Thanks to all that have steped in here to voice their reasons both for and against using "Reloads" for defense loads. My purpos in starting this thread was not to promote Reloads over Factory loads, or vice-versa, my purpos was to see what others think about the issues of legality, both criminal and civil, and to promote thoughts on the matter for everyone that read this thread, both posters and non-posters here.
In several years of questioning both law enforcement and members of the leagle profesion, I have not been able to find a single incodent of the origion of the ammo used in a defensive shooting being an issue.
Years ago, I was on a city police dept in a medium sized town in New Mexico, and we were issued 125grn JHP's in .357mag. These were factory loaded ammo from S&W. We were not restricted to using a .357mag pistol, as we purchesed our own guns, and if we used somethiong other than a .357, we were responsible for providing our ammo. The only restriction on what we provided was that it had to be JHP and at least as powerful as a 9mm. Several of us carried 9mm's, a couple carried 38's, and over the years I worked there, I carried .357, 38spc, 9mm, 45acp, 44(both spec and mag), and for a bit, an old Colt in 38-40.
Many times I carried factory loads, other times I loaded my own, and never did I feel at risk simply because of the ammo in my firearm.
Addressing the reliability issue, in over 50 years of shooting, to the best of my memory, I can remember only ONE factory round not going off other than in firearms that had broken some part of the fireing system.
However, I have been reloading my own ammo for over 40 years now, and I have NEVER had a dud round. Not one. Never. Personaly, I feel that I have been very lucky, as nearly everyone that reloads sooner or later has at least one dud round, I just havn't gotten to mine yet.
I do reload slowly, on a single stage press, and check every round several times during the process. This has helped, I am sure.
The only benifet to reloading for me, other than the pleasure I get from creating my own ammo and using it, is the ability to taylor a round for a specific purpos or firearm.
Personaly, I feel that factory ammo is as reliable as my reloads, and my reloads are as reliable as factory loads. So reliabilty is not an issue with me.
However if I have to ever stake my own life, or the lives of loved ones on the quality of the ammo in my firearm, that ammo will be of my own doing, not someone elses.
Greeenriver(Again, thanks to all that have posted here, and to those that have read this thread. I hope it has made each of you give some thought to the ammo in your defensive firearm.)
