"jungle-loading" a magazine

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I know for a fact as I experimented with it that a 9mm Makarov fmj will penterate a '77 Chevy pick-up door with the glass rolled down and through the door liner into a corn bag of sawdust at 20'. at same distance will go through the windsheild into same bag.
haven't tried my .380 or .32acp yet.
 
It seems to me that the goal of any shooter would be consistency.

I reload .38 SPL and am lucky in that my practice and home defense loads are the same (148 gr LHBWC & 4 gr W-231/HP38.) Changing anything gives me a different feel and a different point of impact. The same happens when I mix up different brands of ammo in succession with my other firearms. No way I want inconsistent results in a weapon that may be used for defense.
 
I really don't mean to offend, but "jungle loading" or whatever it's called just seems goofy for for all but the most imaginative made up scenario. I would think it would also likely cause far more problems than it claims to address. Also, what happens if you load the rounds in the wrong sequence??? :D

My #1 rule for any defensive gun is to make sure your ammo is reliable. Also don't for get any handgun is not a superweapon. Decent shot placement with ANY quality 230 grain bullet is 98% of the equation anyway.
 
I would have to disagree. I want my ammunition to perform to the FBI standard of 12 inches of penetration in ballistic gel. There is no .380 hollowpoint that performs that currently on the market so it's FMJ. There are many 9mm rounds in hollowpoint that do consistently expand while still making 12 inches so those are hollowpoints.

The debate over whether we should model our choice of defensive ammunition on the FBI's criteria is different. I have chosen to so it seems like some pretty big hairs to me.
Click to expand...

I agree that it's a separate discussion; however, given the topic at hand you seem to be in agreement on the topic of altering the types of rounds carried in a handgun. For gel penetration, I'll only go 9mm at the smallest for serious purposes, so it's a bit more of a moot point. I forgot to add above the the hairs being split only become mighty fine when compared to long guns. And properly shampooed and conditioned.
 
Stick with a quality JHP and forget Ball.
1. Ball has too much liability attached to it
2. JHP's will penetrate fine
3. No available 45auto round will defeat body armor
4. if the BG is using a car body or door for cover "bounce" bullets into his legs and fire again when he hits the ground.
 
I am LE and its a bad idea. If my duty handgun ammo wont penetrate the cover, I can't take the shot anyway. If I can't see it, id it, and determine whats behind it, I can't shoot it. My duty ammo will go through a windshield, a car door, or a thin intermediate barrier like a interior door just fine if I have to take a shot at an obscured but still visible target. If I need more penetration than the handgun for some reason I have a shotgun loaded with Buck and slugs available on my belt. Still not enough? Then I get the rifle.
 
I guess I will ask the question.

WHY!

There is no feasible reason to load FMJ rounds with modern JHP bullets. They will penetrate barrier, clothing, etc just fine. By loading the way you are talking about, you are decreasing the effectiveness of your firearm.
 
"jungle-loading" a magazine
in a self defense scenario. lets say 230 gr .45 hardball and jhp (wouldn’t bother with 9mm)...provided both rounds function well on their own, could shooting a jungle loaded mag cause the gun to hang up in anyway? by jungle loadeing i mean a staggered mag...jhp, fmj, jhp, fmj, or jhp, fmj fmj, jhp so on and so forth.
Click to expand...

Not this crap again...sigh

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=344318

"If I load all my mags with JHP/FMJ/APIT/CN/CS/Bean bag/GFB/shotshell/flare/FMJ/RBCD/Frangible/APFSDS and then a ninja with class V body armor pops out of the back seat of the car in front of me when I'm on my way home from the grocery store, I just rack the slide 4 times if he has a hostage. 3 times if I have to blow through an armored car he is hiding behind, and 12 times if I'm indoor next door to an orphanage. and to keep track if I've already fired several rounds I have this slide rule style chart and color coding to keep track and....blah blah blah

This nonsense makes my brain hurt.

My .02:

"Pick one."
Pick the tool for the job.
Don't expect to have your handgun perform like a rifle.
If you want to punch cars reliably...use a .308/7.62Nato
If you must...have another magazine or speed loader or CCW speedloader loaded with whatever special/alternate purpose round you might need. Put your shotgun slugs on a sidesaddle and keep a tube of whatever shot you decide to load or vise versa.

Putting a fruit salad of extra rounds into the target to meet some random ever changing criteria, or jacking the slide on your pump shotgun to "select" the right slug/birdshot round or firing your pistol in bursts to get the right mix of JHP/ball load or whatever is not sound tactics or a good use of resources.

You should employ tactics that afford you the best solution should you only get the chance to put 1 round on target, and go with that round.

There is no guarantee you will encounter the right combination of random circumstances you’ve used to justify whatever combination of rounds you’re carrying.
You may never get the opportunity to use them.
Most civilian armed encounters in the US last all of 2 or 3 rounds. They last seconds and there is no time to switch loads or whatever gimmicky comic book crap tactics you might choose to employ with your grab-bag stack of www.firequest.com ammo.
You’re presented with a situation in which lethal force may have to be used, and you fire to eliminate the threat. There is no “time out…I have to switch loads now” or "Which load do I need to switch to?"
You might not even remember to change rounds in such a short amount of time…which is my next point…you should be focusing on sound tactics (moving to cover or maneuvering on the target, reloading/topping off, clearing malfunctions if necessary, etc) not on ammo selection at this point in the game.
Certainly not on trying to remember which load you have in your weapon.

I’ve written about this several times…most recently in the above referenced link in which I said:
Best left in the comic books, where it came from.

This one just kills me.

Pick the right load for the job.

This always seemed really asinine to me, at least in most cases.
Whichever round comes up in the magazine queue, the chances are 50-50 that it will not be the one you wanted just then.
Click to expand...
Precisely, +2

Who says you will have time do anything but shoot, anyway.

Lets see "He's in a truck, now... (at least he was 10 seconds ago) so maybe I should use the ball ammo that has 15% enhanced penetration in car doors (well maybe my JHPs would penetrate this model of car door...that is if the window riser mechanism isn’t half way up (in which case neither will work as well as I want) ...or what if he has a thick leather jacket on, and its a Tuesday, and he has green socks on, then I want the RBCD ammo...no wait..."

"Oh, darn...I just got shot in the side of the head because I was busy checking which ammo I have in the chamber just now..."

I would like to see examples of someone walking away from a gun fight saying "damn, I'm sure glad I used 9 kinds of ammo in my magazines, I never would have made it with out JHP - FMJ - JHP "

Yeah, not gonna happen...

Just comic book logic.
Click to expand...

Pretty much sums it up.

So whatever you choose to do, just make sure you load the second to last round a tracer, so you know you going to have to reload soon.
[rolls eyes]

:D <====== good-natured debate smiley
 
I thought about loading bottom 3 with +p top with regular 235 grain self defense ammo. The reasoning is I bought a box of +P by mistake. Same brand can see that it hurt. I really don't want to use alot of +p in my compact 45's
 
I don't see the point. Find a good hollow point round that works in your gun, and stick with it. Adding more variables is not a good thing.
 
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