Do you "Smartie-box" your carry ammo?

[Thorkind]

By "smartie-box" I mean: do you put various different brands/sorts of ammo in the same magazine you carry for self-defence? ie. one Ranger-T, one Gold-dot then one THV etc. or 5 hollowpoints then 5 tracer etc. If you do, then explain why. Personally, I don't get the point in handguns.

[BoerBok]

I normally carry 2 extra mags with me. One is filled with Hornady XTP 124gr and the other with FMJ's.

The mag in the BM is loaded +1 with XTP, then FMJ, XTP, FMJ, XTP & repeat to 8.

I reckoned that, in carrying & driving around, the XTP would prevent overpenetration and the FMJ's would be good for car doors.

Whatever happens after that would determine which mag goes next.

However, this is not the perfect compromise and finding one carry load that can penetrate and reliably expand, seems like the Holy Grail.

??? ???

[abhm]

no way I always carry the same all the way through, whilst there are various schools of thought and people who claim that you need to round count, I have been in one or two high stress situations and can quite honestly say the first time I knew where I was in the magazine was when the slide locked open on an empty mag, I remember back when I was still in the police some guys from other units who worked along side us always used to carry the first round as rubber then bird etc, I can remember when the brown stuff impacted with the blades they along with us worked that slide so fast there was no way they knew which round was which.

There is this aspect of being over prepared which is not beneficial when you focus so much on your preperation and then keeping it simple goes out the window, the key is doing it the same way over and over and over and over the same goes for your ammo, choose your brand then stick with it and remember to change your ammo out, so every so often go to the range and put the carry rounds through the barrel and reload your mags with some fresh of the same brand. also take your daily carry allotment and aquire at least half as many magazines, ie if you carry four go and buy two more then rotate your mags even with modern decent weapons dont go and place unneeded stress on your mag springs so reload completely and leave mag empty for at least a week the rotate again. Personally I dont max my mags but leave two rounds short and carry an extra magazine, its quicker to change mags than clear a jam, anyway my 02c

[BoerBok]

+1 abhm.

I agree, but putting a JHP through a barrier, e.g. door or car door, might be asking too much of it. How do you overcome that without Smartie-boxing?

[SSP]

+1 abhm.

I agree, but putting a JHP through a barrier, e.g. door or car door, might be asking too much of it. How do you overcome that without Smartie-boxing?

Carry ball! :P

[abhm]

+1 abhm.

I agree, but putting a JHP through a barrier, e.g. door or car door, might be asking too much of it. How do you overcome that without Smartie-boxing?

use tactics, move, find an alternate firing position, break contact! or keep your load consistently with the latest super fly extra strength explosive tipped ultra penetrators! but to say ok my third round is going to go all the way to Luanda and back is not going to work when your body is maxed under pressure seriously you are going to be maxing your focus on just shooting correctly, to constantly inventory your mag will fly straight out the window! ;D

[Thorkind]

+1 abhm.

I agree, but putting a JHP through a barrier, e.g. door or car door, might be asking too much of it. How do you overcome that without Smartie-boxing?

I reckon modern bonded JHP designs like the Gold-dot etc have far superior hard-target penetration in comparison to older non-bonded designs.

[BigT]

Thorkind is right part of the FBI barrier test is to see how the loads perform through barriers such as steel.

Remember hollowpoints will be more likely to plug up and turn to ball through most barriers (excluding car windscreens) than over expand so you arent really gaining anything by staggering your loads and Murphy dictates that you will end up having the wrong one in the chamber anyway.If you look at the FBI test results you will see most of the loads exhibit very deep penetration and minimal expansion through the hard barriers. Hollowpoint are designed to expand in a fluid medium and most only seem to suffer deformation in a harder medium.

I would suggest finding a load off of Doc Roberts list and sticking with that. A smartie box could also have a negative affect on reliability.

[zax]

GDHP all the way. I have testedthem myself on phone books(nothing scientific, very expensive, I know) but they work.

[shooter]

No, more like a stack of Oreo cookies. Two FMJ, one Hydrashok, etc. It's 380ACP so I think it makes more sense than in more powerful calibers.