Carry Ammo questions

[Mag_357TX]

Ok I know this topic is not exactly "new", but I have a few questions about the responses I've been reading in other forums when people ask things like, what is the best carry ammo, and how often should you rotate your carry ammo, etc...

First let me explain my carry situation. I bought a box of 20 rounds of Corbon DPX 90 grain 9mm +P hollow points about a year ago. So I keep two 10 round mags full at all times, and one of them has a 115 grain speer gold dot +P at the bottom (cause I needed 21 to fill both mags and keep one in the chamber, in my chamber is the DPX). I also have a backup 17 round mag filled with Gold Dots (this one stays in my air conditioned apartment).

The two 10 round mags I have filled with the Corbon DPX have gone everywhere with me in the last year. They've sometimes been left in my car on hot days, and have been in pretty much every type of climate situation I've been in in the last year or so.

So every time I ask how long one should go before rotating their carry ammo, I get the same response, "Wel you should rotate it every time you go to the range, you should practice with it regularly". Well that sounds great and I wish I could afford to send $1.50 per round ammo downrange every range trip, but in reality, that's just not happening. I'm a full time college student who, like all others, lives on a tight budget. I reload 9mm and practice regularly with 115 grain FMJ's, and that is about all I can afford. I'd say lately I hit the range once a month or so.

Now with that being said, before someone else mentions it, I HAVE tested this particular ammo in my gun, and have practiced with it. I bought another 20 round box and shot 10 rounds of it one range trip, and 10 rounds a few range trips later. I noticed my accuracy was much more "spot on" with it than with my handloads.

Maybe that's besides the point, but my real question is how long should I trust ammo to be "good" when I carry it on my person all day every day? Will body heat be enough to deteriorate the propellants? What about occasionally being left in a hot car?

Just asking because not only can I not afford to rotate my carry ammo out every range trip, but as of right now, I can't even find any of it in stores anywhere.

I bought a 20 round box of 135 grain "low recoil" Federal Hydra Shoks 9mm's (they were marked for "Personal Defense"), about a month ago, with plans to replace my year old Corbon DPX with them.... Corbon DPX is top of the line ammo, and although I knew the Hydra Shoks weren't as good, I figured "they'd do". Then last night I got curious and decided to watch the You Tube ammo tests....well, all I have to say is FAIL. I will not be carrying this ammo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70m-69T7IGU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozms_hP5k8E

Idk what it is that makes them "low recoil" but I'd have to say that judging from this test and also the ones of the 110 grain 38 special rounds, "reduced recoil" also means "reduced velocity" which translates to "poor or no expansion". Basically these rounds are not much better than FMJ's. I have a box of those 9mm's and 2 boxes (20 rounds each) of the 38's. They are now part of the "SHTF" ammo collection.

So basically, until I can find some more Corbon DPX, Critical Defense, or Gold Dots, I'll be carrying my year old DPX's. I don't short change on my carry ammo, not when I am trusting my life with it.

So basically what I am wondering is, how long will this ammo stay "good"? If that is even a question that can be answered.

Another question, I've heard repeated chamberings can cause bullet setback, so now I pay special attention to which rounds have been chambered and which have not, and try not to chamber the same round multiple times. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this was important till after I had already chambered several of my rounds once or twice (you can see if they've been chambered because of tiny little scratches on the surface of the bullet). I've already measured all of them to be safe, no setback.

But I heard that repeated chambering can also cause primers to malfunction, leading to a misfire (just for clarity, rendering the round a "dud"). Something about the sudden movement of the slide when it pulls the round out of the mag and chambers it (like it knocks the priming compound loose, or something, I really don't know exactly). Anyone know anything about this? A misfire is something I definitely DO NOT want. Does anyone know if this would be an issue if I put the round into my guns (Glock 26) chamber manually (and letting the slide ease into battery, rather than just letting it drop with full force), rather than racking the slide and chambering it from the magazine?

