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 #97768  by Kuntryboy816
 
I believe that the "flash and report" comment was intended to be read as "intimidating to the person wielding the 10mm auto" and that is why he practices often with it... To know what to expect and how to handle it.
 #97769  by Guard_Duck
 
You don't use a firearm to scare someone, you don't use a firearm to intimidate someone, you use a firearm to stop the threat to your life. End of story.

Cartridge choice is a personal preference. Most people carry what they are comfortable shooting, and shooting well. Whether that be .38, 9mm, .40, .45, or 10mm.
 #97792  by Guard_Duck
 
But the presentation of your firearm stopped the attack.

Talking about flash and bang, and hard hitting rounds. Have you tested you hand loads for penetration and over penetration?

If I ever have to use my firearm in defense of myself, and stand in front of a jury of my peers, I would rather be there knowing I used what local law enforcement uses, even if I had to use 17+1, than have used 1 handload.

My hand loads are for me to get trigger time and practice, plinking, and hunting. That's it. If you're involved in a self defense shooting in Delaware, the state will tear your firearm down, and test the ammo. If you're running hot loads, you most likely won't fare well.
 #97797  by Boots
 
I use quality +P ammo from a name-brand manufacturer that's specifically made for self-defense.

I see no point in trying to out-do the experts in designing a self-defense round I hopefully will NEVER have to use.
 #99938  by spillanej
 
Boots wrote:I use quality +P ammo from a name-brand manufacturer that's specifically made for self-defense.

I see no point in trying to out-do the experts in designing a self-defense round I hopefully will NEVER have to use.
I agree.. but let's remember our experts are paid by the lowest bidder ;)
 #99943  by myopicvisionary
 
As an expert witness in shooting cases over the past few decades, Massad Ayoob has drawn a few conclusions about what works and what doesn’t. In this excerpt from his book, Combat Shooting with Massad Ayoob, he explains why he avoids the use of handloads for defensive purposes.

"Anti-gun types have attacked our ammo as well as our firearms since long before I came on the scene. It happens in the press, it happens in State Houses, and yes, it also happens in the courts. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, he established malice when he loaded his gun with hollow-nose dum-dum bullets, designed to rend and tear brutal wounds and cause horrible pain and suffering and ensure the agonizing death of his victim!” It happens more routinely than you’d think in armed citizen shooting trials, though rarely in police shooting cases since hollow points became the law enforcement standard.

This argument is, no pun intended, easy to shoot down…if your lawyer knows how. We simply establish that you chose the same type of ammo as the police, for the same reasons. With hollow points, the bullets are less likely to over-penetrate the body of the dangerous felon and strike down unseen innocent bystanders, and also less likely to ricochet and create unintended additional victims. Moreover, since collective experience shows us the improved stopping effect of the HP (hollow point) ammo means the bad guy will have to be shot fewer times to neutralize his violent activity, he is relatively less likely to die of his wounds. However, the argument in favor of hollow point ammo is useless if not effectively presented by the defense. Famed appellate lawyer Lisa Steele has seen defendants convicted with this argument when their trial lawyers failed to neutralize the poison. So have I. This apparently happened in the Arizona case mentioned above, contributing to what I for one believe was a wrongful conviction.

While it’s a slam-dunk to defend your use of hollow point ammo, the use of handloads in a shooting presents much more serious problems to your defense team. Defensive shootings are often very close-range affairs in which gunshot residue (GSR) from your muzzle is deposited on your attacker’s body or clothing. This can become a critical evidentiary factor if the other side insists he was too far away from you to endanger you at the moment he was shot. The distance testing is done with exemplar ammunition, that is, ammo identical to what was in your gun, but not the same exact cartridges. Don’t count on the crime lab testing the remaining rounds from your weapon as taken into evidence at the shooting scene. If the fight was sufficiently intense, there may not be any rounds left in the gun that saved your life. Even if there are remaining cartridges in evidence, they may not be tested. The prosecutor can argue, “Your honor, firing those cartridges consumes them! It’s destructive testing! The defense is asking the Court’s permission to destroy the evidence! You cannot allow it!” Do you think that’s a BS argument? So did I…until I saw a judge accept it, in a case where handloads were used in the death weapon, but the state crime lab tested with a much more powerful factory load, based on the headstamp on the reloaded casings. That gave a false indication of distance involved, and the defendant – whom I have strong reason to believe was innocent – was convicted of manslaughter.

You’d think the court would take the reloader’s records into account and allow testing based on that. It doesn’t happen. No one has yet been able to offer a case where the Court took the reloader’s data or word for what was in the load. It’s seen as self-serving “evidence” that can’t be independently verified. Sort of like a rape suspect saying, “I couldn’t have done it, because it says right here in my own diary that I was somewhere else that day.”

After seeing these things in court, I learned to avoid the use of handloads for defensive purposes."
 #100059  by TexasJay
 
Can't argue that cartridges used by and designed for LEO are extra super deadly. I carry Winchester Ranger T series in both my 9 and 40. Wouldn't evvvver use a handload because when using a firearm defensively, your margin for error is absolutely zero. You don't want an overcharged round blowing your barrel when you need your firearm working properly. (For what it's worth, I've seen two glocks blown by an overcharged handload).