Reloading for Carry?

Discuss ammunition and reloading topics here.
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knockonit
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#16

Post by knockonit »

reload what you shoot, both range and protection, fudge'm i say, gotta prove you did it.
mums the word. don't ya know.
Rj


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azrik
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#17

Post by azrik »

Suck My Glock wrote: September 20th, 2020, 1:01 pm I too have carried my own ammo most of the time. It depended on what caliber of what gun I was packing at any particular time. I too have heard the warning that if you get into a shooting with your own ammo you will get ripped apart in court by the opposition, but I always figured the best way to avoid that was to simply obfuscate and not admit it was made by me. "Oh yeah, I bought this batch from a dude at a gun show," or "the ammo came with the pistol when I bought it from a guy".

Now I'm about to hear that anything less than the absolute candid truth in a court is stupid.
I can't recall...
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#18

Post by storage_man »

No matter what everybody else says, develop a load for YOUR CARRY GUN. I have carried my own loads for more years then I want to talk about. But I have have several guns which carry and have will have only FACTORY SD LOADS because I haven't found the load that that I LIKE ! Pretty simple. The Gun needs to like it, I also need to like it.

I have found a .380 load that works great for me and gives me the results that I desire.

I only carry factory loads in any 9mm, because I've not really found loads for carry. I load thousands of rounds of 9mm a year, but have never found one that I really like. Now .40 totally different story. For 30years using a .40 cal carry, I have I load that my gun likes & I like. Its loaded all of the time.

It really is a simple solution. Has nothing to do with anything other than what your GUN LIKES and WHAT YOU LIKE.
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#19

Post by High Standard »

I have no problem loading my own for SD. I have done it in the past. I currently am not because I was able to find some commercial SD ammo so I don’t have a need at this moment. But I have all of the components to load up 200 rounds of 9mm and 200 of 357/38. I have Hornady XTP’s and Sierra bullets and I use Titegroup, Unique and H110.

The only suggestion I can offer is to make sure you thoroughly test your rounds as I recently purchased some primers that I have had 2 or 3 not ignite in the first 500 rounds I loaded. So I will make sure not to use them if I load some SD rounds.
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#20

Post by Boriqua »

Well tomorrow morning I am going to load up the 96 pieces of new brass I have. I think I will trickle and funnel them all so I know they are all exactly 9.2gr. Sure it may take a little longer but even though my powder drop is very consistent I can still get a 9.1 or a 9.3 on occasion and I don't know how big a difference that would make when I am near or at the top of the hogdon recommend.

When I load range ammo I am well below max so I don't worry to much if I am a grain up or down.

I might be overthinking this!!
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#21

Post by Flash »

Boriqua wrote: September 21st, 2020, 6:54 pm Well tomorrow morning I am going to load up the 96 pieces of new brass I have. I think I will trickle and funnel them all so I know they are all exactly 9.2gr. Sure it may take a little longer but even though my powder drop is very consistent I can still get a 9.1 or a 9.3 on occasion and I don't know how big a difference that would make when I am near or at the top of the hogdon recommend.

When I load range ammo I am well below max so I don't worry to much if I am a grain up or down.

I might be overthinking this!!
It won't make any difference but if it makes you feel better, go ahead.
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#22

Post by High Standard »

Boriqua wrote: September 21st, 2020, 6:54 pm Well tomorrow morning I am going to load up the 96 pieces of new brass I have. I think I will trickle and funnel them all so I know they are all exactly 9.2gr. Sure it may take a little longer but even though my powder drop is very consistent I can still get a 9.1 or a 9.3 on occasion and I don't know how big a difference that would make when I am near or at the top of the hogdon recommend.

When I load range ammo I am well below max so I don't worry to much if I am a grain up or down.

I might be overthinking this!!
Yeah, you might be overthinking it as a tenth either way won’t make much of a difference. But hey, it is your gun, your equipment and your rules. Make your ammo any way that pleases you. That’s the beauty of this hobby. Everyone has their way and everyone here isn’t afraid to let you know how WRONG you always are. :lol:
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#23

Post by Harrier »

I think your wrong about that...
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#24

Post by Boriqua »

You guys are funny!!

Well .. I took twice as long as necessary I suppose but I started using my powder drop and then freaked myself out and switched to the funnel and dipper. If a round doesnt work when I am punching paper(which has only happened to me once when I first started) its annoying

If a zombie is trying to claw my face off in a desperate attempt to eat whats left of my brain the rounds have to work so ... a little extra time and attention made me feel better.

