Starting To Reload -- Need Advice.

I would always go with what the min load for the grain bullet you are shooting I have alwsal found the minimum load has always been the most accurate and look at some of the new powders they will help with barrel burn out in the big guns

 

Rule number whatever "DO NOT TAKE SHORTCUTS"

Prep your cases well, cases you have not reloaded before need primer pocket uniforming, flashhole deburring. those you have reloaded before need full length resizing, length trimming, inside neck cleaning, in and out neck deburring and a damn good clean. I say full length sizing not for accuracy but for reliability to ensure any round you chamber can be unchambered without problems, at a range a stuck round is just a pain but in deadly encounter it can mean your life.
Seat your projectiles deep and well clear of the lands, see above.

Well measured and lightly compressed loads are usually most consistant and clean internal casenecks grip projectiles consistently

there you are a few little nuggets to go by

 

A Lee primer pocket "Uniformer" is needed as many cases have shallow primer pockets and regular primers are too high to fit flush. Proud primers can be very troublesome only need to do it once per case though
An old bore brush in a cordless drill is great at inside neck cleaning
And I always trim cases .1mm short again for reliability

All my rounds feed and chamber well and can be unchambered unfired without issue.
I get approx. 10 reloads per case, in my .308W I get 2700fps += 5fps with 49gn of ADI2209 powder pushing a Lapua 185gn FMJBT projectile, it is a compressed load and a rather hot load but gives me one hole groups out to 300m and less than 2in groups at 500m, my usual competition distance.
I have recently binned all my used cases and have started collecting new once fired brass but not in a hurry as I have ceased competing.

 

No if you can't hit it it doesn't matter how slow or fast it goes

 

Cases stretch with each firing, eventually there is an internal ring/thin spot about half way up the case, at that stage you are looking at case separation and all the dramas that that involves none of them good.
I detected the first ring at the eight reload, two more at the ninth reload and six at the tenth reload, discarded all seven hundred cases then and rebarrelled the rifle at the same time. Currently working up a new load for the new barrel with new brass.

The 6.5Creedmore may not give you as many reloads as it is an under-bored case.

 

TMT tactial. First off no matter who's maker is the brass from ...you need to know if it is Berdan Primed or single hole primed. Most USA companies make brass with the single hole primer pocket. The Berdan or two hole primer pocket requires a different type of de priming tool than is found on most USA Made rigs.

Also most accuracy books I've read instruct one to seat the bullets out further in the case ..not deeper....so as to not have as far to jump when fired from the case to the rifling land engagement. One of the limits here is the magazine well ....you can only seat them out so far and still fit them in the magazine well....unless you choose to load them singly ...one at a time into the breech.

6mm and 6.5 mm seem to be calibers which are very popular for certain accuracy ..and also have a wide bullet selection.

I enjoyed reloading for .243 Winchester which is a 6mm calibration.....nice bullet selection for this caliber which is a necked down .308.

Nothing wrong with being tight with your monies..particularly if one has more important obligations or young uns tugging at ones britches so to speak. Get the best bang for your buck spent. Nothing wrong with that ..and ask questions.

Your call..but if you are prepping ...stock up on bullets, powder, primers,...and tools....store them carefully clean and dry.

An olde cabinet stores much of my precision gear...calipers, stones, dies, etc etc...in my garage.

Other stuff is in five gallon buckets with lids on them.

Bought another three boxes of 500 count .22 long rifle in the last couple of weeks and just put it away.

Will do the same over the next few weeks.


Thanks,
Watcherchris

Not an Ishmaelite

 

Now what is an "Under-bored case".
That is cade capacity verse bore, in .30 cal the .308W case gives the best bang, a larger case and there is lots more powder for little gain and smaller capacity and there is too little powder capacity to really use the .30 cal it is just an efficiency thing not too important.

Also most accuracy books I've read instruct one to seat the bullets out further in the case ..not deeper....so as to not have as far to jump when fired from the case to the rifling land engagement.

Yes if one is a target shooter you are correct but if one is into survival and this is a prepper/survival forum reliability is a bit more important than ultimate accuracy. Early on in my shooting life I got sick of failures. Afew things I do are not for pure accuracy but reliability, seating primers properly matters as a proud primer can detonate on chambering, can puncture on firing sending hot gas and molten primer metal back towards shooter and sometimes jamming the firing pin, a case may also jam if just a touch too long at the lands creating much higher pressures as normal and jamming in the chamber so I trim .1mm short
For the first decade of my shooting life I was the guy with the problems not finishing a match due to a stuck case, premature firing, projectile stuck in barrel etc etc! After learning I never failed because of my rifle, pistol, shotgun or my ammo.

