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Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

cookietheswede

cookietheswede

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 4, 2010
275
0
47
Southgate, KY
How long are you guys keeping you ammo in your gun that you trust your life to? A friend was giving me crap the other day because I was shooting "high dollar" personal defense ammo.

I usually keep it a year then shoot it. That way I know what to expect, and I get "fresh" rounds. It doesn't bother me to buy good ammo once a year.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

I change out my CCW ammo about twice a year. My HD ammo stays around for a few years or more.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

Every 6 months for me.

I just like to run it through my gun to make sure everything runs as it should.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

I will shoot my carry mags every is months and go with fresh. Also any round that has been chambered twice gets shot next range session so I rarely get too six months on a mag. Steven
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

I slowly rotate in new ammo. Any round that I chamber 3-4 times I'll shoot at the range and replace it with a new round.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

Once a year on quality ammo is fine. Just make sure you fire some from your gun to make sure you have no feed problems.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: WyGuy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">...Any round that I chamber 3-4 times I'll shoot at the range and replace it with a new round. </div></div>

What is the reasoning behind this?
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: thefitter</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: WyGuy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">...Any round that I chamber 3-4 times I'll shoot at the range and replace it with a new round. </div></div>

What is the reasoning behind this?</div></div>

Bullet setback mainly.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: WyGuy</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: thefitter</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: WyGuy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">...Any round that I chamber 3-4 times I'll shoot at the range and replace it with a new round. </div></div>

What is the reasoning behind this?</div></div>

Bullet setback mainly. </div></div>
What he said.The bullet can get pushed back into the case which results in a pressure spike (very un-healthy). Steven
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Oldrifleman</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: WyGuy</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: thefitter</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: WyGuy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">...Any round that I chamber 3-4 times I'll shoot at the range and replace it with a new round. </div></div>

What is the reasoning behind this?</div></div>

Bullet setback mainly. </div></div>
What he said.The bullet can get pushed back into the case which results in a pressure spike (very un-healthy). Steven</div></div>

Interesting. I'm going to have to measure some rounds.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

This makes zero sense to me. Are saying the bullet moves when chambering factory crimped ammo? I have not seen this and ammo should be able to last decades without problem.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

It can happen, depends how many times the round has been thru the cycle, how hard your slide hits, and the angles the bullet hits the feed ramp and chamber at.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

I've only ever worried about clips yo.....ok I'm just kidding. I rotate my HD ammo between magazines to keep the springs strong but I never thought about ammo going bad or misforming so to say.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

I measured two .45 ACP rounds that have been cycled in and out of a HK USP compact at least a hundred times each. They alternate from being the round in the chamber or the first round on the top of the magazine. There is no difference in COAL between them and any of the other rounds in that magazine or the rounds in a fresh box of the same ammo, Winchester Ranger T-Series 230gr +P.

I shoot up carry ammo about every 3 months depending on what I'm doing so these are about due. I will watch to see if I see any difference in how those two go bang.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

Has anyone had good factory ammo go bad? Not the occasional dud or cheap ammo. I have ammo that is 30 years old that shoots like the ammo i bought yesterday. (rimfire excluded)
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

