Why Carry Ammo Needs To Be Rotated

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wcwhitey

wcwhitey

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Every 6 months I shoot off my carry ammo from my most used carry guns, a S&W Model 638, Ruger LCP and Kahr CM9. I have never had an ammo related issue with any of these guns and I figured that this is a good rotation. I shoot these guns much more but with generic range ammo usually. Today I had 4 Fiocci 95 Grain XTP’s and 1 Fiocci FMJ .380’s give me problems. The XTP’s fired not with a bang but slightly stronger “puff” than a squib. I had to check the barrel each time to make sure the bullet exited, it did but failed to cycle the LCP. The FMJ failed to fire completely after several good primer strikes. The crazy thing is this was from 3 loaded magazines that I have been carrying. The rest of the boxes all fired fine as I finished the entire boxes to make sure it was not a gun issue. I have never had this before, ammo was not damaged or corroded. The stock was about 8 years old and the last of the lot I bought to carry in the gun when I got it. Goes to show ya, things can and will go wrong. I had fully intended to buy fresh ammo today anyway as availability is back. $90 and 3 boxes of Hornady Critical Defense later I learned a lesson. 36 years of daily carry and there is a first time for everything, glad I keep up with these things. Don’t take ammo for granted.
 
eddiememphis said:
How do you know it was an age related when the rest of ammo fired fine?
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I don’t. Could be any one or a combination of the reasons mentioned. I don’t do a ton of administrative reloads but I cannot say it’s never done. Generally my guns stay loaded and locked up if need be rather than constant unloading. It has been a hot summer and pocket carry is what I do so there is that. Just a strange occurrence for the number of failures. Happy it occurred on the range and glad that I have been in the habit of rotating ammo. Just figured it might serve as a reminder for a few. I am sure during the shortage and subsequent price inflation some may have neglected this. I have shot ammo from WWI and never gave it a concern, but never put it in a gun if it might be needed.
 
Ammunition that has been bounced around for years can have all sorts of problems. Ammunition specialists told me ammunition kept for extended periods of times in vehicles, especially tracked vehicles, "have their own problems", which I took to understand, failed to function properly. Heat deteriorates ammunition, 8 years in a hot vehicle can cause all sorts of gunpowder issues.

If it is your life on the line, how about not being a cheapskate, and shoot up your carry ammunition before it is a couple of years old? Can't hurt, and might prevent a future problem.
 
plainsdrifter said:
The heat its exposed to out here worries me.
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I've considered that, as I live in the Dallas area. I keep extra magazines in both of my truck consoles, as well as other places. I think vibration is a worse enemy... in the long run. I used to keep a stash of ammo in my work truck, but stopped that. I used to rotate my ammos... essentially, a 50 box of ammos (9mm...) fired out of my primary carry pistol to function check the pistol and all the magazines, and to rotate the ammos... but that changed with The Shortages; now I'm up to 1 year rotation. In all the years I've been doing that, I've never had a problem, however. Me thinks the OP might have a different problem...
 
Charlie98 said:
I've considered that, as I live in the Dallas area. I keep extra magazines in both of my truck consoles, as well as other places. I think vibration is a worse enemy... in the long run. I used to keep a stash of ammo in my work truck, but stopped that. I used to rotate my ammos... essentially, a 50 box of ammos (9mm...) fired out of my primary carry pistol to function check the pistol and all the magazines, and to rotate the ammos... but that changed with The Shortages; now I'm up to 1 year rotation. In all the years I've been doing that, I've never had a problem, however. Me thinks the OP might have a different problem...
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Your situation sounds about right. I travel a bunch, always an extra Mag in the console. It gets rotated (why 1 Mag with FMJ) as I sometimes travel in and do business in NJ. I will say the more I think about it’s a combo, these rounds have seen a rough life. Live and learn!

It’s also a strengthens the case of a revolver for pocket carry
 
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wcwhitey said:
Your situation sounds about right. I travel a bunch, always an extra Mag in the console. It gets rotated (why 1 Mag with FMJ) as I sometimes travel in and do business in NJ. I will say the more I think about it’s a combo, these rounds have seen a rough life. Live and learn!
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Truth be told, I used to carry a basic load out of 9mm, .45ACP, and 5.56mm in the truck... as sort of a pre-bug out ammo load, but after researching the effects of heat, humidity, and vibration... I quit it. Now it's just an extra 9mm magazine in the consoles. Better availability of SD ammos have me ready to start my normal 6-months rotation, again. Your experience proves the likely need to rotate that ammos...
 
In the early 80’s I was acquainted with quite a few Southern California police officers because of shooting matches and friends. I was told by a few of them to shoot up carry snd vehicle stored ammo every 6 months. They referred to a study done by LAPD
where vibration and contamination affected stored and carried rounds.
I do the same thing @wcwhitey Every 6 months I shoot up carry and vehicle stored ammo.

