Clean your carry gun! and change out your ammo.

[Agsalaska]

Nothing to add that hasn’t already been said.

I use Federal HST 124 or 147gr depending on the gun. And I match that weight with practice ammo. Whenever I take a gun that I keep loaded to the range I always shoot off the HSTs and replace them after I clean the gun. So I go through a box of 50 every two or three months or so.

I don’t do this with revolver ammo because I don’t think it’s necessary. However I never keep ammo that was in a cylinder that had other rounds fired. If I load a revolver I shoot them all.

as far as cleaning guns, I am pretty meticulous. I clean my guns thoroughly after every session with the exception of my deer rifle’s barrel.

 

[Alllen Bundy]

I have have removed bullets from 5 different 9mm 115 gr cartridges with an impact bullet remover.

Number of hard whacks to remove bullets:

8 - 12 - SIg Elite performance
3 - 5 - Speer Gold Dot
2 - 3 - Winchester Silver Tip
2 - 3 - MagTech 9A
1 - 2 - Remington Range

It should also be noted that neither Sig Elite Performance or Speer Gold Dot experienced ANY measurable bullet setback after 20 chamberings from a P365 magazine, whereas Remington Range began to setback after the 3rd chambering.

Also note that Speer Gold Dot uses a sealer between the rear of the bullet and the shell case.

My point to this is that if you use a better quality ammunition it is much less likely that the bullet will come loose from the shell case from normal or even rough handling.

I carry in a fanny pack with one magazine in the pistol and two more magazines in magazines holders inside the fanny pack. I carry a 4th magazine inside a leather magazine holder that I wear in my rear pants pocket. That is a total of 57 rounds. I carry while ride my bicycle and since I finished making my fanny pack holster in May 2022 I have ridden at the very least 1,500 miles, on and off road. That is a lot of vibration and jolts to the fanny pack. I use 115 gr V-Crown Sig Elite Performance ammunition. I just measured the over all length of all 57 rounds and they varied from 1.050" to 1.068", which within the normal range out of the box.

Keeping your pistol clean is important. Even after shooting only 50 rounds, the gunpowder residue buildup on the breech face will increase the friction from the rear of the shell case sliding over the breech face while trying to align to enter the firing chamber and increase the chance of a return to battery failure. If you can still see grinding markings in the breech face it could probably use some wet sanding to smooth it out.

 

[halfmoonclip]

A buddy wanted his carry ammo clocked thru' my chronograph, but didn't want to accidentally shoot my skyscreens. So I got to shoot his LCP, with his warmish handloads. Pulled the trigger; big cloud around the gun, thot' I'd blown it up. Nope, pocket lint...and it cycled the next round. Doesn't make not cleaning your gun a good idea...he should have known better.
If your gun normally isn't a picky eater, then testing carry ammo to absurdity likely isn't necessary. My G42 and P365 swallow about anything. An older Walther PPK, not so much.
If carry ammo was readily available, regardless of cost, it would be a different matter. Have a stash of .380/9mm that I miser out, burning what is carried occasionally. The carry ammo is ballistically the same as the practice stuff.
Moon

 

[Steve in NC]

Mark_Mark,
Not debating any of the issues here. But a quick question on your reloads. Do you still have the 2 pieces of brass from your mag that the bullets backed out of by any chance?
Curious what there headstps were? Or if by chance you accidentally got 2 pieces of 380 Auto brass I’m there that would have hardly any neck tension if loaded to 9mm COAL?
Or it’s possible depending on the head stamp branding of the case heads what they are? I have certain brand brass that I weed out when bill loading.

not pointing any fingers, just trying to find the root cause is all. Bullets backing out inside a mag has got my engineering mind I’m full gear.

FYI my reloads are within 30fps of my carry ammo by design. I check the distance of ejection and also cycle my carry ammo through every 6 months. All good solid advice and SOP to get into.

Thanks for any feedback!
Steve

 

[Mark_Mark]

Mark_Mark,
Not debating any of the issues here. But a quick question on your reloads. Do you still have the 2 pieces of brass from your mag that the bullets backed out of by any chance?
Curious what there headstps were? Or if by chance you accidentally got 2 pieces of 380 Auto brass I’m there that would have hardly any neck tension if loaded to 9mm COAL?
Or it’s possible depending on the head stamp branding of the case heads what they are? I have certain brand brass that I weed out when bill loading.

not pointing any fingers, just trying to find the root cause is all. Bullets backing out inside a mag has got my engineering mind I’m full gear.

FYI my reloads are within 30fps of my carry ammo by design. I check the distance of ejection and also cycle my carry ammo through every 6 months. All good solid advice and SOP to get into.