Think I will stick to range fodder!!

Although I already tested these before loading this batch I am still going to take a few to the next range visit and test some from this batch before loading them in a mag.
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#25

Post by was21 »

Is submerging ammo for a year a good enough test?
I did this as a real test instead of just listening to gossip.
Factory 45acp and my reloads.
Pulled 20 rounds of each out every month over a period of a year.
Every single one fired and grouped.
No dead primers... no wet powder...
Not as much fun as gossip though! LOL
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#26

Post by Flash »

was21 wrote: September 22nd, 2020, 12:20 pm Is submerging ammo for a year a good enough test?
I did this as a real test instead of just listening to gossip.
Factory 45acp and my reloads.
Pulled 20 rounds of each out every month over a period of a year.
Every single one fired and grouped.
No dead primers... no wet powder...
Not as much fun as gossip though! LOL
I've done similar things. I'm using a couple of powders and some primers that spent 2 weeks outside in -40 degree Fahrenheit weather, then were sitting in a garage for around 30 years at temps from 20 degrees Fahrenheit to around 140 degrees Fahrenheit, and now are sitting in a garage at around 120 degrees or so.

It all goes bang every time.
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#27

Post by was21 »

I have even submerged primers.
Let them dry out and they all went off fine.
Some people don’t know that priming compounds are inserted into the cups as a wet slurry and allowed to dry in.
But gossip is so much more fun! LOL

“ pursuit of inconsequential increments” Cooper

Oh and don’t anybody tell Alex the real secret for loading carry ammo which is .............................🤣😂
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#28

Post by 338lapua »

Harrier wrote: September 20th, 2020, 1:29 pm About that wet ammo... I did a review once of a Colt Mustang I got from an ex-DEA agent... he "lost it" during an "operation" then found it in one of the well compartments of his boat... that had sat outside for 10-15 years... it was rusted up solid, and still loaded with Federal Hydra-shok.
I figured they were dead... I soaked it a week in Kroil and finally gave up trying to salvage the gun. I ended up prying it apart in pieces. I got the magazine out and finally was able to get the slide to move and recovered all of the ammo.
Just for giggles I loaded them up in my Bersa and was I surprised when every one went bang! So there you have it- 15years exposed to the weather and a week soaking in kroil and it still went bang 6 out of 6 times...
I have wet washed ammo before and it all went bang.
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#29

Post by 338lapua »

Boriqua wrote: September 20th, 2020, 9:18 am At this point I have loaded probably 10,000 rounds or so over the last 5-6 years but I have only loaded paper punchers.

I was really hot to try Underwood 155 gr for the .40 but they are out of stock and who knows when it will be back so I decided to make something close. I found hornady XTP 155 gr bullets and loaded them over 9.2 gr of longshot and a standard small primer.

LOVED the round. Loved the accuracy, the recoil impulse and everything about it.

So I have 96 pcs of brand new starline brass and want to load these up for carry. I have never loaded anything I thought I might potentially use in SD so

Is there anything any of you do differently in the production of Carry ammo? Do you seal the primers?

My dies are set up and I tested the round over 30 rounds using reloaded brass and 4 rounds of the starline. Works fine in both my 40's
I have carried my own defense ammo for a couple years now. I don't tar seal them or primer seal but I have the ability to do that. I have washed rounds in a washing machine and they all worked, most people forget how hard it can be to pull a bullet and primers seal well too. Only thing I do different from range ammo is I only use new cases for carry ammo and on my loading machines I remove resizing dies and swaging rods as they don't need it. I do not make them into +P rounds and I make sure they are slightly under the velocity of the hotter carry ammo. Other than this load them up and don't worry about it.
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Re: Reloading for Carry?

#30

Post by High Standard »

Many many years ago I bought some commercial ammo, I believe they were Gold Dots. I put 6 rounds in my revolver and loaded 2 speed loaders and kept them next to the revolver. I left the remainder in the box in a ammo can. There they sat for about 10 years. I cleaned and lubed that revolver a few times during the 10 years. I kept the same 6 rounds in the revolver. I figured it was time to rotate the ammo out. I took them to the range and the first one did not go bang. That round was part of the 6 that I kept in the revolver all those years. It was a bit of a sobering thought. I took it apart and the primer did not ignite.
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