Practice with what you carry?

[RobertJ.]

My EDC is a .357, and the ammo I load it with is Winchester 145 gr. Silvertips. It shoots exactly to the point of aim at ten yards. I have 158 gr. reloads that also shoot to the point of aim at ten yards. The recoil is practically identical to the Winchester ammo, and those are what I practice with.

But for fun, sometimes I'll plink with .38 wadcutters.

 

[dave1918a2]

There is so much of the boutique defense ammo out there and at ridiculous cost with little actual known performance in the Human torso that I carry ball ammo. That and the fact that I shoot 3-5 days a week, I know where My gun shoots at ranges from 3 to 100 yards. At 77, I doubt I will ever be in a gunfight( especially up here), or need to draw My firearm. But!!!

 

[old tanker]

Realistically, there is no magic bullet. There are plenty of examples where an individual soaked up several solid center mass hits with no apparent effect until they fell dead minutes later.

Where you shoot them still has more to do with outcome than what you shoot them with...mostly.

 

[robrossk]

I voted for mix but it is nearly all target ammo - like 99.85%. I shoot my SD ammo once per year.

 

[FlyTyinFool]

Another vote for mix, but I also use reloads for practice.

Yes, I sight my EDC (irons and red dot) for the defensive rounds.
I do not adjust the sights for target or reloads.
But I also try to purchase and reload to POI for my defensive rounds.

Reloads let me experiment with variables.
If I find a recipe that out-performs my current EDC ammo, then I look for a match in the commercial market.
Only when I find a matching commercial offering do I adjust the sights again.

 

[scoobysnacker]

No, I don't practice with my carry ammo.

If we're talking about a handgun for self-defense purposes, point-of-aim and point-of-impact differences are negligible.

Only reason to shoot carry ammo is to confirm they function in your gun, and if you're concerned that the ammo you have had is now 'so old it may not function'... which my guess would be, a time period greater than a couple decades. Maybe it's less if you bang and shake your carry piece a whole, whole lot, but even then, you're talking about swapping out a couple magazines' worth. And I don't consider occasionally shooting off your mags and reloading them with fresh, as practice.

The current climate has changed my patterns, but I would frequently shoot several hundred rounds at the range, getting and staying comfortably familiar with my handguns. I'm not doing that with Gold Dots, I do that with ball ammo. Cheap ball ammo. My only requirement with that was that it be consistent, and inexpensive.

 

[Miracle Man]

Practice is the key word, not the ammo.

Yes absolutely practice with your carry ammo. Sight your gun in with the carry ammo. Ensure your EDC works well with that ammo.

But most of us can't afford to blow through hundreds of dollars buying expensive defense ammo. Get some FMJ that shoots somewhat similar to your carry ammo and blast away for 1/2 the price.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

I prefer to practice exclusively with the ammo I carry for defense ...

... or do you use a mix of defensive and target ammo?

When I was a cop I practiced with what I carry. Being a reloader that was possible. 40 years ago Speer / CCI had their popular 45 ACP 200 grain HP "the flying ashtray" as a component so you can duplicate the factory load. Hornady does the same today having their XTP bullets available for reloading.

 

[tmd17]

I shoot about 4-5 times a month and usually 200-300 rounds each trip. Some times more. My SD round of choice is very difficult to find, so NO, I don't shoot what I carry that often. On some of my trips to the range, my EDC doesn't even clear leather.

When I do shoot my EDC, which is about 100 rounds per month, it is mostly my plinking load but at least one mag will be from a batch of very warm loads that approximate the performance of my SD rounds.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

On the Police Department we shoot FMJ for practice and our carry ammo JHP is shot annually. We shot six times a year. Some officers will shoot more often and others will be on the Pistol Team.

But in LE back in the 1970s officers would practice with 38 Special wadcutters and then carry 357 Magnum with poor results.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

Do you really need to practice with what you carry. I would say no. Why you ask? Well in a shooting situation you probably won't hear the gun go off or really feel it go off ...

Have you ever fired a 357 Magnum (with Magnum loads) in a kitchen? Or a 45 ACP in a suspect's bedroom?

In a shooting situation you do not have ear protection.

 

[AJ]

We did not use any .357 Magnums. Just .45 ACP and 9 MM. Two tours in SEA, 24 years in the Corps and was around for the first Desert Storm. Have heard a few guns go bang with and without hearing protection.

 

[Imissedagain]

Any ammo in our carry firearms will hit the target in the four positions that we would shoot in smallbore competition.
Standing
Sitting
Kneeling
Prone

But, think of a pro baseball short stop flying horizontally to catch a line drive. Can you hit the target in that orientation or any that may be needed?

