Nightstand Gun: Is it ok to leave one in the chamber?

[hnoppenberger]

all bs aside, just remember the springs wear out from compression/release cycles. ive read about WWII magazines that were loaded then fired 50 years later with no ill effects.

a loaded magazine MAY eventually stress out the feed lips, hence why magpul has their feed lip caps to take tension off, but this is debatable. this can be avoided by having said loaded magazine inserted and chambered into the gun, thus taking the pressure off the lips.

[Stryprod]

Hello,

Thanks, I understand this. It is curiously difficult to get a proper answer to this question and for some reasons, it always result in other posters telling me to get training (which is ok, but it is not what I asked...), buy certain firearms, use certain ammo or even forget-the-gun-get-a-baseball-bat type replies.

6 months sounds good to me, and if I have time I can shoot more often (ammo cost is no problem for me). Thanks again for the post.

BigBear.

The reason no one feels comfortable giving you a solid proper answer is that everyone's experience is different, everyone acceptability range varies, locations vary, etc. Compound this with giving advice on an item that might be the difference between life and death, folks are nervous. We want you trained and safe as you are brethren.

Even worse is that every firearm prefers certain ammo over another, and even the same firearms can feed the same ammo differently.. it is a mess!!!

If ammo is properly sealed and stored, people shoot stuff that is 70+ years old that I know of. That said, I sure as heck wouldn't count on that to defend my life unless I had too. Ammo loaded in a mag in your nightstand or wherever is not properly stored. It is susceptible to air, moisture of some level, temp changes, minor deformation due to spring tension, etc.

I've found through my own research with my own location and own defense weapons that my Winchester rangers seem to shoot and feed just fine in 6 or less months. Could they last longer? More than likely, but I can easily afford to replace 20 rounds of quality ammo every 6, more often 3 months, to defend my two children, wife and myself as they are priceless.

[Stryprod]

all bs aside, just remember the springs wear out from compression/release cycles. ive read about WWII magazines that were loaded then fired 50 years later with no ill effects.

a loaded magazine MAY eventually stress out the feed lips, hence why magpul has their feed lip caps to take tension off, but this is debatable. this can be avoided by having said loaded magazine inserted and chambered into the gun, thus taking the pressure off the lips.

One should worry more about the brass being malformed over time by the lips these days than the lips themselves.

EDIT: And even better yet, one should be adequately prepared to shoot well and handle failures promptly. In other words, practice!

[steelrain82]

i asked myself the same question. but it was always with the thought of if i ever had to pull it out because someone was in my home do i want them to know i have a gun if i chamber one. or do i want to catch them unaware. i decided unaware with a round in the chamber because i dont want them to have an opportunity to pull theirs out if they here me rack a round and be ready for me.

[Stryprod]

i asked myself the same question. but it was always with the thought of if i ever had to pull it out because someone was in my home do i want them to know i have a gun if i chamber one. or do i want to catch them unaware. i decided unaware with a round in the chamber because i dont want them to have an opportunity to pull theirs out if they here me rack a round and be ready for me.

Same thought here !!!

For the longest time I kept none in the chamber so I could rack it "like a shotgun" I suppose (lol) and who says that would work? Also with having kids, I worried about having one in the chamber despite my firearm being locked in a safe.

I realized this hypothesis and fear was just that, a guess, and was cutting into my gtg time as I already had to dig into my aforementioned safe.

Once I will be taking delivery of my first 1911, I'm leaving that lady ready to rock but locked, and locked in a safe. I'd love for her to be gtg under my bed, but that would make me a HORRIBLE father IMO.

[jeep7081]

Always leave it loaded. The important question here is how well trained are you to use that nighstand gun as a defensive tool.

Also, do you have kids? If so, get a DOJ approved gun box for dresser drawer. Walmart has them for $45

[TurboChrisB]

I'm sorry but....."brass malformed by the feed lips"????

You NEED to provide back up on this or I'm calling BS.

I have never heard of such a thing and I suspect it's VERY uncommon....I suspect it's uncommon enough that there's NO reason to actually take steps to try to avoid it.

As for ammo......

IMO......changing out your ammo every 6 months is like changing your oil every 500 miles. Seem obsessive and unnecessary. I just shot off the ammo in my .45 desk gun at work. 15+ years old. I've shot TONS of NATO .308 that's 50 years old with no problem. I have all kinds of ammo that's 20+ years old and shoots fine.

Ammo DOESN'T have an expiration. Stored inside your house, in your nightstand....its good INDEFINITELY.

