Bullet setback

[A-R]

This is one of the issues I knew very little about until reading it about it online. I have searched the forum and read some other threads. Still not totally sure I understand it, so posting this photo and some questions regarding bullet setback.

These (photo below) are .40 S&W Federal HydraShocks from one of my Glock 23 mags. I have three mags full of these, but some are older than others. I'm honestly not sure how old this batch of ammo is, (yeah, yeah, I know - need to replace once a year). I bought a new box within the last year, but think these may be some holdovers I've had for a few years. The round on the left in photo caused me concern. The cartridge on the right appears to be from the same "batch" of ammo and is closer to what these rounds should look like.

Anyway, this seems to obviously be an example of setback. So my question is .... what do I do with this round? If I shoot it am I guaranteed a catastrophe? If I don't shoot it how/where do I properly/legally dispose of it?

[cbjetboy]

It looks like some rounds that I have racked into my automatics then pull them out later for whatever reason (mostly to load in some FMJ to practice). Sometimes if it feedjams the first round the bullet will drive into the case a bit. You can still shoot it safely as I have done that quite a bit. Now as a practice, I lock the slide back and manually insert the first round of carry ammo, release the slide and then put the full clip in the gun. That eliminates the result you show here.

[Carrots]

Now as a practice I lock the slide back and manually insert the first round of carry ammo, release the slide and then put the full clip in the gun. That eliminates the result you show here.

I thought that this was a bad idea?

[pbwalker]

Now as a practice I lock the slide back and manually insert the first round of carry ammo, release the slide and then put the full clip in the gun. That eliminates the result you show here.

I thought that this was a bad idea?

me too...I believe only a small handful of pistols can handle this without jacking up the extractor

[cbjetboy]

Now as a practice I lock the slide back and manually insert the first round of carry ammo, release the slide and then put the full clip in the gun. That eliminates the result you show here.

I thought that this was a bad idea?

I don't know why. I had some JHP rounds push into the case a bit from repeated first round extraction/re-feed so I started manually doing it pointing the gun in a safe direction. I have never had a problem and since then I haven't had bullets getting pushed into the case.

[cbjetboy]

Now as a practice I lock the slide back and manually insert the first round of carry ammo, release the slide and then put the full clip in the gun. That eliminates the result you show here.

I thought that this was a bad idea?

me too...I believe only a small handful of pistols can handle this without jacking up the extractor

Didn't know that...I will investigate if my Kimbers will be damaged doing that. Thanks for the heads-up!

[BrianSW99]

It looks like some rounds that I have racked into my automatics then pull them out later for whatever reason (mostly to load in some FMJ to practice). Sometimes if it feedjams the first round the bullet will drive into the case a bit. You can still shoot it safely as I have done that quite a bit. Now as a practice, I lock the slide back and manually insert the first round of carry ammo, release the slide and then put the full clip in the gun. That eliminates the result you show here.

Since this is a .40S&W round, I would not recommend firing it. They are already fairly close to their max pressure and the additional setback could increase pressure to the point that a catastrophic failure could occur.

[A-R]

Since this is a .40S&W round, I would not recommend firing it. They are already fairly close to their max pressure and the additional setback could increase pressure to the point that a catastrophic failure could occur.

So what do I do with it? Is there a proper legal way to dispose of it?

[Skiprr]

And something that used to be more common than it is today is newly-manufactured ammo in brass casings that have an extra crimp below the body of the bullet, precisely to help constrain the bullet from moving farther into the case to prevent setback. Here's an example of a Corbon:



It costs a bit more to manufacture with this little detail, and unfortunately it's becoming harder to find, even in high-quality defensive ammo. You'll notice the imprinted ring around the bullet itself, clearly indicating the correct setback. You can still find that more often than you can the second casing crimp, and it least it provides immediate visual information if the bullet has been pushed into the case.

[WildBill]

And something that used to be more common than it is today is newly-manufactured ammo in brass casings that have an extra crimp below the body of the bullet, precisely to help constrain the bullet from moving farther into the case to prevent setback. It costs a bit more to manufacture with this little detail, and unfortunately it's becoming harder to find, even in high-quality defensive ammo. You'll notice the imprinted ring around the bullet itself, clearly indicating the correct setback. You can still find that more often than you can the second casing crimp, and it least it provides immediate visual information if the bullet has been pushed into the case.

And if you reload you can make make the cannelure yourself: http://www.corbins.com/hct-1.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Skiprr]

"Cannelure"; that's it! "Cannelure." You're new nickname is WildRoget. (Roget's Thesaurus...get it? )

[WildBill]

"Cannelure"; that's it! "Cannelure." You're new nickname is WildRoget. (Roget's Thesaurus...get it? )

Thanks Skiprr, but I'll stick with WildBill. I think it rolls off the tongue a little easier than "WildRoget".

[03Lightningrocks]

Now as a practice I lock the slide back and manually insert the first round of carry ammo, release the slide and then put the full clip in the gun. That eliminates the result you show here.

I thought that this was a bad idea?

This can damage the extracter. Not a good idea at all.

Now an idea that does work is to shoot the ammo out of your carry piece first when you go for range practice. I always shoot all carry rounds that are loaded in my carry piece and magazine. Now for me that only amounts to about 14 rounds, but it keeps fresh ammo circulating through my carry piece and magazine. Some of you fellers who carry 150 rounds of ammo, a hand grenade, tear gas and a throwing knife may find it expensive to do this, but at least shoot the rounds out of your weapon.

[03Lightningrocks]

Now as a practice I lock the slide back and manually insert the first round of carry ammo, release the slide and then put the full clip in the gun. That eliminates the result you show here.

I thought that this was a bad idea?

me too...I believe only a small handful of pistols can handle this without jacking up the extractor

Didn't know that...I will investigate if my Kimbers will be damaged doing that. Thanks for the heads-up!

Kimber told me it would damage the extractor on my Eclipse Ultra Carry and suggested I not do it. It came up in a conversation I was having about failure to feed issues...not that there is any connection. It just came up because I said I had done that and the guy on the phone wanted to blame everything but Obama winning the election on me doing this. If you speak with them, i would love to hear which story you get...LOL.

The fellow at bullet trap who sold me my Kahr PM 9 said it would screw it up to do this. I have just about come to believe it isn't good for any of them.