Sorry for such a long post, just a bunch of questions I've had for a while and haven't had a chance to ask them all in the same place yet lol...help is appreciated.

 

[Mobuck]

I don't load/unload my carry pistol. It stays loaded full time unless/until fired. I fire the pistol several times per year at varmints or just pop a shot or two at the swinger in the backyard and normally empty the mags once or twice per year.
If you constantly load/unload, I would swap out the top round(s) weekly or monthly at the longest.
There would seem to be a great difference between the two types of ammo(90 gr +P vs 135 gr low recoil)you mentioned. I see some chance of a different point of impact due to bullet weight and velocity. Whether this is an issue with you or not, it still demands some consideration.

 

[Mag_357TX]

Thanks. I'm actually not even going to be using the 135 grain Hydra Shoks. The ballistics test was less than impressive (to put it mildly) so they are with my "surplus SHTF" ammo collection at my other house. The ammo I currently carry was readily available 6 months ago, but now I am not sure I'm gonna be able to find anymore. I'll likely switch over to 115, 124, or 147 grain Gold Dot or Critical Defense +P's (whichever I can find), and I'll buy a little extra to practice with.

As for unloading my carry gun, it is the gun I practice with the most. Considering I carry it literally everywhere I feel it's only responsible to shoot it often. Now, the last few times I've gone to the range, when I unload the gun, I "gently" pull the slide back and let the chambered round fall out. Then before I leave, I load my mags with the hollow points again, and manually drop the previously chambered round back into the chamber, via the opening on the ejection port. Then I pull the slide back, and gently let it move back into battery.

I can't remember the last time I chambered a round by racking the slide, simply because (unless I am misunderstanding something, but nobody has yet been able to explain this to me in a way that really answers my question), the sudden jerking of the slide when it grabs a new round from the magazine and forces it into the chamber, can (over time), cause the primer to malfuction. I read a story about a cop who got into a shootout and when he fired his weapon, he got a "click". He sent the round back to Winchester, they examined it and said it was from "multiple repeated chamberings". Apparently he has a small child in his house and anytime he sets his gun down, he removes the magazine and the chambered round, but was re-chambering the same round pretty much daily.

I'm still not quite understanding how repeated chamberings can cause a round not to fire, but the best explanation I've been given is that it knocks the priming compound loose, which results in it not detonating and igniting the powder. Not sure how true that is, but if that is a possibility I'd really like to learn more about it. If that is true, I can see how racking the slide and chambering a round could possibly "knock" the priming compound loose over time, but I'd think that if this were possible, placing the round into the chamber manually and gently letting the slide move forward into battery, wouldn't cause this. Who knows, maybe I am just worrying too much about nothing, but I'd really like to learn about this if this is an issue others know about.

 

[ajohnny50]

I've heard the other extreme - not that it causes clicks, but kabooms. If the ammo isn't properly crimped, it can cause the bullet to become seated further back in the casing by the pressure of being repeatedly chambered. This causes excess pressure within the casing when the powder is ignited.

I looked at my carry ammo once and noted that some bullets were visibly seated deeper than others at the tops of the magazine. Now when I am unloading my weapon I put the previously chambered round a few down in the magazine instead of right on top so that there is at least a little rotation, and check them every month of so for signs of this.

 

[Mag_357TX]

Yeah I've heard about that problem too, bullet setback from repeated chambering. That makes sense, and I could see that happening.

But is there also a possibility that you could render your round useless by damaging the primer from repeated chambering? Which in my opinion, could put you in an equally (or even more) dangerous situation, if that was the round you were depending on to stop someone from killing and/or seriously injuring you. That click could be the last thing you ever hear.

I'm really just trying to find out if that is true, and if it is, just what it is that causes it or what exactly is the damage done to the round to stop it from firing. Because besides that I am confident that my carry ammo I have had for the last year, is still in good shape. Like I said, I can't afford to rotate it every range trip, and even if I could, I can't find any good 9mm SD ammo in stores right now. Planning to go searching for a few boxes of Gold Dots in the next week or so, but those have been very hard to come by.

