Rotate your carry ammo!

[TR675]

Good reminder of something I knew but got lax about: I took a S&W Shield to the range yesterday for the first time in probably 2 1/2 years. I’d pulled it out and started carrying it a few days before on the theory that it had to be easier to shoot than my j frame, and therefore more better. I just assumed the ammo was fine. Actually that’s not true; if I’d assumed it that would imply I gave the matter even one second’s thought, which I did not. I just blithely strapped it on and went about my day.

Its mags had been loaded and sitting in my safe that whole time - Winchester Ranger 147gr, so not cheap junk. There were two failures to extract, one per mag. I had no other issues with the pistol firing half a box of Ranger, two boxes of Speer lawman 115gr and an ancient (ok, 15+ yr old) box of Federal hydrashok 135gr.

The gun was clean and freshly oiled. I’m inclined to blame the malfunctions on the ammo in the mags, which cycled through a couple of hot and cold seasons in the garage safe. The rest of the ammo had been kept inside in a climate controlled environment.

In any event, both times the gun malfed I just sat there looking at it stupidly, having apparently completely forgotten how to clear a semi-auto over the last couple of years of shooting revolvers. I’m just glad I re-learned these lessons at the range instead of in a parking lot. So in sum: rotate that carry ammo! And, practice malfunction drills! (And/or just do what I’ve been doing for the last few years which is carry revolvers everywhere - because as we all know they may be harder to shoot, but they never, ever break, jam, or go down.)




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[TGS]

Unless the rims on those cases that FTEx were chewed up really bad from sadistically repetitive administrative cycling, Im at a loss for how the two FTEx is due to not rotating your carry ammo.

[JAD]

Unless the rims on those cases that FTEx were chewed up really bad from sadistically repetitive administrative cycling, Im at a loss for how the two FTEx is due to not rotating your carry ammo.

Corroded cases would do it -- did you save the brass -- but yeah, I see kind of a leap.

[TR675]

Beats me man. I don’t administratively unload at all unless it’s to clean/oil, and even then never chamber the same round more than twice, so that’s not it. They were in the first two mags fired in a clean and oiled gun. No problems after that. I can’t prove it was due to the ammo being carried around for a while and then stored in a safe that alternated between freezing and hot temperatures for a couple of years. It’s the only variable that I’m aware of. But we hear Doc and others say “rotate the carry ammo annually” and this seems to support that position. I’m superstitious enough to make a note to do it from now on.


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[Bucky]

(And/or just do what I’ve been doing for the last few years which is carry revolvers everywhere - because as we all know they may be harder to shoot, but they never, ever break, jam, or go down.)

Is this sarcasm? Sure, they’re less likely to jam, but does happen. Shoot enough, you’ll see it happen.

[TR675]

It is sarcasm.


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[DocGKR]

My recommendation is to not re-chamber duty/defensive ammo.

[TGS]

Ammo going through big temperature swings might see a degradation in powder, which if severe enough could lead to inconsistent velocities or possibly even misfires. That'd be pretty severe though for quality ammo.....like 50 years worth of poor storage, not 2.

Temperature swings on ammo don't magically make your gun FTEx.

I would not write off those malfunctions as due to the ammo, unless it was corroded ammo (also pretty unlikely sans storing it on a boat in salt water)....its your gun. If it's working fine since, fine, but I'd log them against the gun and do a few hundred more rounds to confirm.

It's also possible that the carry ammo was defective to begin with, but the point isn't to write off the issue and call good without due diligence.

[Thy.Will.Be.Done]

Being Winchester branded ammo, I'd lean heavily towards the ammo being suspect to begin with... not just after storage.... doubly so if the ammo was purchased at Walmart.

[RevolverRob]

One of my concerns with cleaning guns in between shooting them is that I will get something inside the extractor claw. I've had it happen before, a small chunk of patch, sometimes a chunk of dried gunky oil, various debris, etc. Invariably, this results in a FTEx. In almost every FTEx that couldn't be traced to a spring of clear ammo issue, I ultimately found something under the extractor claw or maybe even stuck on the rim of the casing.

What I have found is that guns with a round in the chamber, don't have this problem, because the extractor claw is over a rim and therefore there is no space (or minimal space) for crap to get in. This is one reason, I recommend 1) visually inspecting the extractor claw after cleaning. 2) Shooting the gun immediately after cleaning and oiling (to confirm function). 3) Leave guns loaded constantly.