Keeping the projectile clear of the lands never seemed to make any difference to my accuracy
What made a difference was cleaning the inside of the casenecks, the projectile contact area, carefully measuring the powder charge and using all the same cases. Early on I noticed two distinct points of impact about an inch apart out at 300m plus ranges, turned out to be the difference between Remington and Winchester cases so I just bought a large batch of Remington cases and that was solved.
Again I was playing with my freebore distance as up to then I had had the projectiles just touching the lands By seating the projectiles deeper I lightly compressed the powder load and suddenly my groups shrank, it was load compression not the freebore.

It takes lots a effort to learn the little things over the years

 

I am still shooting .22LR stuff I bought in the early 80's
Kmart was clearing out all there ammo as they were to cease selling any gun stuff
Got a really really good deal and my old cruiser got a real beating dragging it all home, only got about 11k left and as I shoot less now it will last a few more years buying price was 50c per 50rds

 

I am in Australia so I cant help in the cost and supply bit but I found Lapua projectiles were cheaper and more consistant than most othere including Sierra. As I am a precision type of shooter I only ever use FMJBT projectiles in .308w when hunting bigger stuff and Sierrs JSP in .223R and always take head shots when actually hunting so projectile construction is irrevelent to me or my prey.

For a long time I used a friends home made .223 63gn JSP projectiles made from used .22LR cases, they did not look the best but they worked a treat and only a few cents each, sadly cancer put a stop to there production.

Just get small quantaties until you settle on a load then when you are sure you have the load right make a bulk buy you can make big savings when buying in bulk, over here we can get 25% off if we spend a lot probably similar there, oh and waving cash works to if you are there in person

PS Do your research well so when you make contact with a supplier you don't sound like a novice/wanker.

 

I use the softpoints in .223R as the .223 has little energy available but in the .308W with plenty of energy available I like the skull cracking ability. In my early hunting days had a hollowpoint blow up on a camel skull, dropped it dead first but a few minutes later the sucker resurrected itself and stood up, a mates .338Lapua in the heart dropped it again. After examination the hollowpoint had only penetrated two inches before disintergrating on skull bone
I just like my bullets to get to where I aimed them but each to there own, no bears or other large dangerous game here as a rule
We got some very large feral pigs, buffalo and crocs here though

 

I cant really say how good the softpoints are as I always head shoot and they all work just fine.
If a lot of ammo is used on a regular basis making ones own projectiles would be worth it

Fully mature bull camels have hard heads but a FMJBT will drop them dead at most any range, longest confirmed kill on a camel was 1128m and the sucker never knew what hit him, he was sel

 

I have little experience with the AR platform but all rifles are centred around the barrel.
A heavy barrel improves accuracy and a longer barrel improves velocity potential and a stainless barrel improves durability.
that's about it,

My hunting rifles are 26in heavy barrels on Howa actions for most and my competition rifle in .308W is a 30in extra heavy stainless barrel on a howa action and an homemade aluminium stock, a bit ugly but very good, on a sunny day with the sun behind me I can actually see the shiny projectile and the vortex surrounding it arc its way down range, fascinating watching the vortex drift.

Maybe just go a Remington bolt action for accuracy.
Your money your choice

 

Nothing is worth losing accuracy.
Get as many different manuals as you can, because they will list different components.

Then you can tailor the loads to suit your rifles and their intended purpose.

Work up to the higher loads until you find one the gun likes.

There are lots of variables so any change you make can affect accuracy and the point of impact.

There's nothing wrong with sticking to single stage presses.
You won't have as much trouble getting it adjusted and unless you shoot large volumes of ammo there's not a huge advantage to turret presses.

 

There's this bore capacity vs. case capacity thingy. One wants their powder to burn in the barrel, not in the atmosphere. Atmosphere burning adds next to nothing in increased bullet velocity, it only makes the load louder and increases the size of the fireball past the muzzle = total waste. Two barrels of the same length, one is .243 and the other .308 in diameter, the .308 has more volume to burn powder. The .308 Win / 7.62 NATO gets a bullet up to sufficient speed with a 20 inch barrel -- even an 18 inch barrel will suffice (vel. loss isn't grand). Let me tell you, in a .243, you'll not get your powder money's worth out of a barrel under 24 inches; a 22 inch barrel will suffice, but you WILL sacrifice velocity with most powders.

