Raoul Lufbery was known to sit and polish each and every round on his belts before loading his plane. He thought the ammo was a significant cause of machine gun jams.
I’d say that’s overkill, but here are two examples of men who’s record I can’t argue with.
My Hero! Thats how it usually ends up around here too!
JF
Wild Bill had to deal with breech loading. All his powder etc wer exposed to the elements of the day plus any bouncing around on horses etc that might disturb the compactness of his load. Wise man, he knew his life depended on his weapon going boom when the trigger was pulled. Also a great way to keep your edge shooting. Practice every day.
I too wipe down the cartridges in my carry magazines. Although nickel cases, dont want any corrosion or other foreign matter to cause a jam. Sure, a bit anal, but, I dont clean the gun itself that often, so when I do, I clean everything.
JF
I will rotate out my SD ammo yearly, more often if I manage to get wet, or exceptionally dirty or go back and forth from hot to cold environments often. However, when I buy my SD ammo I will usually buy 500 rounds all of the same lot number. I Vacuum pack what is not used and set it aside for the next rotation. Idea being the new SD loads will perform same as the old ones.
JF
I have been shooting for decades. I have no ammo shortage. Heck, I would like to get rid of a lot I know I will never use.
So, I have different categories of ammo stored. I try and keep around 2000 rounds of practice ammo for each caliber I shoot. For SD ammo I try and keep around 500 rounds on hand. Some rounds like .22LR I have not purchased any in the last 6 or 7 years and maybe have 20K rounds sitting around. .308, .556 etc at least 3000 rounds practice and 500 rounds match and 500 rounds SD. Other caliburs I shoot much less often, .44Mag probably just 500 rounds total all SD. 9mm probably 2500 practice, 1000 SD. .45ACP the same.
Over the years you just accumulate a lot of ammo whe it is on sale. I think the .22LR I probably paid $12.00 for a 500 round brick at most. Other caliburs the same. As the saying goes “Buy it cheap, Stack it deep”. In my neighborhood I am the slacker. I bet most my neighbors have more than me!
The down side… now that I am getting older I realize many of these rounds I wil never shoot. The 7.62.51 (.308 WIn) is just too heavy for me. I would love to get rid of it and buy something I could use, like someone to help weed eat the property.
I dont know your age, but if you are into guns as I was you will find these temporary gluts in ammo just a distraction. It all passes after a while. My thought was a gun without ammo is just a club. Stock up. Then if and when you sell, you have ammo to go with it. The buyer is not just buying a club. I do the same with magazines. At least 10 per weapon. Buy and cry now, smile later. Like property, its always too expensive. Until it isnt.
Hope this motivates you. Keep your goals in sight. Set aside a predetermined amount of ammo minimum then when you cant find it shoot a calibur you can find. Keep your backup supply and just shoot what you can find above and beyond.
JF
Although this post is 8 months old, I think it still interesting. In the video attached below, the speaker enlightened me to think about how some ammo can be delicate. Thinking about what’s on the inside, primer, and gun powder.
He discussed wear and tear, but he made me think, what about for those who live and work in colder weather, or humid weather, how the constant changing the environment in any given day the EDC rounds are in – could it affect the inside of that ammo, the moisture, or condensation per se. If climate affects the round, that may then affect revolver carriers as well.
On the air compressor idea: Perhaps others here have good insight on that. I think another member posted that certain compressed air is less likely to leave “film”. I wonder if certain compressed air might add unclean air, too much moisture, or any sticky residue; And if it’ll go into the smallest and furthest regions where typical gun cleaning might never see, and what goes there might stay there. IDK, if that step makes that much of a difference and or is a risk.
Not shooting or cleaning for 6 months, IDK, maybe for 3, what do I know.
Father always told me at least once a month if you use it for practice regularly but if you just keeping it steady and not really firing it going out on the to the range change out your ammo once every 3 months and clean it but you got a fire to make sure it’s still going though
I’m in the process of cleaning out my garage which includes sorting and cleaning my ammo supply. Now when I decide to clean it’s like Christmas. I constantly find stuff I’d forgotten I bought/owned (like 10 sets of new in bags surplus eastern block mag carrier pouches for AKs…. I don’t even own one of those 
).
