I was just doing this last night. I put my chamber round back into the mag and ease it into battery with the slide to prevent damage to the round. Bullet set back was really an issue when I was a knuckle dragging 1911 carrier. Modern guns seem to have much better feed geometry. I used to drop it into the chamber, but learned that this was less than optimal for the extractor.
Just set the round in the range pile each week.
A small number of loadings is not going cross the beams with it.
Every few months you will have a mag of your carry ammo to burn.
This thread just made me spend another 30 dollars on a box of 50: https://www.creedmoorsports.com/product/2514/Pistol-Ammunition
I love these. They’re light, have had reliable ignition every time.
I also just remembered I am reaching 6-8 months with the set in my gun now.
Nonetheless, was free shipping weekend, and I am excited to test the rounds in my carry mags. I have been saving these cases, as I want to reload them. The difference of a full load of these versus a full load of brass is a world of difference for me.
On that topic, I have had to unload and reload a few times over the last year. Every time I do, I figure “Why take the chance.” I toss the bullet into my dresser change drawer and count it as:
“Pouring One Out For Da Homies.”
It’s only 75 cents. Considering the whole magazine load is $7.50 or so, it’s not bad and a worthwhile investment. It’s for your life, right?
ETA: And, hell, I practice with a box of carry ammo every few months. If you’re following that routine, than saving the singles and changing them out for “Freshies” when you get the training box is a worthwhile way to go. You still get to go pew pew with the ammo anyways, right?
Not a bad idea either. I only pull my chamber round out like twice per year. I think I’m due for my annual pistol qual. ![]()
I confess… I literally shoot my pistol like once per year.
I’ll usually rotate that round down into my magazine so I’m not rechambering the same round more than 2 or 3 times. I mark the bottom of the case with a sharpie. Easy to keep track of that way.
There was a case while back were a SWAT team had been using Hornady ammo and rechambering it in their ARs.
Time came for them to stack up, bust down the door, and take out a bad guy.
All 4 (?) of the guys moved into the house and came upon the bad gun with the gun and as they pulled the trigger got a “click” instead of a “bang”. Thankfully the BG dropped his gun and all was well. The Floating AR pin deadened the rounds so they wouldn’t fire.
I don’t often chamber an AR round I don’t intend to shoot but if I do and need to empty the weapon, it goes to the range use pile.
I carry two spare mags. My mags are labeled 1-3. If I unchamber a round, I mark it with a sharpie hash mark on the base. That round then becomes the bottom round in mag 3. I chamber a new round from the magazine when it’s time to load up again. When mag 3 fills up with once chambered rounds, I do the same with mag 2 then mag 1 (the mag in the gun). Everything then repeats with a second hash mark, etc. If a round has been chambered four times, it gets shot at the range. I shoot through all my carry ammo every year and load up fresh ammo even if the rounds had only been chambered once. I’ve never come close to chambering the same rounds four times because I have a training gun identical to my carry gun so I rarely have to unload my carry gun.
A year ago I sent an email to Speer asking their recommendations. The employee who replied to me said it was not recommended to chamber the same round more ham twice.
For ARs my standards are much less lax. If a round had been chambered once, I won’t use it in defensive mags anymore. It goes straight to the practice can.
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I’d be worried handling the rounds that often - it sounds like you are loading and unloading magazines a lot to always place the last chambered round in the bottom of the mag.
I’ve never heard of loading/unloading magazines to damage the rounds. What would worry you about that?
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Question: How deep in inches is the set back enough to cause a problem? For 9mm , and 9 mm +p?
Because we all have amino acids and oils on our hands. The more you handle stuff the less likely it is to go bang.
You exert some degree of pressure on the projectile as you push it into the mag, plus pushing against the base of the case to get the round out of the magazine.
You claim to put the chambered round each day in the bottom of the last mag. That means the rounds in the mag are handled and reloaded from1 to 15 times - if you have 15 round mags.
What system, if any, do you employ to keep the rounds in order?
I’m not sure where you got “each day” from. I don’t unload my carry gun every day and never said I did.
I don’t have a system to keep the rounds in order. I don’t think that really matters. The ones that have been unchambered get marked. If I see sharpie marks on a round, I know it’s been chambered that many times. I don’t care which order the other rounds are in.
I’ve never heard of rounds, especially duty rounds which are made to more strict specifications, failing to ignite due to the oils from someone’s fingers. Can you point me to any data or even an anecdote where someone believed the only factor in a round failing to fire was being touched repeatedly?
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While in the service I had the responsibility of training new members of the guard detachment to use the shotgun and thereafter maintain a schedule of fam-firing with the shotgun and qualification with the pistol (1911A1’s) for the members of the guard force.
I used the ammunition rotated out of the guard force shotguns and pistols to conduct the fam-fires. I always had about 25% fail to fires with shotgun ammo, and the occasional .45 round that wouldn’t go. This was on ammo that had been out on post for one month before it was switched out - with all the loading and unloading that guard relief every 4 hours entailed.
Probably more rough handling than you will ever put a round through. When I started carrying a revolver, and then a pistol on duty in the civilian LE world, I remembered those fail to fires. New duty ammo in the speed loaders every month.
When I transitioned to pistol, I didn’t handle the pistol loads more than necessary - chamber check each round of the new box, load mags, stow the rest and replace the chambered round with one out of the box every two weeks (pay check helped keep track). ETA - mags got rotated on the month - I had 5 duty mags - started with #1 in the gun, #2 first reload out of the pouch, #3 second reload, #4 and #5 resting, next month #2 in the gun, #3 and #4 in the pouch, #1 and #5 resting. Easy to keep track of them that way.
I admit probably overkill, but based on my experiences as a young dumb Marine.
Reload from the magazine, after maybe 5 times, replace or place in the bottom of the last magazine or better yet in a bag and shot later(I usually collected them for me). I kept a couple boxes in the office and had the guys change out periodically-Actually made them. Rifle rounds are different, made that a 2 count, they would set back easier than pistol rounds.