[Joeaksa]

For home defense, use factory loads ONLY!

First, while most handloads work everytime, it has been know to have a dud with reloads.

Second the ACLU would go ballestic with "you are making your own bullets, then waiting for someone to break in the house so you can shoot them...

A 12 gauge is probably the best home defense weapon, followed by the .45. 9mm is too light and bounces around too much. Goes through walls and hits things you do not want hit, like your family or the gas tank of the car in the garage. The .45 auto is a fat slow round and slows down fairly fast after the first impact. It also puts down almost anything it hits, like crooks.

Personally I usually put a "snake shot" round (small version of a shotgun shell) in the first hole, followed up by hollow points. This way if your grandmother goes to the wrong house at 3 in the morning and does not stop when you yell because the battery in her hearing aid is tits up, the first shot will not kill anyone. If it is a crook, the second shot will put them down.

Joe A