Change carry load based on season?

[Joe_m107]

Does anyone else change their carry ammo depending on the season/weather?

I live in Alaska, and naturally, people wear heavy clothing here during the winter. The summers here are actually very nice and most people can be found wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

In the summer I prefer to carry lighter recoiling ammo for my 1911. So, Speer Gold Dots 200 grain it is. I find I can control it slightly better.
In the winter, I would switch to a heavier bullet to aid in penetration through heavy clothing.

Both loads are reliable and accurate enough through my pistol.

Does anyone else do this? Is it a bad idea?

 

[bigfatdave]

I make sure that a "plugged hollowpoint" design is in the carry mag when winter rolls around (EFMJ or a squishy-ball load like Hornady CD) and I tend to rotate carry ammo out 2-3 times a year anyway for testing at the range.

So, I suppose the answer is "yes, but I don't make a big deal about it".

 

[NOLAEMT]

Nope. Federal 230gn HST in all of them, all the time.

Thats not to say that changing out a carry load is bad, I just feel that the 230 grain HST is very reliable and has a proven track record.

 

[bk42261]

I live in Maine, and just changed from 158 JHP to 125 JHP for the same reason.Lighter clothing "should " require less penetration to my thinking.

 

[FMF Doc]

I change from 9mm in the summer to 45 in the winter...so yes I change my ammo, and gun!

 

[Lawdawg45]

I think the seasonal change is important for less powerful rounds like the .380, with some folks even carrying FMJ's in the winter. On an interesting side note, LEO's who carry a Taser have the option of a "winter probe" that is 2X's the length of the standard probe............ouch!

LD

 

[mljdeckard]

I think that instances of hollow-points getting clogged and failing to expand are so rare as to be negligible. I think that one brand in particular has largely invented this problem to sell a gimmick bullet. Just use a good bullet. It's a pistol round, not a tactical nuke.

 

[boomhower1820]

Some are better than others. HST's in particular seem to resist clogging very well.


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[sm]

Nope.

Just old school, still I pay attention to what a gun was designed to shoot, and find within these perimeters what is not only reliable, also shoots POA/POI.

For instance, take a .38spl revolver, most were designed to shoot 158 grain loads and thus how they are "sighted in for".

Now I have changed loads within perimeters for "task" or "environment". Again, using the .38spl revolver for example, I have gone to 148 gr wadcutters in a really small, cramped office/business setting, or in teaching a new person to shoot.

Take a 1911, in 45ACP, and I have shot a lot of the old 200 gr , lead, (HG 68 ?) for various competitions, and no, I never felt wrong for carrying this load either.

Gun HAS to run, no matter if revolver or semi, and with all mags if a semi. Loads need to go where aimed, and thus, to me, the importance of POA/POI.

Shot placement still plays an important role in all this, be it a semi, or revolver or any of the seasons.

 

[buck460XVR]

Nope.

Just old school, still I pay attention to what a gun was designed to shoot, and find within these perimeters what is not only reliable, also shoots POA/POI.

^^^this.

 

[bigfatdave]

Some are better than others. HST's in particular seem to resist clogging very well.

they're designed to expand better than the old HP designs.
Thing is, Gold Dots are designed to expand with some clogging, too ... and so are the other modern HP designs. There are even "pre-clogged" loads out there with a squishy rubber ball in the cavity now.
And even a clogged HP should plow through as a semi-wadcutter like bullet, better than roundnose FMJ, at least.

Unless you're running some obsolete/cheapo HP load (some of the overseas designs, black talons or other old stuff) it isn't a big deal.

That being said, I still swap out - because I take all the help I can get
... But I don't do a detailed survey of the local criminal element's wardrobe day-to-day to decide when I should swap, I just do it when I realize that I have a winter coat out more often than a fall jacket, or that I've put away the motorcycle - or when winter is coming and I'm doing an ammo swap anyway.

 

[wally]

I change guns, using something a bit bigger in our short "not summer" season.

 

[Lawdawg45]

I think that instances of hollow-points getting clogged and failing to expand are so rare as to be negligible. I think that one brand in particular has largely invented this problem to sell a gimmick bullet. Just use a good bullet. It's a pistol round, not a tactical nuke.

I agree, and the un-named company (Hornaday) pretty much peddles light and under powered rounds.

LD

 

[BSA1]

I think you are overthinking the problem.

I would be thinking of caliber rather than bullet change. Alaska in the winter I would packing a magnum revolver. Summertime a small revolver or semi-auto.

 

[coalman]

Same year-round.

 

[MICHAEL T]

DPX year around

 

[Byrd666]

No. Black Hills 124 grn JHP year round in my SR9 and 90 grn JHP in my CZ83

 

[Rail Driver]

It's my opinion that people tend to over-think this one somewhat. I carry a full size 1911, loaded with 230gr FMJ. If I need something more damaging than that, I've got a 12ga shotgun hanging on my wall.