How Often To Switch Out Carry Ammo | Experts Answer

Modern ammunition is some pretty durable stuff. But that doesn’t mean that will last forever. Carrying a gun with you all the time can shorten the life of that ammo since it is exposed to so many different things. For most of us, that makes us start to wonder how long the ammo can last and if it should be switched out occasionally.

At Bullet Basics, we have been around guns for a long time and have our own opinions, but we wanted to do some of our own research to get a solid understanding of what most people are doing and what the manufacturers recommend—if they recommend anything at all.

So should you switch out your carry ammo occasionally? Concealed-carry ammunition and duty ammunition should be switched if the round itself is altered in dimension. Additionally, most people and most manufacturers recommend shooting and replacing defense ammunition every 6-12 months. These are just rules of thumb; there are many factors that can reduce the life of carry ammo and each case should be evaluated individually.

Many of the manufacturers didn’t have any specific policy that concerns how often carry ammo should be switched out for new ammo, but most of the representatives had general recommendations or tips. Let’s look below for more information.

Detailed Explanation

Concealed carry ammunition is any ammunition in a gun that you carry with you in a concealed manner. Duty ammunition is ammo carried by law enforcement—usually open carried while in uniform (though they can carry these guns concealed too). This ammo is not usually meant to be shot all the time. It’s meant to be used in life-or-death scenarios to protect the carrier’s life. It is usually hollow point, which is designed to mushroom when impacting a target.

Because carry ammo and duty ammo (from here on referred to as just carry ammo) are not shot all the time, they tend to be carried for long periods of time. Which means the rounds are either carried in the chamber or in a magazine (in the gun or in another mag elsewhere). Problems can start to occur which would cause the ammunition not to function when it’s needed. To avoid this, a regular rotation schedule should be followed.

Generally speaking, carry ammunition should be switched out every 6-12 months. Most manufacturers (though most don’t have official guidelines) and experts agree that this fewquency should do the job to keep you safe. Obviously, there are factors that may require you to switch it out more often—like the ones listed below. There are also situations that changing ammo out doesn’t need to be completed as often. Let’s take a closer look.

Factors affecting ammo durability

Though this isn’t necessarily an exhaustive list, we have included the major factors that may affect the durability of carry ammo. There is no exact line to draw when one or more of these factors apply. You will have to decide how they affect the ammo you are carrying—and therefore, how often it needs to be rotated.

Weather

We are using “weather” to encompass everything that has to do with the climate a person might be living in. That might mean extremely humid or dry environments, very hot and cold weather, rainy and snowy conditions and more. Each of these things can potentially cause ammo to begin to lose reliability over time.

For example, people living in hot or humid environments are likely to sweat more than those living in cooler and dryer environments. These people have guns plastered right to their bodies; sweat and get on the gun and ammo. Not only can this cause the gun to potentially rust, it can get on the ammo and cause issues.

The other problem is that ammo is not meant to last forever. So constantly being exposed to drastic environments can potentially reduce the lifespan of carry ammo. Even if no water or other substance directly touches the ammo, it can degrade over time. That’s not to say that it’ll just fall apart after a few months. But carrying the same ammo for a decade might be a bad idea—especially if any of the other factors apply.

Most defensive ammo is made extremely well and is durable enough to withstand this. But when it happens day after day, year after year, you never know what could happen. It’s best to just change it out by shooting it through your gun every 6-12 months. Some people say those in these climates should switch it out each quarter.

Chambering rounds

If there was only one thing we could list that can cause problems with carry ammo, it would be constantly chambering the same ammo. When this is done, a few problems begin to emerge. First, when a round is stripped off a magazine, it must slam into and up the feed ramp before it can be chambered.This process isn’t a problem if done once. But if it’s done over and over, the rounds can start experiencing something called bullet setback.

Bullet setback is a process where the actual bullet within the cartridge begins to work its way further into the cartridge. If setback occurs, the overall length of the round is shorter because the bullet is no longer in the spot it should be. This can be dangerous because it increases the amount of pressure when the bullet is fired.

The other problem with chambering rounds multiple times is that each time you slam the slide home or extract the round, the extractor engages the rim of the case. Over time, the rim can wear down, which would be very bad in a firefight. You want your gun to launch the round a thousand feet out of your way and grab the next round. If your ammo has worn down rims, you run the risk of having this problem.

Note: this problem is far less common. You would have the chamber a round many times to see any effects.

