9mm out of a 40S&W ruins gun

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A guy I know is at the range with his Sig P226 40S&W. He's loading a magazine out of a box of loose rounds and feeds a 9mm into the mag. Somehow the gun fires the 9mm, (I'm surprised it stayed in the chamber.) The barrel is bulged in more then one spot and the slid is damaged. The case is found down range. The gun was sent to Sig and it needed a whole new upper. My question is how was the barrel and slide damaged. Was it the loose gas around the bullet causing pressure or the bullet bouncing off the sides of the barrel as it went. What caused the damage, (other then the guy being a dope for loading the wrong cartridge into the magazine!)
 
I fired a 9MM out of a 40 S&W Barrel (which I thought was a 9MM barrel) in my Browning HP. I got lousy accuracy and a bulged case, that was all.
 
I have picked up the occasional bulged case fired in the next larger caliber, and seen it happen a few times. No damage to the gun is reported or seen.
"Loose gas" or a "bouncing bullet" are not energetic enough to bend steel.

Heavy damage to barrel and slide is what you get from a barrel obstruction.
I think your guy may have loaded a 9mm, had it slide down the barrel, and then fired a .40 after it.

You got pictures of gun and recovered case?
 
What Jim said sounds more likely. If he did not produce the blown case, then even more so.

At the range, I once picked up a 9mm case that had obviously been fired in a .40. It was split and mis-shapen. That pressure obviously vented in several directions, and would have done no harm to the pistol.
 
I was beside a guy at the range one day that fired two magazines of 9mm in a .40 caliber Kahr before he noticed. Gun functioned perfectly. All of the cases were bulged and split. The gun was unhurt.
 
The rim of a 40 & 9 are virtually identical. IF the extractor cathes it, a bulged case & poor accuracy will result.(no damage) If the case doesn't catch the extractor, it will slip down the bore and become a bore obstuction. (plenty of damage if a live round is fired) If it doesn't go bang, CHECK THE BORE.
 
The PD that did it sent it back to Sig before I got a chance to look at it. He did fire more then one round and I don't know where the 9mm was in the mag. There was no mention of racking the slide for a misfire but maybe the 9mm got down the barrel and a 40 went off behind it.
 
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