+P+ ammunition question

shaldag

shaldag

Joined
Jun 17, 2004
Messages
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I'm sure that more than a few of you guys have an opinio0n on this:

I have some 9mm +P+ ammunition that has been in storage for awhile (don't aks how long--that is my question :D).

It's a good brand, Remington or Winchester (can't recall).

It has been stored in a nice dry place.

I use either a Glock 19 or an HK USP.

At what age would you not use this ammo for SD carry?

thanx.
 
Shoot it at the range where it doesn't matter how well it works. For SD carry buy small amounts "fresh" and shoot it/replace it at least yearly in addition to regular practice with other rounds. Your life is worth reliable ammo without any questions.

Phil
 
There is no maximum pressure rating for +P+ -- the designation just means pressure is too high to be +P. It's made for a particular department to use in a particular gun that's maintained on a specified schedule, and should be safe under those conditions.

Occasionally some +P+ ammo becomes available on the civilian market. You got hold of some somehow ... you've had it quite a while ... you don't even know what brand it is, let alone what gun it's supposed to be safe in ... um ... and what you're asking is how long can you store it??? That is not the question you should be asking....

Excessively hot ammo used in a rifle will blow it up the first time you shoot it. Pistols are different. You can use hotter ammo than the pistol is made for and the gun won't blow up immediately; it'll just wear out sooner than it should. You'll have greatly increased wear, blast, and recoil, and slightly higher velocity than you would get with normal ammunition.
 
I'd just as soon not use old +P+ ammo. Like was said above, get some fresh stuff and carry that. I suppose you could use it at the range to get used to the muzzle blast/recoil, though.

YMMV
 
All that is true, but I fired a zillion rounds of the stuff in a Glock 34 that looks more or less new. But I maintained it pretty meticulously.
 
Gov't considers ammo 'old' at 20 years. It can last much longer than that if kept cool and dry. Both Glock and HK can take +p+ without problems.For any ammo it should be tested in the gun you will carry -it must be absolutely reliable !!! .Otherwise use it for practice.
 
mete said:
Gov't considers ammo 'old' at 20 years. It can last much longer than that if kept cool and dry. Both Glock and HK can take +p+ without problems.For any ammo it should be tested in the gun you will carry -it must be absolutely reliable !!! .Otherwise use it for practice.
Click to expand...

Could I use Speer gold dot +P 124 gr in my Sig 226?
 
phatch said:
Shoot it at the range where it doesn't matter how well it works. For SD carry buy small amounts "fresh" and shoot it/replace it at least yearly in addition to regular practice with other rounds. Your life is worth reliable ammo without any questions.

Phil
Click to expand...
can't say it any better than that.
 
I would not hesitate to use +P+ in a Glock and I base that on a Glock factory rep's recommendation to me some years ago in which he said that hot IMI submachine gun ammo worked wonderfully in Glocks. I would think the H&K is about equally strong, but I don't know that for a fact since I've never owned or shot one. On the other hand, I don't feel that you need high pressure or high velocity ammo for an effective self defense load if it's using a correctly designed bullet.
 
The HK USP was originally designed for the 40 then converted to the 9mm.I can't think of another. Most others did it the other way round !! Glock, SIG, HK have all gone thru vigorous military testing and are very durable ,reliable guns.
 
Shoot it up at the range and buy some fresh stuff for self-defense. My guess is it's probably fine, but do you want to risk your life on that if you were to be in a self-defense situation? There's reason's why most law enforcement shoot up their carry ammo after just a few months or even sooner. I keep mine (my carry and home SD ammo) about six months myself. One extra box every now and then doesn't do real damage to the finances, and if I ever do have to use it then I want to know that it's going to work like it supposed to.
 
My two cents,


+P+ ammo is not safe for off brand guns, if, as stated you are using a cream of the crop autopistol to fire the ammo you are not in any danger of the ammo doing harm to your pistol or yourself. My source for this is an article written by Masaad Ayoob in the February '08 issue of Combat Handguns. Where he states that +P+("law enforcement only") is perfectly ok for use in high quality handguns(the kind that law enforcement use), but is not safe for low quality handguns.

Now as for the notion of using older ammo for SD, it would be reasonable and prudent to test fire a good representation of it to make sure that there are no surprises when you need it to function.
 
if its win or rem +P+ it wont hurt your gun to shoot it, any decent gun anyway (ie glock, SA, SIG, kahr, etc). i wouldnt shoot it in an old pre WW2 luger, for instance.

i dont like it for SD anyway, most of it is 115 gr and doesnt penetrate well, the w-w ranger 127gr +P+ excepted.
 
On a side note: I would add it is a good idea to regularly rotate the ammo in your primary carry magazine, or rotate the magazine itself with another one.

Reason being is if you regularly carry one up, and eject the top cartridge when at home or whenever, and then re-chamber it again when venturing out, over time the slug can become seated deeper and deeper...

Normally not a problem but in a +P+ cartridge it could result in a nasty explosion if you ever have to fire that round in anger.
 
One reason to rotate your carry ammo is that it is exposed to varying temperatures and humidity, just be virtue of being on your body as you go about your business.

Add to that the incremental "damage" done to the cartridges when you clear the gun, reload it, unload/reload magazines, etc, is an entirely different environment than ammo that is stored in an ammo can in the proverbial "cool, dry place."

If you have a chronograph, you could prove to yourself that ammo stored in this fashion will not have deteriorated to any significant degree for quite a long time.

Obviously, as others state, do not shoot +P+ in crap guns !

.
 
Friend recently bought some 10mm with a 135 grain JHP from Doubletap......and it's 300 fps slower than advertised.............:(


.
 
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