Bullet setback and wearing down case rims can dramatically reduce the life of carry ammo. Chambering the same round only once or twice can begin the process with bullet setback and who knows how many to wear down the rim of the rounds. It’s hard to know how much setback or wear down can happen before the round is no longer safe to shoot. So if you are in the habit of unloading your gun each time you take it off, this could mean you should change your ammo out much more often—potentially every quarter or so; maybe even more often.

Being carried

Similarly to chambering rounds, simply carrying ammo around with you all the time can reduce its lifespan. When you are carrying it you are standing up, sitting down, banging into walls, jumping, running, and so many more things. All of this is happening while the gun is pointed “straight down” (at least for most of us). Rounds in extra mags are banging around in the mag during all of this as well. Over long periods of time, this can cause the crimp on bullets to loosen and allow the bullets to set back or walk their way out of the cartridge.

As you can imagine, having cartridges without bullets can be catastrophically bad. Even if the bullets don’t fall out altogether, it could cause jams or other problems that would be just as bad. Even worse would be to have an extremely set back bullet blow the gun up. For these reasons, you will have to decide how often you should switch out your carry ammo. It is highly dependent on what you’re doing throughout the day. If you don’t move much, you’re probably okay to keep the same ammo for longer periods. If you’re up on your feet and doing lots of potentially “bullet jarring” activities, you may want to change it out more often.

Carry quantity

Very closely related to carrying the ammo in general is how often you carry. If you’re carrying all day, everyday, you will want to change your ammo out far more often. There’s just a lot more time that the ammo is subjected to the conditions listed already. If you rarely carry, it’s not as essential to change out your ammo as often.

For the sections that discuss only opinions of the representatives we spoke with, they were not speaking for their specific companies. Unless stated, none of their opinions necessarily reflect the opinions of the companies themselves.

Answers from ammo manufacturers

Federal HST and Federal Hydra-shok (all federal ammo)

As we all know, Federal produces great ammunition. Many law enforcement agencies and concealed carriers use their defense ammo. After doing some research and calling Federal directly, we learned a few things about their official and unofficial recommendations for how often to change out carry ammo (as stated before includes concealed carry and duty carry).

Federal hosts a Youtube channel where it occasionally posts videos on specific relevant topics to ammo. In their video called “Ammo Insiders: When To Replace Concealed Carry Ammunition” Federal explains that carry ammo should be changed out every six months. They take precautions to ensure the ammo will last as long as possible, but eventually it should be switched out. They don’t mention duty ammo specifically in the video but it’s safe to say duty ammo should probably follow a similar timeline.

After talking to a Federal representative we got more insights into good habits with carry ammo. Though these were opinions of the representative and not necessarily what Federal says, it’s still insightful and worth noting.

He said that there are a lot of factors that affect how long Federal carry ammo will last. A lot of what he covered, we already mentioned above. Durability of ammo depends on how much you are moving, how often and how long you carry, if you rechamber rounds a lot, and many other factors. If you subject the gun to lots of movement and stress, it would be best to rotate every 3-4 months. If you think you are closer to the “normal amount” of aggressiveness with your firearm, then every 6 months is fine.

Other comments made by the Federal representative were about the dangers of chambering. The slide is what causes problems in ammo. Chambering a round too many times can cause bullet setback. It’s not a problem of the bullet being inside the chamber, but of the process of getting it there. Hitting the feed ramp over and over again is what pushes the bullet further unto the casing. So if you can avoid hitting the feed ramp, the ammo can last much longer.

The most startling thing the representative mentioned was that the warranty on the ammo is only carried on one chambering. If the round is chambered more than once, the warranty is void. So emptying your gun every night would get expensive if you want the warranty in force. There are other ways to preserve the life of the ammo, which we’ll talk about in a later section.

Speer Gold Dot

After getting in contact with Speer, we were referred to an official Speer product information Sheet called “Ammo Storage Recommendations”. In that document Speer says the following:

Speer recommends ammunition carried on duty be shot and replaced yearly

It doesn’t mention concealed carry, but again, we’ll assume it’s the same. So Speer recommends carry ammo to be replaced every year. Obviously, if it’s exposed to extremely harsh environments, it may need to be switched out more often. For all others, every year is fine.

Hornady Critical Duty and Hornady Critical Defense

After speaking with Hornady, we received no specific recommendation. In fact, they stated that Hornady has no official policy or recommendation for how often ammo should be changed out— and that everyone has their own process.

The representative did say what his process is for rotating carry ammo. The best practice would be to switch it out every month. But more realistically, every six months is what he does. Depending on how light the conditions are for the carrier, switching ammo out 1 time per year isn’t a bad practice. He has several colleagues that wait a full year before switching out their ammo.

