carry ammo, reload or factory

[Brian1979]

I know this is a huge debate but with out getting into the what ifs is it a bad idea to reload your carry ammo?

I really do now want to pay $20 for 20 rounds and then shoot 250 rounds of it to be sure it cycles well.

[El Gato]

Originally Posted by Brian1979

I know this is a huge debate but with out getting into the what ifs is it a bad idea to reload your carry ammo?

I really do now want to pay $20 for 20 rounds and then shoot 250 rounds of it to be sure it cycles well.

A)What you REALLY do not want to do is be sitting at the defendant/respondents table in a civil/criminal matter explaining to a jury of your "peers" who really do not understand the matter, why you stayed up late at night in your garage loading special rounds to cause death and mayhem to the poor miscreant that you shot...causing immensely greater suffering no doubt...

What the "dum-dum" rounds the police use arent' good enough for you? What kind of "gun nut" shoots someone with special made hollow point ammo?... those are the kinda questions you would be asked...

b) If the shooting is questionable.. your defense attorney cannot duplicate the powder residue of the round as you handloaded it and the results cannot be authenticated in a forensic laboratory... this has led to convictions... it is a problem... read the "ayoob files"

C) ammo is cheap... life is expensive... keep that it mind when you shoot and when you carry. Find a carry load you like and you can likely duplicate it with handloads. For instance, carry cor-bon 9mm ammo and load the same sierra (or whatever) bullet cor-bon loads and load it to the same approximate velocity... then you can carry good factory stuff and practice with the handloads... QED

D) I understand you concern about costs... Just think about how expensive lawyers are! Carrying handloads can be a real problem. I would venture to say... THERE IS NO DEBATE!

[sealbeach]

Good post El Gato!

[El Gato]

Originally Posted by sealbeach

Good post El Gato!

Thanks.... I want to thank you all for the opportunity to pontificate... My wife has been teaching most of the classes lately and my soapbox was getting lonely!

[Brian1979]

OK sold!

Not going to argue this as there is no point to it and better safe then sorry. I guess I will just have to pony up and blast some off to see that it feeds properly. I doubt I will shoot 250 rnds of it though. More like 50 rnds or so to be sure it feeds but I doubt I will have an issue in my Baer Custom Carry or Super Tac with any ammo.

LOL, any links to some places I can buy good factory 45 ACP?

I dont need or want +P just some good stuff and I can seem to find that Ranger T or what ever its called. Is is just for LEO?

[prophet42]

I was pointed to gun brokers for the ranger ammo on this web site, I got 50 founds for under 40 shipped, and yes you can use it, there is no law against it.

I used 100 to prove it was reliable and have another 100 for carry around the house 160.00 for 200 high quality rounds isn't horrible for .45 especially when hydro shock are going for about 22 bucks for 20 around my parts.
the 160 was with shipping by the way and once I won the auction my source said I could get more at the same price without playing the bidding game!

[SVTNate]

El Gato is spot on. Also, however unlikely, if it can be proven that an ammo failure results in you being injured, with factory ammo you have someone to sue. Again, I don't know that this is likely, nor have I bothered to look for cases on point, but at least in theory when someone else made your ammo you might have a products liability case. You keep your options more open when using a product put out on the market by a company rather than using something you made yourself.

I buy Winchester Ranger by the case, at a very low price (no PM's please, it's through a private source). I don't practice with it often, but I'll run at least 200-300 rounds of it through each carry gun before I carry it. I also use Federal HST.

[Brian1979]

So then Ranger ammo isnt something you can buy on the shelf or from an online store?

No way am I going to plink off $200 worth of ammo just to be sure it runs well. If it does fine for about 20-50 rounds then I will use it. I guess as I have to shoot off the carried ammo and replace it for new ammo I will get the round count higher and be more secure in its performance.

It makes me sick to have to pay that when I can buy 100 Gold Dot bullets for like $25 and make them for a total cost of like $50-$75 per 100. I will ask in my interview about this and see what they say but my guess is that you guys are correct and gun haters would have just one more thing to hold against me.

[Bombard]

Remember that if you're reloading to duplicate factory ammo in order to practice, you DON'T need hollowpoints.

If you use the same basic bullet shape, jacket and bullet weight, and get up to the same velocity, recoil and point of impact will be essentially the same as factory.

So for "practice" Ranger SXT's, get FMJ round nose bullets, load accordingly.

