There is a reason juries are made up of non-lawyer citizens drawn from the community. For the same reason, the JURY is the "tryor of fact" not the Judge, nor the lawyers. THEIR job is to present the case, the defense, explain the law, and the judge instructs the jury.
While lawyers will absolutely attempt any and all forms of misdirection, obfuscation, and blatant chicanery to draw the jury into some technical rabbit hole, juries by and large have an uncanny ability to see through it all and more often than not render the correct verdict. Trying to go to FAR down the techno-babble rabbit hole is as likely to backfire as to succeed. Just ask Marsha Clark.
I carry "personal loads" and freely admit it. The reason is because here in California all ammo transfers must go through a licensed "vendor" - including online orders. This is no big deal for those who order in bulk, but not everybody can or wants to order by the case for expensive "defensive" ammo and as long as I want to conform my choices to what everyone else decides I should have, certainly I can trot down to the local big box store and by 9mm, .40, and .45 auto...and sometimes even half-way decent .38 Special though for the last YEAR Sportsman's has only carried a rather limited selection. Then there is the fact that my chosen carry caliber isn't any of those.
I used to carry a FiveseveN in 5.7x28 exclusively. Since factory ammo is deliberately neutered, I would buy online when the price was right - like when PSA was selling American Eagle for $15 a box of 50, pull the bullets, then reload them with a more suitable powder charge to kick up the velocity from 1,650fps to around 1,950fps. I would also substitute alternative bullet choices for the FMJ bullets, though there is a lot to be said for FMJ in a high-velocity .22 bottleneck round! When the State cut mail order to home sales I was stuck with the choice of buying the same ammo for $30/50 which isn't a desirable option, so naturally I just dug into my supply of once-fired brass and started rolling from scratch. My current "bulk" load is the Speer 40gr. Spire Point over AA7 powder for very close to 2,000 fps. I like the dense lead core much better for use against large, dangerous animals as opposed to the frangible Vmax style bullet. The Speer bullet has a thick jacket made for 3,000fps speed, and sharply tapered nose which makes it ideal for the modern urban jungle. This type of ammo cannot be purchased it must be built.
Over the last year or so I've transitioned to the .22 TCM and .22 TCM9R as well as developed the 5.56x24. I have an assortment of handguns including Glocks, CZ and RIA chambered to accept this round and baseline performance is greatly superior to factory 5.7x28, and about 100fps faster than custom loaded 5.7x28. My basic SD load is the Speer 40gr. SP in the 5.56x24 case clocking 2,015fps from a 4.5" Glock or CZ barrel. Since the bullets finally became available I've also create a stock of .22TCM9R using the Armscor 39gr. JHP bullet with the short nose and total jacket coverage.
I choose to carry these guns can cartridges instead of the conventional choices because they provide low recoil, extremely fast-shooting with little muzzle disturbance, accurate fire to 150 yards with no hold-over should it be needed, and the ability to punch through thicker sheet steel and plate than any of the "big three", as well as a high probability of defeating Kevlar - the wearing of which seems to be on the rise among criminals and maniacs.
As long as my choices are used DEFENSIVELY there isn't a single argument that can be made that they are inherently "worse" than any other caliber, and if someone goes "offensive" with ANY caliber, chances are they're going to be hung out to dry.
