How often do you rotate your ammo and how?

[Rugskipper]

I did a quick search and didn't find anything, so if this has already been covered, I apologize.

I carry a 642 in a Mika in my front pocket, with a Safari speed loader in my other pocket. I carry Speer short-barrel 135+P's and they hit where I aim them. I've only had my CCW for a couple of months now, and am thinking about how to keep my ammo fresh.

At first, I thought I would probably shoot up what's in the gun every 3 months, and then load it up with the speed loader, carry another 3 months, and put fresh rounds in the speed loader. But having carried for a while now, I've noticed that the rounds in the speed loader are looking more tired than the ones in my Smith. Makes sense really, what with keys, change, pocket knife, and mini Bic all riding around in there too. (Nothing else rides in the gun pocket.)

Now I'm thinking of shooting off what's in the loader, putting the old rounds from the gun in it, and loading my revolver with fresh. Of course I could send all 10 down range and load everything fresh, but I'm German (cheap) and those Speers are over $1.00 per shot, and hard to get these days.

So, what do you guys and gals do?

 

[mississippi revolverman]

Glad to see this post my story this morning. I was about to leave the house and decided to swap J frame that I carry. Had picked up a 36 square butt last week and wanted to see if the square carried different from the round.

So I took service rounds out of one and was placing them in the other when I noticed the bullet seating. These rounds but have been some of my old reloads of mine and not crimped proper. The 125 gram JHP looked like a wad cutter.

Would attach a pic put I dropped them in the canal on the way to work.

I will get back to my old habit of firing of my service rounds every time I go to the range and replacing with new stuff

 

[flop-shank]

My speed strip/cartridge slide rounds don't generally get beat up (that's Erich's department

). Every six months I burn up the ammo in the gun, which I then replace from my strips/slide. I then recharge my reloads with fresh ammunition. In my P3AT I rotate the chamber round to the bottom of the magazine after it's been chambered two or three times. Once the whole magazine is old chamber rounds I shoot up the old ammo, then recharge with fresh.

 

[pps]

I don't worry to much about rotating ammo with my revolvers. With a semi, I'd do what flop describes

 

[Gov]

I generally rotate through service rounds (in gun and strip / mag reloads) every trip to the range (once a month or so) at the end of my practice session. Two advantages: one is that fresh ammo is always in the firearm at hand and secondly, I get to practice with the service loads, which are generally a little hotter than the ball ammo used in general practice.

I stopped carrying anything else in my pocket with the reload, not just for the damage issues you point out, but because when I need a reload, I don't want to pull up a pack of bubble gum under stress.... to me, it's just better to have the 642 in one pocket, and the speed strip in the other, with nothing else.

I deal with the loss of pocket space by wearing cargo pants or a light covering jacket with pockets.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Originally posted by Gov:
I generally rotate through service rounds (in gun and strip / mag reloads) every trip to the range (once a month or so) at the end of my practice session. Two advantages: one is that fresh ammo is always in the firearm at hand and secondly, I get to practice with the service loads, which are generally a little hotter than the ball ammo used in general practice.

I stopped carrying anything else in my pocket with the reload, not just for the damage issues you point out, but because when I need a reload, I don't want to pull up a pack of bubble gum under stress.... to me, it's just better to have the 642 in one pocket, and the speed strip in the other, with nothing else.

I deal with the loss of pocket space by wearing cargo pants or a light covering jacket with pockets.

From an old retired copper, this is a good practice! Use your carry ammunition during regular practice/qualification sessions, replacing it with new ammo.

OK, we all use reloaded/remanufactured ammo for extended trips to the range. Nothing wrong with that. But, for duty use/defensive use I suggest relying only upon fresh factory ammo of a type that you know your handgun feeds, fires, ejects, and otherwise functions with properly, and your sights are regulated for.

Good defensive ammo is expensive, and is becoming more so. But, there is no other logical alternative!

What you have in your handgun, as well as what you have been carrying in your magazines/speedloaders, etc, should be shot up at least every six months, then replaced with fresh-from-the-box products.

 

[Nanook 450]

I don't think ammo goes bad or "stale" unless its exposed to moisture.

 

[Spotteddog]

I probably over do it, as I do with most things?
But since half/3/4 of my work day can be spent outside, and it rains here 9 out of 12 months, I use up the "in gun" stuff and replace every 90 days. This could be subject to change due to availability in the future? One thing though, I typically run commercial stuff only in auto's. Anymore in the wheel's, any or all of my home rolls. The stuffs just too damned expensive not to!

 

[flop-shank]

I'm with you there, Spot. As my supply of factory centerfire ammo is used up, it will be replaced with my handloads.

 

[indiandave]

I carry my reloads in 2 ways. For speedstrips I use a speedstrip wallet made by Dillon. For speedloaders it's a speedloader case made by Simply Rugged.

They keep your ammunition safe. Especially the lead tips on lswchp's.

 

[jeep]

I wipe my primers with nail polish and seal the primers. Takes two seconds and wipe them when there wet with paper towel not the wifes towels.Keep out of the dog house! I like nickel case,s for carry. Unless they go into the washing machine I use them for a year. The strip I left in the washer and my wife gave back to me went bang at the range! Next time she says I don,t get them back. She keeps a Nickle M-19 snubby for HD and car carry. My kind -of-woman.

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by Rugskipper: I've noticed that the rounds in the speed loader are looking more tired than the ones in my Smith.

