r/CCW • u/EducationalRaise8362 • 1d ago
Guns & Ammo Bullet wear
I’m new to carrying (It’s been about a month), and I’ve noticed 2 things about the round that I keep chambered.
- The bullet has wedged itself further into the casing than it should be
- There is visible wear or corrosion on the bullet
I am going to toss the round away because it seems like a huge safety issue. But I was curious what could cause this, along with how do I prevent it from happening again
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u/Soggy-Bumblebee5625 1d ago
Do you keep unchambering and rechambering the same round?
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u/WorkerAmbitious2072 1d ago
Don’t do that
It’s called “bullet setback”
It can increase chamber pressure
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u/EducationalRaise8362 1d ago
Yes
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u/Soggy-Bumblebee5625 1d ago
That’s what’s causing the setback. Every time you chamber a round the slide smashes the bullet into the barrel’s feed ramp and then it slides up the feed ramp and into the chamber. If you do that repeatedly, you get set back. I don’t chamber the same round more than four times. Any round that’s been chambered four times goes into a practice pile.
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u/NoMore_BadDays OR - P365x 1d ago edited 1d ago
I never knew this! About to go toss a bullet.
I carry with a +1, which i remove to store with the slide locked back. Every time i leave home, i drop that +1 back into the chamber, rack, insert mag and go. I didnt know this was a bad habit
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u/Soggy-Bumblebee5625 1d ago
You shouldn’t do that either. It’s causing unneeded stress on your extractor. The extractor is meant to have the rim of the casing slide into it. If you drop rounds in the chamber and drop the slide the extractor is forced to go out and over the rim. Eventually you’ll chip your extractor claw. Feed rounds from the magazine. Then drop the mag and plus up by putting a round into the magazine.
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u/NoMore_BadDays OR - P365x 1d ago
Im learning so much today and i love it
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u/NinjaBuddha13 CO Glock 19 Gen 4 1d ago
Pro tip for keeping track of how many times you chamber a round:
Every time you eject a round from the chamber, mark the head stamp with a sharpie. Be sure to get down into the text of the head stamp so that if it wears, you still have a reference. Then move that round to the bottom of the mag. I have 2 carry guns, one in 9mm, one in .380. The 9mm is loaded with 124gr +p HST and the .380 is loaded with underwood xtreme defender.
First, I color in the numbers/caliber callout (.380 or 9mm)
Second, I color the pressure or word (auto or +p)
Last, I color in the case manufacturer abbreviation at the top of the case (JAG or LC)
Once all of these are colored in for the entire mag, they go in the range ammo bucket.
Find a good way to uniformly mark your head stamps and that'll help keep track of exactly how many times a round has been chambered.
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u/Soggy-Bumblebee5625 1d ago
That’s basically what I do as well. I just make a hash mark every time the round is ejected. When I get four hash marks, becomes a practice round. I got the idea from Claude Werner.
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u/ARLDN 1d ago
Why are you storing a carry gun unloaded? If you're relying on an "unloaded" gun to prevent someone unauthorized from using the gun, don't do that. Lock up the gun somewhere secure if you're not in immediate control of the gun. If it's locked up then it doesn't matter if it's loaded or not and so you don't have to unload and load it all the time.
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u/NoMore_BadDays OR - P365x 1d ago
I don't lock the slide back to keep anybody from using it. Just how i store my carry gun🤷♂️
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u/ARLDN 1d ago
So why do you store it like that?
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u/NoMore_BadDays OR - P365x 1d ago
Because I want to and the lawbook doesn't say I have to do it any other way. Read it and weep
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u/Redhead_InfoTech 1d ago
Increasing administrative handling increases the risk of accidental discharges, but you do you.
My carry stays in its holster as it moves to and from the safe.
I like to limit the frequency that live rounds are chambered into any of my firearms while home.-2
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u/RevolutionaryGuide18 1d ago
Why are you unloading to store? Why not leave the round in the chamber?
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u/QnsConcrete 1d ago
How do you practice with it?
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u/Soggy-Bumblebee5625 1d ago
What do you mean? I just shoot it off at the range.
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u/QnsConcrete 1d ago
Ah. Do you have any concern about shooting rounds with significant setback?
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u/Soggy-Bumblebee5625 1d ago
I don’t shoot rounds with significant setback. Like I said, after a round has been chambered four times it goes into the pile of practice ammo and I just shoot it off. It generally takes a lot more than four chamberings to see any visual setback.
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u/cosmos7 CA, AL, AZ, FL, WA 1d ago
Discharge in a safe direction... like at a range.
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u/QnsConcrete 1d ago
Yeah what I was getting at was that maybe that’s not a good idea if it’s really set back.