I just called my local range cause I haven't been to any training in a long time, and I'm due for a refresher. Well I was wondering where I'd get the ammo to train with, so I decided to call and ask them if they have some stashed away for students. They do, and a box (50 rounds) of 9mm FMJ's is $19.50!!!!!

Thank God I started reloading before the panic, something told me to do that and I am glad I did. I'm set on practice ammo for a while now, and hopefully in that while the ammo will start trickling back in. I load 9, 40, 38 and 357. I actually have some 147 grain gold dots that I loaded myself, but I don't feel confident using them for SD cause I haven't had a chance to chrono them and/or perform my own ballistics test.

 

[Shawn Dodson]

I can't remember the last time I chambered a round by racking the slide, simply because (unless I am misunderstanding something, but nobody has yet been able to explain this to me in a way that really answers my question), the sudden jerking of the slide when it grabs a new round from the magazine and forces it into the chamber, can (over time), cause the primer to malfuction.

This is an issue with ARs. The AR has a free-floating inertia firing pin that ("lightly') strikes the primer when the bolt carrier is released from its locked position during loading. These repeated "light" strikes can dislodge primer compound in the primer and produce a misfire.

With automatic pistols I'm unaware of any problem with misfires caused by repeated chambering of the same cartridge.

 

[Risky]

This is an issue with ARs. The AR has a free-floating inertia firing pin that ("lightly') strikes the primer when the bolt carrier is released from its locked position during loading. These repeated "light" strikes can dislodge primer compound in the primer and produce a misfire.

With automatic pistols I'm unaware of any problem with misfires caused by repeated chambering of the same cartridge.

There was at least one report of a failure to fire due to repeated chamberings of a handgun cartridge.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-485081.html

“…the cause of the misfire was determined to be from the primer mix being knocked out of the primer when the round was cycled through the firearm multiple times”

The best way to avoid this and eventual bullet setback is to just get over the idea of not having a 'hot gun' in the house. Keep it loaded unless you need to unload it for maintenance and keep it locked up if it's not on your hip. If you need fast access, invest in one of the many small pistol combination safes out there.

 

[Mobuck]

The primer compound is only supported by the anvil. Under continual impacts caused by chambering, it is possible the priming "pellet" could crumble or break causing a failure to ignite.
Advice to the OP on the single loading method. Depending on your pistol, loading in this way may stress the extractor beyond it's normal functional design. Some designs are meant to have the rim slip under the extractor during stripping from the mag and can be damaged by loading as you mentioned.
I live in a rural area, have no small children in the house, and little concern over unauthorized persons handling my firearms. Like I said, my carry pistol seldom gets manually unloaded and my personal policy is not to load/unload a cartridge more than 2 or 3 times. If, by some odd chance, I have to unload the pistol multiple times, I put that cartridge in the "practice box".
BTW My choice of carry ammo is GoldDot. When I found a load I liked, I bought a case of 1000 rounds.

 

[herrwalther]

I have experienced bullet setback in my carry pistol. a .45 round was setback almost a third of an inch. After that experience I make a conscious effort to not unchamber my carry weapon. The only time it gets cleared is when I brush out lint every couple of weeks or so. Some calibers/ammo/firearms are more resistant to bullet setback than others. For example I have never noticed bullet setbeck on JHP .40 rounds but have on FMJ .45 rounds.

For my .45 pistols I rotate the chambered round down the magazine every time. In my .40 pistols I put them next to a non chambered round and eye it. If the two look different, I break out the calipers. If I have bullet setback on my .40s it gets rotated down the mag.

 

[gunsablazin]

Other than the bullet set back issues already covered I would not worry about year old ammo. If you can afford to replace your carry ammo annually that's fine, but it will be good for many years. I have had ammo of all sorts, shotgun shells, etc. that have all fired after many years of storage.