Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
That is the exact case I was referring to earlier. It's not a case of a handload being the issue- the issue is the people looking at the case didn't seem to bother to determine, if possible, what load was used. Using factory ammo is no guarantee in this line either. You have your 6 or 12 or 17 shot gun, get involved in a gun fight, someone gets shot. The police find 17 cases, all marked "Winchester" for arguments sake. That does not mean that all 17 rounds were loaded with the same bullet, powder, to the same power level or were the same lot. For that matter, the defense could bring up the old "super deadly BLACK TALON line of reasoning, that you were just out to kill someone. So I fail to see any reason to get real excited about fantasy legal issues. If you ever do you a gun in self defense, your life as you knew it is simply over.Well, I guess that I got more urban legend info from the loopholes that shot with us back then. I went so far to to make sure any ammo placed with home defense guns, even shotguns was factory stuff.
Since we are on the subject, here is another one that was shared with me. Never use buckshot as a home defense load. I believe I was told that it was illegal for use. I'd never heard that before. Probably should Google it. So I did and found nothing against using it. So, while I was there, I Googled handloads for self-defense. It would appear that the warning against it started with Ayoob. But the article went on with how it could work against you and actually did in one case. Here's a cut and paste to save you from clicking links and scrolling down.
Another potential downside is the legal aspect if you have to use those handloads in self-defense. A lot of experts, including Massad Ayoob recommend that you don't.
It isn't so much about the projectile design. It has more to do with replicability of a bullet with all the same ballistic properties. If you carry factory ammunition, forensic examination will show exactly what that bullet does. A handload...gets more complicated. You have to rely on the forensic investigators to test a round that is loaded EXACTLY the same as your handload...and you can't count on that.
There is at least one case in which it mattered, New Jersey v. Daniel Bias. Bias, who hand loaded his carry ammunition, was convicted of manslaughter in the shooting death of his wife. Mrs. Bias, according to The Morning Call, had a history of mental illness, and in Feb. 1989, grabbed the handgun during a typical domestic argument. She shot at Mr. Bias, and he rushed to grab the gun out of her hand. During the struggle, she was shot in the back of the head.
Daniel Bias told police that he was trying to get the gun out of her hands. As she ostensibly tried twisting away from him, the gun went off. The bullet entered behind her left ear, and she died from the wound.
At issue was the residue and blood spatter pattern on Mrs. Bias. The prosecution argued that the only way the pattern and residue that were present could have been there was if Mr. Bias had shot her from across the room. Mr. Bias, who loaded the pistol with a light handload, maintained throughout the process (four separate trials) that she shot herself as she was twisting away from him.
With factory ammunition, the exact load data can be discovered during the legal process by going to the manufacturer, who can tell a court all the relevant information about the load in question. From that information, forensic investigators can create a blood spatter and gunshot residue model from it. A handloader who doesn't keep meticulous records along with a way to identify exactly which handload recipe a bullet is...could wind up in trouble.
What is said to have happened to Daniel Bias was that the forensics team tested a more powerful handload and not HIS handload, which essentially is what the prosecution in his first trial hinged their entire case on. Bias, according to, again, The Morning Call (the newspaper of record in Phillipsburg, NJ, where Mr. Bias lived at the time) was convicted of reckless manslaughter in 1997, 8 years after the death of Lise Bias, and sentenced to six years in prison.
Don't kid yourself about prosecutors. Their job is to win cases, not pursue "justice." They get fired if they don't. "Justice," to many prosecutors, only happens when they win regardless of what happened in actual fact. They differ from individual to individual, but as a group they can and will resort to anything to get that win no matter how seemingly spurious, circumstantial or arbitrary their case may be. Justice, after all, is just an abstract concept, and let me assure you that Quixotic ideals and ethos are swiftly jettisoned when your career is at stake.
The idea here is that you don't want to give police or prosecuting attorneys anything that might be used against you. While use of handloads as self-defense ammunition doesn't mean instant conviction, it can end up being a wildcard.
You were told buckshot was illegal to use in self defense? Were you also told it's illegal to drive barefoot in NYS? I
ll give you 2 things that are actual violations of NYS law- Adultery and not burying a dead horse at least 3 feet deep within 48 hours. You stand as big a chance getting busted for either of those as the handloads thing.
If you don't want to risk "wild cards" in a criminal prosecution after a self defense shooting, then don't ever shoot anyone in self defense!