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I've been thinking, this thread is NOT about any brand or what Self Defense Ammunition you use, but it more about how often do you change it out

I have several weapons that I have that in the lock box, loaded with, Self Defense Ammunition, and I know for the past 2-3 years, I will unload the weapons and take to the range, use target ammo, and clean re-load the Defense round and lock up.

But, I've been thinking, should I cycle them through the gun once a year, and load with new Ammo ? Or, just count on what I have.

Don't get me wrong, any Defense Ammunition, SHOULD be tested before you can depend on it, is what I did when I decided on a brand, there is sooooo many Idea's on what to use.. When I decided I racked at least 50-75 through the weapons.. I feel real good about the brand I bought... But, How often do YOU change out your rounds..??

I know I have had some REAL OLD hollow points from back in the early 80's that I cleared out, and everyone of them shot with out hitch..So, I'm thinking maybe change out about 3-4 years.. ? Any thoughts.

Also, I know that some rounds are brass and tend to tarnish , where other are aluminum and does not dis-color..
Do you clean your brass
BAT

You see, you shot HP made in 80s and after 30 yrs each one fired as expected. Test some rd to see if they function well in your pistols. Others will last decades.

If your ammo is not military grade, that is it does not have a sealer between the bullet and the case then the ammo is more likely to become inert. I think 6 months is a good "turn around" time for protection ammo, just in case. I also like to remove ammo from a magazine and re-insert it so it would not "stick" for any reason.

As far as time, I am comfortable with self defense ammo up to five years old, although it holds up longer. I cycle through 2 or three mags worth annually just to make sure my gun digests them with no failures. I have found that external causes like dirt, lint and dust bunnies get on the ammo and inside the mag give me more concern than the age of the ammo.

IMHO

I accidentally left some Winchester PDX1 45 acp in my pocket while washing and drying my clothes. I thought the powder would be wet and the round would be bad but low and behold it was just fine and functioned fine. In the past I have used the Speer Gold Dot, Winchester and Hornady. I tend to try and use the Hornady Critical Defense mainly due to the polymer tip and resistance to bullet setback when chambering, emptying and rechambering. I always shoot self defense ammo through a new carry gun to see if it functions properly. With 1911's I think that is a requirement since there are may that will not feed all hollow points. I will keep my SD ammo for 2-3 years and not worry about it, I see no problem with that. I've never had any fail to fire before when I tested it so I wouldn't expect that in the future.

A few months ago I unpacked some old 12 gauge shotgun shells had since 1972...Took them out to the pasture they fired flawlessly...

TexasGuy wrote:If your ammo is not military grade, that is it does not have a sealer between the bullet and the case then the ammo is more likely to become inert.

I don't believe that at all.

Ammo has neck tension that holds the bullet in place. The neck tension also seals the case. If there is insufficient neck tension to seal the cartridge, then the bullet won't stay in place.

I would have no problem with SD due to age up to any reasonable standard (decades). However, I do have a problem with using ammo that has been repeatedly chambered and unloaded from a pistol because of the risk of bullet setback. The act of slamming the cartridge into the ramp while chambering can cause the bullet to get pushed back into the case, sometimes enough to create risk of overpressure rounds.

That is why I rotate my rounds when unloading/reloading for range time. For example, if the round in the chamber is round 0, and then the rounds in the magazine are numbered (top to bottom) 1 to 15, when I reload the gun, the former round 0 gets moved to magazine position 15, and all the other rounds move up 1 place in line. Thus in fifteen unloading/reloading cycles, each round got loaded once instead of the same round getting loaded 15 times.

Here are some pictures from a message thread discussing this topic at Ohioans For Concealed Carry.

The 4th from the left is set back and so is the one in the middle with the black line on it.



Here is an example of bullet setback with 35 thousandths difference of COAL.




When we hear of gun KABOOMS at the range, most of the time we really don't know what caused it. I'm convinced that bullet setback is the culprit more often than people think.

When every round in the rotation in my carry guns have been loaded a couple of times, then I'll shoot them off and replace them. This takes a couple of years if I shoot them at the range a couple of times a month.

Brian Mobley wrote:As far as time, I am comfortable with self defense ammo up to five years old, although it holds up longer. I cycle through 2 or three mags worth annually just to make sure my gun digests them with no failures. I have found that external causes like dirt, lint and dust bunnies get on the ammo and inside the mag give me more concern than the age of the ammo.

IMHO

I agree on this, in my experience, the outward condition of the ammo is more important than it's age. If it's got the green corrosion and is all nasty on the outside, you will probably have feeding issues before dud rounds. In my 25 years of shooting experience I have come to the conclusion that ammo lasts a long time before it does not fire. I routinely shoot 30.06 ammo in my Garand that was manufactured in the 60's and have never had a missfire. In fact in the 90's I shot a ton of WW2 surplus that was headstamped 1942 with no problems. My experience has been the same with non-military ammo. All this being said, I change out my ammo on my carry gun every 6 months or so with newly purchased ammo, same with my other defensive guns I keep loaded in my house.

Change the ammo you actually carry once a year. Not the ammo still in the box or ammo in a magazine that just sits. I use the same magazine as a load magazine these rounds get shuffled (rotated in the column) periodically. Sometime near my Birthday I fire the rounds in the carry mag and replace it with the back up mag and load fresh in the empty and it becomes the back up for the next year. Constant cycling of rounds through your gun do more harm than age to your ammo. Bullets can be set back cases dented etc. That's why I do what I do. YMMV

Buy ammo with nickle plated cases that will prevent the cases tarnishing, Do not polish brass cases with Brasso etc. Don't worry about tarnish. Cull any that have green corrosion the case could be weakened.

Once every couple of months when I hit the range or my friend's property I will shoot whatever rounds I have in the mag for SD. It gives me that warm a fuzzy feeling that everything is working the way it should. The best part about doing it on private property is being able to draw and rapid fire the entire mag. Makes me smile as that slide locks open after the last round!

My last magazine fired at the range is my carry mag, with SD ammo in it. Then my backup carry mag goes in the firearm for the ride home.

george wrote:One day at PSC, I decided to shoot it and load new rounds. None of the rounds I had been carrying shot normally, and two of them left their bullets lodged in the barrel. The fresh rounds fired without any issues.

How did you get the bullets that were lodged in the barrel out? I have heard several, less-than-impressive, stories about that brand of ammo. I have not shot any of my SD stuff, but none of it is more than six months old. When it hits about 18 months, I might shoot it off and replace it.

RJ

johnson0317 wrote:

george wrote:One day at PSC, I decided to shoot it and load new rounds. None of the rounds I had been carrying shot normally, and two of them left their bullets lodged in the barrel. The fresh rounds fired without any issues.

How did you get the bullets that were lodged in the barrel out? I have heard several, less-than-impressive, stories about that brand of ammo. I have not shot any of my SD stuff, but none of it is more than six months old. When it hits about 18 months, I might shoot it off and replace it.

RJ

If you haven't shot any of your SD ammo, how do you know it will function properly in your pistol?

MoJo wrote: Do not polish brass cases with Brasso etc. Don't worry about tarnish. .

Why Not use polish with Brasso ?

I have some that tarnish, and when I clean the gun, I polish the ammo, they Looks pretty

I really polish, that thinking the tarnish would rub off in the gun ?


I'm confused, I had always thought it was not good to use tarnish ammo

BAT