Good ammunition is not going to just go bad on you and no longer function. We change out duty ammo for our officers once a year or if it gets severely wet. Even on that note we did a dunk test where we left 15 rounds of our duty ammo in a bucket of water for 24 hours and then shot it, guess what all 15 fire fine. Now I’m not advocating by any means to not change out ammo that gets wet I’m just saying that with high quality factory ammunition (Federal, Winchester, and Hornady etc.) you have less worries. This is ammo that is out on the street 200 plus days a year 10 plus hours a day so it gets rattled around a lot! This goes for rifle ammo as well. We do suggest not chambering the same round over and over due to the wear and tear on the rim from the extractor. We suggest rotating the ammo to the bottom of the last magazine after it has been chambered about 5 times.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: PPD7800</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Good ammunition is not going to just go bad on you and no longer function. We change out duty ammo for our officers once a year or if it gets severely wet. Even on that note we did a dunk test where we left 15 rounds of our duty ammo in a bucket of water for 24 hours and then shot it, guess what all 15 fire fine. Now I’m not advocating by any means to not change out ammo that gets wet I’m just saying that with high quality factory ammunition (Federal, Winchester, and Hornady etc.) you have less worries. This is ammo that is out on the street 200 plus days a year 10 plus hours a day so it gets rattled around a lot! This goes for rifle ammo as well. We do suggest not chambering the same round over and over due to the wear and tear on the rim from the extractor. We suggest rotating the ammo to the bottom of the last magazine after it has been chambered about 5 times. </div></div>

+1 for this. Same thing we do in my Department is once a year and even at that it's probably over kill but it really falls down to the CYA mind set.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

Well you guys seem a wee paranoid.

I have on numerous occasions been issued "new" ammo head stamped 06' to 09' If ammo is not submerged for long periods of time, or stored in extremely humid environments it should remain good for a long time.

I wouldn't advise cambering the same round every day for 6 months straight... but I do. Did it still fire? yup. I have fired many rounds (5.56 Green tip) with dented shoulders, case bodies and rounds where the bullet has cuts from the lands of the rifle.. They all shot fine. Keep in mind this is on my work rifle, and the Gov's dime... so yes I am willing to take more risk.

With that said, I keep the same bullet in my chamber at home, no matter how many times my pistol has been cleared. My advice, find ammo that works, train with it. If your training shoot the ammo you have loaded first, but don't go crazy doing ammo swaps every month because rounds are "going bad"
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

You don't need to unload and reload your mags frequently to keep the springs fresh. It's the load/unload cycles that kill the springs, not storing them compressed.

I've read stories of guys finding loaded 1911 mags from WW2 that they pop into their gun and they cycle fine.

Spring fatigue is cause by compression/decompression cycles, not sustained load.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

I with 7 have an H&K usp 45 acp with 7 12 round mags and that really digs into the o wallet on or off the range. MM
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

As has been said there is no need to "rotate" ammo out. decompression and recompression of the springs cause wear.

With that said quality ammunition should have no issue sitting in a pistole for quite a long time. There is no need to swap ammo every 6 months.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

I still have some .45ACP ball, loaded in magazines since 1980. The ammo and the mags work just fine.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

Yes compression/decompression is what wears a spring out, but leaving them compressed for to long will destroy the spring as well. I have not done a test with any other mags aside from the Beretta mags that the military purchases and the USGI mags. Are duty mags for the Beretta are garbage after a year if left compressed the springs get so weak that after you download about 7-8 rounds the spring no longer can drive the rounds to the top to feed. Are USGI mags do the same thing after a year or so, the spring after being compressed for so long won't push the follower and rounds to the top either.
I had to demo this to some individuals that thought we were just complaining, but after witnessing the above they ended up purchasing all new mags for the team.
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

I change out my carry ammo every six to twelve months as a part of maintenance. I don't worry about it too much.

If I spent the last six months hunting, backpacking, fishing, and generally carrying my sidearm through "stuff" -- I shoot out the "old stuff" and reload with fresh rounds.

If the sidearm sits with me at the desk, then not as often--I have not gone over 2 years though.

BMT
 
Re: Personal Protection Ammo Life Span?

At my agency we exchange our duty ammo every 6 months. This is due to the ammunition being exposed to all types of weather. When we exchange the ammunition we shoot the old duty ammo and we normally will have one or two rounds that will not fire. We have 225 Officers so there is a lot of ammo exchanged. The reason for the rounds not firing could be weather related or operator error in performing their maintenance or just bad luck. Ammunition that is kept clean and dry will last longer than all of us. I have G20 magazines that I have had loaded for 15 years and they are still going strong.
 
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