Effect on Ammo of Frequently Reloading HD Weapon?

[RJ]

Is there any long-term negative effect on HD ammo if it is frequently loaded / unloaded into a firearm?

I use my one and only pistol (M&P 9mm full size) for home defense and target shooting.

I alternate my HD ammo (say Speer GD 124+P) with my target ammo (Freedom Munition 124 FMJ). I load with the HD ammo, chamber a round, and my pistol is my bedside gun.

When I go to the range, I unload the HD, go shoot, and then chamber a HD round back in afterwards.

Would that be ok long term for the HD ammo to frequently extract and rechamber rounds like that?

[CCT125US]

Watch for bullet setback in the case. Repeated clambering may cause this resulting in higher pressure. It does not always occur but is possible.

[ST911]

Many recommend limiting the max number of chamberings at 2-3x. Some rounds are more susceptible to setback than others, and it's easy to demonstrate. Take the round of your choice and a set of calipers. Chamber the round, eject, measure, repeat.

[HCM]

In addition to bullet setback, repeated loading / chambering the same round can damage or desensitize the primer.

In 2011, a Georgia LEO had a round fail to fire during a use of force incident as a result of repeatedly cycling and loading the same round over and over.

http://boloreport.com/officer-safety...ailure-to-fire

[DBR]

IIRC the "desensitizing" was in an AR where the repeated "tapping" of the primer by the firing pin eventually cracked the primer pellet. Bullet set back and possibly burrs on the case rim from the extractor should be the only issues in a handgun.

[DocGKR]

A large SWAT team in this area had a failure to fire from an M4 with Hornady TAP ammo during an entry--fortunately no officers were hurt and the suspect immediately threw down his weapon when the carbine went click instead of bang. After the incident was concluded, the team went to the range and expended the rest of their carbine ammo and had one additional failure to fire. This same team had 3 Hornady TAP rounds fail to fire in training a couple of years ago. When noted trainer Pat Rogers was teaching a class at a nearby agency, there were 5 failures to fire using Hornady TAP ammo. In all 10 cases, there appeared to be good primer strikes, but no rounds fired. On analysis, the ammunition had powder and checked out otherwise. It would be easy to blame the ammunition for these failures. However, despite what appeared to be good primer strikes, two problems were discovered. First, when accurately measured, some of the primer strikes had insufficient firing pin indentations due to faulty weapons. The failed round from the potential OIS incident had a primer strike of only .013"—the minimum firing pin indent for ignition is .017". In addition, the primers on the other rounds were discovered to have been damaged from repeated chambering. When the same cartridge is repeatedly chambered in an AR15, the floating firing pin lightly taps the primer; with repeated taps, the primer compound gets crushed, resulting in inadequate ignition characteristics--despite what appears to be a normal firing pin impression.

The problems with repeatedly chambering rounds has also been noted in OCONUS combat the past decade. Below is a comment written by a highly skilled combat veteran regarding his experience fighting OCONUS with ammo that had been re-chambered:

“My first shooting in Iraq I threw my M4A1 on semi and ATTEMPTED to fire a controlled pair (first round functioned striking the threat and the second round did not function). I then transitioned to my secondary (Glock 19 shooting ball) and had a failure to fire on my first round....I was Waaaaaay behind the power curve at this point. At this point I was contemplating all of my various bad life decisions which had lead me to that point in my life and grabbed an M240B and solved the problem. I AM VERY LUCKY TO STILL BE UPRIGHT AND BREATHING TODAY....the cause of these malfunctions you ask? Repeated chamberings of the same ammo. I made a decision that day that my life was more important than following archaic rules written by those who sit behind desks and started shitcanning rounds after I was forced to clear weapons on U.S. Military installations. The .gov can fuckin bill me.”

Once a round has been chambered in a weapon, Do NOT re-chamber it for duty use. Do NOT re- chamber it again, except for training. This is CRITICAL for both rifles as well as handguns!!!

[MDS]

Once a round has been chambered in a weapon, Do NOT re-chamber it for duty use. Do NOT re- chamber it again, except for training. This is CRITICAL for both rifles as well as handguns!!!

Now that I only dry fire with a sirt, I follow this rule to the letter.

Not to split hairs, but I assume chamber checks are safe?

[RJ]

^^^ Thanks all for the comments...much appreciated.

I asked another source and got the suggestion below. Do ya'll think this is a reasonable approach?

1) ID a mag specifically for HD rounds somehow (paint baseplate red, etc.) Load HD Mag with e.g. Speer GD. Chamber a round.

2) Place gun on bedside.

3) If trip to range:

Drop HD mag. Insert Target mag, shoot off chambered HD round as part of range session.

Complete range session, empty pistol.

Insert HD mag and chamber a round. Drop HD mag, grab one HD round, re-insert mag.

Resume at step 2).

[Kyle Reese]

^^^ Thanks all for the comments...much appreciated.

I asked another source and got the suggestion below. Do ya'll think this is a reasonable approach?

1) ID a mag specifically for HD rounds somehow (paint baseplate red, etc.) Load HD Mag with e.g. Speer GD. Chamber a round.

2) Place gun on bedside.

3) If trip to range:

Drop HD mag. Insert Target mag, shoot off chambered HD round as part of range session.

Complete range session, empty pistol.

Insert HD mag and chamber a round. Drop HD mag, grab one HD round, re-insert mag.

Resume at step 2).

Nothing wrong with that. I've got a box of carry ammo in my range bag for just this occasion.

[texasaggie2005]

1) ID a mag specifically for HD rounds somehow (paint baseplate red, etc.) Load HD Mag with e.g. Speer GD. Chamber a round.

2) Place gun on bedside.

3) If trip to range:

Drop HD mag. Insert Target mag, shoot off chambered HD round as part of range session.

Complete range session, empty pistol.

Insert HD mag and chamber a round. Drop HD mag, grab one HD round, re-insert mag.

Resume at step 2).

I'm no high speed low drag dude, but that's what I do.