NIGHTLORD40K said:
Lots of folks will eject and rechamber "the one in the pipe" many, many times without actually firing the gun too- not stopping to consider the repeated pounding the bullet takes from the feed ramp and subsequent setback.....
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I learned about this one day when I was unloading my 1911 years ago. The bullet was pressed into the case by at least .1 inches. Later I found that 9mm is even more susceptible to this in my Glocks. When I unloaded the gun the one in the chamber got rotated lower in the mag. If I miscounted or couldn’t remember which ones had been chambered the mag was unloaded and replenished with new ammo and the removed ammo went into a special box for shooting at the range for practice.

wcwhitey said:
It’s also a strengthens the case of a revolver for pocket carry
Click to expand...

I prefer revolvers for carry.
 
I've had this happen with .380. I suspect that I left too much oil in the bore and it managed to get to the powder in the chambered round. Like you I got a lighter report, the gun did not cycle, but the bullet did clear the barrel.
 
I guess I have to say carry ammo should be replaced periodically, not rotated. The carry ammo in my carry guns gets shot first everytime I go to the range, which is often. It then gets replaced by fresh ammo. My carry ammo is the same as my practice/range ammo so it's not really an issue for me. Shooting regularly not only keeps my ammo fresh, it keeps me and my shooting proficiency fresh too. I've never in my life had ammo go bad because of age.......or bouncing around in my holster. In the past I've been given ammo by widows/friends that is as old as I am(think dirt) and it still goes bang. Corroded cases is the exception.
 
I guess everybody can have a different experience with their ammo. Except for .22 rimfire, I've only bought maybe 10 boxes of commercial ammo in the last 12 years, and everything else I've shot is my own reloaded ammo. I've had a few failed primers, and maybe 3 or 4 squibs in all that time. The squibs all came in a very close period, and all were from the same loading lot of .38 Spl.

Beyond that, I have ammo sitting in ammo cans that has been loaded for as long as 10 years, and it shoots just fine whenever I grab some of it. I haven't tried to rotate ammo, never felt the need because I haven't had the issues. Like someone mentioned above, when unloading a carry gun, there is the one that get extracted and thrown out. I may rotate that one by rearranging the rounds in the magazine, but that's about it. If properly crimped or great enough neck tension, you won't have to worry about setback, and I don't notice any more wear and tear on the case head and extractor groove on those rounds than I do any of my reused brass that I reload with.
 
I practice with FMJ so I used to take the HP carry rounds out of the gun. When reloading the gun after cleaning I could see it pushes the bullet back a little, so now I fire off the old HP carry rounds & load new each time I go to the range to practice. That turns out to be about once a month with the high price of ammo.
 
I suppose it's possible that the OP's ammo issues resulted simply from age, but if so, I think that's uncommon unless it's been kept in poor conditions. I'm not saying that one should take ammo quality for granted, but I have a good bit of ammo that I've had since the 1980s, and it still shoots like it did back when I first bought it or loaded it. For example, I have a bunch of 125 grain .357 Magnum rounds that I loaded in approximately 1988, and it shoots just like it did back in the day, just as hot and just as reliable. I have some .223 factory loads that also seem unchanged, as well as some .22 LR. Granted, these have all been kept inside my air conditioned home, so that may be a meaningful factor, and a difference in some comparative cases.
 
With the past few years of limited ammo supply I made a point to purchase acceptable carry ammo. I may not have found my favorite, but acceptable is better than nothing. I reduced the amount of FMJ or target ammo I buy and would practice with carry ammo more frequently. I also reduced the number of rounds shot in a practice session, but would go to the range more frequently.

I like to begin each session with shooting the rounds off that I have been carrying. Then shoot a few magazines/cylinders of anything that might be a replacement for a carry round.
In my 380 I have changed from Sig to Percision One and now Federal Punch.
My current 38 special is either 125 JHP Percision One or 158 JHP from Norma.

The Percision One and Norma ammo preforms well and is not much more expensive than FMJ'S.

With this practice I really don't need to worry about rotating my ammo. It also builds confidence when I start with the ammo I'm counting on to protect my family with.
 
Keep SIG 365 ammo in the 365. It does get replaced periodically; have a fair stash of it, from a Dunham's sale.
Set back isn't an issue; the 365 is an uncommon easy feeder; a sized case will pop into the chamber from the magazine. As a result, I can granny the slide closed, and not much beat up the ammo.
Luckily, it clocks at virtually the same speed as my reloads (tho' with less flash), and has the same POI.
Now, all that said, ammo shouldn't be ignored, or taken for granted.
Also, have to wonder if some of the current, hasty production has given anything away in quality?
Moon
 
Many people do not see the hurry to replace their carry ammo. A dollar per cartridge?

Replacing those HP rounds annually is a good plan. If you can't remember how many years since you bought them, it should be a sign!
 
I think Paul Harrell sums it up well. In regards to Hyper Ammo.


If you carry something that you can afford to shoot you really don't worry about rotating the ammo, it is part of normal practice.
 
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