Cycling defense rounds

[motorfaust]

So I was thinking the other morning as I'm at the range, removing all the hps from my extra mags to load them with fmj...these rounds are getting kind of old. Every once in a while ill pop a round or two of the hollows as a last shot, but usually keep the same rounds to carry.. and trust my and my families life with if the situation arises.

How often do ya'll replace your defense rounds with new? And do you keep the older hollows or pop them at the range? I have 3 mags for my carry pistol, one with pdx1, one with hornady silver tips, and one with black talons. I live in AZ so I don't have to worry about humidity lol

I may be opening a whole can of worms here, just wondering what others opinions were.

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[Protected One]

I would say that about every now and then I will empty my defense ammo down range. Some people talk of possible dangers of chambering the same round too many times (bullet setback). I don't know if it's a "real" danger or not but for the cost of ammo, why risk it?

FWIW... I believe black talons are now illegal. If so, you might want to remove them from that magazine. Don't want to shoot someone with an illegal round. I can't see that going to well for you.

 

[Smoke]

You may wish to review this thread from last week

http://smith-wessonforum.com/concea...-change-out-your-self-defense-ammunition.html

 

[Smoke]

FWIW... I believe black talons are now illegal. If so, you might want to remove them from that magazine. Don't want to shoot someone with an illegal round. I can't see that going to well for you.

Black Talon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In 1993 Winchester removed the ammunition from public sale,[12] but at no time was Black Talon ammunition uniformly prohibited by law. Winchester's Ranger SXT line of ammunition is of the same basic design.

The evil nuclear tipped Black Talon Round is not now nor has it ever been illegal nor was it ever only sold to Law Enforcement nor was it designed to shred a ballistic vest.

They still seel them as Winchester ranger Ts with out the coating

 

[Ransom]

When my son-in-law recently cleared his carry pistol in my presence I took a look at the round he had just removed from the chamber. It had visible setback. He said he cleared his gun every night and re-chambered the same round. I suggested he stop clearing it at night and not to carry that round any more.

A couple of lessons to learn from that. (1) Don't clear and re-chamber the same round too many times. (2) Fire off some of your carry ammo periodically to make sure it functions.

 

[Rastoff]

I change my self defense ammo out every time I go to the range. I always start my session by shooting the ammo I have in the gun.

 

[Old cop]

I carry a revolver so setback & chambering are a non issue for me. As to how often I change, about once a year and I shoot the old SD stuff at the range through my ccw gun.

During my LEO days our agency issued fresh stuff annually.

 

[venomballistics]

I mark the first round in the mag with a sharpie each time its chambered.
when it gets ejected with three marks .. that round is added to the range ammo.
Between this and leaving it loaded, I've not needed a new box of defensive ammo in the past several years.

 

[walkin' trails]

At least once a year depending on where you live and what you and your pistol are exposed to.

I would select one good modern SD round, load all your magazines, and stick with it once you've determined that a box or two will function in your pistol(s). There's really no need to carry several different types of ammo for the same gun in a SD environment. I can see those with 12 ga. shotguns having slug and buck to load - different loads for different targets or target environments, but pistols are not so specialized. Even then, those loading shotguns in such a fashion can get confused.

Consider the round that you ejected should be at least rotated back into the magazine if you are concerned about bullet set-back. I know this was a valid concern for some organizations that issued pistols by shift and they got the same round(s) chambered three times a day in a 24 hour period. I understood that 40 was the one to be most concerned about. Nevertheless, keep an eye on your ammo, and if one round doesn't look right, swap it out.

 

[whippo]

I would say that about every now and then I will empty my defense ammo down range. Some people talk of possible dangers of chambering the same round too many times (bullet setback). I don't know if it's a "real" danger or not but for the cost of ammo, why risk it?