In the last few weeks I’ve found scores of OLD half boxes of SD ammo and going by type and prices many of them have been in my inventory since the 80s! So I’ve piled them all together and I’ve been using them as range ammo, and I’m happy to report that after decades of questionable storage in temps from below zero to scorching 3 digits and 100% humidity, and well over a dozen moves through many miles and states…. NOT ONE round has failed to go BANG on cue.
So I lose no sleep over this. I’ve had exactly ONE round of Premium SD ammo ever fail to go off and Federal asked for it so they could test it in their lab. The verdict? It was my fault and I learned a crucial lesson about cleaning and lubing guns.
A little dab’ll do ya?
Used CLP (I was relatively new to it’s use at the time) to clean the firing pin channel in the slide of my EDC gun during a full takedown cleaning job. Bad ju-ju!!!
Back to the original topic, I shot one magazine through one of my EDCs 2 days ago. I cleaned it on the long shot someone accused me of discharging it inappropriately and it shows signs of a discharge.
To each his own. The question is why.
I think I put down a wrong number on one of these threads about ammo but I could not find it. I have shot a little over 2,000 rounds of 22’s on one range day. That would be the most that I have shot on a single day. I know that someone will tell me this is the wrong thread so be it, I did correct my mistake or maybe it is just old age.
Oh boy, I bought the shield plus performance center with a ported barrel I just got 50 Times… nasty girl, took a while to clean up. I will probably not practice with this gun a lot… use my 2.0 and other pistols for fun time 
My EDC is a Glock 19. I shoot it regularly for practice; usually about 300 round each week. My practice ammo has polymer coated bullets; leading and fouling are almost non-existent. Normally I will field strip the gun after each range session and wipe off the inside with a paper towel and apply a few drops of Ballistol to key points. About every 4 months or so, I’ll take it completely apart and do a detail cleaning; maybe even touch up the “25 cent trigger job.”
As a rule, whenever I unload carry ammo, the round that is ejected goes into the practice pile and is replaced with a cartridge from the same box as the rest of the cartridges in the magazine. Magazine #1 is the one carried in the gun. Magazines #2 and #3 are carried on my belt.
The cartridges in all my carry magazines (one 15-rounder and two 17-rounders) are replaced once a year unless there have been special circumstances such being drenched during a rain storm.
I load magazines to one less than maximum capacity. For example, the 15-round magazine holds 14 rounds and there is one in the chamber.
Please note that I do not use aftermarket magazines for carry; my carry magazines are made by Glock. And, I do not use Glock magazines for practice. I use ETS magazines for practice.
I know TMI.
I clean mine after each range trip, mainly because I am shooting at an outdoor range and sometimes there can be a lot of dust and other elements in the air. With the types of firearms that I have, I know that it is not needed each time but I like to be sure that they’re clean and lubed.
Recently I have been carrying OWB while working on the farm (because of cougar issues). Now my gun gets soaked with water, filled with straw and fertilizer, sweat, dust and dirt etc. I figure I will disassemble and wipe it down weekly. May change the ammo yearly.
@John512, I would just give it a wipe down everyday and some oil because you are saying your gun often gets wet. Other than that you should be fine.
I’ve updated my EDC from my TP9-SFx long slide to my new TP9DA DA/SA. I actually shed a tear as I put my SFx and its two unloaded magazines into its case for the first time since I bought it (the fact that my monster cat attacked me at the same time has no bearing on the tears. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.).
Different firearm, but pretty much the same routine. If I fire it, I clean it. Some might think that’s excessive, but the guns shoot better when they’re clean and shiny. Soooo Shinyyyy… Better aerodynamics when clean, I think.
The real reason is I don’t want crud to build up in it. Sure, that would take a lot of rounds to have a detrimental effect, but the gun is my EDC. Hopefully, I’ll never need it to defend myself or another, but should that occur, I’m gonna need it to fire properly the first time I press the trigger. A ‘click’ instead of a ‘boom’ might be the last ‘click’ I ever hear.