Do you shoot factory ammo or handloads?

[Adam Helmer]

Posters here obviously like to shoot their handguns. Who shoots centerfire factory ammo and who prefers their centerfire handloads? As for handloads, who prefers factory jacketed bullets to using their cast bullets?

I bought a box of factory .38 Special loads once when I was a town cop (Department Regulations). Since that day in 1970, I have only shot my handgun handloads using my cast bullets and they make up about 95% of my pistol shooting. I do load some jacketed bullets for the .357 and .44 magnum now and then.

I prefer my cast handgun bullets for most of my shooting with the .38s, .357s, .44s and .45 handguns.

Who shoots ONLY factory handgun ammo? Who prefers to "roll their own?"

Adam

[skeet]

YES...to both. Mostly handloads though..but 9MM stuff is so cheap to buy I generaly use factory in it

[Catfish]

I load my own for everything except a 7.62 x 36 rifle that was built with a mil pull-off barrel and it shoots the cheap Russian soft points as good as anything I`ve loaded and I can buy them cheaper than I can load them. I load for 3 different .17 cal. rounds and 7 different .22 cal. rounds, just for starters. Needless to say I play with several different wildcat and you must load your own with them. I load handgun ammo for .38 sp to .500 S&W and shotgun ammo for 12, 20 and .410 gages.
Sounds like you must be about as old as I am. I started reloading in 1965 when I bought my first center fire rifle. I convinced that it cost me alot more to reload because I would not shoot near as much if I didn`t roll my own.

[muledeer]

Handloads and either SJSP or SJHP. I load for 9, 357,40, 44, & 45
Although I did recently buy 500 rds surplus 45's because I bought an Auto Ordnance "Tommy Gun" (1927A-1) with a 50 rd drum and wanted some "blasting ammo".
muledeer

[Dan Morris]

General use, hand loads. CCW, factory non exotic.....lawyer would have a field day with a handload
Dan

[buckhunter]

I have rifles, shotguns and HG's that have never fired a factory load. However, I don't load for the 9mm nor do I load shotgun slugs otherwise its home grown stuff.

[skeet]

Muledeer, a long time ago in a galaxy far away I had a guy try to sell me 2 Thompsons. I did shoot them(just had to)...but declined the fellow's offer of 100 bucks each..2 1/2 hours later I was visited by an agent of the FBI looking for ...a guy with a couple of stolen Thompsons...surprise surprise. Those things can really go through some ammo. I wiped my prints off when I gave them back Then I told 'em he went thataway!! Had a chance to wind up with a Military M-16 once too. Sitting against the wall at the NG armory near where I lived. I think the guy that forgot it really got reamed. Top sargeant visited after he got the message I had it. Even he was relieved. I also shoot a fair amount of the mil spec 45's in my Colts. 9 bucks a box is pretty cheap...and the brass is a plus. BTW the Wolf 45's are really cheap at 7.50 a box....but the cases are steel and Berdan

[Jack]

99.99% of what I shoot is handloads- rifle or pistol.
I do have a few factory loads, in cases where I wanted just a few of a certain load, and it's not worth buying 100 bullets and working up a load. An example of that is Winchester Silvertips for my 44 Special revolver- I wanted 5 of em to carry. Used the rest for practice. Cheaper to buy 20 factories than to buy a box of bullets and work up a load.
I do shoot cast handgun bullets, but more and more, out of laziness, I buy the bullets. If you watch for deals, you can buy bulk quantities of 38 and 45 wadcutters at prices low enough to make it more practical to buy 1,000 than to cast 1,000.
Bullets that are meant for a bit higher velocity than wadcutters, I generally cast my own.
Rifle ammo, I load all of it.

[BILLY D.]

I could write a tome about this subject, but I'll keep it short. I buy veeery little factory ammo. The last box I bought was in '97 for carry ammo. Speer Lawman, 45acp.

Most of my hunting is done with a handgun. My favorites, 357 Rem Max, 44 Mag., both Contenders and two Ruger B/H'S in 45 LC. I like to tailor my handloads because I don't want the ballistics to change with every box of ammo. I also like to try the bullets for performance.

I do not cast my own bullets but I have a lot of friends at Laser Cast, Lead Head and used to have some at BullX. I prefer lead bullets in all my rounds except the 44 and the 357. There I prefer jacketed bullets.

For all my soirees pistol shooting and practice I use cast bullets in 9mm, 38SP & 357 Mag, 38 Super, 41 Mag, and 45 acp and Long Colt.

I'm old and have a lot of alone time so I reload to relax and have fun. I shoot at least 3 times a week unless the weather is totally uncooperative. I don't spend as much time outdoors anymore when it dips below -20 degrees.

So to answer the question, I roll my own.

Best wishes, Bill

[gd357]

A little of both, but more handloads than factory stuff. the prices for ammo made reloading nearly a necessity for rifles, and when I picked up a .357 max, it became a must.

gd

[Riposte1]

For my first 10 years it was almost all .22s (and maybe half a box of 16ga shotgun shells) so it was Factory. Then for 25 years I probably shot 1,000 handloads for every factory load. Then for the last 15, when spare time is at a premium it has been the other way around but I am beginning to get back into handloading a bit since last summer.

I just realized, I have been an avid shooter for 52 years. Gee Adam thanks for reminding me how old I am :-)))

Onward
Riposte

[TreeDoc]

Almost exclusively hand-loads in my Pistolas. I have 2 Dillon 550's to churn them out by the thousands! I top them with West Coast's copper plated, double struck, lead bullets. I do however sport Federal Hydra Shok factory loads in all my CCW and defensive handguns. Not because of the lawyers, which by the way I don't believe that thought process or argument has EVER been tested, but because of the inherent reliability and proven performance.

[Mr. 16 gauge]

I handload for everything that I shoot with the exception of the .25 ACP, and I don't really shoot that gun very often. I do shoot factory ammo initially with a new gun in a new caliber until I get a good quantity of cases (current 'new' gun is a 1920's commercial Luger P-08 in .30 Luger), but then it is pretty much handloads for me. Lately, with the price of bullets going through the roof, I have been shooting a fair amount of self cast bullets through most of my handguns for target practice and paper punching chores in order to save a few bucks.
I also carry factory loads in my CCW guns, but for the same reasons treedoc has stated, not because of the myth of 'the lawyers will get yah'.

[Adam Helmer]

TreeDoc & Mr. 16 gauge,

I have not read any case law that "lawyers will get ya" if you use handloads. I have seen a few articles in various gun magazines along that theme.

I sat in on a discussion on that subject at the local club recently between two attorneys. One fellow stated the "NO handload" scenario could be stretched to cover the homeowner repelling a home invasion and using an aluminum baseball bat instead of one made of ash wood, or the homeowner using a muzzleloader and 90 grains of 2F behind a patched ball instead of 70 grains, yadda, yadda."

Both fellows were of the opinion that the justifiable use of deadly force is the determining factor and not the means used. FWIW.

Adam

[Riposte1]

Adam;

With the caveat that I am not a lawyer (who would admit that if he was ) and don’t play one on TV, I have asked a lot of them and a few judges.

I got the same answer you did...if it is a justifiable shoot, it is a justifiable shoot. If it is not the prosecutor will use any means available to hang you.

Riposte

PS - we had a guy nearby who did a weekly call in legal show and he told this story: "I was driving my mom to town when we passed by a cemetery and she happened to read one of the tombstones next to the road which read 'here lies a lawyer and a good man'. She turned to me with a quizzical look and asked 'why did they bury two men in one grave?' "