How many rounds through pistol before trusting SD ammo?

[tnedator]

Mas, I have a couple questions.

First, I have been wondering about your thoughts on cleaning and am glad someone else asked. Here's a followup to your answer to the question CDR_Glock asked. You say with a Glock, you go 1,000 rounds or so between cleanings. Do you take that same approach with a gun you carry daily or just with range guns? If it's your carry gun and you go to the range and shoot, will you clean it before carrying again, or if it's a gun like a Glock that you know can go a while between cleanings, do you just go back to carrying it and lubing it monthly?

Ok, on to my main question.

What's your thoughts on testing self defense ammo in a carry gun? Opinions seem to be all over the place. Some say run 50 through and then carry it. But other opinions will range from 200 to 400+ as being the number of failure free rounds you should have before trusting any given ammo in your carry gun.

What's your thoughts? What do you do?

Do you worry about different lots of ammo, or do you assume once a given round is tested in your gun that all future boxes you buy will work?

[Mas Ayoob]

With a Glock, I don't worry about going a long distance between cleanings, so long as the gun has some lube in it. Most other regular carry guns I'll clean at least every few hundred rounds, again making sure they're appropriately lubed. I like to bore brush revolver chambers every 50 rounds or so just to insure clean gravity drop of fresh cartridges from speedloaders.

Personally, I don't really trust a gun 'til I've got a couple hundred of the carry loads through it, and some of my colleagues think I'm too easy on that. I'll often carry a gun I'm testing for a magazine -- if it's a carry piece, that's part of the testing parameters -- and it's not always practical to do the 200 rounds of the chosen carry load with a temporary gun. I'll run at least 50 carry loads through before I put it on, though, and will be sure to carry a backup.

If the manufacturer changes the bullet, I'll want another couple hundred through the gun before really trusting the updated ammo. If it's just a different lot of the same "recipe," I personally don't feel that's necessary. However, I do make a point of always having the same lot of ammo in the same gun, in case I need to track back for evidentiary testing for gunshot residue.

YMMV,
Mas