Originally Posted by
FergusonTO35
My two cents: I use nothing but reloads in ALL my centerfire firearms. I do not like most factory centerfire ammo. Much of it is loaded too strong for my taste, I can't deal with too much recoil. Most of it does not use lead boolits. Even before I started pouring my own and joined Cast Boolits I discovered that all my firearms shoot boolits better than jacketed. Better accuracy, less powder required for the same velocity, less recoil. A flat point lead boolit of appropriate weight and velocity gives up nothing to a jacketed bullet for any application other than the really high velocity rifle rounds.
I am not at all sold on the idea that handgun rounds are useless without trendy $$$ defensive loads. I can see the logic where an expanding 9mm 124 grain bullet of good design and construction at 1050 fps would be preferable to an FMJ that just zips through. I cannot see the logic where a flimsy, light for caliber hollowpoint that has the BCE of a pillow would be superior to an FMJ or lead solid at the same velocity. Low pressure rounds such as .32 Auto, .380 Auto, and .38 Special just don't have the velocity to make an expanding bullet consistently effective yet that is exactly what we are told we must use, aberrations such as a 60 grain .32 Auto and 90 grain .38 Special.
My defensive handgun rounds all use hard lead flat point bullets and are thoroughly tested for accuracy and velocity. They consist of a 76 grain .32 Auto at 885 fps, a 160 grain .38 Special at 875 fps, and a 122 grain 9mm at 1,000 fps. As to arguments some might make that I am creating especially deadly ammo these are essentially nineteenth century bullets driven to average velocity.