Ejecting rounds too often.

F

FUD

Moderator
How many times can a round be ejected from a pistol before it has to be either fired or discarded?

When I leave for the day, I chamber a round in my CCW and go on my merry way. When I turn in for the night, I eject the round and take out the magazine so that I do not have a loaded firearm when I store it away for the night.

How often can I keep chambering & unchambering that round before it become unadviseable to fire it -- a couple of times, a couple of dozen, a couple of hundred, ...

Share what you know, learn what you don't -- FUD
fud-nra.gif
 
Why are you unloading it? Lock it up loaded! Or better yet, have it ready for instant deployment if necessary.

If you have children around, put it in a lock box with a Simplex type lock so YOU can get in quickly.
 
FUD

I generally agree with Ragin Cajun. Best if you can find a way to secure it in a loaded condition if you can.

As to your concern about the round, as long as the cartridge is in good physical shape, no dents in the case, no damage to the rim or bullet nose, and as long as the bullet doesn't get jammed back into the case, it should be fine. The usual damage occurs to the rim area when the extractor is forced over it.

Best if you can find a lock box.

Regards

Rick

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I prefer armed combat to unarmed combat. It's easier on the knuckles.
 
Ragin Cajun, I have a more powerful, full-size, loaded firearm in a lock box with a Simplex type lock on it for security and easy access. Since my CCW is a DAO, I unload it for safety concerns with regard to the little ones.
 
So get a separate lock box for your carry gear. It doesn't make sense to continuously subject ammo to loading/unloading. Even if you can't see damage to the round doesn't mean it's not there.
 
FUD - a few thoughts on this.

If your gun safe is large enough to hold 2 guns, you could leave it loaded in there. This has the added advantage of working the combnation at least twice a day - practice makes perfect.

If that isn't doable, I don't think you are going to hurt the round by chambering/ejecting it even hundreds of times. I think you'll notice any damage to the round as you load it in the mag. You might want to get into the habit of rotating the rounds in your mag every week or month so that each round is chambered only 1/7th to 1/10th as much.

The one thing I don't like about this is the complacency you might get into with constantly cycling live rounds. Complacency = tragedy when it comes to firearms. I trust you do this in a safe area.
 
Is it just me or is the question being ignored?... I agree with Mal. The only reason a round may not be as reliable is because of possibility of the bullet becoming unseated when slammed into the chamber repeatedly. If I'm right, someone tell me. If I'm wrong, correct both me and FUD.

FUD never said anything about storage or safes.

[This message has been edited by SlackO (edited May 12, 2000).]
 
I have not experienced a problem with it. I ususally eject the live round every night as well. But I cycle my ammo out every 3 months or so. So at most 90 or so cycles before I shoot it. I am shooting 40. No bottle neck ammo or anything. Hope it helps.
 
ONe thing that helps is when you load in the morning is make sure you load from the mag.then drop the mag and load the extra round into it.Many people load the round into the barrel and drop the slide.That is hard on the rim of the round and on the extractor.

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beemerb
We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world;
and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men
every day who don't know anything and can't read.
-Mark Twain
 
you should closely monitor the over all length of the cartridges you are chambering over and over. with many pistols it is common to see the bullet become seated deeper and deeper into the case. this is not a safe situation. even a slight set back into the case can cause chamber pressures to soar. many kabooms are probably due to this problem. bottom line is this. no weapon, loaded or unloaded should be stored where it is accesible to children or anyone else that is not authorized to use it. loading and unloading the weapon is not the answer here. i carry a Kahr K40 every day. at night it goes in the lock box. yes i have small children and i keep other weapons locked up available to me for home defense, but my carry weapon stays loaded. it is good practice to unload, disassemble and clean and lube a carry weapon every week or so. more often if it is carried in an ankle holster, pocket holster, or pocketbook. this regular cleaning should not be a problem as i know you are shooting your carry gun at least a couple of times a month, right? my program is....
(1) load the weapon
(2) carry for one to two weeks
(3) go to the range for practice at least every two weeks
(4) at the range shoot the first target by pulling your carry pistol and firing it's entire contents at the first target. (shooting from draw cold is a good way to monitor your skills also.)
(5) shoot what ever target ammo you intend to shoot that day
(6) throughly clean and lube carry weapon
(7) reload with fresh defense ammo and carry.

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Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what is for lunch.
Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the outcome of the vote.
Let he that hath no sword sell his garment and buy one. Luke 22-36
They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. Song of Solomon 3-8
The man that can keep his head and aims carefully when the situation has gone bad and lead is flying usually wins the fight.

[This message has been edited by riddleofsteel (edited May 12, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by riddleofsteel (edited May 12, 2000).]
 
SlackO: the problem is that repeated loading and unloading may not be safe. Some calibers, particularly .40S&W and .357Sig, are very sensitive to overall length. During repeated administrative loading and unloading, the bullet can get pushed just a bit into the cartridge. This is caused by the normal impact on the feed ramp. In these calibers, just a little bit of set back can cause huge increases in chamber pressures.

How many times can you load and unload before setback becomes a problem? That really depends upon the caliber and your gun. Get a good set of dial calipers and monitor the OAL of your rounds.

Jared
 
My simple observation from carrying a Colt Combat Commander Series 70 for many years: Since I carried it "cocked & locked" I unloaded it upon returning home and loaded it again in the morning. BULLET DAMAGE & SET-BACK is a real problem with Winchester Silver Tip ammo. SilverTip jackets and bullets are entirely too soft to take repeated chambering. I assume such bullet set back would result in elevated pressures.

I now carry a SIG DA/SA and leave the chamber loaded. I lock it up over night as my
home defense piece is a SLR-95 AK variant with a high-cap mag.

[This message has been edited by AUTiger73 (edited May 12, 2000).]
 
I fire my carry ammo that i have in the mag every time i go to the range. I know you might have good expensive ammo to carry but i think you should fire what you carry at least sometimes so in case you have to use it you dont get any surprises. my 2 pennies
 
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