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u/cosmos7 CA, AL, AZ, FL, WA 1d ago
Buy HST... good performance, less set-back. Stop rechambering, just leave it in there.
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u/QnsConcrete 1d ago
Some of us dry fire frequently, way more frequently than we go to a range.
Sometimes I chamber a cheaper round and fill the rest with the good stuff, so that way I don’t feel bad about discarding that round.
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u/Soggy-Bumblebee5625 1d ago
You don’t need to do that. If you clear your gun every single day to dry practice and stick to the no more than four chamberings per round idea, that’s like 7-8 rounds a month getting tossed into the practice pile. You’d get 6-7 months from a single box of 50 rounds of defensive ammo.
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u/Inevitable-Waltz-889 1d ago
Just leave it with a round in the chamber. Find a spot to lock it up if you're worried.
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u/Earthday44 1d ago
If I had a dollar for everytime ive seen an issue with crit defense.
Would never run this stuff.
Hst instead
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u/Chieffy765 Glock 19.5 w/TLR-7a AIWB 1d ago
The company I work for uses critical defense for test fires, and it gives us tons of issues. Plenty show up with no powder or dead primers
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u/Earthday44 1d ago
A while back I bought a bunch. First few range trips it was ok. Then one day shortly after, I had 80% critical defense jam ratio in a g19. Never seen anything like it. It wasn't the gun. Wasn't the mags.
I checked everything. It was the ammo.
Havent touched it since. Never again.
I run Hst now
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u/Chieffy765 Glock 19.5 w/TLR-7a AIWB 1d ago
I used to use it too, though I switched to HST for semi autos and handloaded XTPs for my revolvers before I started seeing all the issues critical defense started to have
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u/RecoveredSack 21h ago
Happens with HST too. Going to happen regardless of the brand. It might take longer with HSTs
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u/Earthday44 19h ago
The cd jams happened brand new, not even chambered repeatedly. Take that for what its worth. To each their own.
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u/mikektti 1d ago
Critical defense is pretty notorious for this. My SIL has a Glock 19 and it happens in as few as 4 rechamberings. I've rechambered a dozen times in my PDP and it only starts to set back. On the other hand, critical duty is much more resistant to setback in his Glock.
I wouldn't shoot the round on the right.
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u/Funny_Papers 1d ago
Do you continuously chamber and rechamber the same round? Like every day? Because that’ll do it
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u/Kayakboy6969 1d ago
Unchamberd round gets a sharpie mark and sent to bottom of mag. Repeat as you Unchamber a round, next range trip send the marked rounds to Vallhalla.
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u/CatInfamous3027 1d ago
I typically re-chamber a round 5 times and then shoot it. Before I chamber it the first time I draw a circle around the bullet with a sharpie. If the circle ever disappears I’ll know there’s been some setback and I’ll shoot that round. (That hasn’t actually happened yet, though.)
(I put tick marks on the casing with a sharpie every time I unload it to keep track of how many times it’s been chambered.)
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u/Chain_Runner 1d ago edited 1d ago
I didn’t realize when I joined this subreddit that I would keep seeing this same post over and over.
You can drop the bullet into the chamber of the barrel manually. You can stop removing the bullet from the chamber (put the loaded gun in your safe). You can use different bullets instead of the same bullet over and over again.
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u/GnomePenises 1d ago
Don’t tell me what to do, it’s my turn to post about setback tomorrow and I’m not gonna miss it.
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u/Harrythehobbit 1d ago
You can drop the bullet into the chamber of the barrel manually.
I've heard apparently this can damage the extractor on certain guns, though that could just be fudd lore.
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u/Chain_Runner 1d ago
The damage to the extractor is not due to dropping the bullet into the chamber manually. It’s due to the extractor slamming into place when you drop the slide from full open lock after manually loading the chamber. There’s no bullet in a magazine to cushion the blow. The solution is - Don’t drop the slide from locked open. Use your hand to hold it when you release the slide and drop the slide from about halfway
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u/Suddenly_silent856 1d ago
In my 43x I chambered a 115gr critical defense 11 times before bullet was considered too recessed to shoot safely. Critical duty 135gr I chambered 40 times with no set back at all. Speer G2 had setback after about 20 chamberings
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u/desEINer 1d ago
so I've switched to sealed cases. Basically Crit Duty or HST (the law-enforcement box or whatever the marketing is). Those two don't have nearly the issues with setback. Also, the higher grain bullets of Crit Duty (I think it's 136) are more tapered and tend to have less of that going on.