Thanks for any feedback!
Steve

I still have them, I’ll take measurements for you and photos of head stamp.

for your engineering mind. Few factors. because I chamber/unchamber in/out of the house. The rounds in that magazine as moved up/down 1400 to 3000 times in a year. As a control, I keep a spare mag in the other pocket and no ammo issues in that mag.

So my EDC project will be, to buy a few hundred SD factory rounds and do the same as I did with my reloads and see if in 1 year, I will get the same effect on the Factory ammo

 

[Mark_Mark]

I have have removed bullets from 5 different 9mm 115 gr cartridges with an impact bullet remover.

Number of hard whacks to remove bullets:

8 - 12 - SIg Elite performance
3 - 5 - Speer Gold Dot
2 - 3 - Winchester Silver Tip
2 - 3 - MagTech 9A
1 - 2 - Remington Range

It should also be noted that neither Sig Elite Performance or Speer Gold Dot experienced ANY measurable bullet setback after 20 chamberings from a P365 magazine, whereas Remington Range began to setback after the 3rd chambering.

Also note that Speer Gold Dot uses a sealer between the rear of the bullet and the shell case.

My point to this is that if you use a better quality ammunition it is much less likely that the bullet will come loose from the shell case from normal or even rough handling.

I carry in a fanny pack with one magazine in the pistol and two more magazines in magazines holders inside the fanny pack. I carry a 4th magazine inside a leather magazine holder that I wear in my rear pants pocket. That is a total of 57 rounds. I carry while ride my bicycle and since I finished making my fanny pack holster in May 2022 I have ridden at the very least 1,500 miles, on and off road. That is a lot of vibration and jolts to the fanny pack. I use 115 gr V-Crown Sig Elite Performance ammunition. I just measured the over all length of all 57 rounds and they varied from 1.050" to 1.068", which within the normal range out of the box.

Keeping your pistol clean is important. Even after shooting only 50 rounds, the gunpowder residue buildup on the breech face will increase the friction from the rear of the shell case sliding over the breech face while trying to align to enter the firing chamber and increase the chance of a return to battery failure. If you can still see grinding markings in the breech face it could probably use some wet sanding to smooth it out.

8-12 hits on the Elite Sig!!!! now we talking

nice write up!!! thanks for the data

 

[cfullgraf]

Lazy Lazy Lazy me!

my EDC pocket carry LC9 went funky on me today. I alway chamber and un-chamber a round in/out of the house, then going into my mini living room safe. Easy, and fast access.

After 12 months of not cleaning and only changing the chambered round every few weeks. I had a powder mess today. I Checked the cambered round, and bullet still in the case, but powder everywhere. and it completely jammed up the gun.

After stripping and cleaning the gun, the last 2 cartridges in the mag was the issue. The bullet came loose and made a huge mess, and rendered the gun dead.

Conclusion; Strip and clean your gun, change out all the ammo, not just the top of the mags.

On my carry guns, when I practice with them, I clean them shortly after the range session. If, I'm involved in a shooting event, if i did not shoot the gun, I want it obvious that the gun was not fired.

 

[PCFlorida]

I've been carrying the Sig ammo (mostly 9mm) for a number of years now. No problems at all, I shoot all the ones in magazines on New Years Day and reload the magazines at that point.

 

[Lennyjoe]

Lazy Lazy Lazy me!

my EDC pocket carry LC9 went funky on me today. I alway chamber and un-chamber a round in/out of the house, then going into my mini living room safe.

I never chamber/up chamber going in/out of my house. Prefer to have it at the ready at all times. Interesting that you do that, especially when it’s stored in a safe.

Bullet set back from constant rechambering would be a big concern to me.

 

[Mark_Mark]

I never chamber/up chamber going in/out of my house. Prefer to have it at the ready at all times. Interesting that you do that, especially when it’s stored in a safe.

Bullet set back from constant rechambering would be a big concern to me.

I’m not getting set back, but the opposite.

Will try with factory ammo, lets see what happens.

 

[Mark_Mark]

On my carry guns, when I practice with them, I clean them shortly after the range session. If, I'm involved in a shooting event, if i did not shoot the gun, I want it obvious that the gun was not fired.

that’s 100% SMART!

 

[Mark_Mark]

I've been carrying the Sig ammo (mostly 9mm) for a number of years now. No problems at all, I shoot all the ones in magazines on New Years Day and reload the magazines at that point.

With the hammer wacking test ^ of 8-12 wacks! I’m going to try Sig Elite HP

 

[PCFlorida]

With the hammer wacking test ^ of 8-12 wacks! I’m going to try Sig Elite HP

And New Year's is only weeks away!

