[ozzy]

I remove my ammo once a week with my current carry and do a light maintence with a bore snake and a canned air and some wipe down with a Rem-Cloth. Now it's time to hit the range and shoot my "Carry" ammo and scrub my pistol and reload with my favorite carry ammo. I do shoot my pistols in between and leave my carry mag at home in between. Just wondering how often you folks do the same.

 

[Jc85]

I try to hit the range at least once every 2-3 weeks.
I unload my SD ammo tho and use a tad lighter target load.. My firearms get a light once over, once a month or a good cleaning after every range trip.

 

[Jake3501]

I have separate mags for my carry ammo. I fire the carry ammo out about once a year and replace it.

 

[Smokewagon]

I shoot my carry gun about every four to six weeks. I don't change the ammo or anything. Just draw it from the holster and shoot it like I need it. Carry ammo that's ridden in it for all this time, dirt, fuzz, lint and all. I mean, I'd want to know it'll function in real life use. Wouldn't you?

 

[MOONDAWG]

I shoot my carry gun about every four to six weeks. I don't change the ammo or anything. Just draw it from the holster and shoot it like I need it. Carry ammo that's ridden in it for all this time, dirt, fuzz, lint and all. I mean, I'd want to know it'll function in real life use. Wouldn't you?

I find no fault in your logic...

 

[ozzy]

I shoot my carry gun about every four to six weeks. I don't change the ammo or anything. Just draw it from the holster and shoot it like I need it. Carry ammo that's ridden in it for all this time, dirt, fuzz, lint and all. I mean, I'd want to know it'll function in real life use. Wouldn't you?

Yep, that's I'm talking about, out with the old and renew. I still like some light maintenence in between since I'm in a dry dirty desert.

 

[Jc85]

I dont load my own SD ammo.. I can't justify spending 25 bucks on 20 rounds.. So no I do not fire it at every range trip.. I will once I get sick of looking at the same rounds tho.

 

[GunsandNoses]

I clean after every shoot and do an occasional wipe and lube in between shootings.

 

[bre346]

I'll draw and shoot my carry about once a month to cycle out the older JHP ammo.
I didn't think about dusting it off in the interim. Hmmm.

 

[KYBill]

I fire at least on clip of my PD ammo, usually just the clip that's in the gun, every range trip. I too want to know that it will work after being carried for several weeks. Then I scrub and clean after each trip. I also wipe it down once a week.

 

[Shokr21]

Now that I've become a member of a range and have access for a small fee whenever I want, I'll try to shoot at least 100 rounds a week.

I carry alternating 115 gr fmj's and speer gold dot's on the suggestion of more than a few individuals who are very well renowned in the defensive shooting world, Larry Vickers, Jason Falla and Kyle Defoor, have all alluded on another forum that they alternate fmj with jhp. My mag is loaded with 3 jhp's then 1fmj 1 jhp etc.

At the range I pull my gun from my holster and shoot the magazine that's in it, to avoid carrying the same ammo for too long and also to reinstill my faith in it's reliability with both jhp and fmj. That means I shoot approximately 9 rounds of rather expensive jhp a week, but it also gives me a warm fuzzy, so it's worth it.

I clean my carry gun once a week if I have not shot during the week, otherwise it gets cleaned after every range trip.

 

[Jake3501]

With factory personal defense ammo, many experts recommend shooting every other round in the box to verify you have not picked up a bad lot of defensive ammo. This seems a little extreme to me, although I will test out 5 rounds from a box of 20 or 10 from a box of 50. Shooting 10 from a box of 20 would get expensive if you were switching out very often, so I only switch out once a year. I may shoot defensive ammo at the range a couple of times a year to make sure nothing in the ammo or the gun has changed.

As to loading a magazine with alternating rounds of FMJ and Hollow points, the only caliber I have ever considered that on was a .380 for two purposes, the first two rounds FMJ for Function and penetration, subsequent rounds of Hollow point for expansion.
However, I have never subscribed to actually doing so. If I was out in the sticks with a revolver, I might load a couple of chambers with snake shot for snakes with the remaining chambers in flat soft points for bigger critters!

If I was driving an M-1 Abrahams or flying an F-16, I can understand the usefulness of different munitions.

 

[Fishinkeylargo]

I carry my TCP in a pocket holster in my front pocket. I remove the magazine un-chamber the loaded round and wipe it down every weekend just to keep the pocket fuzz from building up. The round that was chambered gets a black mark on it from a Sharpie and cycled to the bottom of the magazine. When all the rounds have black marks on them, I will shoot them and load up with fresh ammo. I will shoot my TCP every time I go to the range with target rounds. I like my carry gun to be the last thing I shoot every range trip.

 

[Lommerse33]

This thread is making me consider a few things I haven't, which is why I come to this forum! I posted a thread not that long ago about how I was shocked to have issues with Critical Defense in my 380, even though it's never been a problem in my 709. Soon I'll shoot the rest of the CD 380 I've got to see what happens. And I'll fire through some other 380 SD ammo that I've been collecting. I've got 2 mags for my 709 loaded with CD and I think I'll shoot one through and rotate the backup mag into the well for carrying the next 6 weeks or so. Then I'll load the spend mag with some fresh stuff.

To the OP: I have never used a boresnake but this thread prompted me to order one yesterday. Since one boresnake will cover all 4 of my handguns it seemed like a smart investment. Another good reason I prefer to keep my collection to the same (or similar) caliber. Any tips or anything I should watch out for when using the 'snake when it arrives?

 

[MilPro45Owner]

I too recently purchased the boresnake(mostly because the instructor I had for the permit class swore by it saying it would cut down 5-10 minutes of cleaning time) and was wondering if there are any tips or tricks I should use or just go by the directions. This is the first time I'm actually going to clean my newly purchased PT145, and I'm pretty excited about it.