Posted: 4/4/2011 8:55:28 AM EDT
| I find myself unloading and re-loading my handgun of it's defensive rounds. Is there a recommended amount of times a round can be re-chambered? I remember reading somewhere that after so many times the OAL can change or is that BS? |
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I find myself unloading and re-loading my handgun of it's defensive rounds. Is there a recommended amount of times a round can be re-chambered? I remember reading somewhere that after so many times the OAL can change or is that BS? It depends on the firearm and the ammo you are using. Glocks, for instance, tend to be harder on the rounds they are feeding than, say, an H&K P30 in my experience. A good rule of thumb is to cycle your ammo...if you pop a round out of the chamber, inspect it for setback and if it's good then mark it with a sharpie or something and then put it at the bottom of one of your spare magazines. If you do that and rotate religiously you won't hit the same round again for quite some time. Once the round has been chambered twice, remove it from rotation and put it in your range ammo pile to be fired for practice/training. On some pistols with some ammo you can get away with a lot more than 2 chamberings for sure...but 2 and then shoot it is a good general rule of thumb. |
| I got out calipers and tested. In a 1911 and a Browning BHP I recycled rounds many times using the slide release and saw no set back. What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. Just gave me more confidence in the rounds that may have been through the cycle more than once. Best advice is to follow good practice and avoid it. |
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I forget who it was, but a member here posted about this a while back. He chambered the same round into his duty weapon for a year and measured regularly. He showed it at the end of the year and other than being really scratched up, it had not moved one bit. It measured the same as a new, never chambered round. Just food for thought. I think good SD ammo should be able to withstand quite a few chamberings.
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Every 1911 I've ever handled would set a round back after 2 chamberings. My Beretta and USPc9 refuse to do any backsetting. The 1911 essentially rams the nose of the round into the top of the chamber and relies on the ogive of the bullet to direct it back straight into the chamber. With more modern weapons the bullet has more of a horizontal path into the chamber, lessening the abuse the round endures in the feeding process. |
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General rules and rules of thumb generally are designed to account for a worst case scenario.
As noted above, some weapons are more prone to set back than others, and some rounds will be more prone to set back than others. For example the .45 ACP tends to have por load density and a fairly thin case neck that does not grip the bullet well. So unless roll crimped into cannelure, the round is subject to set back more than most due to the round and when used in the 1911, due to the design of the 1911. And, it needs to be noted that heavy roll crimping is problematic on the 1911 due to it head spacing on the neck, so a taper crimp is more common as if roll crimped, it is really headpacing (incorreclty) on the extractor. The 9mm para also headspaces on the case mouth but in contrast to the 45 ACP, many 9mm loads have much better load density and a comparatively thicker neck that holds the bullet better with or without a crimp. In short, your mileage may vary, and set back is a problem when it becomes a problem. I'd recommend taking a sample of 4 or 5 of your carry rounds and then re-chamber each of them until you either get set back or until you become convinced it will not be an issue with your ammo in your pistol. In either case it should set a comfort level that works for you. How you chamber the rounds also makes a difference, If you let the slide come forward full force, it has greater impact on the set back issue than if you ease the slide forward. The latter practice does not produce reliable results in some pistols and works fine in others - you'll need to balance your priorities and decide what works for you. Part of the issue is the sportman type training that engrains the concept of unloading a weapon when not actively hunting or shooting with it for safety purposes. That is normally sound advice except it does not transfer well to a CCW pistol where you will most likely never shoot it, but always need to have it loaded. Loading and unloading is normally safe when done properly, but every time you handle the weapon in that manner you increase the potential for an AD and in the home there is often no safe "down range" direction available to point the weapon during that evolution, so with a CCW pistol in the home, you have to ask yourself what poses a greater risk - leaving the weapon loaded but secured, or loading and unloading it each day. Personally, I think that if you properly secure the weapon (i.e locked in a gun safe where kids or other on authorized people can't access it) when it is not being carried, there is no need to clear the weapon and you are better served by leaving it loaded for day to day carry and only clear it when required for cleaning, TSA security, etc. |
It depends entirely on the pistol, even in the same variant. I have removed and reloaded my carry ammo dozens of times with no problems because my rounds are 1) under a fully controlled feed, and 2) a strait shot into the chamber (they do not in any way impact the feed-ramp... And it's a 1911. So best to check your individual firearm
Yes, my pistol is dirty, its supposed to be, it goes bang a lot... |