Again, IMO.....if you want to "keep it fresh" for peace of mind....change it out every FIVE or TEN years and you'll be fine. But 99% of ammo stored in your house, in your bedroom will be good for 30 years or longer

[RedFord150]

...On this topic, I'll like to ask how long can I keep ammo loaded in the magazine of a semi-auto pistol like a Glock? And how about revolver? Meaning, if I keep the pistol loaded for year(s) at a time, will it result it failure? ....

I think you are asking about the shelf life of ammo. Whether it is loaded in a revolver or semi-auto or kept in a box, the ammo should have the same life. What will affect the life of ammo is humidity, temperature changes, etc.
A drawer inside a house should be fine. Excessive humidity is not common and the house is probably kept at a fairly consistent temperature range for the comfort of the occupants.
I have shot ammo that is 10 to 20 years old and was kept inside the house. No noticeable difference for me. Since I keep several hundred rounds in each caliber I own, it is not cost-effective to change it out frequently. If you are concerned, just buy a fresh box of ammo every few months and load into your HD weapon. The old stuff gets rotated into your range ammo supply.
I read about an LEO that tried to fire his service weapon to kill a rattlesanake. All of his rounds failed. Turns out he would spray his gun and ammo weekly with a lubricant to prevent rust. Since he carried the weapon and spare ammo on his gun-belt, he was concerned about this. The lubricant penetrated the cartridges causing the failure.
Moral of the story: Do not spray liquids on your ammo for any reason. Clean and dry, they should be fine.

[Voo]

I can't remember the last time I've had a "malfunction" of any sort with cheap ammo bought at walmart or turners. I've had ammo in .mil cans/opened boxes/mason jars for YEARS. It's always gone bang.

A lot of people have the notion that it will go bad, but there's really no real evidence other than anecdotal data (just as it is with my experience) to show that it'll go puf instead of BANG. To the contrary, you'll often hear of ammo that is 3, 5, or 10+ years old that will consistently shoot. I had a box of HydraShok purchased years ago for my revolver. My friend ended up buying the same gun not too long ago. We test fired a few rounds and it all went bang as it should. The ammo was about 7 years old.

Some say 6 months, some say 3 months. As long as it isn't exposed to extreme heat/cold/water/chemicals then I'm fine with it as is.

The only time I would really consider changing it out is if I chambered the ammo 'often'. Repeatedly chambering ammo can cause what is known as "bullet setback"- it's where the bullet is pushed back down into the brass, decreasing it's overall length. This in turn can cause an excessive pressure spike when the bullet is fired. Unpredictable pressure is not what you want and can result in injury and/or death!

If I cycled the same round multiple times (ie 3-4 times), then I'd take it to the range and simply shoot it to avoid any issues. This only applies to semi-automatics where you slingshot the slide and allow the recoil spring to chamber the bullet. You only run into this with semi-auto's. With revolvers, there's zero danger from bullet setback. '

YMMV, as I'm sure everyone will have their opinion and reasoning for what they do.

[wellerjohn]

I'm sorry but....."brass malformed by the feed lips"????

You NEED to provide back up on this or I'm calling BS.

I have never heard of such a thing and I suspect it's VERY uncommon....I suspect it's uncommon enough that there's NO reason to actually take steps to try to avoid it.

As for ammo......

IMO......changing out your ammo every 6 months is like changing your oil every 500 miles. Seem obsessive and unnecessary. I just shot off the ammo in my .45 desk gun at work. 15+ years old. I've shot TONS of NATO .308 that's 50 years old with no problem. I have all kinds of ammo that's 20+ years old and shoots fine.

Ammo DOESN'T have an expiration. Stored inside your house, in your nightstand....its good INDEFINITELY.

Again, IMO.....if you want to "keep it fresh" for peace of mind....change it out every FIVE or TEN years and you'll be fine. But 99% of ammo stored in your house, in your bedroom will be good for 30 years or longer

Could not agree more. Every six months is anally retentive, kind of lime work place safety now being so detailed it's loosing the big picture.

[Stryprod]

I'm sorry but....."brass malformed by the feed lips"????

You NEED to provide back up on this or I'm calling BS.

I have never heard of such a thing and I suspect it's VERY uncommon....I suspect it's uncommon enough that there's NO reason to actually take steps to try to avoid it.

As for ammo......

IMO......changing out your ammo every 6 months is like changing your oil every 500 miles. Seem obsessive and unnecessary. I just shot off the ammo in my .45 desk gun at work. 15+ years old. I've shot TONS of NATO .308 that's 50 years old with no problem. I have all kinds of ammo that's 20+ years old and shoots fine.

