Keeping ammo in chamber and mag

[SquareBeer]

Hello all.......

I appreciate the assistance with finding a ccw for my wife and I but I have another question.

Is there any problem with keeping ammo in the Mag and also Chambered? We have some biometric safes so I keep our HK45 chambered at all times....but not sure if this is a problem.

I did read a debate a little while back about keep ing mags loaded and most agreed that now a days it won 't hurt the spring. I keep it in the chamber for the middle of the night drama maybe i should extract in the am.


thanks again,


SB

 

[Yo Mama]

Mags loaded and bullet chambered is not a problem mechanically for the weapon.

You need to decide if it's something your comfortable with. As long as you follow the 4 basic firearms safety rules you're ok, but the second you violate them someone can get hurt.

Personally, any guns I have for home defense are loaded, those for the range are not.

For the Wife, rent a few and see what she is the most comfortable with. Fot my Wife, it;s a .357, as the manual safety throws her.

 

[_JD_]

Are you asking for the sake of asking or has your wife voiced any concerns regarding these issues? A loaded mag will not wear out a spring, continuous loading/unloading will. As for the chamber question. I prefer my firearms to be fully loaded with one in the chamber, as does my wife as do most others. In the case of your HK45 there may or may not be a manual safety depending on what variant you have. Some feel more comfortable having one in the chamber with the presence of a manual safety, some feel that the manual safety is not needed and keep the chamber loaded.

It's a personal decision and there are pros/cons of each decision, I would suggest that if your wife has no concerns regarding "loaded chamber vs. unloaded chamber" to just let sleeping dogs lie and keep the gun with a full mag and loaded chamber provided that the gun is to be used for carry or home defense.

 

[orionengnr]

Unnecessary "administrative handling" (loading and unloading every day) gives you too many opportunities for an ND.

Each of my carry guns is loaded 24/7, both the ones in the safe and the one on my hip. Only exceptions are if I am at the range and have just fired off a mag...or I am at home cleaning the gun after a range trip.

 

[Sky]

I have no facts only thoughts. The mag spring may not be hurt but I have seen mags swell overtime and mag lips spread both pistol and rifle mags polymer and steel. They were all mags filled to capacity. The fix for those were to leave a few rounds out of the mag; again some of the problems were only noticed when inserting the mag in the mag well ( tighter and swollen) mostly with some of the cheaper mags I have.

CCW one in chamber always. Rifles nightstand duty yes; stored with chambered round no. Even the weapons with a round chambered gets the round cycled every few days and a bore snake ran through the bore with Breakfree CLP. Now having said all that; most of my steel mags seem to hold together pretty well but still at times and different makes can swell but I have not had a malfunction; they tend to go back to original configuration/SHAPE after usage. Again what I have said does not make it right or wrong just my observations on my particular equipment.

 

[Josh45]

Full mag, Round chambered. CCW. At all times. Even if you must have the safety on which I do.

I really don't know personally how it can hurt the gun, But I know it can hurt in a high stress situation if your not prepared already ( One in the chamber )

I do know that loading and unloading a magazine usually weakens the spring but takes some time...

 

[Drail]

Leaving a round in the chamber will not cause any harm. Leaving magazines loaded generally is also not a problem but some of the higher capacity magazines can have a problem if left fully loaded (depending on the quality of the spring and if it is being overcompressed when fully loaded). With those mags simply download it by 2 or 3 rounds. One thing to always remember is repeatedly rechambering the same round over and over is a very bad thing to do because some brands of ammunition in some guns will have the bullet pushed deeper into the case every time the round is chambered. Past a certain point this can get dangerous because the pressures will go up as the bullet gets pushed deeper into the case. If any round looks shorter than the rest, don't fire it. And as said before the less administrative handling you do with a loaded gun, the better.

 

[possum]

s there any problem with keeping ammo in the Mag and also Chambered? We have some biometric safes so I keep our HK45 chambered at all times....but not sure if this is a problem.

There is no harm with rounds in the magazine and the chamber.

magazines (springs) go bad with use, not just sitting around being compressed. My training mags for my handguns, I have to change the mag springs about every year. Since they are training magazines I let them fail before I change the spring.

every year I cycle through my carry ammo and mags, I always shoot the carry ammo in my carry mags, so I can test the mag and the ammo. I have never had an issue with any of my carry mags.