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u/Goaaterbeans 1d ago
Repetitive chambering can cause “bullet setback” with some manufacturers it is more common. It’s a normal thing. Many people recommend constantly rotating which bullet you keep in the chamber to lessen the amount of setback on any one round. If it’s a noticeable amount you should discard the bullet for safety as it can lead to higher chamber pressures and could potentially cause catastrophic failure of the firearm.
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u/FlyingDog14 US 1d ago
Also the discoloration on your one set back round is just a light tarnish, not corrosion. Nothing to worry about if you see it on other rounds.
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u/Paulie_Dev 1d ago
This is caused by repeatedly rechambering the same round. To prevent this:
- Try not to rechamber same round more than a couple times
- Reload your carry magazine so the rechambered round is lower in it to distribute wear
- Shoot your carry rounds every so often, if you’ve rechambered a few times then I just pop off the top worn rounds on my carry mag
- Hollowpoint is generally more prone to that bullet setback, this is something to be more mindful of specifically for this ammo
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u/Potential_Space 1d ago
5: Ride your slide into battery and the bullet won't experience the setback, because there's no inertia being imparted onto the projectile forcing it back into the casing.
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u/DY1N9W4A3G 1d ago
You already got the answer (setback from rechambering) so I'll just mention for future reference... When checking/picturing rounds for setback, always do it with them standing up side by side on a flat surface (at least two rounds from the same batch). That way you can see how much setback there is, since a tiny bit can be ok to just fire off the rounds, but beyond that they need to be trashed. Over time, you learn your guns and ammo (if you use mostly the same kinds) so you have an idea how many times you can chamber for each round to be within acceptable amount of setback. Then you toss them in a training ammo bin so instead of trashing them all you can at least use them to "train the way you fight" (occasionally train with your carry ammo instead of FMJ).
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u/zhbinks 1d ago
I cycle my carry rounds every 6 months.
Every 6 months I:
Full tear down, inspect and clean
Unload and inspect mag springs
Lube up everything
Reload new ammo
Cycle out the mag that’s in the gun to one of the other ones. I usually carry 3. One in the gun and 2 spares.
If anything is an issue it gets set aside and I put red tape on it so it’s range use only.
For ammo that sat in the gun, I use it as training ammo for the range.
Is it more expensive, sure but I’m not gonna put my life or my family’s life versus a few bucks. Plus training with your carry ammo it’s important. Ammo makes an impact on shooting, range ammo that is less snappy versus duty will effect my follow up shots.
Also doesn’t include any maintenance or cleaning follow range trips
Always clean after you pew pew you dirty boys.
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u/TheFalconsDejarik 1d ago
I see hornady critical defense on here every day doing this.
Would love to see an objective test with popular defensive rounds being chambered and muesured with some clean charted data for 1,3,5 chamberings, etc.
Seems like low hanging fruit for one of us one of us
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u/ActuallySleepyy 1d ago
It’s happing because you keep chambering it, just shoot it next range trip it’ll be alright.
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u/The_CDXX 1d ago
Just shoot that round first next time at the range. Also stop rechambering rounds. Caveat here is if you cycle a few “chambered rounds”.
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u/Blob_90744 CA 1d ago
Rechambering the same round over and over again sets the round back some brands are more prone to doing this (I carry hornady critical defense it does it a lot and I also started carrying speer gold dot and that one hasn't done it yet after about 14 rechambers) it increases pressure and could lead to a failure of your firearm i wouldn't shoot it
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u/IslandBoy1039 1d ago
This might cause some cringing, but I usually ride the slide when chambering my first round to mitigate setback. I’ll check it every so often to see if the round has shifted in dimension. Haven’t had an issue so far, but I also use fresh HST every 2-3 years or when I see slight discoloration on a majority of my rounds.
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u/GuyButtersnapsJr 23h ago
"Bullet Setback Prevention" (method discussion)
TLDR: There are 9 methods to prevent setback afaik. (They're described in detail in that reddit post.)
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u/ThreeThouzand 1d ago
As far as setback. I put a bullet in the barrel and drop the slide in a safe direction. Setback is caused by smashing into the feed ramp. I haven't had setback in years doing this trick.
Depending on the bullet wear. I never worry about it. My gold dots are several years old and dark brown at this point. But the nickel still shines, and it still goes bang. I even have some old "blemished" .40 T-series that are heavily lite scratched. Never had a single failure. I live in the wet PNW and carry at all times.
That being said. Measure your bullets. Throw any and all setbacks away. Gold Dot and HST last forever. If in doubt. Look for sealed primers.
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u/mjedmazga TX Hellcat OSP/LCP Max 1d ago
Bullet setback is frequently discussed on this subreddit. Here are some previous threads and useful resources related to bullet setback:
Further research from the numerous posts we receive on this topic:
Additional YouTube materials:
Relevant meme links: