I have some moderate round count Gen 3 just pulled out of storage, and some new Gen 4. In the past I’ve used say, 100 rd practice ammo and 1 box of each designated defense loads for each mag. Overkill?
I run a few hundred rounds of fmj, then whatever mags i use for SD i load full, ensure easy to seat, and run the from +1 to empty and ensure lockback all with my carry ammo. That is enough for me to be confident.
I also rotate ammo once per year so it sees 2 mags of carry ammo per tear, plus whatver initial sight-in takes
- Take to range.
- Shoot a few mags.
- Load up for bear.
Basically get a few new mags, top them off and shoot them a few times from full to empty. Then once they are basically duty mags, not range mags, they get loaded with duty ammo and left alone.
^^^^Rinse, repeat.
A little bit of overkill. My minimum is 3 fully loaded mags worth of ammo, with 1 load being carry ammunition. So about 50 rounds per magazine before I’d carry with it.
However, I usually use 4 magazines while breaking in a new firearm, so they typically see more than that - normally I hit 500 rds with the pistol with those 4 mags, then they get sidelined as carry / duty mags and only shot occasionally to replace ammo - I start using a new set of mags for range / training use, which get beat on a little more than carry mags.
That sounds reasonable.
My newest mags become my carry mags once vetted with carry ammo and a few range sessions. All possible uses; full load slide down, slide lock, one round, drop free loaded and unloaded… Etc.
I don’t see any problem with blowing through a bunch of rounds to ‘vet’ mags as long as there is some training value in the rounds fired. But some guys seem to go over board.
Think of it this way - mags are not infinite - at some point they will wear out. If they work reliably there is no need to wear them unnecessarily by firing a set number of rounds to vet them.
With duty rounds:
Does the mag drop free loaded, half-loaded, and empty?
Does the mag seat and retain when fully loaded?
Does the mag feed first round after in-battery reload?
Does the mag feed the first round from a slide locked back position when fully loaded, partially loaded, one round?
Lock slide to rear after last round?
I’d make sure it did those things and then place it in duty or competition rotation.
For training mags just load and shoot.
Dummy rounds might be useful for some of what’s been mentioned here.