brands of ammo that won't "set in" or "set back"

Welp, sounds like you have three choices: change your habits (which you refuse to do), change your ammo regularly, or change your gun. I'd suggest just putting a lock on the gun without unloading it, but I suspect you carry a Glock or similar so that wouldn't be safe.

Honestly, it sounds to me like the gun you are carrying may just be wrong for you. If that's what you feel you have to do to make it safe when you get home, you might consider something with a manual safety and decocker that you can engage, then put a lock on the gun without clearing it should you so choose. I can understand not being happy with the manual of arms of most striker-fired autos. If this is what you're currently having to do to feel safe, it's the wrong gun for you.

Once the bullet is seated , any set back can scrape off lead , copper or even brass from shell casing . Rechamblering that round - where does the shavings go ?
If you reload , you can pull the bullet and reseat - most of the time I don't bother . I seem to spill powder , and or scrape marks on bullet .
I used to save those bullets and reseat in N T case to show / train nephews how to use bullet pullers . Currently they are just saved a weight for plastic flowers or sling shot ammo .

Run your loaded ammo through a taper crimp die -- that usually solves the problem.

Chambering the same round over and over will eventually drive the bullet deeper into the case.
Don't chamber the same round over and over or drop a round directly into the chamber, ease the slide down and see if the extractor will slip over the rim, if it does problem solved , then insert magazine .
I had a Beretta 32 acp with a pop up barrel, you dropped the round into the chamber and snapped the barrel shut. Inserted magazine...no manual slide racking was required.

The bullet gets driven back when it hits the feed ramp, one or twice is ok but after that the bullet may get driven deeper.
Gary

Ride the slide forward may soften the loading of the cartridge and slowing set back.

Pull back slide enough to jam something in the action of the firearm cannot be fired unless removed.

Buy a micrometer and measure your ammo until it has been setback a certain amount then toss or put in a shoot at range container.

Or run some tests to see the effect of set back on your carry ammo. If you can set it back by .xxx and velocity does not go up sharply then you will be OK.

cc-hangfire said:

Look at the Hornaday Critical defense ammo. It has a crimp band (hatch pattern IIRC) at the base of the bullet. It is my guess - based on nothing but wild supposition - that this is to help reduce the likelihood of setback from repeated chambering. I mark the top rounds (permanent marker to color the primer) and after several re-chamberings, shoot them. I still check their lengths to verify no setback before shooting them.

As mentioned above, one chambering only is the best practice and repeated chambering is done at your own risk. But my observation of the Hornaday rounds is that they have not experienced setback with multiple chambering.

Click to expand...

While I still don't trust it to repeatedly be chambered. I did a test on some of these a couple of years ago. I chambered them into my 92 several dozen times and measured the oal each time. Out of 17 rounds, only 2 experienced any setback and those were less than .003.

More perspectives on this issue here:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=802960

including more test results.

When I carried 4"45 1911's I had a huge setback problem with Hornady XTP's 230 gr. Had to throw out a couple dozen rounds. But I haven't noticed the problem with my Glocks in either .45 Federal HST's 230's or Hornady Critical Duty 135 +p 9mm (great round by the way).

Arguably enough the Hydrashocks keep doing fairly well in ammo tests even now. Since barrel length has such a large effect on velocity, it can't be said from one gun to another how they rank without testing them.

It does go to more pistol rounds using the case mouth as a stop that causes the problem. They can't be crimped enough or the round headspaces incorrectly. So getting bullets to stay put constantly charging them in the chamber is in fact a fantasy goal. It's going to happen - there's no shoulder to work with. It's an open case mouth disadvantage.

For the most part PD's are still coming up to speed on rotating their ammo to prevent the situation, but it's been a known issue for decades. It's why self loading military weapons crimp the ammo to prevent setback. If pistol ammo is set back a few thousandths every time regardless then the real issue isn't the ammo it's the user. The three causes of malfunctions are ammo, magazines, and user error, and the last one definitely creates issues in the first two. The standard response now it to rotate ammo and shoot the old rounds off for practice. It promotes reliability, accuracy, and economy. What's not to like about that?

While O P was on the 9 mm , it has switched to the 40 . I have a nephew and a niece [ married ] and both cops . They came up from L A region and asked about rechambering rounds . I told them to keep a box and when removing a round , put in box and just swap the rounds for new ones at range .
<edit>

A differing opinion on the effects of bullet set-back: http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/05/battered-bullets-does-bullet-setback-matter/, https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=3&f=16&t=612490
They don't address the possibility of the primer being damaged, however.

I simply will not do it more then 3 times after that it goes in a separate mag or box for range use. I do worry less about 9mm then my 40, I do not re-chamber the 40.

I reload and I have yet to see any that would not set back after several chambering, over crimping can cause other problems.

Sometimes to be safe we need to change our mode of operation, when I carry
I want to know it will work proper, go bang instead of boom.

I generally don't worry much about setback, as I've only seen a handful of instances where it "could be" dangerous.

Your eyes are fine precision instruments, and can spot minute differences in lengths.
I keep an eye on the top round that may or may not have been chambered more than once... If it looks suspect, it may very well be set back.

This is one reason I do not use R-P brass in 45acp, as the handful of instances I've seen were all, each and every one, were r-p 45s.
R-P said, "Neck tension? What's that?"

But anemic loads to begin with, then once they're tamped down the pressure will only be like +P+







Hopefully...

Try some flush seated wadcutters. There's nothing to set back.

Or just ride the slide forward and give the back of the slide a little rap with the palm of your hand to make sure it's seated fully into battery.

I've always done it that way even before I realized set back was a thing.

The danger is not so much over pressure due to set back it's failures to feed.

When the police first started going to the automatic they had a problem with second round stoppages.
The cop would fire the first round and the gun would fail to feed the second and jam.

This was traced to bullet set back caused by re-chambering the same two rounds over and over during daily inspection.
The officer would remove the mag and eject the chambered round.
Then put the mag in and chamber the top round and put the first round back in the mag.

So, the same two rounds got chambered until the bullets got pushed back.
In order to fix the issue the police are trained not to re-chamber a round more they a couple of times, and the police buy police ammo that's made to withstand chambering a minimum of three times before it needs to be shot in practice.

If necessary, one trick is to pull a round out of a new box of ammo and keep it separate.
Use that new, un-chambered round as a gage to detect bullets that are starting to move, then use them only for practice.

On a side note to the OP, the Beretta 92 series pistols state in the manual that it is ok to load a cartridge directly into the chamber, and lower the slide on that round. It's the only model I know of that the manufacturer states that this is alright to do, as on other models it can damage the extractor.

Switching to a 92 series gun, like the compact, could solve your problem. I know it's not the suggestion you are looking for, but it is a suggestion that hasn't been made yet.

I use 230 Federal HST's for carry. I unload my magazines every time I go to the range and load them with FMJ. I have done this dozen's of times and when standing one round up against another, I can see no visible difference. Every once in a blue moon I shoot up my defense loads, haven't had my gun blow up yet.