Just curious if anyone else cleans/polishes their revolver carry ammo? I carry a 2" 64 very regularly, stoked with Buffalo Bore 158 +P HPs. I never put a gun back in the safe loaded, so the six rounds in the gun get handled quite often and the other 6 get carried in a Bianchi speed strip in my front pocket.

I believe all BB ammo is brass cased so they get a little "funky"after a couple of months. I've never let anything turn green just heavily tarnished and the speed strip will accumulate dirt around the rims.

If Buffalo Bore would offer nickle cases, that would solve a lot of my problems, besides pocket lint.

I have been actually polishing the cases with Flitz and scrubbing the plastic speed strip with dish soap. just like to know what others do.

Your methods seem good to me. I may give my carry ammo a good wipe down with a cloth every now and then.

No, and I've had ammo ride for a year in a speed strip in my pocket for more than a year without any noticeable tarnish. I'd check for lint or pieces of gum and call it good.

I clean ammo by pointing the gun down range and pulling the trigger. Then I put in more.
But seriously, I use reloads. I have to because no stores have 38 ammo.

Well, I never return my defense guns to the safe, EDCs or home defense weapons that are here and there hidden around the house. So the ammunition is virtually never "handled". If I had children coming over I guess I would put those guns in the safe but I don't expect that event any time soon and I would probably store the guns loaded and ready for repositioning at the correct time.

That said, when I get to shoot I will use my older, "loaded" self defense ammunition first, thereby ensuring it works well in my defensive guns, and replace it with newer ammunition. Guns are always unloaded when I get to the range but these rounds will be first up every time.

I never head of cleaning ammunition unless it is stored in leather and gets green/verdegris. I just popped two .22 WMR rounds out of my "robe" gun; they have been in that pocket for months. Maybe years, since I never shoot that gun, it just sits in my robe pocket for an emergency. Admittedly, the gun is a little dirty but the ammunition is pristine.



And yes, I have the NFA tax stamp.

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Come and take it!!

You're the smartest guy here!! I only thought the LONE RANGER polished his bullets.....My cc pistolas get the same treatment.....I NEVER unload My CC handgun. It stays at ready 24-7.

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S&W Accumulator

I shoot my conceal carry ammo as a means to "stay in touch" with the feel of self defense ammo vs range ammo. I don't clean my ammo. Should I place my carry guns in the safe, I have a reserved spot just for them. I do not unload them unless I'm cleaning, teaching or at the range. All other guns are in the safes and unloaded.

Number me with the shoot it crowd

When I was an active duty officer at the end of every shift I wiped down my duty and backup weapons as I placed them into the vault at home. (I had no children so my carry weapons were always kept loaded in the vault. This practice prevented me from getting distracted as I was getting ready to go to work and forgetting to load one or both weapons, don't laugh, over the years I saw it happen to multiple officers who unloaded their weapons every time they went home.) Weekly I unloaded my duty weapon and backup, whether a revolver or semi-auto, and wiped the ammo down with a clean shop rag. I also took all the extra reloads and wiped them down also. When we transitioned over to semi-autos that practice included emptying the magazines and wiping all the rounds down. If I had been outside in rain or snow, as soon as my shift was over and as I put my weapons in the vault at home, both the weapons and all ammo got wiped down.
Now that I am retired, I've just continued the wipe down routine.

I also don’t unload concealed carry handguns. If it isn’t on my person or on the nightstand at night, it will go in the safe, but still loaded. Same thing if it’s placed in the console safe in my pickup.

Loading and unloading every day just adds additional and unnecessary administrative handling for no real purpose.

I also worked with with an officer once who routinely unloaded his service pistol every night and placed it on top of his refrigerator due to having small children in the home. Eventually he got distracted one morning and spent his entire shift with an unloaded weapon. He came up with a better plan.

——

I’m a big believer in shooting your carry ammo every time you go to the range. It ensures the ammo you are carrying is reasonably fresh, and over the course of a year you end up firing enough rounds to stay familiar with it and it ensures a healthy round count to demonstrate continued reliability in your pistol or revolver.

I pretty well cringe when someone unloads their concealed carry handgun with old, greenish looking ammo. Cleaning it isn’t a great solution as it always entails at least some risk of contamination of the primer.

There is a scene in the bank robbery episode where Barney is inspecting the bank guard's (Asa Breeney) gear. He asks what those green things are on his belt. "Bullets" replies Asa. Barney pulls his bullet out of his breast pocket and declares, "This is proper bullet maintenance." Asa looks at the shiny bullet in awe and says, "I've heard about your bullet, but I never thought I'd ever see it."

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

My OCD hasn’t progressed to this terminal stage.

You should be cycling through your carry ammo long before it has a chance to develop serious corrosion. That said, you wont hurt anything running it through the vibratory tumbler for a few minutes. No, you won't hurt the powder. That was debunked long ago. It's a way better solution than wiping it down with a solvent and possibly contaminating primers or powders.

I clean my carry ammo by firing it when I go to the range to practice.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Give your cleaned ammo a little protection with a light coat of paste wax , like Mother's Pure Carnuba ... or a similar firearm wax product like Birchwood Casey "Sheath " ... which is very good protectant for firearms ... but you most probably have a can of auto paste wax in the garage .
I live in hot humid Louisiana and everything wants to tarnish , rust , corrode and/or turn green ... even leather will grow mold unless sealed and waxed .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Another I just shoot it vote.

I'll shoot my carry ammo about once a year. Before then, if it gets a little tarnished, I'll use a little metal polish and a rag to shine 'em up. On a 12 or 13 round mag it only takes a couple of minutes. I guess I'm from the Fife school of ammo maintenance.

Yet another vote for shooting... Along with cleaning, new ammo has a fresher scent than that skunky stuff that has been sitting in the cylinder...

Thank you, that is the type of info I was looking for. Never thought of a light coat of wax.
AT $40.00 for a box of 20, when it is available, I usually run a cylinder of the BB through it once a year or so. I practice with 158swc with 3.5gr of BE.

I'll leave the brass polishing to the old navy guys.

In order for my carry gun to have grown lichen on the ammo it would have had to be buried with me.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I leave my ammo out twice a month when the cleaning lady comes but she just gives it a light dusting.

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

Just like Troy Landry says -
Shoot, Shoot!
I just shoot the ammo in the carry piece first.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

You forgot Troy's cajun accent ... CHOOT EM' , CHOOT EM' !!!
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Remember that the case is supposed to grip the chamber on firing. Not sure how bad a little lube residue, wax, etc., would be but I wouldn't do it.

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You're shy a few manners.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is true.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

So I bought the Ruger LCP Max and then discovered that 380 Ammo was really hard to find!
A Dude offered to sell me some Underwood, which I had never heard of.
That Underwood was so expensive I could only afford to use it on Folks on the FBI 10 Most Wanted List.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Agreed. I’m not sure how much it would actually increase pressure against the bolt face, but why risk it with a carry gun.

The simpler solution is to just shoot it on a regular basis.


I don’t generally carry “self defense” ammo, but rather carry one of my regular target/range ammo handloads.

In .45 ACP and 9mm, I’ll load up range ammo with 230 gr and 124 gr FMJ respectively, but I also load up range ammo with Sig V Crown and Hornady XTP hollow points when I want loads with greater accuracy.

With .357 Magnum, I’ll load 125 gr plated semi wad cutters as well as 125 gr Hornady XTPs when I want a more accurate bullet.

The XTPs have a pretty narrow velocity window for ideal expansion but within that range they perform well and they are exceptionally accurate.

The V-Crown bullets have a much wider velocity envelope with penetration in the 14-18” range in 10% ballistic gel, pretty much regardless of barrel length. That makes them a very flexible bullet when you have handguns with different length barrels.

The advantages here are:

- I am not constrained by expensive and hard to find self defense loads;

- I can practice on a regular basis with the same loads I carry;

- I can expend my carry ammo on every range trip so it doesn’t get dirty, old or otherwise compromised;

- I can verify reliability of the ammo and pistol or revolver on every range trip.

As with any load used for self defense (factory or otherwise) it’s a very good idea to keep the rest of the box of ammo in a clearly identifiable location where it can be obtained for testing purposes by both the police and a defense attorney so that forensic testing can be used to confirm your account of the events if you are ever forced to use deadly force in self defense.

I carry 2 spare magazines on my shoulder holster. I removed them after a couple of years and both had a substantial amount of lint in them. I removed the rounds, wiped them with a clean cloth and replaced them.

It is suppose to expand to seal the gases, not real sure "gripping" is really necessary, the breech face is what keeps the case in place. That "gripping" is what causes case head separation in hot loads. In a semi-auto, slick cases aids in consistent feeding and extraction for reliability, probably not as much of a big deal in a revolver.

Rosewood

I found my NAA 22mag revolver had lots of corrosion on the case from pocket carry and sweat. Switched to nickel cases and that seems to have solved that issue. It is typically used for a backup only, the primary defense is a 3913 on the hip and the ammo in it really doesn't get dirty during daily carry.

Rosewood

To maintain as close to 100% reliability for my carry-piece, I dissemble the weapon about once a month, clean and re lubricate down to a field strip (just like cleaning your weapon with no powder fouling to remove) and wipe the lint and accumulated debris of my rounds. Pocket guns are the most susceptible due to sweat and lint, but any weapon carried on the body will accumulate dirt and should be cleaned regularly. Just me, but always remember, "just because you are paranoid doesn't mean someone is not out to get you!".

If the rounds are sitting around long enough where this is something that happens and bothers you, I would suggest you get them into the practice rotation, you are practicing right?

You don't have to be doing it at every practice session, but you really should shoot them enough that they won't be around for a few months to have the problem.

Wet sanding, six coats of Tru Oil. Lightly scuffing with 0000 steel wool in between coats. Let sit six weeks before waxing and chambering. Walnut stain is optional but I prefer the natural look of brass

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Cling Peaches in Heavy Syrup

After a few months, carry ammo goes down range, and new ones go in.