Bad primers seldom work when hit a second time. That is why a revolver is the gold standard for reliability since on the second trigger pull you have an entirely new cartridge. Military ammunition has a varnish seal on both the primer and the bullet to protect against contamination. You can see the varnish as it is usually red or green. It is certainly a good idea to rotate carry ammo, you should be practicing on a regular basis so a new box every year is really no big deal. Just use the old ammo for practice.

She said it was the newest member of her household. She did not say that it was for personal protection. It's a bit big for daily carry.

That definitely makes me feel better. I don't keep or use any of those type of lubricants anywhere near where I keep my gun. Also, I have chosen to keep the magazine in the gun loaded, but I keep the chamber empty as there is no safety on an FNP-9. Lastly, if a round is chambered and will not fire, the FNP-9 does have an external hammer and will operate in double action or single action mode. In that respect, I suppose it could act similarly to a revolver, whether I pull the hammer back myself or simply deal with the longer DA trigger pull.

My favorite sifi author says get your first shot off quickly, even if you miss your enemy will be upset and your second shot will be more accurate.

Yes!

It's better. :-) my elbows don't feel it later in the day.

As evlwhtguy said primer contamination is a possibility, but I am not trying to keep "fresh" ammo per say, rather I do not want to chamber the same round over and over again as the primer can be damaged. It's a low possibility, but if I were to need to use my firearm to defend myself and/or my family the last thing I would want to hear is click when I pull the trigger.

The primer can become contaminated over time, especially if you use WD40 in the firearms storage area. If the primer becomes contaminated it wont work. In a revolver this is not the end of the world as you just pull the trigger again, but in an automatic, it is a big problem. I suspect the Hornady custom ammo you have is loaded in small lots and does not have the quality control checks that mass produced ammo has.

Freakin sweet. How does the comp perform as far as recoil to other similar sized .357's?

I am also curious about something else you said, and I swear I am asking this as an honest "I really want to learn/know why" question. Why would you feel the need to keep fresh ammo in your gun? What difference does it make in terms of the round working or not?

No doubt I am talking out of my rear end on this one as I am probably very ignorant on the subject, but the only three conceivable things that I can think of that would effect performance are as follows. Please keep in mind that when you get done laughing, these are strictly guesses.

1. The powder settling/compacting over time.
2. Maybe freshness actually does count with powder/primers.
3. Moisture getting into the round to defeat the powder's effectiveness.

Are any of these factors into why you would even care about ammo being fresh or not? Is there something else I am not thinking about?

The Ranger SXTs in my FNP-9 have been sitting on my bedside table for a few years now. the only time they come out are when I go to the range to shoot some cheap FMJ factory stuff or lately my own cast reloads. I use a 124 gr, RN tumble lubed design from Lee in a six cavity mold, FWIW, and they shoot pretty decent for goofing around at the range. Helluva lot cheaper too.

It normally does, however these rounds appear to have made it passed Hornady's QC without being crimped. I have sent the information off to them and will post what they have to say.

!!!

Oops! LOLOLOL! Ahem. Yes.
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/s...

No, it's not, but when I was due to replace my Ranger SXT's last time these were the only things I could find. I bought two boxes and ran the first one. This one will be replaced soon.

It did not expect these to perform like the SXT, but I also did not expect this either as Hornady is supposed to be pretty good bang for the buck.

Try dropping a round in the chamber and releasing the slide, then insert the magazine.

It works for me, and reduces the risk you're talking about by a lot (maybe to zero).

? please tell me you were trying to post a pic of a cool new firearm...

I hope you do not really think that. This is only a 9mm. The ONLY pistol round that is known to have a proven 1 shot drop of over 90% is the .357 magnum 125 grain JHP. The newer 10mm may equal this someday, but it is too early to tell. Never count on 1 shot saving your life. There is no replacement for capacity in small caliber handguns.

Yes, it's from the same box.

I have read about that case. He was pulling the mag and unloading the same round every evening due to having children in the house and no gun safe. Every morning he re chambered the round and put the mag in. Over time the primer was damaged and did not go off. Luckily he did not die from his mistake.

No, this is not the case with mine. I have chambered this round only four times as I only unload and reload my carry ammo when I go to the range or clean the gun afterwards. Each round that is in the chamber is moved to the bottom of the mag and a fresh round is chambered. I allow 4 total revolutions for a total of 44 unload and reload cycles before the ammo is shot and replaced.

How about this? It's the newest member of my household.
:-)

A while back there was a case about a police officer who went to use his gun, and the bullet didn't fire. He racked the slide and the next one was fine. They figured out that he had been loading and unloading the same bullet every day for months, to the point where it wouldn't fire anymore. While that case is an extreme one, if you're starting to notice a bullet being seated too deeply, chances are you're doing the same thing. To the point where the bullet won't fire? Probably not. But if it makes you wonder if the bullet's going to go off, then you should probably cycle them less, or shoot off all the ones you have been cycling more often.

Yeah, it looks like they skipped the crimp operation when they made these. I will see what they have to say.

I shoot a lot of hardcast lead, so I have measured my chamber, and these should not have touched the rifling, so this should not have caused the issue.

I reload rifle round the same way you do, which is why my .308 is set below the cannelure of the 150 grain FMJ. They clear the rifling by an average of .004.

The ammo is 6 months old. I normally shoot 1 box of ammo I am wanting to carry to make sure that it will cycle fine. I will then carry 11 rounds of it for 6 months rotating it within the mag and chamber then shoot that out and loading up new stuff.

My manual sets the 124 grain XTP bullet at 1.060, which is what the factory had them, but having been chambered 4 times each round is now about 1.030, a .030 set back.

I have sent the pics to Hornady to get their opinion. I still feel fine shooting these as the SR9c is rated to +P+, but this might be an issue for them if someone were to have this problem and then shoot them out of a gun not built like a Ruger.

Another thought, possibly the bullet is sticking out longer than it should be and as it is being forced into the chamber when you drop the slide, the bullet is being set back as it's pushed into the forcing cone at the front of the chamber. I don't see any evidence that the cartridges are crimped. That would allow the bullet to be pressed back.

I know setback can cause pressure to jump very quickly and should never be ignored. But remember that a 9mm is not a magnum and as long as you are talking .020", you are not in huge danger. IF you find it is being caused by bullet setback from the forcing cone, none at all. In my opinion.

In my rifles that have huge amounts of powder (and pressures) I actually determine the overall dimension of a round by partially setting a bullet in a empty test casing, and force the bolt closed, and measure how far the bullet was shoved back by the forcing cone.

For a precision rifle, the least amount of "void" you have between the bullet and the cone, the better is for accuracy. No more than .003" in either of my Savage 110BA's. A bit looser in most others.

This does no work for semiauto guns of any type. Too loose all over.