Cycling ammo?

A

adrian44

New member
Is it necessary to cycle the ammo in the mag of your EDC? Talking about the rounds that are in the magazine as you carry the gun for months. Would the rounds maintain their performance 100%, or does humidity affect them and they need to be replaced with fresh ammo?

If cycling is recommended, how frequently should it be done if I live in Florida?

Thank you.
 
I've never experienced any degradation merely from extended carrying of ammo. What you don't want to do is repeatedly feed the same rounds from the mag into the chamber, as that can cause bullet set-back, adversely affecting both function and safety.
If you are really concerned about humidity, you can buy liquid sealer for the primer and case mouth, or just apply a little nail polish.
 
About the only issue with carry ammo is when you chamber and unchamber the top round. THAT can cause some setback with some ammo, which can be a problem. If you leave the chambered round alone, there should be no concern.
 
Loading the same round in and out of the chamber of a semi-auto repeatedly has been shown to potentially render the primer of that round inert (Components of the primer dislodges over time as the slide is repeatedly slammed shut chambering the same round).
 
I have taken my handgun swimming twice (inadvertently both times, while on my boat).

Each time, I took the gun home, removed the ammo, cleaned and re-lubed the gun and put the ammo aside for the next range trip. All the ammo fired normally.

If ammo will survive submersion without water getting inside, I can't imagine humidity getting inside.

People's opinion on how frequently to fire one's carry ammo varies. Some say every month, some say every two years...honestly, I wouldn't be overly concerned about it.

I have shot surplus ammo that is 50+ years old without problems. Note that I am not advocating that you keep your carry ammo for 50 years....just that I wouldn't stress too much over it.

The repeated loading/unloading resulting in setback (as mentioned above) can be an issue, so I would be aware of that.

As far as repeated chambering affecting the priming compound...that is a new one on me. And I'd have to see some evidence supporting that claim before I would consider it seriously.
 
repeatedly has been shown to potentially render the primer of that round inert (Components of the primer dislodges over time as the slide is repeatedly slammed shut chambering the same round).
Click to expand...

That's a new one to me. I would be interested in reading more about this if sources could be recommended. I'm not saying it's not true, but I'd like to see where it has been "shown"
 
recently I found the ammo in the bottom of a mag had corroded. the brass was discolored and "growing" something.
I checked all my other carry mags and found 3 more rounds that looked similar.
all the same, winchester silver tips.


I used to cycle at least once a year, and I gave that up when I couldn't afford to and just never got back to it.
seems I need to consider it again for other reasons.

I haven't tried to chamber the odd rounds yet.
so you might look at that too.
 
Like others have said, there can be set back on rounds that have been repeatedly chambered over time. I had a .357 Sig that was particularly bad about that happening. The main danger would be that a bullet seated deeper will have increased pressure.

The main thing that will make primers in factory ammo inert is exposure to oils and solvents. Keeping the mag bodies and mag well wiped out will help with that. It's good to inspect the ammo and the magazine bodies regularly. I recently had to toss a couple of Kahr magazines that had hairline cracks in them near the top rear.
 
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