Handloading your own carry ammunition

by Steve Johnson

Updated: January 9th, 2013

Snowflakes in Hell is hosting a very interesting discussion about the pro’s and con’s of handloading ammunition for self-defense.

There is also a smaller discussion on the same topic at SaysUncle.

#Ammunition #Reloading #Defense

Steve Johnson

I founded TFB in 2007 and over 10 years worked tirelessly, with the help of my team, to build it up into the largest gun blog online. I retired as Editor in Chief in 2017. During my decade at TFB I was fortunate to work with the most amazing talented writers and genuinely good people!

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2 comments

Jared on Sep 30, 2009

This is an age old internet debate.
The essential elements of it are this.
- If you're a competent reloader using quality materials, there's no compelling technical reason not to.
- There is a compelling legal argument why factory may save you some hassle in defending yourself after a shoot, but the set of circumstances where that would come into play is very narrow and would predictably be one of saving legal costs and potential civil suit judgment costs more than one about avoiding jail time.
- So the cost of factory vs. handloaded ammo basically boils down to an insurance policy against that narrow set of circumstances where having used handload would run up your attorney fees and result in a fractionally larger civil judgement.
Where the balancing point is on that depends on how you're set financially.

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Daniel E. Watters on Sep 30, 2009

The sad truth is that despite their protestations to the contrary, some folks can't manage to fabricate a reliable handload to shoot a match, much less to save their life.

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