 

[GCBurner]

Not a problem with mechanics on the gun, but test fire the ammo regularly to make sure it's still good. Some penetrating lubricants, like CLP or WD-40, can migrate and deactivate the powder or primers, over time, if you overlubricate. It could be embarassing to have a dud or a squib if you ever need to fire the gun seriously.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I agree, HD guns should be loaded and range guns should not, especially since you have a dedicated safe for your HD gun.

As for the wife, like anyone else she will have to decide which is the best format and caliber for her needs. You can't make that decision for her. My wife won't shoot a gun no matter what while my daughter-in-law will shoot everything I own no matter how much recoil it generates. Everyone is different.

BTW, if she decided a .380 is best for her don't argue about it. A .380 she will carry is much better than a 9mm she leaves home.

 

[Dogguy]

A round kept in the chamber is fine. "Normal" capacity magazines kept fully loaded may be okay--if the magazine spring is of good quality to begin with. A high capacity magazine may benefit from downloading a couple of rounds and occasional rotation.

Whatever you do, remember that a self defense gun will need to be checked on a regular basis. Lubricants dry out and need to be replaced with fresh stuff. Most "experts" advise that the gun should be field stripped, wiped down and new lube added every month even if the gun has not been shot.

 

[SquareBeer]

Thanks all.

I will continue to keep our home defense HK45 in the ready. I think it is a good idea to lub it up monthly. We lub our others before we go to shoot and clean and lub when we return, but we are pretty knew to guns but having a blast.

I appreciate all the knowlege and sharring it with us.


thanks again,

SB

 

[FAS1]

Hello all.......
Is there any problem with keeping ammo in the Mag and also Chambered? We have some biometric safes so I keep our HK45 chambered at all times....but not sure if this is a problem.

thanks again,
SB

Do you keep the safety on while stored in the handgun safe? If the trigger isn't protected/covered you should practice retrieving it and see what the probability is to grab the trigger when reaching in, say in the dark for your gun. I always keep my HD gun chambered and would consider keeping the safety on if stored this way if. How about your wife accessing it?

 

[1911Tuner]

In 1991 I was involved with the inspection of a 1911 pistol that had been found in an attic after the original owner's wife passed away. The gun appeared to be loaded, and the new owner had some trepidations. Being that I'm always interested in long-lost 1911 pistols...I headed southward to have a look.

It was not only loaded, but it was cocked and locked. I cleared the pistol and gave it a quick once-over. It was a commercial Colt Government Model that was in remarkable shape. I replaced the top round in the magazine...chambered it...and fired the gun to slidelock. Perfect function as per design.

The kicker?

The gun had been stored by a new widow after her husband died in his sleep of a heart attack at a young age...in 1929.

 

[David E]

Factory rounds can typically withstand 3-5 chamberings from the magazine. Always inspect a round before re-rechambering it.

What brand mags swell or spread feedlips when fully loaded? How long did it take?

 

[Jim Watson]

Agree with orionengineer, if you don't fiddle with it, you will not have an AD or bullet setback from repeated reloading. My defensive weapons are left loaded and holstered or staged conveniently. The only time they are messed with is when shot in practice or demonstration (Here, Joe, THIS is what you need!) then they are cleaned, reloaded and returned to the standby position.

 

[Cards81fan]

Mags loaded and bullet chambered is not a problem mechanically for the weapon.

You need to decide if it's something your comfortable with. As long as you follow the 4 basic firearms safety rules you're ok, but the second you violate them someone can get hurt.

This pretty much says it all.

Personally, any guns I have for home defense are loaded, those for the range are not.

This exactly describes my behavior as well.

f you don't fiddle with it, you will not have an AD or bullet setback from repeated reloading

I had a 115 gr Fiocchi get some setback from my hand-cycling an new weapon a good amount before range day. A couple of times, the top round jammed on the feed ramp (I was low on lube, not an issue of the pistol) which really inserted the bullet some more. I pulled that round, but fired it later in the range session (I wasn't too worried about a kaboom as I was using my heavy, all-steel Hi Power clone). I will say it shot fine, but is was so extra "hot" as a result that the brass pretty much cleared the pistol without the needing the extractor at all, and went straight back. I got nasty cut on my forearm from the spent brass trying to imbed itself under the skin. I actually caused me place the pistol on safe and lay it down for a minute.

Had it been a serious defensive situation, adrenaline would have overcome. But this tangent is to simply say weird and/or undesirable things can happen by repeatedly chambering the same round.