.45ACP Protection Loads

In the concealed carry classes I needed to take to get my permit, we were told that we should never use reloads for anything defensive. It did not have anything to do with reliability, but rather legal liability.
If, for some reason you would actually have to shoot someone to stop a threat, you do not want to do it with something you "made up yourself".
So my suggestion would be to use something that comes in a box marked Defense load. I use Winchester 230gr stx, or Hydro shocks when I can find them. But if you are worried about over penetration, you can look at the Glasser safety slugs (sp)? Or something along those lines.
I don't veiw the .45 as an overly powerful round, so I'm not really worried about over penetration, .45 is big and slow, it's not going very far after it hits a wall.

Scott

From what I've seen and the bit I've read, the use of reloaded ammo for self defense is pretty much a non-issue. If the shooting is ruled justified, the accompanying civil suit is pretty difficult to win if it is even allowed to continue. You have been exhonerated of wrong doing, not just found not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If the shooting is ruled unjustified, it is immaterial in that you will spend all your assests on legal fees in an attempt to stay out of prison and there will be nothing left for the victim's heirs.
I stick with factory ammo as I have experienced more ammo problems with various home reloads than with factory rounds. Poor resizing, light or no powder drops, incorrect cartridge length, crimped semi-auto rounds, damaged brass, and other problems have cropped up at times. Add to this the idea that somebody whose reloading prowess is an unknown would lead me to prefer factory loads. I also find that some factory loads have much less muzzleflash than any reload as the factories can get powders that are not available to the reloader. This may not seem important at the range but it can be very important when firing in low light conditions which is when most self defense incidents occur. One must remember that multiple hits are often needed to stop an attack and instances of more than one intruder are nearly as common as a single intruder.
If you insist on using reloads, any reload that approximates your preferred target load will do.

I'm with uglydog,I use federal hydroshocks in my 45 glock and have never had a fail to feed or shoot.Its a crying shame we have to know something about the law to defend ourselves but we have to be carefull.Shooting times mag had an article several years ago and it explained what happened after the man had to shoot an intruder,he lost his gun till the courts cleared him(took several years),he spent his inheritance defending himself and almost lost his house.The family of the man that was shot said he had mental problems and needed to be in a hospital,they sued doctors and the home owner.The homeowner won and was given his pistol back,after he was broke,Just make sue that shooting is the only way out,the article was written by an x-lawofficer and he said to shoot off the self ammo for legal reasons.I can't remember how far back the article was but I remember it well.Drop-Shot

Full power loads in a 45 acp are probably a little on the
powerful side for home defense. A 230 gr ball will go
through most walls and also through a neighbors wall.
I use a load from the store by a company called corbon
who specialize in defense type loads. It is about
180 gr and has cavernous hollow point. Even with this
severe hollow point it might get through a couple
walls, but would probably be better than 230 gr ball.
You might try and find some frangible stuff, that
breaks up on hard surface if you want the 45 for
home defense. Actually I like a shotgun with bird
shot for home defense. It will work very well at
the short ranges inside a house yet break up pretty
well going into walls and not hurt neighbors.
If I had to use a pistol on home defense I would
choose a 38 special +p like the Winchester
125 grain silver tip hollow point which gives a
velocity of 900 fps. It will penetrate 12 inches of
flesh, which is about the size from chest to back
on a normal person, thereby just making it through
the attacker and falling on the floor behind him.