Most reloaders are tinkerers by nature, but we always reach a point where there is one particular gun that we shoot more than others or a particular shooting sport becomes a favorite. When that happens, we don't need to be wasting our time constantly messing around with different loads. We need to find one that does what we want it to do and then stick to it.

Very often the solution can be as simple as finding a factory load that works and duplicating it. Of course it is rarely that simple because sometimes we want something that simply isn't available from any factory. Maybe we're cowboy shooters for whom no load is light enough or magnum lovers who can't find one hot enough.

Either way--confined only by the limits of safety and common sense--we can usually find something to meet our needs. And those needs are important. A nice light plinking load that shoots great in a revolver may not function at all in a pistol, and if the gun has fixed sights our load must shoot somewhere pretty close to the load for which the gun was sighted at the factory.

Gun manufacturers generally choose a standard load and design their fixed sights so they will fire that load to the point of aim. Of course there is a lot of flexibility here, and if the factory picks a 124-grain load for the 9mm, chances are the 115s are going to be fine too.

For generations, the standard for the .38 Special has been the plain old 158-grain lead roundnose, but hardly anyone uses that anymore--certainly not for defense. If I had to guess, I'd say that the most common .38 Special defense load would be a 125-grain JHP +P, and this lighter bullet is going to hit below point of aim for some handguns because it's faster and spends less time in the barrel--giving recoil-induced muzzle rise less time to have an effect on it.

This phenomenon is most dramatic in short barrels, but as a practical matter this rarely interferes with the defensive use of the gun but shows up on the range.

It is the category of defensive handguns where the standard load concept really shines. With the skyrocketing cost of factory ammo, few can afford a really good training regimen without reloading. But there are compromises we can make without degrading training ammo.

First of all is bullet selection. Full-metal-jacket bullets are far less expensive than hollowpoints, and cast bullets are cheaper still. The paper or steel target we use for practice could care less, so I strongly favor smacking it with whatever costs least--and that is a cast lead bullet.

Some shooters have an aversion to cast bullets that is often based on myth rather than fact. Yes, cast bullets are dirtier, but why care? In my opinion, most shooters clean guns too much anyhow.

Yes, cast bullets can be less accurate, but so what? We're not shooting bullseye here, and even if we were, most decent loads will stay in the eight-inch black of the 50-yard bullseye target. On the defensive-gun side, that pretty well equates to making head shots anyhow.