The .308 is accurate mainly due to its case being full of powder. Add filler to the case of the 30-06 and suddenly it becomes much more accurate. Full cases are far more consistent in producing the same velocity time after time after time again. Engineers and accuracy nuts have spent god only knows how many hours/years on this phenomenon. It's just so.

Do compressed loads often produce more pressure? Yes. Do cartridges with their bullets seated out to the beginning of the rifling produce more chamber pressure? Yes. However, they are more accurate, therefore watch carefully the amount of powder you use and should you have to use filler, then use filler.

Resonant frequency of the barrel affects accuracy. Bull barrels deform much less, but weight more, duh! With hunting / war-fighting diameter barrels, you gotta experiment until you find your weapon's sweet-spot. And if you swap to a new barrel? Then, start all over again.

Big question: Do you want target accuracy? At what distance will you be engaging the enemy or deer? Don't put a lot of work into coming up with a mega-accurate load when such is totally unnecessary.

Unfortunate fact: some bullet types vs. barrel type will be incompatible when going for accuracy. You'll run yourself crazy trying to get this combo to work. Know when to throw up your hands and say, "These bullets are never going to work for me using this rifle!" Try another combo ... unless you are into developing super high blood pressure.

Action type: Bolt actions are often more accurate and fire-form your brass. If the rifle's action deforms during cartridge detonation, then out the window goes your accuracy.

Other accuracy-improving steps you can take if you have found an accurate rifle and the ammunition it likes: Glass bed the rifle's action to the stock. Free-float the barrel.

If you are shooting little white tailed deer from a tree stand at short distance, then all that I said above is hot air to you. Just sight-in your rifle / scope combo. Truth is, you may not even need a scope until you hit your 40s and must then depend on bifocal glasses. Put an aperture sight on the rifle and you'll have venison in your freezer. Having a gun smith put a good aperture sight on your rifle will bring you much happiness ... and quick shots!

If your goal is short distance perimeter defense, then your number one goal is to have ammunition that will NEVER ever fail to feed'n'fire. It's your skin and that of your friends and family, therefore ZERO FAILURES !!! When it hits the fan, you are going to have to send a bunch of lead downrange and this must happen without any jams or failures to feed the next round. And, don't go mountaineering with cotton clothesline rope.

 

I didn't see anyone on the above comments go into the realm of retained energy . Accuracy is very important , but so is making a quick kill . One of our survival group guys brought in two rifles , amo and reload dies to add to the stash about 4 days ago . One being a 30/06 we immediately got out my reload book and looked up to see how far we could down load the amo for it . When distance isn't much of a factor I always prefer a slow traveling bullet over a fast one . I have seen critters even with a good accurate hit take too long to drop with a fast bullet . Get your retained energy in the correct spectrum and they often will collapse in their tracks .

 

Retained energy will depend on bullet mass and the bullet's sectional density. Will the bullet's ogive give it free passage through our atmosphere? Does the bullet have a boat tail to reduce the phenomenon of drag?

https://www.accurateshooter.com/ballistics/tangent-vs-secant-vs-hybrid-ogive-bullets/

Earth's atmosphere at sea level is a thick affair in the mind of a bullet. If he weighs less than 100 grains, the air humans need to live will do Mr. Bullet down too soon. Mercies begin when he goes over 165 grains. And if he is to knock holes in belligerent barriers to slay malevolent monsters a weight of well over 200 grains will serve him all the better.

https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/rifle/338-lapua-250-gr-bthp-match#!/

 

When distance isn't much of a factor, the heavy round nose exposed lead bullets kill. They just kill.

Witness the .308 Win. 180 gr. round nose:

 

Another consideration is recoil . My experience has been the lighter the recoil the more you can relax your muscles , and easier to fire that shot timed with your heart beat . You want the adequate killing power but don't want to sacrifice accuracy because of tense muscles .

 

best advice.......find someone local that is currently loading and spend time with them; start at the local conservation club or shop that sells the equipment. Ask questions, look at their equipment, understand their pattern, buy a pizza and make a night or two of it. What would they change if they could?? Single stage versus turret versus automatic?? Oldguy brought up a good point regarding the distance between the projectile and when it engages the rifling; each rifle is different and has it's sweet spot, so you will need an appropriate measuring tool to determine the different seating depths and engagement distance........and how it impacts your accuracy.

