There was a discussion on handgunforum.net about the merits of alternating ammo. I thought that particular way of doing things was just OCD and potentially dangerous, however it did make me think that there may be some situations in which a magazine of mixed, if not alternated, ammo would make a difference.
First off, I think having an LTL option like a beanbag, rubber bullet or frangible handgun ammo is lunacy. That one shot may be all you get and if it doesn't put the BG down you could be dead before you get the next shot off.
I also think that alternating ammunition in a mag or cylinder sounds sensible on its face, but really it effectively reduces your ammunition capacity by half when you need only one or the other type of ammunition. For instance, if you alternate hollowpoints with FMJs so you can punch through a car door when you need to, only the FMJs will do the job and you're wasting HPs getting to the FMJs.
However, there are some combinations that might really make sense from a tactical standpoint. For instance, consider the stereotypical shooting; one guy shooting another (or both shooting at each other), it's over in seconds. If it progresses beyond that point, the combatants have found cover and are trading rounds.
Given that logical evolution of a gunfight, would it make any sense to load mags with three or four hollowpoints on top and FMJs for the rest of the mag? In that case, your typicalBG encountercan beended with a few well-aimed hollowpoints. If it progresses to the point where your shooter has found cover, the FMJs give more penetrating power through car doors, wood paneling, walls, etc, and you have them queued up ready to go with no changing of mags necessary.
I think it's a good idea in any case to have one mag of FMJ ammo available for such a situation. It's still the work of a couple seconds to drop your unfinished HP mag and slam a mag of FMJs home, and you should have found cover if the encounter becomes that big of a shootout; if you're heading for cover the HPs make the BG keep his head down just as good as anything else.
Discussion open; feel free to share your preference for mag loading and your logic behind it. Let's just keep it civil, and also remember this is not a caliber thread unless your loading scheme is dependent on or a result of your chosen caliber. The general effectiveness of one caliber over another has been discussed in many threads, some of them still active.