Underwood High Performance and Underwood Extreme Defender

I could only find an email address for Underwood. I emailed them and quickly got the response below. Pay specific attention to the areas we bolded.

“There is no official policy for ammo rotation. There are variables that can extend or reduce the service life such as if you sweat heavily or not in the area you carry among many other factors.

Personally, I swap my cartridges out at least every 6 months if I am carrying them daily. I do not sweat excessively in the area that I carry my handgun, thankfully, and I never chamber my first round from the magazine (I carry with one in the chamber still). The first round is always inserted in the barrel by hand then I close the slide and pop the magazine in. This keeps the first round from being beat up and ensures I never have to worry about the most active cartridge. I feel that I may get a lot more service life than 6 months by being mindful of moisture and never chambering from the magazine, though I use the 6 month mark as a means of practicing with my carry ammo and replenishing with fresh cartridges.

There is no official number as it would be nearly impossible to know what elements your cartridges may or may not have been exposed to, so it boils down to your comfort zone. If you ever feel that you may have jeopardized the lifespan or if you feel that they are getting too old it could never hurt to swap them out. Some customers swap as often as 3 months, 6 months, yearly, or even longer if it is just a bedside gun that doesn’t move around much. This may be a subject that you want to search for multiple opinions on as well because there truly is not an absolute correct or wrong answer.”

Take that for what it’s worth. But after talking to many different companies, this is a very common response and seems to be the general feeling toward frequency and need for swapping out carry ammo.

Remington Golden Saber

After speaking with a representative from Remington on the phone, they would offer no official policy or recommendation on the subject for their ammo. But like most of the other companies, the representative quickly offered his opinion on how often it should be switched out. He mentioned that he changes his carry ammo out every 6 months. When going to the range in the sixth month, he shoots the ammo through the gun and then replaces it after.

To avoid bullet setback, he locks the slide back and drops a round in the chamber. Then he releases the slide. As we’ve already seen, many representatives from the various companies said the same thing. Bullet setback is a worry, and placing a round in the chamber by hand and dropping the slide is the easiest way to avoid that problem.

Nosler Defense

Like a few others, Nosler doesn’t have an official recommendation for changing out carry ammo. They also didn’t give any personal recommendation either. The representative simply said that the recommendation for how often the duty ammo should be switched out depends on each department’s policy. Nothing was given for concealed carry practices.

Sig Sauer Elite

Sig Sauer didn’t offer an official, specific policy or recommendation on its carry ammunition—at least not a time frame. The representative did offer general advice that many of the other manufacturers also gave. He said to not let it get too old (didn’t specify what that means) and to not let it rechamber too many times—or it will cause bullet setback and other problems.

The rep also said that if the ammo isn’t destroyed in the carrying process, it can last indefinitely. By destroyed he meant altered or beaten up due to rough use. If you can manage that, it can last for a long time—and there’s no specific time frame for how long it will last. You just want to make sure it cycles through your gun.

The Sig rep said he fires one mag of carry ammo once a month at the range. That way he ensures the ammo isn’t beaten up or altered and he ensures the gun continuously cycles that specific ammo.

Lehigh Defense

Attempted to contact Lehigh defense and never got a response.

Winchester PDX Defender and Winchester Ranger T

Attempted to contact Winchester and never got a response.

Answers from the internet

We spent hours watching dozens and dozens of YouTube videos to find recommendations by the “experts” on the internet. Though none of us should ever rely completely on the opinions of others, this can give us insights into what others are doing.

Some of the videos we watched were from:

Mrgunsngear, jarhead6, federalpremiumammo, speer ammo, carryTrainer, TheHossUSMC, Mike Papa Kilo, JunkfoodZombie, The Daily Shooter, TheOl1911, TheFireArmGuy, TheGunCollective, Joshv06, Gunscom, BoomStick Tactical, Munitions Express, Full.Lead.Taco, Darth Carloos, Warrior Tactical Systems, concealedcarry365, Duffy112, and MAC

Many of the YouTube channels asked people to leave comments on how often they change out their concealed carry ammo. So we looked through the comments and came up with a general idea from the masses.

Summary on the YouTube Videos

Not all of the Youtube personalities were necessarily credible and we wouldn’t use all of them as an authority source. Some are very credible and can be used as a reliable source of reference. Regardless, each one at least provides us with a little more information about what people are actually doing. We’ve heard the recommendations of the manufacturers and that is the most important source to reference. But it’s also good to see the opinions of others and how these people are using the ammo. Most of the reviewers were using one or more of the types of carry ammo above.

We looked at hundreds of comments and sorted through which ones we thought serious and which weren’t. The results are obviously subject to our interpretation, so it’s not exactly scientific, but that’s okay. We are just looking to get an idea of what people are doing in the real world. Here is what we found

The need to swap ammo- pretty much every single video (except one) said that carry ammunition, whether for concealed carry or for duty weapons, should be swapped out occasionally. The ammo is durable but isn’t meant to last forever. It is much smarter and safer to just switch it out, whether or not it’s truly needed.

Reasons for swapping ammo- some videos explained in great depth all the reasons for switching out carry ammo, while others merely stated that it should happen. Most of the reasons were very similar to what we already saw mentioned by the manufacturers. Some of the most common reasons stated in the videos for why ammo needs to be swapped out occasionally are as follows

Bullet setback—unanimously the most discussed reason
Harsh conditions
Weather (sweat, water, etc)
Being carried constantly

Frequency to swap out ammo- The answers to this question were more varied than the other answers. More than anything else, we used comments in these videos, as well as the YouTubers answers to draw out conclusions. Most people tend to switch out their carry ammo either every 6 months or every 12 months. Some wait longer, up to 18 months or 2 years. A very few stated that it doesn’t need to be changed ever if you avoid bullet setback and other harmful effects. Those on the other side believe ammo should be changed every month.

What we found on YouTube seems to fall in line fairly closely with what the manufacturers (or their representatives think). Obviously, there is no guarantee that the ammo will function if you carry it for a while; but it seems to be that waiting a year or before changing it out is the most common practice.

Prolonging the life of your carry ammo

Placing a round in the chamber and then dropping the slide home will avoid sending a round up the feed ramp that causes bullet setback

Ammo is made to be shot. Manufacturers take precautions to lengthen the life of the ammo they produce, but eventually it will degrade over time. It needs to be cycled through or rotated occasionally to ensure your safety; however, there are a few things that you can do to prolong the life of your carry ammo—even if it only prolongs its life for a short time.

Avoid bullet setback

Avoid emptying guns- The easiest way to avoid bullet setback is keeping your gun loaded; in other words, don’t empty it. Obviously this causes problems. First, you have to unload the carry ammo from your gun when you go shooting. Which means the round in the chamber has to be removed. There’s really no way around this. When you need to shoot, you need to shoot. Empty the round.

Second, many people unload their carry guns when they get home so that the guns are safe when not on their bodies. If you can avoid doing this, then you can avoid chambering and unchambering all the time. Which translates into less bullet setback and longer ammo life. If you can’t keep the weapon completely safe and loaded, just unload it. It’s not worth the risk.

Load differently- The other way to avoid bullet setback is to chamber the round differently. Instead of loading a magazine and dropping the slide home (which forces the bullet up the feed ramp and causes bullet setback), you can place a round in the chamber by hand. Simply lock open the slide, drop a round in the barrel, and release the slide. Now you have a chambered round that didn’t hit the feed ramp.

Rotate chambered round

Another thing you can do to prolong the life of your carry ammo is to simply rotate the round you chamber. Whenever you need to unload your gun, take the round you just removed from the chamber and put it at the bottom of the magazine. Then use the next round as the one to chamber. This will limit the number of times each bullet hits the feed ramp and experiences setback.

Combining this strategy with loading the round in the chamber manually can drastically prolong the time you can carry the same rounds in your gun. But as soon as you see setback occur, it’s probably time to change the ammo out. What you might begin to see is the wearing down of the rim because you are still extracting the round every time. If you do see this, definitely switch out the ammo.

Avoid harsh conditions

This is a bit more obvious and a bit harder to do. It’s about avoiding harsh conditions whenever possible. If you have the ability to cover up, remove or avoid subjecting the gun to specific conditions that might do it and the ammo harm, then do it. But only do it if it’s not putting you in danger. If you’re thinking you just won’t carry a gun on your body so that it won’t get sweat on it, that’s the wrong idea. Having the gun and protecting yourself is first; avoiding harsh conditions is second. The only point we are making is that if certain harsh conditions can be easily and safely avoided, then avoid them.

Conclusion

Carry ammo should be changed out every 6-12 months. If we had to choose one or the other, we would fall on the side of 12 months—but it’s a choice that everyone needs to make.

The longer you carry the ammo, the more chances there are for it to be exposed to the life-shortening effects that we’ve discussed. In other words, the longer you wait to change it out the less chance it has to work properly. Everyone falls somewhere on the line from changing it out everyday to never changing it out at all. Each of us has to find the breakpoint on that line that we are comfortable with. And then it’s making sure we do it.