As you already have some reloading experience that will stand you in good stead, but ask yourself why did you stop? When you were reloading, what were your "bottle-necks" or phases that took more time, were more critical??? Can you change them now?

and................good luck.............have fun, and time spent reloading is much more beneficial than time spent drinking, watching tv or chasing women (not sure about that last one but thought I'd toss it in anyway)

 

storing something in a hollow stock..... if you just want to counterbalance I would find canvas bag and fill it with sand; less shifting and moving. If you want it for actual storage.......some extra money, small repair kit...possibly batteries. If this will be a hunting rifle, include some simple fire-making supplies (steel wool, striker flint).

 

That makes no sense because energy is dependent on velocity.
Shot placement means more than velocity as long as the bullet penetrates the vital organs.

Whether or not the animal "goes down" immediately depends on many other things.

 

You'll be better served by others. I am no longer up-to-date on these matters. It's been a forever since I reloaded.

This Lalakai appears to be giving you some excellent advice. Listen to people like him.

 

Retained energy is a complex subject and I am not qualified to try to explain this , Perhaps with some research you can find an expert to explain this . Killing is more than just shooting a big fast bullet .

 

very true. Years back the FBI completed a report on "one-shot knock-downs" looking at the different pistols. Without the advances in projectiles we have now, it was shown that the .357 magnum had a 97% chance of putting a person out of a fight, with one shot. The .44 magnum came further down the list because the projectile was traveling too fast, not causing as much damage as it passed through. Improved projectile capabilities will impact this report, but the basics are the same; a balance between projectile and speed, to maximize the impact without penetrating through and through.

I think I had seen a picture from "Old Geezer" where he had a series of milk jugs set up at the range. A poor man's test of penetration and expansion will use a line of milk jugs filled with water, and you shoot into the line. Eventually the slug will come to rest in a jug, giving you a good idea of expansion and also penetrating power. Word of caution.....don't stand close lol as the first couple jugs get ripped apart and you'll get wet.

and if you were wondering, the .45 came in second at 95% chance one-shot knock-down. These statistics were compiled from actual shootings. Also realize the penetration differences between a human and a deer....or bear.......we're a bit more squishy and easier to punch holes in

 

The .44 failed due to the bullet being so heavy that it retained its energy in the form of momentum, thus the bullet over-penetrates a goat or a human.

A higher velocity / lower mass bullet dumps its energy quickly -- sometimes far too quickly. Varmint calibers such as the .223 can blow up in the shoulder of a deer. Hollow-points will. FMJs pass straight on through the animal. Thus varmint rounds are banned from deer hunting. In military situations, wounded soldiers will over time become disabled, thus no longer a threat. Bullets weighing under 100 grains do not penetrate cover or helmets at distance.

The .357 magnum bullets are heavy enough to penetrate, however they dump their energy (if hollow-point) at the correct depth of tissue penetration. The .357 mag will also shatter bones.

The .45 Auto will stop people if the bullet is a well-configured hollow-point. FMJs in .45 auto are poor man-stoppers irrespective of the legends. I know a case where a felon took three .45 auto rounds to the chest, yet still returned fire before going down -- the bullets were FMJs. The 9mm firing FMJs is totally a joke. One fellow related to me the story of his trying to bring down an aggressor with his Army-issued 9mm loaded with FMJs. The machete-wielding aggressor almost got to him. This soldier dumped at least eight rounds into the enemy. It's frightening to even talk about such.

I want my handgun to simply be a short rifle.

 

nice explanation Old Geezer.....you get the gold star

 

Some on this forum may not know what we are talking about so I will give a basic explanation of retained energy . It is the energy expelled into the body by the bullet . If the bullet leaves the body from the other side , from that point all energy left in the bullet is wasted energy . The longer the bullet is in the body traveling through the more energy is expelled into the body . A fast bullet doesn't have as much time to expel it's energy . This retained energy has a lot to do with how quick a animal will drop . Some bullets will kill quicker say 200 yards down from the muzzle than they will if the same animal was shot exactly the same at 10 feet . This is because the bullet has slowed down to dump it's energy into the animal . I was just earlier trying to point out you can overload a bullet depending on caliber, type animal you intend to shoot and at what distance you expect to shoot .

