by George Emanuel
Can I use my practice ammo as my carry ammo?
Probably not, unless you are using ammunition specifically designed to expend all of its energy on the target.
At $ 20.00 and up per box, carry ammo is not economical for practice, especially considering it is often sold in 20 or 25-round boxes. I certainly don’t have that kind of money to throw around. If you do, have at it, but, it’s not necessary.
Typical Ball Ammo For Practice
Ball ammo which is very common on the range is NOT APPROPRIATE for everyday carry.
Ball ammo came about by the military concept that you disable three opponents for everyone you wound. The wounded and the two it will take to carry the liter will be removed from the battlefield.
Ball ammo can over-penetrate and cause injuries to innocents by passing through the target or barriers that would stop your carry ammo. DO NOT USE BALL AMMO FOR YOUR EDC GUN!
So, what do I use for my EDC (everyday carry) ammo?
Typical hollow point self-defense ammo
This is a question we each have to resolve for ourselves. So let’s talk about the real world and the potential consequences of choices.
If you are involved in an otherwise justified self-defense situation, an overzealous, or agenda-oriented prosecutor can make your travel through our legal system a living hell. Everything you did leading up to, during, and after the incident will be put under a microscope. He may well accuse you of using “cop killer” bullets whether he is ignorant or malicious in doing this, he CAN do it.
What an agenda-bound prosecutor would be hard-pressed to prove is that your ammo was inappropriate if his police department uses what you used.
I have attempted to ascertain on several occasions, from local to state police entities what they carry and to my dismay most couldn’t even tell me what firearm they carried. In giving them the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they just didn’t want to discuss the choice. I truly believe it was more the former. If you are lucky enough to have a police officer who knows what he is doing and is willing to talk to you, you likely will not go wrong in his jurisdiction using the same ammunition. But, we likely do not need to get that specific.
Many manufacturers produce “defensive” ammunition which will perform quite well and as it is manufactured and sold in a controlled way will certainly mitigate your jeopardy on this score.
Without making any specific recommendation, there are Speer Gold Dot, Hornady Critical Defense, Corbon, and a myriad of others on the market. Please don’t ask why I did not name the brand you carry. These are as I said examples, not recommendations. Do some research and make your own choice. I have made mine.
A big consideration in selecting carry ammo is what will function with 100% reliability in your firearm. It may be a great round ballistically, but if you can’t launch it when needed the data won’t protect you. You are responsible in all aspects of choosing your carry ammo.
Your choice must be tested in your firearm, repeatedly to ascertain its reliability. A couple of hundred rounds is not an unrealistic test.
I think this leaves us with hand loads. “Gee I can take a hollow base wadcutter and invert it in a .357 with a powder charge that would send a small rocket into orbit” No doubt you could do that. So can I, but I won’t. What might have been an otherwise marginal case for prosecution may well be pushed into court by that pesky zealous prosecutor if you do this? I’d be tempted to bet on it. But, I am not a lawyer, though I do sleep at Holiday Inn once in a while.
There is another issue concerning hand loads. This is also the reason that no reputable instructor will allow them in their classes. Safety and reliability. I don’t know you, and even when I do, I don’t know what your loading habits and attention to detail are, though I am a re-loader myself and certified to teach the subject, I would not subject you, to possible injury while standing next to me in a class where I am shooting hand loads. They can also create unnecessary distractions for you and others in the class.
Do you think instructors are tough on this? Shoot someone with a hand load and you are giving the prosecutor all of the ammunition he may need to send you to prison for a very long time.
Hand loads are fine for practice, I use them myself. But I would never consider taking a class with hand-loaded ammunition.
Commercial defensive ammunition is relatively expensive, but it is necessary for EDC (Everyday Carry). You need to rotate it out at least annually. Buy your new EDC ammo, and shoot the older stuff at the range. It will check the function of the pistol and subject you to recoil you might not realize during practice with ball ammo.
Why do you need to rotate your ammo out periodically? Environmental issues over time can compromise its integrity. You may be in an out of hot and cold. You know about condensation, right?
Damp environments, chemicals from your hands,, and the environment may also affect ammo. The constant movement can grind the powder against itself changing its burn rate and thus the ballistic properties of the round as well
Choose your ammo carefully, test it often and practice!
“A gunfight is not the time to say oops”