Reloading for Self Defense

When choosing bullet weight for reloading 9mm cartridges, your primary focus is reliability.  If the bullet you choose for reloading your cartridges won’t make a round that will reliably cycle in your pistol, all other considerations (purpose, cost, recoil, accuracy) go right out the window.  It is up to you to know your pistol and whether it will actually shoot a heavier round.  While a heavier bullet will result in lighter felt recoil (and who doesn’t like lighter felt recoil), loading heavier bullets with a lower powder charge might result in a beautiful 147 grain bullet that absolutely won’t work in a factory Glock.  A Glock with a factory set of recoil and striker springs might need the extra powder charge and a lighter bullet to cycle reliably.

The majority of pistol owners say they keep a dedicated self-defense gun and practice shooting for self-defense.  Reliability is consideration number one.  As we see so often in cases when a good guy with a gun does save the day, no one speaks much about accuracy or how flat the muzzle looked when the rounds were discharged.  Accuracy and recoil are at the back of the line.  Why?  This is not a precision shooting scenario.  You, in a shooting scenario, are unlikely to have the luxury to perfect your stance and grip.  Even if you did, your “fight and flight” response will potentially send those skills out the window.  Unless you are a highly trained, highly practiced individual whose skills are completely embedded into muscle memory, you will resort to “point shooting”.  If you are not the person with the finely honed skills and practice in high stress shooting scenarios, and you intend to carry and reload for self-defense, it is a good idea to add close-quarter shooting drills to your practice routine.

Why?  Most situations involving shots fired in self-defense occur in poor lighting, with less than 20 feet between the victim (possibly you) and his assailant.  In a high-stress situation that forces you to draw your gun and defend yourself, you will experience a decrease in both sensory and muscular function and coordination.  Nothing works right.  Your peripheral vision is practically worthless, and your acuity of vision on the front sight isn’t much better.  Your focus on the front sight is blurred so all you see in your tunnel vision is your target; and of course, you have also lost fine motor skills.  Your hearing isn’t great either.

Law enforcement experts who have studied thousands of officer-involved gunfights have determined that:  (1) You will cast an iron grip on your pistol, pull the muzzle down, and shoot low.  (2) You will slap the dickens out of the trigger and forget everything you were taught about feeling the “reset”.  Fortunately, this encounter is occurring at 7-20 feet, and your “kill zone” is not the 3-inch center of a competition target.  It is a full 12 inches encompassing many vital organs.  You will need every inch of that zone, because even at this seemingly “can’t miss” distance, 80 percent of your shots will not hit your adversary due to the deficits mentioned above.

In pointing and shooting, you do not have to think about your sight picture; simply shooting and retreating.  You are directing fire from the barrel of the gun with your index finger as your guide.  This technique is performed while holding the gun close to your body; either your chest or your hip, and backing up.  A skilled person can get to you and take your gun, so you’ll need to move, and keep moving. It is important, of course, to understand the point shooting technique, but first you must know the fundamentals of sight alignment, stance, grip, trigger control and sight picture before you practice point shooting.  Take a class.  Regardless, a reliable bullet for practicing this scenario is a 115-grain bullet.  For the most part, it is a weight that will cycle in most 9mm handguns, as well as a PCC.

From a cost standpoint, the bullet is less expensive, but you will need more powder to send the round.  Many will argue against this technique, but remember that the scenario assumes you have already recognized that you have a justifiable reason to shoot.  Personally, I would not draw my pistol unless pressed this close.  Another weight that many consider a flat-shooting round that is usually point of aim, point of impact is a 124-grain bullet.

Even though it seems counter-intuitive, remember that the heavier the bullet, the less the felt recoil.  But also keep in mind that bullet weight does affect the point of impact.  The heavier and lower recoil the bullet, the lower the impact.  More recoil raises the point of impact.  Bullet weight is a major component of recoil, and counter-intuitively, the higher the bullet weight, the lower the recoil.

Regardless of what bullet weight suits your purpose, you can get once-fired, 9mm brass.