[1buba]

Originally Posted by Brian1979

So then Ranger ammo isnt something you can buy on the shelf or from an online store?

No way am I going to plink off $200 worth of ammo just to be sure it runs well. If it does fine for about 20-50 rounds then I will use it. I guess as I have to shoot off the carried ammo and replace it for new ammo I will get the round count higher and be more secure in its performance.

It makes me sick to have to pay that when I can buy 100 Gold Dot bullets for like $25 and make them for a total cost of like $50-$75 per 100. I will ask in my interview about this and see what they say but my guess is that you guys are correct and gun haters would have just one more thing to hold against me.

I won't comment on the value of your life. You already did.

[Brian1979]

Originally Posted by 1buba

I won't comment on the value of your life. You already did.

Ahh man get off it, you have got to be kidding. There is value of life then there is the gun slinging kind of value of life talk. I am a normal sensiable person and very happy I dont fit into the typical gun owner attitude category. I sure hope that I can look back at this post when I have the privleage of carrying and never develop that attitude either.

I buy expensive enough guns that I can bet anything will run 100% of what is fed to them. My Les Baers shoot reloads that have slight variation in OAL with out a single issue.

Just cant justify shooting off that much money when I know the gun will feed the rounds with in a few mags worth. There are going to be more variables that would cause a failure before a brand of ammo would. I will have a pretty good idea of this real quick and I dont think the made up number 250 is going to be any more reliable then 25, 50, ect.


So still no links to a good ammo I can buy online?

There are tons of options at Cheaperthendirt.com and one is a rather cheap Star Brand. I dont need the cheapest but if that Ranger stuff is hard to buy then I would love some other suggetions that I can find easily.

[Brian1979]

Originally Posted by Bombard

Remember that if you're reloading to duplicate factory ammo in order to practice, you DON'T need hollowpoints.

If you use the same basic bullet shape, jacket and bullet weight, and get up to the same velocity, recoil and point of impact will be essentially the same as factory.

So for "practice" Ranger SXT's, get FMJ round nose bullets, load accordingly.

Yeah I will buy some FMJ bullets and use the Alliant Bullseye data to duplicate a velocity equal or close to the the carry ammo. Sounds like a better idea for practice and getting a feel for how the ammo will shoot.

For the reliabilty aspect I will just have to shoot some factory stuff down range but not going to do the 250 thing.

I can take measurments of the bullet and then just run a few mags to be sure its all good. Should be easy enough to identify an issue quickly and if some of you have a FTF at 159 rounds its not the bullet, its your gun. Cant give a good reason why any ammo would run great for several mags then fail unless one round is out of spec or you are using +P and its trashing the springs too fast.

Oh well I will figure out my own method of what I feel is going to be safe but please no dumb comments on "value of life" nonsense as it really depicts the image ignorant gun haters picture when they think of us.

So how about some links please?

Thanks to those with meaningful info and help.

[CalCCW03]

[Brian1979]

Yes, officer?

LOL

[1buba]

Originally Posted by Brian1979

Ahh man get off it, you have got to be kidding. There is value of life then there is the gun slinging kind of value of life talk. I am a normal sensiable person and very happy I dont fit into the typical gun owner attitude category. I sure hope that I can look back at this post when I have the privleage of carrying and never develop that attitude either.

I buy expensive enough guns that I can bet anything will run 100% of what is fed to them. My Les Baers shoot reloads that have slight variation in OAL with out a single issue.

Just cant justify shooting off that much money when I know the gun will feed the rounds with in a few mags worth. There are going to be more variables that would cause a failure before a brand of ammo would. I will have a pretty good idea of this real quick and I dont think the made up number 250 is going to be any more reliable then 25, 50, ect.


So still no links to a good ammo I can buy online?

There are tons of options at Cheaperthendirt.com and one is a rather cheap Star Brand. I dont need the cheapest but if that Ranger stuff is hard to buy then I would love some other suggetions that I can find easily.

There are some REASONS why break in, and sometimes EXTENDED break in, is necessary.

For those out there that care to learn something - custom and factory semi-custom O-frames typically come off the line much tighter than a mass produced gun (like a Colt or Springfield). Most of the mass produced guns, you can shake and get some amount of rattle. With guns such as the Baer's, Brown's, Kimbers, and the like, they are so tight that they WILL have some sort of failure. UNTIL THEY ARE LOOSENED UP A BIT. Anyone that cares can find that info all over the net AND from the custom shops themselves.