My new habit with carry ammo

Henry's Dad · 07-01-2012, 19:44

Maybe I'm the last guy to do this, but I recently saw the wisdom of it:

(1) Remove barrel from gun

(2) Drop each round of your EDC ammo in the breech end to make sure it seats properly and doesn't get hung up from a case being bulged.

I began doing this when I had a feeding issue with some brand-name factory personal defense ammo.

Just by random chance, the top round of the one mag I had inserted wouldn't feed correctly. I thought it was a generic feeding issue (bullet getting hung up on barrel ramp, etc.), but when I disassembled the gun and tried to seat THAT particular round in the barrel, it wouldn't seat due to case bulging.

If that round been further down in the mag, I could have had a major hang-up at an inopportune time.

So, now I'm in the habit of testing every round of carry ammo in the disassembled barrel before it goes into a mag.

I'm surprised that I've never heard of anyone doing this basic safety/reliability check, and no one has ever recommended it to me in my 15 years of handgun shooting.

Like I said, maybe I'm the last guy to do this, but I thought I'd recommend it if it's not part of your regular routine with a new box of your EDC ammo.

It takes a few extra minutes, but well worth the peace of mind, IMO.

vafish · 07-02-2012, 05:16

Good idea, a case gauge will do the same thing.

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***jpa*** · 07-02-2012, 08:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by vafish

Good idea, a case gauge will do the same thing.

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Not everyone has a case gauge, but everyone who has a gun (hopefully) has a barrel!

ithaca_deerslayer · 07-02-2012, 08:53

Seems like a fine idea.

At the very least, look over the ammo. Occassional I see target rounds that won't chamber if the brass is goofed up.

unit1069 · 07-02-2012, 09:29

Thanks for the suggestion, OP.

lawson12 · 07-02-2012, 12:07

Sounds a little OCD to me honestly. To each his own.

concretefuzzynuts · 07-02-2012, 12:24

A wheel gun would have prevented this.

Veedubklown · 07-02-2012, 12:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by lawson12

Sounds a little OCD to me honestly. To each his own.

Pretty much. I've seen match and target shooters barrel drop their match ammo in their match barrels to make sure they won't have a hang-up. I understand your concern, and agree that manufacturing blips like that shouldn't happen with defensive ammo, but we all know that's impossible. I give mine a look-over and roll em between my fingers as I load em. Good enough for me.

**larry_minn** · 07-02-2012, 12:57

Not a bad idea to use a case guage. I must admit I just visually look at them.
If you take one that does fail a case guage and run it in practice. Most will chamber, fire, eject just fine. There is enough force to smooth out minor imperfections.

So IMO ideally a person should use guage, barrel, type check. Unless I find bad ammo I personally am not going to bother.

DrewF86 · 07-02-2012, 15:07

I personally wouldn't do that, but it certainly is a sure fire way to make sure your ammo feeds well. When I shoot last months carry rounds, I'll load up my new magazine, and then hand cycle the slide to make sure they all feed.

Veedubklown · 07-02-2012, 15:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrewF86

I personally wouldn't do that, but it certainly is a sure fire way to make sure your ammo feeds well. When I shoot last months carry rounds, I'll load up my new magazine, and then hand cycle the slide to make sure they all feed.

From my experience hand cycling doesn't exactly replicate what's going on in your gun. That first round drop, sure, but after that, everything is happening at a much faster rate than your doing by hand. I've had guns that cycled beautifully at home under my hand, get to the range, and it's a turd every round.

I wouldn't bother to hand cycle my fresh ammo, in case I slip on grabbing it, short stroke, nose dive my ammo into my feed ramp, and set the bullet further back into the case, causing higher chamber pressures, and the round may not feed correctly after.

I just look mine over to make sure a primer is in and the case is straight.

**larry_minn** · 07-02-2012, 16:07

I guess the best way is to shoot your carry ammo. That way you know it did function. :0 :0

quichedem · 07-02-2012, 18:52

Is the quality of premium defensive ammo declining these days?

collim1 · 07-02-2012, 19:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by quichedem

Is the quality of premium defensive ammo declining these days?

The quality of everything is declining these days.

I visually inspect my carry rounds, but have never dropped them in the barrel. I'm not gonna say it OCD.

ReyFufuRulesAll · 07-02-2012, 19:16

Good idea OP. I may start doing the same.

Stevekozak · 07-02-2012, 19:39

I have never thought about it, but it sounds like a good idea. Sure as hell can't hurt anything.

TexasGlockster · 07-02-2012, 21:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by collim1

The quality of everything is declining these days.

I visually inspect my carry rounds, but have never dropped them in the barrel. I'm not gonna say it OCD.

I would disagree. By all accounts I've read, (most) modern defensive ammo is the most effective and technologically advanced round in history.

THEPOPE · 07-02-2012, 21:35

Get a Glock or Springfield XD series...never had an issue with either, after tens of thousands of rounds...feeds all, eats all......

I am out .......

ithaca_deerslayer · 07-02-2012, 21:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by THEPOPE

Get a Glock or Springfield XD series...never had an issue with either, after tens of thousands of rounds...feeds all, eats all......

I am out .......

I've had my Glocks not feed bad brass. They got in the mag because I didn't look at them

The chamber check of the OP would have caught that, because the crimpled up brass didn't fit in the chamber

mace85 · 07-03-2012, 00:09

I have been doing that for a while. I always recommend people do it with their ammo when talking with friends. Learned that trick a few years back from an instructor at a carbine course. It seemed like a quick and easy way to minimize the chances of things going wrong.

happyguy · 07-03-2012, 04:24

I don't worry about it when I carry my Gen2 G23. The barrel in that thing is loose enough to chamber a .45.

Regards,
Happyguy

SCmasterblaster · 07-03-2012, 08:24

Sounds like a great idea!

guyandarifle · 07-03-2012, 11:45

I started this practice years ago when I was (thankfully) at the range and an out of spec round completely jammed up my pistol. I couldn't do anything with it, had to have an armorer clear the thing. This was a fresh factory round straight out of the box. A couple other rounds in that box were "sticky" but could be seated and extracted by hand.

That was a PITA even at the range but had it been a SD scenario it could have gone very bad for me. I now check every round intended to be carried. I don't care how many rounds are churned out yearly that are just fine...it might only take one bad one to get you killed.