RE: useing self loaded ammo for self defense
You should never use hand loads for home defence. The City Attorney will eat you alive. Best advice I have ever gotten for this subject I got from a gun magazine and I verified with the local Sherrifs Department range cadre. Find out what your local or state police are using for ammo, and use the same thing. That way, if you ever have to shoot somebody, and the lawyers come after you, and try to use your ammo choice against you, you simply call the local law as your witness and ask them what they use. If you are using the same ammo, you should be good. If it is not excessive for them to use, then it isn't excessive for you to use.
if youare going to practice with the same ammo that you use for protection, then get 2 boxes. Load your defence ammo from one box and keep the rest of that box, DON"T SHOOT IT. Annotate on the box when you opened it, and how many rounds you took and for what. That way, if you shoot somebody, the forensics people have other bullets from the same box, batch, lot, whatever you want to call it. When you go to the range to practice, unload those defence rounds and shoot your other ammo.
Good luck. Hope this helps