FWIW... I believe black talons are now illegal. If so, you might want to remove them from that magazine. Don't want to shoot someone with an illegal round. I can't see that going to well for you.

the setback does happen! I reload and have measured it. To the OP I don't chamber and re-chamber the same round. What i do is something I would consider ocd but it helps limit setback. I should mention I don't un-chamber and re-chamber unless I am handing my weapon over to someone or I am at the range. I take out all the ammo and keep them in order and put the chambered round at the end of the mag and load it back in the order it was with the bottom round being above the recently chambered round. This will help and I usually will grab a different mag about every 6 months. I usually will change out my defense rounds every 12-18 months since the cost of 25-50 rounds every 1-2 years is low compared to what its job is.

 

[ibewbull]

Think about hand feeding the 1st round, then putting then putting the magazine in.

This should solve the setback issue.

I mostly pack a wheel gun.

Sometimes leave the gun in its holster in condition 1. No kids of fools or minors are here.
Why empty overnight? I never leave a striker fired weapon loaded if not in a holster. I just am not a "safe action" fan when it The old 1911 was my first semi-auto. Can you tell?

 

[Rastoff]

Think about hand feeding the 1st round, then putting then putting the magazine in.
--------------------------------------------------------
The old 1911 was my first semi-auto. Can you tell?

No, I can't tell because no real 1911 user would recommend closing the slide over a chambered round. With the internal extractor this risks breaking the extractor as it tries to bend when going over the rim of the chambered cartridge. Sure, it can do this a few times, but to do it regularly is very hard on the extractor.

Even on an external extractor it's not a good idea.

 

[Smoke]

I know this was a valid concern for some organizations that issued pistols by shift and they got the same round(s) chambered three times a day in a 24 hour period.

I can't even bend my mind around this concept 3 different guys carrying the same gun over a 24 hour period and I don't know how the other two treat the gun? Or do you even get the same gun each shift?

 

[SgtLumpy]

I can't even bend my mind around this concept 3 different guys carrying the same gun over a 24 hour period and I don't know how the other two treat the gun? Or do you even get the same gun each shift?

One place I worked had dept owned Rem 870 shotguns in a vertical rack in the patrol car. Three deputies used the same car/gun every 24 hrs.

If you didn't pull the shotgun, check and clean it, you might find yourself paddleless up some slow flowing estuary. One guy smoked and would use the open 12 ga muzzle as his ash tray, including the cig butts. Same guy would eat chicken wings on shift and drop the bones down the barrel.

He wasn't under my command. Someone else had the luxury of dealing with his goofy behavior.


Sgt Lumpy

 

[Protected One]

One place I worked had dept owned Rem 870 shotguns in a vertical rack in the patrol car. Three deputies used the same car/gun every 24 hrs.

If you didn't pull the shotgun, check and clean it, you might find yourself paddleless up some slow flowing estuary. One guy smoked and would use the open 12 ga muzzle as his ash tray, including the cig butts. Same guy would eat chicken wings on shift and drop the bones down the barrel.

He wasn't under my command. Someone else had the luxury of dealing with his goofy behavior.


Sgt Lumpy

THAT'S RETARDED!

 

[Rastoff]

One guy smoked and would use the open 12 ga muzzle as his ash tray, including the cig butts. Same guy would eat chicken wings on shift and drop the bones down the barrel.

This is an example of extremely poor gun handling. This officer should have been reprimanded on the first occurrence and fired on the second. Obstructions in the barrel can cause serious injury or death to the shooter. If nothing else it creates an unusable gun for some officer who's life may depend on it.

The military and police trade off guns all the time. In the military, when not in combat, they are not allowed to keep their guns and turn them in at the end of the shift. So, every day a military cop will get a random gun issued at the beginning of the shift. I wouldn't like it, but that's how they operate.

Functionally, it would be better to issue them a rifle and pistol when they get to the base and then give them that particular set every time. The problem is that it requires double or triple the amount of guns. So, the bean counters, who aren't shooters, think they are saving money by having the different shifts share guns.