Rotating your carry/self-defense ammo?

[Gary590]

I carry Federal 124gr HST for self-defense with a round chambered in a Sig P365X. I clear the gun multiple times a week to practice dry fire. I have seen recommendations to cycle the round that is chambered to prevent chambered round setback. If the bullet is pushed back into the cartridge it can lead to a failure and a major safety issue.

So my question is - do you rotate your first/chambered round and how often? Do you have any method for keeping track of the rounds you have chambered? Not sure what the best practice is among the community.

Thanks!

[Karacal]

Start here by introducing yourself, then you will get answers

Welcome to the Community! Please Introduce Yourself

Welcome to all of you responsibly armed Americans who are looking to learn and share with like-minded individuals! You’ve all got something special to bring to this group that will help others no matter what spot you’re at on your self-defense journey. Gun-shy about talking about yourself? Here are some questions to help you get started! Who are you? What got you interested in carrying and self-defense? How long have you been training for your self-defense? What formal training have you had? W…

[Karacal]

The only time I dry fire one of my carry pistols is either after I have cleaned, polished a part, or changed a spring so rotating the chambered rounds isn’t very often.

Usually I rotate them to the bottom of a different magazine so it most likely only gets chambered 2 times before I shoot them through and replace them with new.

HTH

[Gary_H]

Welcome @Gary590! You have a great first name

This is a great topic and has been discussed a couple of times on this forum:

How many check, rotate, and cycle their defense ammo?

My protocol for my carry/defense ammo. I rotate my rounds in my magazine once a month. Set a calendar appt on my phone. I check all my carry ammo with a new round that has not been in my rotation. I am studying to see if any of my carry ammo has developed cracks or even shrunk in size compared to a new ammo round. ( part of monthly maintenance) Every Six Months, I shoot my defense rounds and start over.

Rotating Carry Ammo

How often do you rotate your carry ammo? I snagged this when it was shared by ASP. I like this idea.

Home Defense Ammo Cycling?

I am in the process of getting more HD Ammo. I cycle my carry ammo give or take a year (I’ve heard 6 months but I buy good ammo and I’m cheap). But how long would you keep ammo loaded in a magazine in your home? Cycling HD ammo would be significantly more costly than my carry ammo. I know carry ammo gets abused more since I carry the gun around, I chamber rounds over and over (try to chamber different rounds each time). HD rounds just sit… Opinions?

How long should I keep My Carry Ammo

I recently found an old 100-round brick of CCI 22LR that had been kicking around for about 30 years. I know that because it had a K-Mart price sticker on it (around $2.00 if I remember correctly), and it’s been that long since I lived near a K-Mart. I ran the whole brick through my 22 rifle without a single misfire. It was in a box that had been in a closet, then the garage, and probably exposed to everything from freezing north winters to Florida heat and humidity.

How often do you cycle your carry ammo?

I wish I had the ammo to do this. I would run out pretty quick due to dry fire practice. I’ve heard some people running cheaper jhp like Winchester White box because they can shoot it a lot. I really like my HST though.

My anecdotal observation is ammo with 100% copper bullets seem to experience significantly less setback after multiple chambering. The two examples I use are:

9mm Luger +P 90gr. Xtreme Defender Solid Monolithic Self Defense Ammo

TAC-XPD Defense TAC-XP 9mm Luger+P 115 GR

[Gary_H]

This post has a great photo of excessive bullet setback

How many check, rotate, and cycle their defense ammo?

A couple of days ago as I was unloading before dry fire. While ejecting the chambered cartridge it stuck between the slide and the breech of the barrel. As the slide came forward, it pressed the bullet a significant amount into the casing. So, yeah I check, and in this case, cycle into the discard box. [image]

[Brad]

Never. It doesn’t know how long it has been in there.

This is similar to a discussion had on vehicle forums with oil and other items. There’s a balance between making something “new” every year, month, hour, and potentially introducing error (mostly human) but changing it. As it turns out, there are a lot of ahem…people…who change their oil every 3 months in cars they don’t use.

[mattm]

I check the round for set back…think I’ve rejected one or two in 12 years, 12 pistols.

[Jerzees]

…I simply don’t chamber the round.

Just kidding.
I chamber it gently and for last couple years haven’t seen any setback effect on any of rounds.

[SirUlrich]

Someone else’s response was to mark the round with a sharpie just before you chamber it. Once it hit’s 4 tick’s of the sharpie it transitions from a SD round to a range practice round.

I’ve started to do this myself.

[Jerzees]

That’s a very expensive range ammo

[Larry130]

Regardless of which firearm I am shooting at the range, I always put a couple of rounds (9mm Critical Defense) through my EDC and then top off the mag. Avoids having to keep a record.

[Robert1246]

Welcome to the community. After following @Karacal suggestion my suggestion is to drop a round in the chamber and slide the extractor around it. This way one will avoid setback.

[Gary_H]

@Robert1246

is to drop a round in the chamber and slide the extractor around it

I highly discourage that unless you like risking a broken extractor and you are left holding a single shot pistol. I guess you could carry a short rod to shove down the barrel to manually extract the spent case after each shot

[Robert1246]

One only risks a broken extractor if they jam the extractor around the casing. The idea is to ease it. If it can’t be done without ease I would suggest not doing it as @Gary_H says.

How to Manually Ease an Extractor Over a Casing

1. Locate the Extractor: Find the hook-shaped piece of metal situated on the bolt or slide face that grabs the rim of the ammunition. [1]
2. Apply Pressure: Use a small punch, screwdriver, or your thumb to press on the back or tail-end of the extractor. Doing this pivots the front hook outward. [1]
3. Seat the Casing: While holding the tension, slide the bullet casing’s rim under the hook. Once aligned, release the pressure so the extractor spring clamps securely over the casing.[1, 2, 3]

[Gary_H]

@Robert1246

2. Apply Pressure: Use a small punch, screwdriver, or your thumb to press on the back or tail-end of the extractor. Doing this pivots the front hook outward. [1]

Impossible to do with an internal extractor like a 1911.

You do you. I personally chose to lose a couple rounds of ammo due to setback over damaging an extractor and turning a semiautomatic into a single shot when I need it most.

[xTaurus1776]

Welcome to the USCCA family! Glad to have you here with us.

[Mike164]

I mag dump my EDC every time I go to the range, that means the chambered round sits in the chamber for 1-3 weeks before a fresh set are placed in the mag and the chamber, never comes out. I leave it loaded and ready.

[BeanCounter]

@Gary590

have seen recommendations to cycle the round that is chambered to prevent chambered round setback.

I’ve seen them too and followed the recommendations. Mag gets dumped every range trip so there’s always fresh ammo to rotate.

[Will_B]

When I first started carrying, I did lots of dry fire practice, mostly drawing from concealment and re holstering.

Once I felt comfortable, I now just leave the gun loaded/chambered and in its holster.

The mags get dumped when I go to the range, then reloaded with self defense rounds after I clean the gun and am ready to store it back in its holster for the next month or so.

[Gary590]

Thank you all for the warm welcomes and your responses. I appreciate all of your opinions! It’s quite a balance between the cost for SD ammo and the small risk of a round setback. For now, while I am doing a lot of dry firing, I will probably inspect them after ejecting and reusing them a couple more times in the magazine. Then I’ll put them in a case for range day. That will probably change over time, but we’ll see