Can I use reloaded and/or cast bullets in CCW or home defense? Iowa resident. I cant find the law and I hear different info from friends.
I suspect you are hearing people recommending against it, not telling you it is illegal.I keep hearing I can't in CCW or home defense.
There is some suggestion that use of reloaded or custom ammunition is inadvisable (legally speaking), but the evidence is thin. Use of deadly force is use of deadly force and a legitimate use is legitimate no matter what ammunition was used.I suspect you are hearing people recommending against it, not telling you it is illegal.I keep hearing I can't in CCW or home defense.
That is true.Posted by Lost Sheep: Use of deadly force is use of deadly force and a legitimate use is legitimate no matter what ammunition was used.
That's almost true. But those familiar with the rules of admissibility of scientific forensic evidence would know that testimony about gunshot residue from handloads will not be admitted.Where reloads MIGHT be problematic is if peripheral evidence (gunshot residue, actual velocity, etc.) might become a determining factor and reloads might not be thought to be reliable (in an evidentiary sense), where a factory-controlled product would be presumed to be more reliable.
True.Such situations are vanishingly rare in criminal court cases and similarly rare in civil courts.
Excellent advice.My personal choice is to use reloads (tuned to the same performance as factory self-defense ammo) for practice and the factory self-defense ammo for use for real.