 

[tws3b2]

My carry goes to the range at least once a month. What's in it is first fired so it's rotated out. Then is cleaned after firing.

 

[murf]

It was the last 2 rounds of the mag, probably from moving up & down the mag hundreds of times.

i had this problem a while back when testing bullet pull on a defensive round load for my hi-power. while i tested bullet pull i also tested bullet setback in the remaining rounds left in the magazine. i found some of those rounds had bullet setback into the case up to about .010". i measured rim thickness of the mixed cases i was shooting and found that fc cases were the thinnest and probably the culprit of the setback bullets.

i fixed the problem by using a 380 auto expander plug. i could have just tossed the fc cases, but i collect random brass all the time and this seemed easier.

luck,

murf

 

[shoobe01]

General advice is not load any round more than twice. Depending on gun, setback from loading or bullet can engage rifling enough to get pulled ever so slightly out instead. Either way, cartridge is "used" once it has been chambered so do not do that much, nope.

My method is to take a sharpie and write a line across the back of the cartridge before putting the mag in the gun. If an X: stop and put it further down the mag. Once your mags are full of about half Xs: shoot it all off and get new carry ammo.

(I shoot one carry gun or another at least every month. I clean enough they function, but not scrupulously, almost never clean the bore. Different advice when things like shooting lead bullets, etc).

 

[Alllen Bundy]

General advice is not load any round more than twice.

If you pistol is capable of safely manually chambering a round, then do so. There will be absolutely ZERO bullet setback. If you pistol is NOT capable of safely manually chambering a round, get another gun. If you have a failure to feed malfunction, manually chambering a cartridge may be your only option in a self defense situation.

 

[Mark_Mark]

i had this problem a while back when testing bullet pull on a defensive round load for my hi-power. while i tested bullet pull i also tested bullet setback in the remaining rounds left in the magazine. i found some of those rounds had bullet setback into the case up to about .010". i measured rim thickness of the mixed cases i was shooting and found that fc cases were the thinnest and probably the culprit of the setback bullets.

i fixed the problem by using a 380 auto expander plug. i could have just tossed the fc cases, but i collect random brass all the time and this seemed easier.

luck,

murf

not getting set back, getting set forward on the bottom 2 rounds of the 6 shot magazine.

will be testing the same with Sig Elite Ammo! lets see what happens. I’ll measure and number the rounds! lets get sciencetifical

 

[aaaaa]

On my carry guns, when I practice with them, I clean them shortly after the range session. If, I'm involved in a shooting event, if i did not shoot the gun, I want it obvious that the gun was not fired.

Excellent point.

 

[aaaaa]

If you pistol is capable of safely manually chambering a round, then do so. There will be absolutely ZERO bullet setback. If you pistol is NOT capable of safely manually chambering a round, get another gun. If you have a failure to feed malfunction, manually chambering a cartridge may be your only option in a self defense situation.

That puts a big question mark in front of the 1911. Of course with enough force the extractor should push past the rim. Bad for the extractor, but in a dire situation who cares about gun abuse so long as it fires.

 

[PCFlorida]

FYI, Palmetto is currently having a sale on all Sierra Sports Master and Outdoor Master Ammunition. I think it comes out to $5.00 per box of 20 for their 9mm which is a really good price. Good until 12/31/2022.

 

[aaaaa]

Palmetto has deals on Hornady defensive 9mm
https://palmettostatearmory.com/9mm-ammo.html?manufacturer=Hornady
I just bought some of the American Gunner and it ran fine in my SD9VE

 

[Alllen Bundy]

That puts a big question mark in front of the 1911. Of course with enough force the extractor should push past the rim. Bad for the extractor, but in a dire situation who cares about gun abuse so long as it fires.

Save your 1911 for the range where it belongs. Regarding 1911 extractors, the US military taught soldiers how to manually chamber a round as a last ditch method. Military grade 1911 extractors can handle manually chambering for a while. But it appears there are also some very poor grade extractors that are likely to break if you manually chamber with them. Wilson Combat claims that their 1911 extractor is bullet proof.

But all things considered a 1911 is not the best choice for a self defense carry gun.

 

[tarosean]

xxxx

 

[murf]

not getting set back, getting set forward on the bottom 2 rounds of the 6 shot magazine.

will be testing the same with Sig Elite Ammo! lets see what happens. I’ll measure and number the rounds! lets get sciencetifical

yes, set-forward is what i meant. the bullets would pull out of the cases while in the magazine. running the cases through the 380 auto expander would stop that.

murf