We load and carry that ammo.
The last thing I do after my range chores, is a fast run of a mag or cylinder thru my carry gun at about 10 yards.
Markham Park does not allow for rapid fire.
Sad but true.
But less accidents since the early years.
Plus the wall between the public and Police range is much taller, after a Cop's ricochet left some lead in my neck.

 

[max503]

I completely disagree. I think that anyone that doesn't shoot their carry ammo at least once is a fool. You may not notice the difference when you are in a life and death situation but, your weapon might. You don't know how it will react unless you shoot it at least once. But, to say that it is a waste of money to do it when you train on a regular basis is just wrong. You lose nothing but, a couple of bucks more a box.

Also, it doesn't hurt that you get a feel for it in what you are carrying. If your main reasoning is because you don't want to waste the money on training with carry ammo then, um well, I can't help you. Maybe you need to get a second job to pay for training with what you carry. I see absolutely no downside to training with carry ammo and training ammo whether you are a LEO or a civilian.

This is why I carry an easy to find, affordable load in my 380. Reliability is #1. If the gun won't work.........

 

[AJ]

The last thing I do after my range chores, is a fast run of a mag or cylinder thru my carry gun at about 10 yards.
Markham Park does not allow for rapid fire.
Sad but true.

Were you going there when Holden Kriss was there? He came up to Indian River County Shooting range from Markham Park. We have a "no more than one round every three seconds" rule from him. Guess he brought it with him.

 

[biku324]

I only practice with duty ammo for my EDC, but my duty ammo is Winchester RED45 FMJ FP, not more expensive ammo.

 

[Bald1]

I completely disagree. I think that anyone that doesn't shoot their carry ammo at least once is a fool. You may not notice the difference when you are in a life and death situation but, your weapon might. You don't know how it will react unless you shoot it at least once. But, to say that it is a waste of money to do it when you train on a regular basis is just wrong. You lose nothing but, a couple of bucks more a box.

Also, it doesn't hurt that you get a feel for it in what you are carrying. If your main reasoning is because you don't want to waste the money on training with carry ammo then, um well, I can't help you. Maybe you need to get a second job to pay for training with what you carry. I see absolutely no downside to training with carry ammo and training ammo whether you are a LEO or a civilian.

He didn’t say don’t shoot your carry ammo. He said don’t practice with it. He also said shoot carry ammo till you’re satisfied with poi and reliability. I tend to agree with him.

 

[BC38]

Have you ever fired a 357 Magnum (with Magnum loads) in a kitchen? Or a 45 ACP in a suspect's bedroom?

In a shooting situation you do not have ear protection.

But you DO have the benefits of adrenaline on your side...

 

[Dave Lively]

Only reason to shoot carry ammo is to confirm they function in your gun, and if you're concerned that the ammo you have had is now 'so old it may not function'... which my guess would be, a time period greater than a couple decades.

I don't shoot my carry ammo once or twice a year because I am worried about it being too old to function. I do it to check the gun for problems with carry ammo.

My carry gun is a P365. When you push the limits on how small and light a 9mm can be it doesn't take much to make them unreliable. Recoil springs need to be changed more often, they wear more, magazines need stronger springs that may fatigue , etc. I want to check the gun/carry ammo combination on a regular basis.

My P365 had to go back to the factory because it started leaving empty casings in the chamber. This started after a few hundred rounds. The P365 has been reliable for the two years since then but while I trust it enough to carry it I don't trust it as much as I do my larger M&P Compact.

The Kahr PM9 I once had was much worse than the P365 about developing failures. The manual said it might have malfunctions during the first couple of hundred rounds but mine was 100% reliable for the first several hundred rounds. Then it started dropping mags, particularly with higher power ammo. Kahr sent me a metal mag catch to replace the plastic one and it quit dropping mags but a few hundred rounds later started getting stovepipes. Replacing the recoil spring seemed to fix that but I sold the gun before it found a new way to fail.

If I carried my M&P Compact, a Glock 19 or similar size gun I wouldn't check so often. But I end up always leaving guns that large at home.

I bought a half case of Gold Dot +P pre-Covid and am going to keep using it until I run out which may take several years. But I may buy some standard pressure carry ammo for the P365 and use the +P in my M&P Compact.

 

[BabaBlueJay]

My EDC is a .357, and the ammo I load it with is Winchester 145 gr. Silvertips. It shoots exactly to the point of aim at ten yards. I have 158 gr. reloads that also shoot to the point of aim at ten yards. The recoil is practically identical to the Winchester ammo, and those are what I practice with.

But for fun, sometimes I'll plink with .38 wadcutters.

Funny you mention silvertip 357 because I just got a box and may go to that for my carry ammo in my 686 and shoot Armscor 158 grain FMJ for practice