How many times can I chamber the top round in a semiauto?

[seamusalaska]

Good question. I'd never thought of this. Makes me wonder what other obvious things I've missed.

 

[hotfarmboy1]

Mine is only unloaded to clean, or when I go to the range and shoot ball ammo. So its not done all too often. When it is, I basically rotate the top rounds back and forth, maybe I'll start rotating the rest of the mag as well. My main carry ammo is getting harder to get now. Federal hydrashock 185 gr +p

 

[TripleL]

Sorry, but I do not know the answer to the OP's question. What I know is that the only ammo that I had "set back" problems with was Hornady XTP. Didn't need calipers to tell me they were set back dangerously enough to get rid of half a dozen rounds. Since then I've always checked previously chambered rounds and my ball ammo appears to maintain original overall length better than my XTPs.

One can't avoid unchambering a round when going to the range because loaded firearms are not allowed until you get to the line. And, it's a good rule, too.

 

[Mr. Habib]

Short answer, until you see excessive bullet setback. Buy and use some good mics or calipers. If you're not sure toss out that round. It's cheaper then your gun or your health. Just for reference:

 

[Cygnus]

Short answer, until you see excessive bullet setback. Buy and use some good mics or calipers. If you're not sure toss out that round. It's cheaper then your gun or your health. Just for reference:

Good stuff there.

rEPPED!

 

[Indecision]

The only time I see a need to take a chambered round out of a daily carry is cleaning and range time. Plus you should shoot your SD ammo occasionaly, every month or so I put some through, so it should be rotated out naturally anyway.

 

[Scutter01]

I have a round that I've been rechambering on a regular basis as a test for this thread. After rechambering about 50 times, the setback is .016" or about .4mm.

I would suggest that if you rechamber on a regular basis that you purchase a cheap vernier caliper or micrometer and periodically measure your setback.

 

[IndyGunworks]

few things too... in that chart you didnt see a huge spike in pressure until the bullet was set back a tenth of an inch... that .1
and its also a .357 sig, which is one of the highest pressure pistol rounds out there short of the competition rounds trying to make major.

 

[sjstill]

There was a Law Enforcement bulletin about this a couple years ago. The gist was not to constantly rechamber the top couple rounds due to setback.

Don't look at carry ammo as 'expensive'. What is your life worth? Your family? Go without the gandemochalattefou-fou drink (or whatever) a day or so a week, and put that money towards your carry ammo budget. Find something you don't have to buy in 20 round boxes, and buy a couple hundred rounds of it. You'll thank yourself.

 

[z56o2]

Don't look at carry ammo as 'expensive'. What is your life worth? Your family? Go without the gandemochalattefou-fou drink (or whatever) a day or so a week, and put that money towards your carry ammo budget. Find something you don't have to buy in 20 round boxes, and buy a couple hundred rounds of it. You'll thank yourself.

Good perspective here for sure. If someone can't suffer through a day without their gandemochalattefou-fou drink then they should probably put their gun down and figure out some of the simpler issues in life first.

This is an issue I've thought about. What I've done in the past is rotate the top few and periodically compare rounds that have been chambered with a brand new fresh never chambered round in an attempt discern any setback. I have winchester super elites in .40 s&w. Anyone have any prior knowledge as to setback tendencies with this particular round? I may have to get a micrometer and try to be a little more scientific.

 

[Greatestsin]

I am glad you resurrected this thread. I learned that I have been using a bad habit for a couple weeks now.

 

[UncleMike]

I am glad you resurrected this thread. I learned that I have been using a bad habit for a couple weeks now.

If you're referring to the posts on page 1 about dropping a round in the chamber and then letting the slide slam against it, I agree.
When I was the Firearms Instructor for my Department I observed three incidents of extractors breaking from this practice.
INGO should have a sticky warning members against this practice.

 

[RangeJunkie]

Seems like if you have even a cheap micrometer or some other measuring caliper handy it would be easy enough to monitor.

I agree with him

 

[Prometheus]

This is definitely something that affects people who train with their firearms more so than the average hobbyist or someone who keeps a firearms for self defense.

To maintain proficiency you need to be dry practicing with your handgun a few times a week.

Interestingly enough, I had a round that UN seated itself once. I went thru the course of a week or so with a lot emptying and reloading of my carry mag and not cycling them. I went to the range and thought, huh, I'll just fire this mag off, it's been awhile and I haven't been cycling my rounds as I should.

The handgun malfunctioned after the first round and upon clearing it, the bullet came OUT of the case. That was pretty wild and the opposite of what I had noticed from past experience.

I dump (shoot) my top rounds every couple of months and every 6 months the entire magazine. Roughly I don't mark dates on a calendar

 

[canav844]

I un-chamber a round it gets marked with a sharpie, two marks it goes into the range box; that's 100 unloadings per box, if I did it everyday it would be almost a third of the year, and I'm looking at 4 boxes a year of self defense ammo that I practiced with, in reality it works out to only one or two. I've had instructors tell me that for 40S&W which I happen to carry, that setback causes pressure increase at an exponential level and the increase in pressure has been known to crack barrels, and there are suspicions of it's involvement in some of the "ka-booms" with Glocks. I'd rather not be a test case, have my gun break or fail to load because of something a basic "best practice" could have prevented, and if it's 50 extra rounds of SD ammo to practice with every few months and reaffirm my faith in what I carry.

 

[Greatestsin]

If you're referring to the posts on page 1 about dropping a round in the chamber and then letting the slide slam against it, I agree.
When I was the Firearms Instructor for my Department I observed three incidents of extractors breaking from this practice.
INGO should have a sticky warning members against this practice.

I am indeed. I spent a lot of time in the last two weeks moving into a new place and I unloaded the gun a few times when it would be in the case and getting jostled. I decided it would be easier to just drop the round in than to chamber from and top off the mag, which is what I usually do when I go to the range or clean. Did it three times with the same round because i was unaware of the detriment to the extractor. No more.

 

[UncleMike]

I am indeed. I spent a lot of time in the last two weeks moving into a new place and I unloaded the gun a few times when it would be in the case and getting jostled. I decided it would be easier to just drop the round in than to chamber from and top off the mag, which is what I usually do when I go to the range or clean. Did it three times with the same round because i was unaware of the detriment to the extractor. No more.

You might want to get a magnifying glass and check the area where the hook of the extractor engages the cartridge rim.
That's where the three failure that I observed occurred.
BTW
The guns were 2 S&W 645's, and one S&W 669.

 

[45calibre]

How many times do you think you can chamber a round and unchamber ii before you cause the bullet to be pushed back in enough to worry about increased pressure?
This would arise from clearing the pipe on a carry peice nightly or after a road trip.

Thanks!

theres a formula for that. take the number of rounds that the magazine holds and divide it by the barrel length in inches and thats how many times.

 

[holtkampaj]

These are things that i have thought about but never looked to far into because i have never had the time nor the patience lol but good talk guys

 

[NHT3]

The builders at Nighthawk told me that the only way the round should leave the chamber is down the barrel.. Having said that I have checked with calipers on my 1911 and have yet to find ANY setback. I would say it depends on the pistol and the configuration of the bullet. My Nighthawk will feed empty cases so I would assume that there is very little stress on the bullet when chambering a round. It's been my experience that a Glock will not begin to feed an empty case but I have yet to have a FTF with any type of factory ammo in any Glock I've owned. I'm not sure what conclusions you want to draw from the posted info but common sense would tell me that it's probably a good idea to at least rotate the top round and if you have calipers check for setback from time to time.
I think common sense applied to this question will probably answer it and the answer won't be the same for everyone. Just my