Do you trust your own handloads more than factory ammo? Legal issues aside, what do you trust more?

Well if you cannot trust your own loads you shouldn't be hand loading. I certainly don't trust other peoples hand loads for that reason alone. As for factory ammo they face liability issues and if you have found inverted primers name the brand and produce the evidence I know of no one who has. I trust factory ammo completely.

I used two methodologies for reloading metallic catridges:

1) For handgun and target rifle loading (30-06 for the Garand and .223 for the AR-15), I "accurize" the powder measure and go to town. I then measure by volume and don't care if I'm off by a half-grain.

2) For all my hunting rifle cartridges, which are many, I weigh each and every powder charge down to the 1/100th of a grain. I clean every primer pocket and flash hole. And carefully set each bullet into place.

I don't recall ever having a "dud" in my metallic reloads. I usually have about 1 dud in 500 when it comes to shotgun shell reloading. (Usually an inert primer from the factory.)

I hand load for my 30-06. Never have I had one that was bad. I have loaded them a little too hot but that was my mistake. I can set the bullet depth to my rifle and tweak the powder to what works best for me and the rifle. I can load a box of mid scale 30 06 for about 1/2 price of the factory loads if I reuse the brass. I can pick which bullet I want and preforms the best for me. I have only had a few factory loads that were bad (didnt fire).

A handloader, someone who knows what there doing is going to create rounds better tuned to the gun there personally using than any factory load save the most expensive on the market. If they blow up there gun well thats there mistake and they will probably never make that kind of mistake again. Chalk it up to experience. While if you use a factory round and you get an explosion due to their **** up and can prove it you'll at least get reimbursed.

You can spend an extraordinary amount of money for high quality factory ammo that's almost as good as any handload match grade ammo, or you can spend a fraction of the money for your own handloads. I have NEVER, as in not one single time, had a bad handload, I have however had a plethora of bad factory loads, note, none of those bad factory loads were the high dollar, high quality match grade ammo, but rather the "white box" equivalent. One of the benefits of handloading is being able to monitor every step of the reloading process.

As a side note, I don't know of a single competition shooter who doesn't load his or her own ammo. The ability to custom tailor ammo to the specifics of a particular rifle can only be achieved by a handloader, it cannot be matched by mass produced factory ammo.

I used to reload and my experience was that the accuracy of reloads was generally better. There isn't anything I've found in factory loads that I find terribly flawed, but you get what you pay for. Budget ammunition,.more often than not, is good for people who own military surplus rifles of one type or another who are more interested in pulling the trigger than target shooting. Better grade ammunition is generally more reliable and accurate.

Iv been hand loading my .270 & 30-06 rounds for match shooting and hunting for years, and from my experience, factory loads just aren't as dependable as a load that you produce yourself. with all the specific weighing and closer inspection, you can't go wrong.

* Yes i do. * I once had a Factory loaded cartridge blow up in my 6mm Remington Bull barreled Rifle.* I was lucky I only got hit with pieces of powder and brass in the face.*

Yes.

agree with cane ,,,