Should You Shoot Reloads For Personal Defense?
BY Herschel Smith
7 years, 4 months ago
Glenn Reynolds links TTAG where the author is discussing daily carry of reloads. It’s not a trivial discussion by any means, but something else caught my eye. See these comments.
If you have to use the pistol to defend yourself, which I presume is the reason you’re carrying it, you could be placing yourself in a very ill advised position by using reloaded ammunition, particularly in light of the prevailing legal climate. There’s nothing in that equation that bodes well for you.
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I agree with Mr. Savage. My reloads are better than a lot of factory cartridges for the same reason your mom’s apple pie beats anything you can buy at the grocery store.
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Just beware that in the aftermath of a defensive shoot, you will get destroyed in court for using reloads. Even if you did everything else right, even if you prove the shoot was self defense, the few dollars you saved could cost you everything you own. A halfway decent prosecutor can convince a jury that you created a round that causesd undue suffering, that only a madman predispoaed to violence would.use. Legally, the best defensive ammo is what the police use, for it destroys any argument a prosecutor may present that the ammo was used for some nefarious purpose. I know, it is silly, but that is what happens in our courts.
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Regarding the use of reloaded ammo causing extra jeopardy in court, please cite a case where this happened. Otherwise, I call BS.
Well, I’ve already dealt with this issue directly, so you missed hearing an expert weigh in. No, not me. Someone else.
For years, I’ve warned people that there are a couple of serious concerns with using handloaded ammunition for personal or home defense. The big one is forensic replicability when the shooter is accused, and opposing theories of distance become a factor.
How often does this happen? One time some years ago, that question came up on an internet debate. I looked through the ten cases I had pending at the time as an expert witness, and gunshot residue (GSR) testing to determine distance from gun muzzle to the person shot was an issue in four of them. Forty percent is not what I’d call statistically insignificant.
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… if you have any friends who use handloads for serious social purposes, please share. You might just save them from the sort of nightmare suffered by the defendant in New Jersey v. Daniel Bias, who was bankrupted by legal fees before the first of his three trials was over, and wound up serving hard time. Both of his attorneys were convinced he was innocent, and told me they believed that if he had simply had factory ammo in his home defense gun, the case would probably never have even gone to trial.
So there you have it. The commenters are advised to get around a little more.
On July 9, 2017 at 10:41 pm, Dan said:
Reloads vs factory as a tool of a vindictive DA is just a TINY portion of the problem a gun owner would face. The problem is not that he used reloads. The problem is he used a firearm for self defense in the jurisdiction of a treasonous bastard in a position of power. A prosecuting attorney who will claim reloads are heinous and evil will also withhold exculpatory evidence, suborn officer perjury and all manner of official state sanctioned criminality. The use of reloads is irrelevant except as a tool for an unscrupulous carpetbagging shyster to use to further their political career and agenda.
On July 9, 2017 at 10:44 pm, Herschel Smith said:
I think we’ve got plenty of unscrupulous carpetbagging shysters who want to further their careers. That’s the point of all of this.
On July 10, 2017 at 7:42 am, DAN III said:
Reloads for carry ammo ? Based on my reloading experience, no. The only reason being too much room for reloader error.
Just yesterday during pistol practice I discovered grains of Titegroup in my coffee can of 147gr, 9mm reloads. Finding the powder-dispensing reload I discovered a missing primer. Either I had a case with a bad primer pocket or I somehow failed to seat a primer in the case during reloading.
Although nothing man-made is infallible I prefer to side with factory defense ammo. My belief the margin of error is much less with factory munitions vs personal reloads. That is why I use factory defense ammo in my carry weapon.
FWIW.
On July 12, 2017 at 10:20 am, Dirk Williams said:
Have you not ever experienced a factory round, failure to fire? apples to apples. A attorney will use anything they think will make their case. Rule#1 carrying a gun for self defense is a HUGE responsibility.
I still carry a million dollar liability policy, for me it seems like the prudent thing to do, for my family.
I rarely carry a gun on me anymore. Frankly I don’t want the responsibility of caring for others. It’s more likely then not that you will use your weapon defending an unknown, then yourself or family.
If your carrying you understand my point. I just don’t want to put myself in that position anymore.
DW