How much is enough carry ammo?

[JBP55]

You sweat through your gun and magazines onto the ammo?

Damn. Things must be tough down there!

Regardless of season, my gun and ammo generally stays the same temperature since it's carried against my body.

I saw a Duty Round not fire after 6 months in a duty holster. It was a 180gr. Golden Saber in a G35 prior to the LEA going to Gold Dot about 12 years ago.

Glad it was during qualifications and not on duty.

[ST911]

You need as much as you intend to carry at a given time, with a few extra at home.
You should have enough quantity to handle a year of whatever you'll expend in chambered rounds, rotation, or whatever testing you want for new or existing guns.

Given the number of viable options that are in unrestricted commercial circulation, getting more of something workable just isn't an issue. It may not be your first choice, but an acceptable choice nonetheless. And in this current time of plenty, getting to know and verify some contingency loads is a good idea.

[LittleLebowski]

I go years on carry ammo. I know #DeadOnTheStreets

[Cypher]

I change out my carry ammunition every year because every security company I've ever worked for changes out their ammunition every year and it seemed like a good idea.

Between my wife and I we use 3 boxes a year so a thousand round case would last us approximately 7 years. Right now a case of Speer LE Gold Dots is 580 bucks so that's 83 bucks a year. Odds are it will never be cheaper than it is right now so why not?

[Darth_Uno]

Between Glock 17’s, 19’s and a 43 I’ve got quite a few mags loaded up with JHP. I don’t intentionally cycle it out, but I shoot it...whenever I feel like it. Usually when I swap out enough parts on the gun to make it worth checking, or zero new sights. I just buy it as needed, or if I’m putting an order for FMJ in I’ll throw on some boxes of JHP just to have it.

I’ve got enough guns and ammo, I’m not worried about “running out”. Could be that I shoot all the ammo in my 19 mags; I can just carry one of the other guns for a couple days til I get more.

[TGS]

Ok.

But I guess they might teach things differently at FLETC.

I'm not sure what FLETC teaches. Maybe @HCM or @FredM can weigh in since they've been through FLETCs FITP.

We shoot our duty ammo every qual at my agency, then you get fresh ammo to load up with. Never had problems with ammo stored in mags for prolonged periods though.

[HCM]

I'm not sure what FLETC teaches. Maybe @HCM or @FredM can weigh in since they've been through FLETCs FITP.

We shoot our duty ammo every qual at my agency, then you get fresh ammo to load up with. Never had problems with ammo stored in mags for prolonged periods though.

FredM’s info is more recent than mine but my recollection is FLETC recommends carry ammo be swapped out at least annually due to exposure and environmental conditions. They also do not recommend repeated chamberinv of the same round.

FLETC serves 80 partner organizations and getting them all to agree on things often results in minimum standards rather than best practices.

My agency, like yours shoots off and replaces carry ammo during quarterly qualifications. Ammo stored in mags can last decades if stored under controlled environmental conditions.

[Trooper224]

Out of curiosity, I made an inventory of what's on hand that would qualify as carry ammo, or has been such at one time or another..

200 rounds 9mm: 100 124grn. Gold Dots, both standard and +P and 124grn. HST +P
100 rounds .45acp: 50 230grn. Gold Dots, 50 230 grn. HST
25 rounds .38 Special: 135grn. Gold Dot +P
25 rounds .357 Magnum 135 grn. Gold Dot
50 rounds .40 S&W: 165 Federal Hydrashok (found that way back in the safe.}

Also, 100 rounds of .223 and 100 rounds of 7.62, but I don't role the Chipotle way for EDC.

I use separate guns for training and carry. My carry gun usually remains in its loaded state, so I don't cycle rounds through over set back concerns. The rounds in my personally owned backup gun get cycled through during qualification or whenever it gets submerged in water. Something that's a rather frequent occurrence given it rides in an ankle holster. Duty rounds are agency issued and get shot up every quarterly qualification so no worries there. Honestly, the rounds in my off duty carry get changed once in a blue moon. They ride in the gun and under my clothing, so they aren't even exposed to sunlight and it's not as if they spoil. The aforementioned inventory is enough to meet my personal carry needs for the foreseeable future.

[beenalongtime]

I saw a Duty Round not fire after 6 months in a duty holster. It was a 180gr. Golden Saber in a G35 prior to the LEA going to Gold Dot about 12 years ago.

Glad it was during qualifications and not on duty.

That said, could you see visible evidence of why it didn't fire, or could it have been a dud round to begin with?

I really appreciate this discussion. I also think I should talk to a LEO friend in the near future and see if they want to split a case, to up both our stashes.

[Hambo]

I saw a Duty Round not fire after 6 months in a duty holster. It was a 180gr. Golden Saber in a G35 prior to the LEA going to Gold Dot about 12 years ago.

The question would be whether it went bad while in the magazine or was bad from the factory. I've seen more duds out of the box, but chambering rounds over and over will hammer them.

When I was still a working stiff, we qualified quarterly. From one quarter to the next we might be issued sub-sonic, Hydra-Shok, Black Talons, Silver Tips, or any of various manufacturer's 9mm ammo. Federal, Winchester, Remington, Speer, you name it.

For those that are issued ammo this is pretty common. We did not shoot duty ammo at every range day, but you could get fresh duty ammo anytime. We were mandated to shoot all the duty ammo we had 1x per year, mainly to make sure the unmotivated weren't carrying the same ammo for half their career.

Whoever was purchasing ammo bought it because: cheap, good reputation, liked the advertisement? As my own purchasing agent now I buy because: on sale, available, forgot I already had some.

I do not unload my carry gun so I'm not worried about beating up individual rounds by chambering them repeatedly. Ammo that is carried gets shot up at least once per year. How much spare carry ammo I keep around varies from a box or two to half a case.