Let's talk about vetting carry ammo

[feudist]

in the time of the Covid.

Ammo is scarce and two and a half to three times as expensive as it was before the pandemic and the commie riots.

Carry ammo, when you can find it, is shockingly expensive. An additional problem is that ammo made under huge back logs can have less QC and QA.

With that in mind how do we vett ammo to carry? What are the best practices?

Throwing ammo at it doesn't assure function, as I found out twice. I had a Gen2 Glock 17-chosen specifically under the doctrine of "original caliber/original engineering",

like people recommend 5" 1911s in .45acp, and shun the .40 and .45 caliber Glocks.

I tested this gun with over 500 rounds of Blazer ammo, then I fired an additional 500 rounds of duty ammo, Winchester 127+P+ Ranger Talon. I shot the Winchester

at a private lesson with a USPSA GM, fast and furious.

I then fired another 200 rounds trying to make it malfunction. Not cleaned and dry as a bone I fired one handed strong and weak, fired with elbow and wrist limp.

I fired laying supine holding the gun by thumb and trigger finger only with the gun upside down.

Moving at a sprint forwards, backwards and sideways, jerking the trigger as fast as I could, typically with splits in the .14-.16 range-jailbait.

Then I put the gun in service and for the next 2 years I only shot Blazer and 127+P+ through it for over 16,000 rounds(remember when Blazer Aluminum

was 84.50 per thousand?)

Not a single, solitary malfunction. Nothing. No stoppage, jam, light strike or hesitation of any kind.

There was a total of two full cases of 127+P+ shot through it.

One night I ran a box of 50 127+P+ through it at the range and cleaned it.

The next afternoon I shot a charging pit bull outside a Post Office where he had a dozen people hemmed up.

He came so fast that I had to take 2 steps back as he slid to a stop dead at my feet. I fired 5 rounds and hit him 5 times in the head and neck.

My Glock was jammed with a horizontal stove pipe.

wat?

Guess what? The gun never ran right again. I took it to my gunsmith and had him check it out. Nothing. It just didn't work right, regularly choking in various different ways.

I bought a brand new Gen3 2003 vintage 17. Changed to Gold Dot 124+p and conducted a near identical vetting process.

A year later, another dog shooting and at 6 rounds the gun chokes, I tap/rack and it double feeds. I drop it and draw my 442 carried AIWB Werner style and finish it.

Again, no apparent cause of malfunction.

I nearly went back to a Model 10.

[DMF13]

. . .I shot a charging pit bull . . .

. . . A year later, another dog shooting . . .

If I was you I'd be worried about this guy:


Seriously though. It sounds more like you've been extremely unlikely with the guns (and dogs), not the ammo.

I will say, I'm always curious about the obsession of rounds through the gun itself, when one of the leading causes of malfunctions in semi-auto firearms is problems with the magazines. I've seen people say they won't trust a firearm until it's had "X number of rounds using "duty" ammo, without a malfunction," but they don't apply that same standard to the individual magazines.

[GJM]

I think a leading cause of stoppages with polymer pistols is how you hold them.

[feudist]

I think a leading cause of stoppages with polymer pistols is how you hold them.

Elaborate, please.

[feudist]

If I was you I'd be worried about this guy:


Seriously though. It sounds more like you've been extremely unlikely with the guns (and dogs), not the ammo.

I will say, I'm always curious about the obsession of rounds through the gun itself, when one of the leading causes of malfunctions in semi-auto firearms is problems with the magazines. I've seen people say they won't trust a firearm until it's had "X number of rounds using "duty" ammo, without a malfunction," but they don't apply that same standard to the individual magazines.

I forgot to mention mags.

I had 5 mags numbered and tested as duty mags. All the testing was done through these. They were rotated through the entire test cycle.

They went into service and stayed loaded (download x 1) and were emptied and reloaded every couple of months.

Al ammo was case gauged and plunk tested.

All practice was through a set of practice mags.

[GJM]

I have been told that when someone commits suicide with a Glock, there is commonly a stovepipe. When I was more interested in fast draws, presentations under .55 commonly caused a stoppage for me in Glock pistols. I have also encountered stoppages when not holding the pistol firmly.

With a metal pistol you have weight, but with polymer your grip needs to substitute for weight.

[TheNewbie]

I have been told that when someone commits suicide with a Glock, there is commonly a stovepipe. When I was more interested in fast draws, presentations under .55 commonly caused a stoppage for me in Glock pistols. I have also encountered stoppages when not holding the pistol firmly.

With a metal pistol you have weight, but with polymer your grip needs to substitute for weight.

The grip related stoppages don’t seem to be as common with the M&P and other polymer guns. Maybe I just haven’t seen it and it is an issue.

What do you think?

[Padwan]

I had to replace my carry ammo last month. I usually run 124 gr HST but all my local dealer had in stock was 200 rounds of 147 gr Golden Sabre. Best I could do was to check that all boxes came from the same lot, and to inspect each round before paying for the ammo.

At the range, I loaded the 3 magazines I use for carry then shot freestyle, SHO, and WHO. Thankfully, no issues apart from the need to drift my sights a bit. Normally, I like to run 200 rounds of new-to-me ammo in my carry gun but that’s not doable at this time.

[RJ]

Let’s see...I went through vetting three carry guns over the last year and a half: a Glock 43X, a Sig P365XL, and a Glock 48.

First, I chose these models for carry due to their reputation as a ‘quality’ firearm.

Then, I looked at Docs list to select from carry ammo I could get in reasonable (^200 round) quantities from decent sources (sgammo, Targetsports). This ended up being Federal HST 147 and Speed GD 124+p.

After that, I ran 300-500 rounds of good brass FMJ (Federal America Eagle 115/124) with a criteria of 0 malfunctions. While doing that, I mixed in about 25% carry ammo, again, criteria of 0 malfunctions.

By the time I got to near 600 or so rounds total, I felt confident enough to trust the pistol with my life. All three pistols passed (well I am at 280 with the G48 but don’t expect any trouble.)

While I would like to shoot 500 or more SD rounds, and 2,000 FMJ, it’s just not affordable these days, so the above is the compromise I ended up with.

[BehindBlueI's]

I have been told that when someone commits suicide with a Glock, there is commonly a stovepipe.

Yes, but certainly not limited to Glocks.

I couldn't get our duty pistols to "limp wrist" malfunction holding it with two fingers like chopsticks and pushing the trigger with a finger on my other hand during T&E.