Concealed Carry Ammo...

Discussion in 'Ammunition' started by SHOOTER13, Oct 19, 2015.

  1. SHOOTER13

    SHOOTER13 Guest

    Changing Out Concealed Carry Ammo

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    How often should you change it out...?

    Remember...bullet set-back can occur if the same round is re-chambered enough times....

    http://www.usacarry.com/how-often-change-concealed-carry-ammo/


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    Personally...first thing I do when I go to the range is shoot the round in the chamber of my carry weapon...

    The next one in line is then a fresh round in the chamber...the mag then gets dropped and topped off with my preferred carry ammo....

    Hornady Critical Defense 185 grain FTX in .45 ACP.
    Rudolph31 likes this.
  2. S&P Outfitters LLC

    S&P Outfitters LLC Copper BB

    Although the article brings up a valid concern, I typically don't un-chamber and re-chamber my carry rounds. Whenever I go to the range, I shoot the entire magazine of my carry weapon. After I'm done shooting at the range, I chamber a fresh round and load a mag with fresh rounds. For me the knowledge that my carry weapon continues to feed an entire magazine of my chosen ammunition, outweighs the cost of said rounds.
  3. TexasPete

    TexasPete .22LR

    This morning I shot a full 15 rd magazine of 9mm JHP that I found in the back of the closet. Perfect functioning, hit the target every time, no woories. I loaded this particular magazine with rounds in 1993.
    ShooterGranny likes this.
  4. SHOOTER13

    SHOOTER13 Guest

    How did you remember when you loaded the magazine...?
  5. TexasPete

    TexasPete .22LR

    I had just finished a counter-drug operation with the Border Patrol. Our Liaison Officer gave me a box of ammo he bought as a gift. I took it home, fired a bunch of it, then promptly placed a loaded magazine somewhere I wouldn't lose it so I could get to it if needed. I've never bought that kind of ammo since, nor have I located that magazine until our final move to SC after I got out of the Marines. Though it's possible this wasn't the mag to which I refer, it is very likely it is. Lesson: Don't hide things or you'll lose 'em! (at least I will )
    ShooterGranny and Hawker800 like this.
  6. Rob poston

    Rob poston .270 WIN

    I can personally attest to this. I have a bullet that will no longer chamber, due to this condition. The nose is even smushed, wrinkling the copper jacket.

    Now I rotate magazines every month (that is the good thing about having several 1911's with interchangeable magazines), and when I unchamber, I pull all the ammo out and drop the previously chambered round to the bottom of the stack.
    SHOOTER13 likes this.
  7. SHOOTER13

    SHOOTER13 Guest

    It should be more frequent than changing the batteries in your smoke detector...
  8. deaner

    deaner .22LR

    whew man im BADDDDD then I need to get mine switched .glad I read this
  9. ShooterGranny

    ShooterGranny .270 WIN

    That is what spring and fall housecleaning is for if you do it right, taking everything out of everything, cleaning and reorganizing. OR you can move fairly often and that pretty much does the same thing - if you don't lose stuff in the process of moving! LOL
  10. Norske

    Norske .410

    Since I live in a norther border state my 45 ACP carry ammo changes with the season. Summer (aka road construction) gets Winchester 200 gr Silvertip HP bullets, but winter (heavy clothing) gets 230 gr HydraShocks.
  11. ShooterGranny

    ShooterGranny .270 WIN

    With the ammunition supply being all but non existent now, you are lucky if you have enough of each kind on hand to get you through for the next --- up to two years.
  12. Bill Idaho

    Bill Idaho .270 WIN

    When I was a working man (Sheriff's Deputy working patrol and SWAT sniper team leader) we would rotate duty pistol and rifle ammo every year or two. Keep in mind, even though we were in and out of our vehicles constantly, in any and all weather/temperatures, the ammunition itself is relatively isolated from the vast majority of the environmental influences. Ammunition is inside the magazine, inside the weapon, inside a holster/vehicle. (If by chance a deputy went into water that submerged the gun-ammo was replaced.) Dirt and debris are the main concerns.
    Related story: Once upon a time the SWAT team got back from training and was putting the SWAT van back into the bay. Since it was in the same building as the vehicle shop, there was an airhose outlet nearby. For some reason, one of the guys stuck an air nozzle down into his magazine pouch--and we couldn't believe the amount of crud/lint/dirt/crap that came bellowing out!! Someone suggested blowing out the magazines themselves, and some were nearly as bad. (That tells you who actually cleaned their magazines!)

    For a civilian carrying a pistol concealed, dirt and lint/etc. are the biggest issues to deal with.
    Something else to consider----studies have shown that chambering a 5.56 round into an AR rifle and then "un-chambering" it is one time event. After dropping the BCG and chambering it, the firing pin leaves a small momentum strike on the primer. It doesn't look like much, however----Apparently that can and will compromise the integrity of the primer. If we had to chamber a round, and for whatever reason didn't end up shooting it, once it was removed it went into the range ammo bucket. If there is so much drama in my life that a 5.56 round needs to be involved, I do not want that round to have a questionable previous life. Cut corners in your well being somewhere else----

    And, without getting into the "how long can a magazine stay loaded and still be reliable" argument, all I will say about that, from a metalurgical point of view---springs wear out from use, NOT constant compression (as in a firearm magazine application). I personally think the magazine spring issue is WAY overthought. To put it into perspective--A car engine's valve spring is compressed millions of times for sometimes decades upon decades. In the grand scheme of things, the springs themselves go bad rarely. (other related parts wear out far more often and faster!) Loading and shooting a magazine full of ammo for an entire day, even after a couple of months will cycle the spring how many times?

    I would change out civilian CCW ammo every couple of years, maybe.
    (Ford/Chevy arguments are perpetual.)

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