Protection Ammo Rotation?

Hello,

Wasn't sure if this is the right category, but I have a question about rotating your defensive carry ammo after a certain time period. More like a "shelf life" only referring to the time a given magazine or cylinder full is considered "reliable".

My wife and I are in Michigan and we both carry concealed and occasionally open. Myself, I'm out in the cold, rainy wet slop, snow, then into a heated shop I own, then out shoveling snow, well, you get the picture - lots of temperature and humidity changes my weapon and ammo go through each day before it goes on my nightstand each night.

My wife carries in her glove box on the way to work, has to leave it in the car all day due to company policy, then carries concealed in her coat on the way home, stopping at the market, etc., same sloppy weather, etc.

Can anybody make a "rule of thumb" recommendation as to how long one should carry a given mag or cylinder of ammo before changing it out? As expensive and hard to get as ammo is, I don't want to overdo it, but I also want to be darn sure it goes bang if either of us get in a situation where we need to fire.

Any discussion would be appreciated. Thanks!

Slider51

Mine: Ruger LC9 9mm S/A, Hornady Critical Duty 9mm +P 135gr (7+1)
Wife: Ruger LCR .38 Revolver, Hornady Critical Defense .38 SPCL +P 110gr (5)

Don't know how long it would last, but I do know that the the moisture shouldn't bother it. I have washed critical defense and federal jhps in my washing machine accidentally and they fired just fine.

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I was trying think of something funny to say but I can't... I shot enough of mine to be sure they feed well.. other than that I don't shoot them at all.

They will work fine well after you and me are dead and gone!

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An issue can arise if you rechamber your round too many times as the round end pushes against the feedramp.

This is called setback.

It can and does happen. It can cause a blow up as a setback can dramatically increase pressure of the round
And induce a case failure

As I reload my carry pistol after a trip to the range, i make sure I dont rechamber the same round as before.

If you rechamber a round 5-10 times you should get neglible setback, 20 times...... You may get setback

I also try to buy new fresh carry ammo every year or so.

I ran a little test a while back on setback after rechambering .45 ACP 10 times in my Glock 30 with what I had on hand. My LRN reloads set back .01"; Speer Gold Dots - .01; Win PDX1 - almost nil.

Unless you have a reason to load/unload your handgun, I'd suggest keeping it to a minimum and rotating the rounds thru the mag. There's really no reason to "unload" everynight after coming home. My guns stay loaded until I clean them or had a cause to unload.

As for the life of commercially made ammo, read this from SAAMI:

http://www.saami.org/specifications_...ammunition.pdf

It should answer some of your concerns.

This is good info. I was always curious as defensive rounds rarely get used

I don't worry about how long packaged ammo will last. I do worry about setback and don't unchamber a round once it has been chambered. I practice every couple of weeks with practice ammo and fire the chambered SD round as part of that process. I shoot the magazine(s) loaded with SD ammo empty every six months or so ( or whenever I decide to practice using SD ammo ). I've never had any problems doing it this way.

Thanks to all for the good discussion.

Thanks dean1818 and OldVet - It's good to see setback discussed, I was already aware of that issue from reading other posts here. I am careful when I reload my protection ammo after trips to the range not to chamber the same round as before.

Neither of our weapons are ever unloaded except when switching to target ammo at the range. nathanjns brought up a good idea with firing the chambered SD round at the range, that's something I'll use from now on to take care of any potential setback issues.

We only bought our handguns and got our carry permits last November, so we're still on our first boxes of SD ammo, but on our first trip to the range I fired one mag full of randomly selected rounds from the box, and my wife fired one cylinder full from hers. We did this to at least have a feel for the SD ammo, and to check for any bad rounds in the box as well as any loading/ejection problems.

Really appreciate the SAAMI report, OldVet...lots of good info in it, and a couple of items that may apply to our situation. Being my wife has to leave her weapon in the car glove box at work, come summer the high temps inside her car (black interior) is something to think about. It might not be a problem due to her weapon being in a holster velcroed to the inside of the glove box door with the door closed (obviously). I imagine it's not quite as hot in there than in the rest of the interior.

