Question on leaving a round chambered

[dukesean]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think what I'll do as Mr. 72 does, one SD round per range visit isn't a big deal at all.

[kitty]

I'm confused, and I think it's because of some of the terms you are using.

I put hollow point rounds in my .9 mm, and they are pretty expensive about $20 - $25 for a box of 20. How should I "recycle" them when I carry? I carry chambered as well, but I completely unload after I get home, and then rechamber when I go out. Should I not be doing that?

[DoubleJ]

I wouldn't. what if you need your 9mm Heater at home? it's unloaded.
if you're just storing it, leaving it loaded isn't any different than picking up a handgun. remember, they're always loaded until you deem them otherwise, anyway.

[DoubleJ]

One thing I'd like to say, is that we're talking about rechambering the same round multiple times. not rechambering the round once, and then saying it's no good. I'd have to sit down and get technical with some tools to actually see how many rechamberings it takes on average to reduce the OverAllLenght (oal) of a given round.

I have no way of knowing, other than my unscientific observations of comparing older rounds to previously unchambered rounds, but I would say that it takes quite a few rechamberings to reduce that oal.

[kitty]

Yea, but what I'm asking is if it's not good for the ammo or my gun to rechamber the same round over and over again? I don't want to fire those hollow points unless I have to, but if it's not good keep rechambering them, what should I do. Those things are expensive. I've wondered about that for a while, but didn't think to ask. How long is ammo good before you shouldn't use it anymore?

[dukesean]

The problem as I understand about rechambering the same round over and over (hollow point or not) is that when the slide pushes the bullet up the feed ramp, it puts some compression on the bullet within the casing, adding more pressure to the powder. Rechamber enough times, and you build up additional pressure each time.

I would recommend you NOT to unload your carry pistol when you get home, only to rechamber it in the morning when you leave. Just leave it as it is when you are carrying.

Mr. 72's solution (and my adopted solution) is to shoot the HP round which has been rechambered at the range, just in case. Does that make sense?

[dukesean]

I'd have to sit down and get technical with some tools to actually see how many rechamberings it takes on average to reduce the OverAllLenght (oal) of a given round.

I'd like to see that if you have time. But then the question arises, how much of a reduction in OAL is acceptable, and how much would be dangerous? I suppose you can calculate based upon the known pressure loading of the original factory bullet with the original length, and then determine the new pressure based upon how much the OAL has shortened, and make an assumption as to the overall safety of that bullet. Anyways, interesting stuff.

[DoubleJ]

Yea, but what I'm asking is if it's not good for the ammo or my gun to rechamber the same round over and over again?

gernerally accepted that it's not good for the ammo. fine for the gun.

[kitty]

Ok. Thanks. I guess I need to fire a couple of those HP rounds, and replace them.

[mr.72]

I would suggest getting cheaper HP ammo. :) $25/box for a box of 20 is pretty steep. This likely means you haven't run a bunch of rounds of your SD ammo through the gun either. Some people recommend running at least 200 trouble-free rounds of one ammo type through your gun before you rely on those rounds for self defense. I agree. However that is really expensive with that kind of ammo. Plus you probably want to practice some with your SD ammo.

Anyway I noticed at a trip to the range recently that my friend's brand-new Glock was ejecting brass that had the lip ground to a sharp edge, very noticeably so compared to a round that had not been chambered. I began to wonder how this would affect feeding and ejecting if you re-chambered and ejected the same round over and over, eventually it'd grind down the lip enough that it may fail to eject, or fail to go into battery... ???

Anyway, it just made me figure it's best to go ahead and fire that round whenever you go to the range. It's just one round after all.

[zbordas]

I never rechamber my SD rounds I shoot it out the one in the chamber next time at the range. When I reload the magazine with the SD ammo I put a fresh one at the bottom. That way my SD rounds rotate and never have one that is older than 6 months.

[mr.72]

I never rechamber my SD rounds I shoot it out the one in the chamber next time at the range. When I reload the magazine with the SD ammo I put a fresh one at the bottom. That way my SD rounds rotate and never have one that is older than 6 months.

That's a smart plan.

If I make it to the range once a month and do this, then it'll take me 17 months to go through my carry ammo... of course there's always some in the box so you know I figure if I manage once a month to the range then assuming I don't have to shoot any BGs then it'll take 4 years and two months to go through a box of SD ammo...

AFAIK we should expect ammo to last a whole lot longer than 4 years. I'm not really concerned about it. I'd be much more concerned about the wear on one round that repeatedly gets ejected and re-loaded than how long you have been carrying rounds in the magazine.

[tarkus]

When I go to the range, I put my carry mags aside and practice with my range mags. I do an administrative reload so my first shot is my carry ammo and the rest are range ammo. Between ammo and range fee and gas, it costs me $25 to $50 to go shooting, so an extra $1 doesn't make a real difference. I probably would have to chamber a round several times before there's any real setback but for $1 it's not worth me worrying about.

[NcongruNt]

I'm confused, and I think it's because of some of the terms you are using.

I put hollow point rounds in my .9 mm, and they are pretty expensive about $20 - $25 for a box of 20. How should I "recycle" them when I carry? I carry chambered as well, but I completely unload after I get home, and then rechamber when I go out. Should I not be doing that?

I used to do that (cycle rounds - kept my pistol loaded, tho) when I first started carrying, so you're in good company.

Not only is there the possibility of pushing the bullet into the case, but I have found that after a while, your cases tend to get a little ragged. While not an issue cosmetically, it does mean that you may have feeding problems with that round in the future. This is what happened with me. I kicked the habit last year at Forum day when one of my SD rounds that I was cycling through to replace with new rounds failed to feed properly. I ejected that round and tossed it. I learned how to press check, which negated my need to cycle rounds. Had that feed issue been in an emergency, I could have been in trouble.

As others have stated, I suggest you keep the gun loaded. There is no advantage to unloading every night, mechanically speaking. If you need your pistol in the middle of the night, you're at a distinct time disadvantage if you have to load up before deploying it. I don't know your living situation, but if your concern is kids (or other people) in the house, get a quick access safe for your pistol. The GunVault Mini 1000 is a good option, and I have it installed under the seat of my van. It can be operated on touch alone, and opened within a second or two (depending on how complex a passcode you use). They can be found at various sporting goods stores such as Cabela's for around $100. Here is a link to the site:

http://gunvault.com/minisafe.nxg

[ScubaSigGuy]

I should point out that at the start of this post I made a comment that implied only .40 ammo was prone to setback and that is not true. .40 does seem to have the most documented occurrences of this issue and it is said that this is due the degree of bullet crimp.