SD ammo Test

[GORBY]

I bought a few boxes of the Ranger T's in Sep'17 (big outlay at once, but been 27 months and only now starting to run low).

When I first bought them, I shot 1 box (50 rounds) through carry gun to make sure it works ("function test") and hits on target (accuracy comparable to range ammo that I usually shoot with).

I EDC fully loaded magazine & a spare.
Every few range sessions, with loaded up range magazines and range ammo at the ready, I would shoot my first magazine from carry mag (just as is carried on daily basis from 1-up) before switching to the range ammo & mags.
After session I will seat the spare carry mag (with EDC ammo), and at home top up the empty mag from the "fresh" Rangers stored in the dark cool place (safe) and that is then my spare magazine until next time.

Something that I also only recently learned from BigT (and which I just never though of myself) is that ammo is not really made/designed to be loaded/unloaded constantly/repeatedly, and therefore I only "unload" my EDC magazines at the range when I fire them. Even the times I don't shoot out the full EDC magazine, my first shot is the Ranger already chambered.

There might be better and smarter ways (and cheaper) to test carry ammo, but this regime makes me feel confident that when the day comes that I have to pull my blaster from a sweaty appendix carry the bullets will go bang ;-)

[Ds J]

Buddy you know me so I’ll keep my concern simple, you ask any normal person to do a function test with premium ammo and what will that be? You can shoot 10, 20, 30 or whatever amount of rounds, if there is a statistical problem the next bullet might jam, reverse the order and it might jam with the FIRST defensive round.

The average person is not going to buy carry ammo and shoot out a couple of boxes first, they will practice with cheap ammo and load premium. If you ask me test about 200 rounds of a certain ammo, and if no problems you are good to go, how many people will do that with rangers or the like?

This whole “function test” is a grey area for someone like me.

If memory serves correct the Star pistols do not like HP's.

Combine that with someone who tends to limpwrist, and you have a potentially hazardous situation at hand.

That is why a proper function test helps: it checks and confirms that the combination of shooter, firearm and ammunition works well together.

We once had a practice load of 147gr FN which I could fire in any of my pistols, but my wife could not get them to run properly in her G26. We went back to 124gr RN with a similar factor and have not had a single hiccup since.

[Bismarck 1941]

Buddy you know me so I’ll keep my concern simple, you ask any normal person to do a function test with premium ammo and what will that be? You can shoot 10, 20, 30 or whatever amount of rounds, if there is a statistical problem the next bullet might jam, reverse the order and it might jam with the FIRST defensive round.

The average person is not going to buy carry ammo and shoot out a couple of boxes first, they will practice with cheap ammo and load premium. If you ask me test about 200 rounds of a certain ammo, and if no problems you are good to go, how many people will do that with rangers or the like?

This whole “function test” is a grey area for someone like me.

Yeah,i kinda agree with Messor's comment above,function testing is all good & well..but it means nothing to me the day you need them to go bang & instead they just click,,there are no guarantee in life..they can work flawlessly on the range until you might need them to work for you..Look at what happend to one of the members on this site who had Hornady Critical Duty/Defence in their FA." i guess i can assume any SD ammo in any FA,,even if everything is working 200% nothing i guess can prepare you mentally & physically for Code-Red..

One can only hope that if you buy,test & yada yada ,one might never have to use them in anger!

[Bismarck 1941]

All the penetration and expansion tests have been done by institution with big budgetsz and the results are publically available. You just need to make sure they work in your gun, not just with your normal shooting stance, but also strong&weak hand only, as well was with a compromised grip.

Thank you Pirate,i have seen this test on these ammo,this ammo i bought has quite an impressive penetration rate according to the chart given..given to me by a member on GS a while back..

Basically i just want to try & simulate this out of my FA without breaking the bank.
think of it as an interesting experiment