 

Missed this post until today so my reply
30in with handloads in a .308w gives me 30-06 ballistics and most of the weight is centred around the bore, 17lb and a bit is total weight, the extra length is only a bonus with handloads and a slower powder.
Exact load was 49gn of AR2209 pushing a 185gn lapua FMJBT AT 2750fps with a less than 5fps variation, compressed load and being stainless the barrel is still good after 7,000rds not new but I was still getting less than 3in groups at 500m.

Camels are pests in parts of Australia and I had been having a discussion with my mate while driving out bush, he challenged me to head shoot one at 1,000m only one available was at the max of my laser 1,128m so that's the one I shot.
Mate witnessed the hit with his spotting scope. I surprised myself with that one.

 

I don't need anyone to explain "retained energy".

I know enough about terminal ballistics to know what you said doesn't make sense.

There are many variables involved when an animal drops on impact, and "retained energy" is one of the least important.

Saying a slow bullet is better in that regard is misleading.

Shot placement has much more to do with it.
Bullet construction is another important factor, since it has to penetrate deep enough to hit something vital.

If the impact significantly affects the central nervous system, the animal will go down no matter what the projectile or impact velocity.

A 22 LR 40 grain bullet to the brain will drop a deer faster than a 50 caliber 400 grain through the lungs.

 

Gut shots aren't fast killers.

Varmint bullets are made to expand explosively on small animals that won't be used for food, and to keep from damaging hides on larger fur bearing animals.

Bullets for big game are designed with "controlled expansion" to transmit energy but still pass through since most bleeding will come from the exit wounds.

A good blood trail can mean the difference in bring home some meat or losing the animal.

Most bullet manufacturers will tell you the ideal range of impact velocities to get the performance you need for your intended purposes.

That's another good reason to have as many manuals as possible.

 

Accuracy is what you get when you duplicate the same series of actions as close to identically as possible. Everything has a small effect and as you eliminate "differences you close down your group size. Case length and volume matter. that is why you don't use different brands of cases when you are trying to shrink your groups. I have even gone to the point of measuring the volume of cases from the same manufacturer to shrink my group. There will be tiny differences in lots even from the same company.

You float your barrel because the wood stock changes with temperature and humidity and that will make a tiny difference. When I used to shoot silhouette targets I always pointed my revolver straight up and sort of wiggled it before then lowering it for my shot. Unless I was shooting a compressed load that movement made the powder gather more uniformly to the rear of the case for best ignition.

what you can do with reloading if you are not careful is waste a lot of time trying to achieve groups that don't matter. The groups that I got off of a table on sandbags were many times smaller than I could ever shoot in the field. If the best that you can do offhand standing is a 3" group at 100 yards the ability to shoot a group off sandbags that are 1/2 Minute of angle is useless. I had three different types of reloading. I had plinking loads, hunting loads and target loads.

Plinking loads were thrown by a powder measure into mixed cases and were usually fairly light loads. Hunting loads were each weighed into cases that were from the same lot and had been fired the same number of times. The cases are all sized and trimmed. My target loads may not be sized at all. they are fireformed to the one single rifle chamber. They were trimmed to length and everything about them was duplicated to the most exact parameters possible to make them just alike. They were usually shot in guns that were designed and then tuned to offer the best repeatable accuracy.

Reloading offers you cheaper ammo so you can shoot more. It allows you to load for a specific weapon to get the best for that specific weapon. It can also make for a fascinating hobby in search of perfection.

 

That's not "retained energy"
That's transmitted energy.

That's simply false, since a fast bullet is more likely to expend all it's energy inside the target in the tiny fraction of a second it takes to expand.

More misinformation.

Unless the bullet self destructs before penetrating deep enough, more velocity will always result in more damage because the bullet has more retained energy (using the true definition).

Here's some real information.
Terminal ballistics:
http://www.rathcoombe.net/sci-tech/ballistics/wounding.html

 

OK, the FACTS about bullets and their ability to do damage and take out a living target is simply how 5 or 6 factors come together and function. The factors are the speed of the bullet, the weight of the bullet, the diameter of the bullet, how well the bullet is designed to impart that energy to its target and the placement of the bullet in the body.

Whether you want to call it retained energy or transmitted energy the point is that all that counts is the energy that is imparted to the body of your target. It is transmitted by the bullet and retained by the body.

