First batch of defense rounds, what quality control do i need to do?

[mallen]

I know its a bit of a noob question . but what should i be watching for. i measured the powder by hand. checked that all of the primers are seated fully. length is good. no cracks or holes in the brass. the bases of the brass did not seem to be misshapen.

what else should i be looking for to make quality ammo?

[5Shot]

I would buy defense ammo...but that's me. You could load equivalent for practice, but I don't know of anyone who makes their own PD Ammo.

[Dan Cash]

Mallen,
Your loading practice sounds good, just be certain that they ammo will chamber. After that shoot them a lot to proove your practice and ensure that you do not have a failure rate. If you do have failures, it is up to you to decide if the rate is too high or not.

5Shot,
Your circle of associates must be extremly limited if you, ".... don't know of anyone who makes their own PD Ammo." I load my own and am happy with the results and confident in the quality of the ammo. Amongst my circle of hand loading friends, I don't know any of them who buy ammunition for personal defense.

[jmort]

I would and do make my own defensive ammunition. Careful attention to detail like you are doing and then randomly pick 10 or 12 out of 50 and shoot them. If all the random rounds fire, I would have confidence in the remaining ammunition.

[country gent]

On PD ammo a plunk test for semis and simply insuring it chambers freely in a revlover also might be a good idea. For the plunk test pull the barrel from your pistol and use the chamber to insure rounds drop in freely and fit. A gage can be purchased for this but there may be slight diffrences between the gage and your chamber.

[5Shot]

Mallen,
Your loading practice sounds good, just be certain that they ammo will chamber. After that shoot them a lot to proove your practice and ensure that you do not have a failure rate. If you do have failures, it is up to you to decide if the rate is too high or not.

5Shot,
Your circle of associates must be extremly limited if you, ".... don't know of anyone who makes their own PD Ammo." I load my own and am happy with the results and confident in the quality of the ammo. Amongst my circle of hand loading friends, I don't know any of them who buy ammunition for personal defense.

Well...I make concealment holsters for a living, but you are free to do what you wish.

Defense against something with teeth...well that's another story.

[mallen]

i tried shining them up in my stainless tumbler. no newfinish so it didnt come out as shinny as i had hoped.

all rounds fit both pistol barrels

[mallen]

what exactly is plunk test?

[jmort]

Do it chamber? Drop round in chamber. A kind of go, no go test.

[mallen]

bullets dropped into the chamber with barrel out. i had a couple not want to feed with me cycling the rounds by hand. not sure if its me or not.

[fredj338]

I'm another that buys quality SD ammo. In mot loads, better bullets & powders than what is available to the reloader. If you must, then use once fired brass form your gun. Triple check everything, then case gage for final inspection as well as check in your bbl/cyl.

[Blammer]

so I took the cylinder out of my revolver and tried to drop the ammo in the barrel, it just wouldn't fit.... I don't think this plunk test is any good.

[mallen]

hmm. seems one jams per mag...

doesnt want to go up the feeding ramp. could this be from making hollow points which are a little on the short OAL length? still within spech, and work great on my round nose range ammo. first time with the hollow points. i shot 3 into bilistics gel so far.

[DougGuy]

I do NOT carry handloads on the street. Whether they could or could not use it against me in court is not the question. This is NORTH CAROLINA. Where the State Police here are the most powerful organized crime family on the Atlantic seaboard. If they can't get something on you, they will PUT something on you to give them a conviction by hook, crook, or otherwise. I am NEVER affording them the opportunity again. Ask me how I know this..

mallen just go buy you a couple boxes of +P hollowpoints and be done with it. The less you know, i.e. the dumber you appear in court, the better off you will be.

[Wayne Smith]

How long have you been reloading? What has been your general failure rate for all causes? Failure to chamber, failure to fire?

This is my equasion for evaluating my ability to make defense ammo. I have a <1% overall failure rate and a 0% failure rate for my .38 Special ammo, my carry caliber.

I have been loading 45 years.

[mallen]

go on

[mallen]

iv loaded around 5k rounds. only major failure iv took out to the field i think is a squib i got from apparently no charge.

[Wayne Smith]

hmm. seems one jams per mag...

doesnt want to go up the feeding ramp. could this be from making hollow points which are a little on the short OAL length? still within spech, and work great on my round nose range ammo. first time with the hollow points. i shot 3 into bilistics gel so far.

What are you shooting - caliber and gun? If I was shooting an auto and had one jam per mag no way I'd be carrying that ammo. I'd buy!

[5Shot]

You are experiencing a minimum of 12% failure rate right now. Most people (that I know in the industry) want 200 trouble free rounds of SD ammo (all from the same Lot#) through the gun before they declare it fit for carry. 200 rounds of SD ammo is expensive, so say 50 even. You need to run 7-8 trouble free mags through gun before you can even consider it for carry. My carry gun is a P30 9mm. I don't think I have ever had a failure to chamber or fire in that gun and it has like 2500 rounds through it.

[mallen]

9mm fn fns

so every time its the next to last round loaded that is jaming. i grabbed another mag and it works perfectly. so it looks like iv got an issue with my mag.