Based on the SAAMI report, there may be an issue with my weapon when in my shop. I can't really wear it while I'm working. I haven't located a better safe but accessible place for it than on my workbench top in its holster covered with a clean cloth. I do on occasion spray lacquer and polyurethane along with their associated thinners and solvents, and without a dedicated spray booth the air can get pretty nasty. I wear a respirator, but the clean cloth wrapped around the weapon is the only protection against the solvents in the air at the time. Of course on occasions when I spray that evening after work I do a thorough weapon cleaning. Based on this it sounds like a good idea to change out my SD ammo maybe once a year or so.

Of course I still have one embarassing problem...I've owned long guns all my life and am a fairly decent shot. The handgun is a new challenge for me, but I'm doing pretty well and certainly well enough to put most of my rounds in center mass. However, my wife, at 62, had never even held a gun of any type until 3 months ago. We go to the range every other Sunday and fire 100 rounds each. We score our sihouette targets, and with very few exceptions my lady consistently outscores me on every trip! It's a humbling experience :) but in the end I know she's definitely got the ability to put the bullet where it needs to go should worse come to worst.

Looking forward to any other comments on my questions, thanks to all who have replied!

Slider51

I doubt the ammo could be harmed by any overspray as it's inside the chamber/magazine. But I agree with covering the gun itself lest it become "tacky" in lieu of tactical.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OldVet

I doubt the ammo could be harmed by any overspray as it's inside the chamber/magazine. But I agree with covering the gun itself lest it become "tacky" in lieu of tactical.

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You know, OldVet, I never thought the lacquer spraying situation all the way through...but if a BG comes busting in my shop when the air is full of lacquer and thinner fumes, and I'm forced to fire on him, the muzzle flash will probably make the whole darned building go boom :blink:...hmmmmmm....it would definitely stop the attack, but getting blown up doesn't sound much better than getting shot...:confused: no clear winner there...

Slider51

There was a note on one of the gun blogs about unloading and rechambering the same round in a gun that over time the primer may become fractured and not go off when struck. This occurred in Georgia and the round was tested by the manufacturer of the bullet and found that the primer cake under the anvil was fractured and in with the powder mix in the cartridge. The officer had to use the gun and the first round would not go bang, he then had to bang, tap, and rap drill to get another round into the chamber to shoot. He had done the unload/load cycle for 2-3 months on the same bullet when this happened. Any round that I unload from my gun when clearing it goes into a box marked chambered and not shot.

A practice I do. My carry and HD guns are never unloaded except to go to the range. I mark the casing with a sharpie marker with a line on the rear. Then I put that on the bottom of the magazine and the next one is fresh and unchambered. When I get 10 lines on a round, I load it in a magazine at the range and shoot it. That's it and a 50 round box lasts a long long time this way.

The only firearm I would worry about that I own is a 1911. The way the bullet feeds is a controlled bump off the feed ramp that is part of the frame and it slides the casing up under the extractor and into the chamber. A Glock on the other hand tilts the barrel and feed ramp to be at a close angle compared to the round sitting in the magazine. It's almost lined up. Just slides up the feed ramp. No bump really there to worry about. So a lot of it depends on the firearm in question.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Slider51

You know, OldVet, I never thought the lacquer spraying situation all the way through...but if a BG comes busting in my shop when the air is full of lacquer and thinner fumes, and I'm forced to fire on him, the muzzle flash will probably make the whole darned building go boom :blink:...hmmmmmm....it would definitely stop the attack, but getting blown up doesn't sound much better than getting shot...:confused: no clear winner there...

Slider51

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Mental picture flash of that...LOL! Yeah, that might be overkill.

Generally, carry ammo should be replaced semi annually. It will last indefinitely properly stored.

"Mental picture flash of that...LOL! Yeah, that might be overkill." OldVet


Yeah, no foolin... Let's see ...BG = Toast, w/2 9mm holes (OK that's fine) but... Slider = Toast, in the process. Not so much... Kinda defeats the purpose of pulling the trigger (wonder if I could even get that second round off before I'm vaporized)...:gah: