For those who carry premium ammo in your magazines for everyday carry, I wondering do you just keep it there indefinitely or cycle it out now and then during range practice? I would think you'd want to at least use some of the premium ammo for practice so what do you do in that case - shoot 5 or so rounds and then empty the mag manually to load "fresh" ammo first then put back the ammo that was at the bottom before firing the first few?
I'm kind of at a loss on how to handle it. I was thinking of carrying the mag with the premium ammo in my pistol and then have the backup mag loaded with practice ammo. Any ideas? I practice at the range weekly but still want to have the mags ready for carry all the time.
I leave my mags fully loaded with my SD ammo year round. When I go to the range, I empty my mags out into my pistol case, then reload the mags with target rounds.
After target shooting, I reload my mags with the SD ammo, put one in the chamber, and then take the pistol back home(what passes for it these days anyway) for cleaning.
I shoot off my SD ammo once a year and then buy more after that. I never use premium ammo at the range except for at that time or if I'm trying a new round out.
I use up my current carry ammo about 2-3 times a year....I'll shoot it up at the range then load up some fresh ammo...I used to do it more often, but with the shortages and prices, I quit going thru it so fast...
I do the same, but I always shoot the chambered round each range visit to avoid chambering it too many times, whether I shoot the mag of carry ammo or not.
I just went through this excercise today at the range. Because I carry the Sig P238 which shoots .380 ammo, I carry a load of alternate FMJ's and Hydrashock defensive rounds. And I carry a loaded magazine in my pocket.
So at the range today I fired off all the PMC FMJ's. I examined the hollowpoints for any slight dents or other signs of wear. Two of these had slight dents because I am always loading and unloading. Those two I mixed in with my practice rounds and they cycled through no problem.
My intent is to cycle through all the defensive rounds after about six months. Federal Hydra-shocks are more expensive, but I can afford to buy a new box each year.
Because I carry all the time and cycle my ammo a lot, the ammo starts looking a little shop worn, not to mention the risk of picking up ambient moisture. My intent is to range practice once or twice a month, so I'm going to be shooting anyway.
Rounds are for shooting, not collecting. Carry rounds get beat up after awhile so put'em through.
Revolvers are a lot nicer to ammo then semi-autos. You can park rounds in a revolver for a lot longer.
The carry ammo will not degrade like many think. I would rotate it only once a year if then provided...
The rounds haven't been chambered more than once. If you are chambering the same round repeatedly you will incur bullet setback. This should be monitored "carefully". Other than this danger, if they havn't been submerged or exposed to chemicals, I wouldn't worry about it.
When I carried a 1911 I generally shot through a magazine of carry ammo per range visit (my spare carry mags I just kept on me). But at 7 rounds a week, it took me a considerable amount of time to shoot through a 50 round box of HST.
Now that I'm moving to an M&P9... I bought 200 rounds of Speer Gold Dots to carry and have enough to shoot through the gun to double check proper functioning... but if I carry a total of 3 mags (1 in the gun and 2 more) I'm looking at 52 rounds... shooting through a single mag is a whole box of the stuff... so I'll likely move to a "shoot my carry ammo once a year" policy as well...
I keep my carry ammo in the mag for about a year, then cycle through that mag at the range and replace that ammo. I like retsupt's suggestion of cycling through the first two rounds more often though...I think that is going to become my practice too.
I use different mags for SD and the range. I'll only use my carry ammo once a year, but that's because it's a pain to get HSTs. To help keep my HSTs in good shape my first round is a Gold Dot since I can easily get those. AFter it has been chambered a few times I'll put it aside and replace it with a fresh one. When I get a few mags of those built up I'll shoot those off.
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