just a tip that might save your life!

Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
Staff member
I recently went to a local pistol range with one of my neighbors who has carry's a small snubbie 357 revolver , similar to this
lady357.jpg

his choice for concealed carry for decades,
but he does not go too the range very often.
when we got to the range I noticed he unloaded the ammo he had in the revolver and replaced it with some cheap target ammo he purchased from walmart, ... now I thought I knew the reason why as I see that happen when many guys go too the range.....but I asked him and just as I suspected he stated that the hot hollow point ammo he carried in the pistol was fairly expensive and he preferred to only shoot the cheap stuff.
I reminded him that the two types of ammo might not hit at nearly the same point on the target, and he should at least fire the 5-6 cartridges in the gun to get an idea how much difference in the point of impact there would be, after all, you don.t want to think your aiming at an attackers upper chest only to find the revolver with the loads your using throws shots clear over the antagonists head ,
(obviously youll want the ammo you use for defense to be the ammo used to set the sights)
because that different ammo may and probably will, shoot considerably higher, or lower than a totally different ammo.
obviously you should ideally practice with the ammo you'll use or at least verify that the ammo you use and the practice ammo hit fairly close to the same location on the target out to at least 20 yards or so, thus you'll be fairly certain that you can hit a man size target reliably.
well he stopped and though that over for two seconds and said, yeah! your right and replaced the original ammo in the small snubbie 357 revolver , he placed the target out at about 25 yards and slowly aimed and squeezed the trigger, CLICK!, he opened the revolver and the one loaded cartridge had the primer well dented , by the firing pin, but the ammo had failed to fire, he tried the other cartridges and two of the remaining cartridges fired..... two other remaining cartridges in the cylinder failed too,fire

"JUST CONSIDER WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF YOU WERE TO HAVE THAT RESULT IN A LETHAL CONFRONTATION"

and when I later took the defective cartridges apart to inspect the contents, at my loading bench, the reason was all too obvious ......too both of us, once I showed him why the cartridges were inert.
I asked him how he maintained his pistol, and as I suspected he stated he would take it out and spray it down with what ever spray oil/anti rust lubricant he had on hand (like WD40 and many similar products) every few days to prevent moisture from damaging the metal.
Its generally a good idea to shoot any defensive ammo you carry, thats over two-to- three years old, and always carry fresh quality ammo in a defensive hand gun
properly stored ammo can last 40 plus years, but moisture and oil will rapidly degrade ammo

what he failed to realize is the most spray rust lubricants are designed to be PENETRATING OILS and even a single application on cartridges or if a pistol is loaded after the guns soaked down, that spray oil tends to PENETRATE into micro cracks, like between the primer and cartridge case, this can and will render a cartridge un-useable.
Un loading and taking your semi auto pistol , or revolver apart at least occasionally to oil and clean its is mandatory for maintenance and durability, but ammo must be kept lubricant free, so you can,t just spray down any handgun
(especially if its loaded ) or
(theres a cartridge in the chamber or the magazines still installed )
with spray oil and expect it to continue to function, , you need to clean and lightly oil the rust vulnerable and moving surfaces
but keep oil away from ammo.
there are some products that obviously work better than others or those that are more at risk , but keeping the ammo clean and dry is mandatory


http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-and-its-effect-on-accuracy.10041/#post-38998

after a good cleaning and inspection, a light application of moly to moving parts surfaces ,aids function as its an excellent dry lubricant
molysp2.JPG

hoppy.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top