Your Speedloader belongs in a holster(aka:carrier) just like your handgun does. Safariland makes one called the Split-Six that works very well. Unless you are in a very high humidity area, the Rule of Thumb for most LEOs has always been to shoot up your carry ammo, including those in your Speedloader(s) every Six months. This is part of the "Cost of Doing Business" and the good Manufactures have done a much better job of sealing their ammo than they used to so I'd suggest you get a carrier and shoot up you carry ammo at least once a Year. If you start having misfires then it is time to start using up your ammo more often.

I don't always shoot up my carry ammo but I do remove what has been in my guns "long enough" and then use that high Dollar stuff for testing and longer strings of practice with the full power loads. I don't get to the Range as often as I would like because the Range I use is an outdoor one and it isn't very pleasant to shoot too much during the Winter months. I do shoot a fair amount of .22RF because I can do that on the indoor range and I have a conversion kit that fits my carry guns so the training is very close to normal since the trigger pull is the very same and the sights are almost exactly the same. If I was still active Duty LEO, well, then I'd be out there in the weather.

 

[G-ManBart]

In a revolver I wouldn't worry about it too much, but I'd still replace it once a year or so just because.

For an auto I only chamber a round once before it goes in the practice bag. The rest I shoot and replace quarterly. Bullet setback from chambering hasn't been a problem with my issue ammo, but it has been with other brands and varieties. If you want to test your carry ammo, get a caliper and measure the overall length of a round then chamber it half a dozen times and see if it changes. Some will shorten up a significant amount and in high pressure cartridges this can lead to extremely elevated pressures and case failure upon discharge. A local police officer had a gun blow up at qualifications not long ago. Turns out he used the same round over and over, chambering and unloading every day before and after work. After a couple of months of that he went to qualify and it failed when he tried to shoot it...no injuries but the gun was a total loss. R,

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Originally posted by G-ManBart:
In a revolver I wouldn't worry about it too much, but I'd still replace it once a year or so just because.

For an auto I only chamber a round once before it goes in the practice bag. The rest I shoot and replace quarterly. Bullet setback from chambering hasn't been a problem with my issue ammo, but it has been with other brands and varieties. If you want to test your carry ammo, get a caliper and measure the overall length of a round then chamber it half a dozen times and see if it changes. Some will shorten up a significant amount and in high pressure cartridges this can lead to extremely elevated pressures and case failure upon discharge. A local police officer had a gun blow up at qualifications not long ago. Turns out he used the same round over and over, chambering and unloading every day before and after work. After a couple of months of that he went to qualify and it failed when he tried to shoot it...no injuries but the gun was a total loss. R,

Good post! Excellent information, and something for everyone to think about.

Nothing wrong with being economical, but not when safety is the primary concern.

 

[jeep]

One reason I don,t have any auto,s and use SW wheelguns only for everthing. Just got rid of my last auto a Glock 23 for a 686-3 snubby. They always fire ,don,t jam,feed anything,don,t set back bullets on feeding,don,t throw brass all over God,s forty acres. Plus don,t go out of battery and not fire up close and personnel. If it gets a dud round just pull trigger agian and it will fire. I like to keep it simple and safe and there is no magazines to buy or wear out or fall out in a close contact grapple in a selfdence encounter. Plus I shoot a SW much more accurate than a bottm feeder. Sig,Colt ,browning,Glock are out of my usefullness.

 

[Big Foot]

Posted 04 May 2009 06:50 AM Hide Post
One reason I don,t have any auto,s and use SW wheelguns only for everthing. Just got rid of my last auto a Glock 23 for a 686-3 snubby. They always fire ,don,t jam,feed anything,don,t set back bullets on feeding,don,t throw brass all over God,s forty acres. Plus don,t go out of battery and not fire up close and personnel. If it gets a dud round just pull trigger agian and it will fire. I like to keep it simple and safe and there is no magazines to buy or wear out or fall out in a close contact grapple in a selfdence encounter. Plus I shoot a SW much more accurate than a bottm feeder. Sig,Colt ,browning,Glock are out of my usefullness.

AwGee, do you have to take the fun out of it!

 

[David Sinko]

I'll carry the same ammo in my revolvers for years without worrying about it. My carry guns are 625s and the moonclipped carry rounds have been in and out of cylinder more times than I can count. The cartridges do not get shorter and I see no reason for burning up expensive ammo when I feel it's not necessary.

The Sig 229 .40 S&W is a different story though. I dry fire extensively with it and I'm constantly chambering rounds of duty ammo. I have no qualms about chambering the rounds a few times and then rotating them to different magazines.

A few weeks ago the owner of my favorite burger joint was openly carrying his Wilson custom gun. He unchambered the round to show me the gun and I immediately noticed that the rim of the cartridge was severely worn. It was also noticeably shorter than the rest and firing it probably would've been extremely dangerous. He had no idea this was a bad situation.

Dave Sinko

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by jeep: ...don,t set back bullets on feeding,...

One thing I've never seen an automatic do is to have the bullet "pull" from the case enough to jam up the gun. But, I have seen this happen many, many times with revolvers. Especially, with the Big Bore heavy recoiling Magnums if they don't have a Heavy enough crimp.

Again, there are Good Points and Bad Points to both types of pistols.

 

[torrejon224]

I replace all my "carry ammo" on a yearly basis. I shoot off the old and replace it. This alows me to get freah ammo and also ensure my guns still feed the carry ammo without problem.

 

[Red Rover]

I'm not worried about ammo going bad, but I don't like the tips of my expensive Speer hollow points getting banged up. I just received the Tuff Products quick strip holder today. It holds two strips on the belt in a protected and accessible position and protects the rounds. You hardly notice that you're wearing it.

It works with the Bianchi strips also.

Tuff Products