Notice the rounds below the pistol. 2 are shorter than the other.
Know how that happened? These are all Speer Gold Dot .45 ACP cartridges. The center one is brand new. The others
Used to be, I came home from whatever my daily activities were and at the end of the day, I'd pop the magazine out and then eject the round in the chamber. I'd then lock the slide back and leave the firearm on the table. This was primarily so that the firearm had a chance to dry out after being carried IWB.
In the morning, I'd replace the mag, drop the slide, set the safety, then drop the mag and replace the round that I had ejected the night before at the top of the magazine.
Do this more or less daily for a few weeks or months, and the result is the two shorter rounds you see below. The bullets are set back significantly, and the chamber pressures will, if the rounds are fired, be significantly higher. Dangerous? I dunno. Not Good? You betcha. I'll knock these apart for components and reload them for range rounds, but I won't shoot them as shown....
I used to change my carry rounds every 3 months, now I do it monthly. I burn up the personal defense rounds in my CCW magazine at a range session just to be sure that fresh ones (even though expensive compared to reloads!) are at the ready, not rounds exposed to sweat, vibration, changing temps, and the above mentioned bullet setback. And I tend not to clear the firearms daily unless it is REALLY damp, or really dusty, etc. Likely the CCW piece will be only unloaded and the action opened for the weekly cleaning and oiling....
At our house, we have no children, and adults are either trusted ( Brigid, Og, etc) or firearms are put away or carried on our person: either way, out of reach, or adults are closely watched (we aren't terribly trusting of folks we don't know well. We treat people we don't know just like children when it comes to firearms.) As Tam has pointed out many times, handling yer heater adds to the likelihood that you will have a negligent discharge.
When was the last time you inspected the rounds in the firearm you carry at the ready to save your life or the life of someone dear to you?
4 comments:
Had a Citadel that did that every time it chambered a round. Traded it to a gunsmith that said he could fix it.
Good practice!
Wow! I expected that if this were happening, you would have to show the differences with a caliper. I didn't expect it to be so visible to the naked eye.
I believe in doing as little to my carry gun as possible. I carry every day with one in the pipe. The gun stays that way (I don't unload it) when I put my gun in its little hiding spot for the night. In the morning it goes from the spot to my holster.
When I take it to the range I empty the chamber and mag of the SD rounds and set them aside. Range ammo is sent through the gun, it is cleaned, and SD rounds (shuffled) are loaded into the next numbered mag (I rotate mags).
The SD rounds are fired/consumed every 4-6 months.
Years ago when I worked in law enforcement, we were issued .45ACP Federal Hydra-Shoks for our duty guns. We shot our daily carry ammunition first every six months when we qualified and finished qualifying with .45ACP ball. We were issued new .45ACP Federal Hydra-Shoks to carry until we used them in the line of duty or qualified again...
For the last two-plus decades I've kept to that same pattern... shooting my every day carry ammo every six months and replacing it with new...
I've seen new ammo with two dented cases over the years, but I've never had the bullet push back in the case anywhere near what yours are... and I just checked mine with a caliper to be sure...
I'll still need to be diligent about checking it though... thanks for the reminder...
Dann in Ohio
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