Reloading .40s&w

[gutsnthegrass]

Hey all,
  I'm in the middle of buying a S&W M&P.40, I reload for my long guns but have never reloaded for any hand guns.  The reason i reload for the long guns is for the accuracy and it tends to be a bit less expensive and just plain fun for that matter.  Is there much reason to run handloads through a carry gun since most shots are going to be under 20 yards?  Thought I would pose the question and see what you all thought.  Thanks for any info.

[CP]

There are a lot of good reasons not to run handloads through a carry gun, reliability and liability being the biggest.  Most experts advise not to.  I doubt if you can handload for less than factory ammo costs.

[high country]

you can save money albeit not a lot, by hand loading. tat said, there is a possible liability issue by fireing handloads at dirtbags. for legal reasons, only shoot thieves and rapeists with factory loaded ammo.

[gutsnthegrass]

Are you guys serious about the liability?  Whats the difference if somebody dies from factory ammo or handloaded ammo, dead is dead right?

[GoldTip]

Are you guys serious about the liability?  Whats the difference if somebody dies from factory ammo or handloaded ammo, dead is dead right?

I would tend to agree with you, my biggest fear would not be that I killed some POS with one of my handloads, more that I'm gonna get sued by one of their relatives.

I have and do reload for my 9mm and for 45acp as well as for several of my Dad and brothers semi-auto handguns.  Problem is when you figure in the time it take to reload 50 rounds, versus the time it takes to shoot 50 rounds, it is not at all cost effective.

[CP]

http://www.chuckhawks.com/ammo_by_anonymous.htm

Never use hand-loaded or re-loaded ammunition for self-defense! You may encounter some joker who says he can hand-load ammunition so powerful it will knock anything on two legs down for the count, but don't buy it. This junk will either misfire or ruin your gun. Use only fresh factory-loaded cartridges, period. There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this rule: use factory-loaded cartridges only.

[high country]

very serious about liability. I reload for a gob of guns, and I have killed every critter shot with a rifle of hand gun since 1992 with a handload.....but my cary guns are loaded with store bought ammo. house gun has glasers, 45 sees ranger sxt's and my 38 and 44 eat white box winnys.

it is a BS society we live in when you can't shoot dirtbags with hand loads but can with factory

[gutsnthegrass]

I've never heard of this before so thanks for the info, I guess I'll just buy the factory stuff.  I've been told that the gold dot ammo works pretty good for home defense.

[JackOfAllTrades]

The press blows the hand loaded ammo used for self defense out of proportion. In a court of law there would need to be proof beyond a doubt that a person loaded ammunition beyond sammi spec to attain more of a terminal effect for a 'kill' factor.  There have been cases where this has been argued either way.  Personally, I have factory ammo in most, but not all of my carry guns.

That said, I read the OP to wonder if it's realistic to handload for practice. For that I say YES. Once you've got brass, (I'll sell you 1000rnds of Fed brass for say.. $35 right now), you should be able to load for less than $.10ea. That's less than $5.00 for a box of 50. You can buy it for two or three times that much in a retail outlet all you want, but you're throwing away your money.

-Steve

[CastleRocker]

I reload ALL my ammo, for every centerfire metallic cartridge that I shoot.  (I've never reloaded steel shot for waterfowl). 

I have had three factory rifle shells, and four factory handgun shells misfire.  Two of the rifle cases, and all four handgun cases had no flash hole in the case.  (I broke two decapping pins trying to punch the primer out of the first one that happened to me).  One of the rifle shells cost me a dandy Afognak bull elk.  TWO of the pistol shells caused me to zero a stage, and almost zero another stage at the Area 1 IPSC pistol shoot.  I don't know that it cost me a good placement, as I was in the low end of my classification anyway.  However, it definately didn't help at all!  (Still makes me mad).

My point is...when you need a handgun for defense, you will truly NEED it!  I eliminate the misfire variable by loading my own.  Oh yeah, I've never had a misfire with any of my reloaded ammo. 

I don't believe a lawyer could win a lawsuit on the basis of "powerful" reloaded ammo if it was a self defense case.  If it was an assault, or murder; then yeah, I can see that angle.

[jaredpost]

Are you guys serious about the liability?  Whats the difference if somebody dies from factory ammo or handloaded ammo, dead is dead right?

I have and do reload for my 9mm and for 45acp as well as for several of my Dad and brothers semi-auto handguns.  Problem is when you figure in the time it take to reload 50 rounds, versus the time it takes to shoot 50 rounds, it is not at all cost effective.

I reload for my 9mm as well but only for practice rounds. For my carry guns I only buy factory ammo.

As far as time goes, it really depends on what kind of re-loader you have. I crank out 600+ per hour of my 9mm ammo and buy the bullets in boxes of 4000. It works out to be much cheaper in the long run but the upfront costs are what you have to look at.