Ever had home defense ammo not go BANG?

[kidicarus13]

I read enough stories that you'd think it was a common occurance or something. "Don't
get oil in the firing pin chamber", "Change out your carry ammo once a year just to be safe", etc. I personally have never had a hollowpoint round not go off when I pulled the trigger and my ammo stays in my gun for years sometime, in cars through the summers and winters, etc. Can someone give me a first hand account of a FTF or are people just paranoid?

[CrufflerSteve]

Some years ago I had a serious hang fire with Federal 357 SIG ammo. Probably 5 seconds. That really shook me up. I'd just finished doing tap-rack-bang drills with a friend and if it had happened then I might have been hurt. The rest of the box was fine.

I've had a few hard primers that required a double strike and a couple of dead rounds, mostly with cheap imported ammo or cheap stuff like Blazer. Use top of the line stuff for defense.

Old milsurp is a different story and only a fool would use that in a carry gun.

Steve

[blacklabel]

I've never had a problem with Winchester Ranger including rounds that had sat in magazines for 9-12 months. This is for 9mm and .45.

[Uberjager]

I've had misfires only with .22lr ammo. I had it happen 3 times with cheap old ass ammo(ammo was from the 50's) in my 10/22, and the other time was with my uncle's American 180. I'd say the odds of that happening, with "newish" self-defense ammo, are like the odds of winning the lottery.

[Uberjager]

I've never had a problem with Winchester Ranger including rounds that had sat in magazines for 9-12 months. This is for 9mm and .45.

Out of curiosity where do you get ranger ammo? I've gotten some off gun broker before, but it was fairly expensive.

[tmckay2]

It can always hen with any gun and any ammo. You just hope and pray the extreme rarity does come up when you need t most. Switching out the ammo is stupid. You're just as likely to be putting in a dud compared the a dud already being in there. It's typical gun nut paranoia

[68Charger]

The main reason to change out your carry/duty ammo is if you chamber it multiple times- could lead to bullet setback.
Other than that, it's just because you should practice- and some of that practice should be with your carry ammo.

If it stays in the mag or chamber, then it's paranoia that it's going to go bad just sitting there- especially in this dry climate. (in wet climates, it could corrode on the outside, possibly leading to a failure to feed

Personally, I've never had JHP carry ammo fail to fire...


Out of curiosity where do you get ranger ammo? I've gotten some off gun broker before, but it was fairly expensive.

Locally, Ammosphere.com has it...

SGammo.com is probably the cheapest place I've seen...

[blacklabel]

Out of curiosity where do you get ranger ammo? I've gotten some off gun broker before, but it was fairly expensive.

I think I got mine at Garretson's in Greeley. It was expensive but I didn't feel like trying to find 100 rounds of it online.

[DANGERTASTIC!]

Thats why we train. So we can REACT when something like that happens

[blacklabel]

Great point Danger. Despite my lack of HD ammo problems, I need to get better about maintaining a spare magazine on my person as well as drilling to clear malfunctions.

[sellersm]

...drilling to clear malfunctions.

^This. Practice, practice, practice. When it happens we react, instead of think.

Oh, and to the OP question, I've never had any SD ammo not go bang when it needed to. I have had a FTE during practice, however, with the SD ammo.

[DANGERTASTIC!]

I have a video of a totally unexpected malfunction.

I was running through some drills and there was a few people there, girls, so while I was explaining things, I forgot to make my pistol hot.

Click. I was happy with how fast I reacted....this is what should happen in real life when your weapon goes down.

Practice practice PRACTICE!!.



There are drills that can be done at HOME, there is no need for the range, so there really is no excuse for not being good at it

[Monky]

Had a bedside gun not go bang when I took it to the range.. apparently it got all gummed up.. firing pin wouldn't hit the primer hard at all.. Once I got it moving it was fine :)

I totally blame the ammo.

[motorep]

Yep, Federal Hydrashock .45. 3 rounds. Just shooting up ammo I'd carried for a while, less than a year, in two different mags. I didn't fall in the river with it or run it through the car wash or anything weird, it just wouldn't go bang. I tried it in 3 different 1911's. I don't know if it came from the same box or not. That was the end of Federal ammo for me.

[lead_magnet]

I just shot off some spear gold dot out of a glock that was loaded into the magazines I shot it from in 2006. The Ammo was exposed to pretty much everything under the sun from Vegas summers to Colorado winters, not a single ftf. I've seen dud rounds, but they haven't been a common occurance in my experience.

[quondom fremd]

Had a bedside gun not go bang when I took it to the range.. apparently it got all gummed up.. firing pin wouldn't hit the primer hard at all.. Once I got it moving it was fine :)

I totally blame the ammo.

How did it get gummed up by your bedside?

Nevermind, I don't need the answer to that question.

[LOL]

[Monky]

How did it get gummed up by your bedside?

Nevermind, I don't need the answer to that question.

[LOL]

Not the right time to say lube got where it shouldn't have been.

[spqrzilla]

A bit more than 3 decades ago, I was working at an indoor gun range in California. An LAPD detective came into the range and signed up for a lane to practice in anticipation of his annual qualifications.

He pulls this snubnose revolver out of a belt holster, lines up on the paper target and "click" five or six times ( I can't recall if it was a S&W or not ... ).

He hauls it to the counter and shows me. Full cylinder, with primer indents, on each round. It turns out that he would regularly spray the thing with WD 40 thinking that was a good idea. Hadn't changed out his ammo in a year or more.

[onebadfx4]

I cycle mine yearly just cause I am paranoid. But always have a backup just in case anyways.

[RonMexico]

I think on problem with this thread is that people should be shooting
more/practicing with the ammo they carry. Is $25 work your life, if so then keep it stored in your mags for years if not shoot a magazine of carry ammo once a quarter

[Big Wall]

I just bought 500 rounds of Ranger T-series ammo from SGAMMO.com. They are GTG. Very fast shipping.

[Uberjager]

Locally, Ammosphere.com has it...

SGammo.com is probably the cheapest place I've seen...

I think I got mine at Garretson's in Greeley. It was expensive but I didn't feel like trying to find 100 rounds of it online.

Thanks guys! [Beer]

[sic_semper_tyrannis]

In all the tens of thousands of rounds I have shot in my life, some of which were the oldest, nastiest, crappiest Mexican tienda reloads around, I have never once had a single fail-to-fire/dud/squib. Ever. And the way I look at it, my favorite ammo for rifle plinking is janky-ass 1960's-1970's milsurp from all over the globe, that has been subjected to god-knows-what conditions for fifty+ years, yet still goes bang without exception every damn time I pull the trigger. So realistically, no, I am not the least bit concerned about the Gold Dots I've had sitting in mags for a couple of years. I have complete faith that they will discharge as expected should the need ever arise.

With that being said, I will agree with the legitimate concern mentioned above regarding bullet setback after repeated chambering. Setback is very much a real occurrence, and is even more pronounced with certain cartridges, such as .357sig. I would not make a habit of repeatedly chambering the same round, even though I believe any potential damage would be minimal, if anything.