The speed of the bullet only matters if that energy is totally transmitted into the target. A 50 BMG round doesn't place much of its energy into the human target because it goes right through it and then just keeps on going carrying that energy with it.

The ability of a bullet to impart its energy into the target is as much a function of the bullet design as it is any inherent speed. When the 7mm Magnum first came out I personally saw a bullet splatter on the surface of a deer. It knocked it down but it bounced right back up and a second shot dropped it. The first round had hit a shoulder bone just under the skin and had just failed. This was a problem that they fixed with partitioned bullets that would only mushroom so far and then stop expanding. In that particular case, you were actually better off with a longer shot than a too close shot. Also with FMJ bullets you often waste most of the energy by the bullet going straight through rather than dumping the total energy load into the target.

The other factor in how well a bullet performs and stops a target has to do with the effect of something traveling above the speed of sound encounters fluids. Hydro-shock makes the damage path much larger. A good example of this is the debate about which is the best stopper, a 45 ACP or a 357 mag. On one hand, the large heavy bullet of the 45ACP is a great bullet and being slower it almost always offers near 100% energy transfer. It IS a good stopper. The 357 mag is throwing a lighter bullet a lot faster. When you only take into consideration the energy from speed and weight they are much the same.

Take a couple of gallon bleach bottles and fill them up with water, Karo syrup and red food coloring and set them in front of a piece of plywood. Shoot one with the 45ACP and the other with a 357 Mag. The one shot with the 45ACP has a hole in front and back and the water pours out the holes. Shoot the other bottle with the 357 mags and it freaking EXPLODES throwing the water and stuff all over the place covering the piece of plywood behind it with a graphic demonstration of hydro- shock.

In the end, they are both good stoppers they just do it differently. One with weight and size and the other with speed. Each requires a different bullet design. A 45 ACP does well with FMJ or round nose lead bullets and doesn't benefit much from hollow points. a 357 mag needs soft points and hollow points or their speed will be wasted by passing all the way through My favorite defense load in 357 is a 125 gr half jacketed hollow point that I push to near 1800 FPS. I also have some 158-grain FMJ military stuff that will shoot all the way through a car. Each has a place.

Stopping power is a complicated subject that has so many parts. The one that I have not mentioned that may be one of the biggest factors in humans is the state of mind and attitude. Many years ago a cop in Houston emptied a 15 round magazine out of a Browning high-power into a criminal and was working on the second magazine before he finally stopped the guy. At first, there was a lot of stories about the cop using excessive force. Then it happened again and this time it was with a 12 gauge shotgun. It turned out that a "new" drug made some people REALLY hard to stop. PCP was a real problem for a few years.

On the flipside, it is not uncommon for a person to be shot with a low powered round and receive a non-threatening wound and they still die before they can be taken to the hospital. Shock doesn't have to be caused by a REAL injury as much as what you THINK it is.

 

i love debates. Warmed up some scalloped potatoes and ham, some music in my headphones......enjoying it.

talking about ballistics, penetration, damage path, transmitted versus retained energy........each is based on very unique conditions that change drastically depending on velocity, weight and type of projectile, and the purpose you are using it for. When we were testing our rounds in gel blocks I came across these tests regarding pistols http://emptormaven.com/img/Pistol_Round_Terminal_Ballistics.jpg
It's interesting to see the damage path from the much slower .45 as compared to the 9mm or the .357 sig, both having higher velocity than the .45. The damage path results from a good balance of velocity and projectile, that aren't consistent between the different calibers. This chart shows a similar testing done with rifles https://media.moddb.com/images/members/1/559/558367/terminal_ballistics.png
and you can track the damage path that is based not just on velocity but also projectile type. Even a high velocity round won't do as much damage if the projectile can't transmit that energy to the target (expanding, shredding, fragmenting, too soon or too late).

I definitely agree, a good rule of thumb is the more velocity there is, the more damage potential, but there are so many variables that it's hard to come up with a "golden rule" regarding velocity, projectile, and damage.

BUT!!! There is one golden rule that you must never break: never ever use reloads for personal defense. You may be able to come up with a great round that does a tremendous job in that aspect, but the courts will paint you as a gun nut that sits in their basement cooking up ways to kill people. And as careful as I am, I'm not sure my QC is better than one of the main ammo manufactors.

 

Your spot on . Facts presented better than I could .