Ammo DOESN'T have an expiration. Stored inside your house, in your nightstand....its good INDEFINITELY.

Again, IMO.....if you want to "keep it fresh" for peace of mind....change it out every FIVE or TEN years and you'll be fine. But 99% of ammo stored in your house, in your bedroom will be good for 30 years or longer

Here you go:

Carlton Nether, Customer Service for Beretta USA, tells us keeping a pistol magazine loaded for an extended period doesn't cause magazine spring failure, however, failures to feed can result. He says, "The ammo will 'roll' in the magazine. If the mags are kept loaded and moved around a lot -- say on a cop's belt -- the rolling action can, over time, cause creases in the cases. These creases can cause malfunctions. Also the top bullet will roll against the magazine lips and creasing can occur there as well. Just check old ammo that's been bouncing around in a magazine for a long time.

We tell police officers if they keep loaded magazines, take a few seconds to "cycle" the ammo. Periodically unload the mag and reload it in a different sequence. This movement will allow the bullets to be in different parts of the magazine and help eliminate creasing.

At STI, Dave Skinner, President and CEO says, "Personally, I rotate my 'under the bed' and 'under the seat' mags about every six months. I always empty them the 'fun' way and have never had a failure." Given what we learned above, this sounds like a good idea. Smith and Wesson customer service also says magazines can stay loaded indefinitely without hurting the spring.

But what the heck do these "Beretta" and "STI" guys know right???



**John S. Layman "Magazine spring madness: 'creep' to your 'elastic limit' to un-earth the urban legend of 'spring-set'". American Handgunner. FindArticles.com. 10 Jun, 2011.

[RealBarber]

Could not agree more. Every six months is anally retentive, kind of lime work place safety now being so detailed it's loosing the big picture.

not to mention ive bought ammo from different places years apart in time and they were from the same lot number

in other words the ammo you pick up off the shelf might be as old or older than the ammo you're rotating

[Stryprod]

Could not agree more. Every six months is anally retentive, kind of lime work place safety now being so detailed it's loosing the big picture.

Clearly you last several posters don't actually read the whole posts other leave otherwise you would have noticed I said:

"when it comes to your life it is better to have the most fresh ammo possible. I make it a point to shoot all defensive ammo every six months, but this figure is arbitrary but agreeable to my level of tolerance and budget."

"6 months max for me"

"I want to stress this is an arbitrary date"

"If ammo is properly sealed and stored, people shoot stuff that is 70+ years old that I know of. That said, I sure as heck wouldn't count on that to defend my life unless I had too. Ammo loaded in a mag in your nightstand or wherever is not properly stored. It is susceptible to air, moisture of some level, temp changes, minor deformation due to spring tension, etc."

"my Winchester rangers seem to shoot and feed just fine in 6 or less months. Could they last longer? More than likely, but I can easily afford to replace 20 rounds of quality ammo every 6, more often 3 months"

"shoot your expensive defense ammo as much as you can and shoot cheaper FMJ even more often to practice the rudimentary basics like sight acquisition, trigger control, recoil anticipation, etc, etc"

[Freq18Hz]

Machines can fail at any time. That goes for autos, revolvers, copy machines, etc.


Weapons stay loaded for decades, and still fire. As long as it is well lubricated, I'd probably worry about the ammo going bad before I'd worry about it breaking while sitting still.

-Freq

Hello,



I'm not discounting training, but the question is how long can I keep the firearm loaded? It won't do me any good if I have expert training and marksmanship if my firearm is not loaded and some criminal bust in for a home invasion will it?

If I get some kind of time frame, even guesstimates ones like 6 months from experience of other forum posters, it'll be good enough. That way at least I know to set something in my calendar to remind me to head down to the range at specific dates.



BigBear.

[bwiese]

Adding some commentary to the Beretta info above...

... yes cycling the ammo position may be useful to avoid 'roll' wear if the loaded mag is not stored/stationary, but it may make sense to periodically 'dispose' of the ammo.

Repeated "administrative" loading and unloading of ammo from magazines has been found, in certain east coast PDs, to risk causing bullet "setback" in the case. This significantly increases chamber pressure - possibly well above the safe level - and can risk a KaBoom. This seems to be an issue more with 40S&W (poss w/related 357Sig) than other calibers, given the case size, fullness, and percentage delta caused by typical setback when it occurs.

A person I trust reported inheriting loaded Luger magazines. These magazines were loaded 50+? years ago. He took 'em out to the range, and all magazines fed OK and all rounds went Bang.