Be Mindful Of Your Carry Ammo

If you want to mark them, Sharpies work well - either as a stripe around the case or a mark on the bottom.

I try to rotate my carry ammo thru the gun approx every three months. I unload the carry ammo one round at a time by sending them down the barrel around 1,150fps. How long did you carry these rounds? I don't understand what would cause the set back by just carrying the rounds. Always more to learn!

I rarely unload my carry pistol save range time or cleaning.

Funny
I noticed the exact same problem in my carry ammo yesterday.

I hadn’t noticed it because they were all set back. I just happened to unload another 45 with gold dots beside my CCW and they were not even close. And yes, they were all 230gr gold dots. Quiet possibility out of the same box, but I’m not sure.

I've noticed that when I chamber a round from the magazine repeatedly eventually it gets seated deeper into the case. I think it is just whacking the feed ramp that does it. After several trips up the feed ramp I think the crimp just gives up a little bit.

I think four times is the max I will rechamber a load and still I check it.

I routinely keep a loaded Hi Power for contract work with one of my companies. Instead of unloading it I lower the hammer on the chambered round to avoid this issue.

This underscores the advantage of tip-up barrel Berettas where the chambered round can be removed and reinserted without cycling from a magazine.

One solution to checking, if you are using particular loads, is to make your own overall loaded cartridge gauges. Not hard to do - just buy cheap C clamps, epoxy closed lightly on a fresh round.

Or two fresh rounds on a flat surface with carry ammo in between - a piece of straight bar stock will tell the story placed on top.

One word. Revolver.....

Piece of cake.

Shoot 'em up once in a while. SD ammo isn't so expensive that you can't afford to shoot a magazine every, what, 3 months? 6 months? Whatever.

As for marking, use a Sharpie on the inside of the rim of the casing. Every time you unload, mark the inside rim of the to round. When you reload the magazine, put all the marked cartridges in first. When you've gone through all the cartridges once, start rubbing the marks off and putting the unmarked ones in first.

At whatever arbitrary number of cycles, shoot 'em up and put fresh ammo in the magazine.

Another way might be to mark the bullet at the case mouth with an extra fine Sharpie. If you run the pen point on the case mouth top it should leave a narrow band on the bullet. If the bullet begins any signs of setback it should not be too hard to spot.

I never let the slide slam forward with my EDC ammo vs I just make sure it is in battery for this very reason. As far as for the cost of my EDC ammo, I use 124gr Federal HST which is only $20 / box of 50 @ Target Sports USA which is easy on the pocket book to practice with at the range when it is time to change out the ammo.

Curtism1 said:

I never let the slide slam forward with my EDC ammo vs I just make sure it is in battery for this very reason. As far as for the cost of my EDC ammo, I use 124gr Federal HST which is only $20 / box of 50 @ Target Sports USA which is easy on the pocket book to practice with at the range.

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My method also, I simply ride the slide FWD chambering a round. I do mark my chambered rounds using a red sharpie on the primer, but to date using the "ride" method I've yet to see any significant setback.

Being as I try to shoot weekly, and always start with my current carry piece, I find I don't rechamber rounds with any frequency if at all. That said, if you are that concerned, you could make a little COL gauge and note where they start.

Good Ol' Boy said:

Says someone with Glock in their SN.

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Good catch.

Why are chambering and rechambering live ammunition in your guns so often?

I mark the rim of each cartridge with a sharpie every time I eject the round. Once the top one gets 3 marks it’s rotated somewhere into the magazine. After they all get 3 marks I shoot them off and refresh them. Helps avoid setback and makes sure I always have newish ammo in there.

For the record I only unload the HD gun when t goes to the range.

BSA1 said:

Why are chambering and rechambering live ammunition in your guns so often?

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He's already stated that he's unloading for range practice

I never re-chamber carry loads. I'll replace the mag in a carry gun with a mag of practice rounds, but the round already in the pipe is always fired. If I have to unload the carry gun w/o firing, the extracted chambered round is set aside for a later practice session. it never goes back into a carry mag.

Good Ol' Boy said:

Says someone with Glock in their SN.

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I do love my Glocks but for whatever reason I reach for my revolvers more often than not in a carry situation, whether it be concealed or a woods gun .

In all seriousness I would kinetically pull the bullets a little bit out and reseat them at the original COAL. I have has the same carry ammo in my Glock 23 for 11 or 12 years. I'll shoot one off here or there at the range but I am not buying premium self defense rounds every 8 months to a year .

I recently switched from carrying a Jframe to a G42. Now that you guys mention it, yeah, with the revolver it is a non-issue.

So far I am just coloring the primer black on one round and always chamber that one. I KNOW that I have good neck tension. I have never had one move. But I keep an eye on that round anyway.

Also, I have been carrying XTPs in the 380. The shoulder of the bullets is seated pretty close to the case mouth. Any movement should be relatively easy to notice with that sharp angle being a point of reference.

Normally I dont do a whole lot of unloading and reloading, but I have been trying to get as much range time with the new carry gun as possible. So ammo has been getting swapped regularly as of late.