At the range today I heard . . .

P

Prof Young

New member
Handgunners:

At the range today the owner told be about a woman who was having problems with her gun. It was quick work to discover she was shooing 9mm out of a 40 cal. Yipes! I'm surprised any would even shoot. But apparently some did.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 
Many moons ago I was shooting my Colt 1991a1, which to that point had been extremely reliable.

All of a sudden I started having malfunctions. After about 4 or 5 failures in a row I figured there had to an ammo issue. So I picked up the brass to take a look and that is when I noticed how buldged it was and then my brain caught up.......I had been running .40S&W through the .45 Colt. I had a turn white as a ghost moment and packed my stuff and went home. I had mixed up ammo between the .45 and the .40 I had brought for a SIG P239. Scary moment of dumbassery on my part to be sure.

No damage to the Colt.
 
I've seen several times that it has happened. The round fits poorly in the magazine, but it can hang up in the extractor as it is shoved in, and there is just enough space on the primer for the pin to strike it. since the 9 is tapered a bit, the rim is actually only about .9m smaller. Not even a full MM difference in the diameter at the rim, in fact, it might be that some handguns would hold any 9mm round in place behind the extractor and allow it to fire.
 
Some years back, I was in line to run a stage behind a guy who was having repeated malfunctions and accuracy issues until he discovered that he was running 9mm through his .40S&W pistol.

It's unlikely to hurt anything, but it doesn't work very well.
 
that's true, it really shouldn't be able to hurt anything as long as it fires or is ejected from the barrel somehow. ordinarily you could expect to find out without any catastrophic event, I think.

Run a twenty gauge in a twelve and you will almost certainly have a blow up, I have heard.
 
I saw that at a recent match. Duh. I saw a guy also bring a bag of 380 to shoot out of a Browning BDM. Seen mags loaded backwards at a CHL test.
 
I've done it once. I was shooting my SIG P229 chambered in .40 S&W side by side with a rental SIG Legion P229R chambered in 9 mm Luger and comparing the two.

Sure enough, I accidentally loaded a magazine loaded with 9 mm in my pistol and fired one round. The case jammed in the action and the shot sounded funny. The projectile hit the target, but several inches low and wide.

The 9 mm case was bulged out somewhat but intact. A close examination of the barrel revealed no evidence of damage.
 
Smaller is better

In most cases just some embarrassment. I have an 1895 double action Colt in .38 Colt.
I am told that it will chamber and fire not only .38 special but also .357 magnum. Well I would bet it will fire ONE .357 mag.

.38 special is higher pressure than the old gun is designed for. Mine is pretty loose and I would bet it's had a lot of .38 special through it. It's very common to find these old DA Colt's shot loose.

I see ads on Gunbroker claiming these guns are .38 special caliber, they are not, but it will chamber .38 special and fire.

About the worst is a 20 gauge round in a 12 gauge. The rim will hang right at the forcing cone, enough room to load a 12 on top of the 20 gauge round.
 
The only time I've personally seen this was when,,,
A young man was shooting .22 LR through a .22 Mag rifle.

I didn't spot it as I wasn't paying attention to him,,,
The shooter to his right noticed split cases.

To be fair though,,,
44 Special in a 44 Mag works,,,
38 Special in a 357 Mag works,,,
It's not totally unreasonable for a newbie to surmise 22 LR would work in a 22 Mag.

If I hadn't already learned about it,,,
I might have thought it would work.

Aarond

.
 
A guy puts .40S&W ammo in his .45acp...another guy fires 9mm in his .40...:eek:not good. Sounds like a good reason to avoid .40 cal...:D:rolleyes:

I understand, it happens...or so I should say, but the truth is, while I understand, it has never happened to me, and it seems unlikely that it will. I have forgotten to bring the right ammo, I have even brought the wrong ammo, but never, in my entire life has the wrong ammo made it into any of my guns.

One can of powder on the loading bench at a time is a good rule. I think one caliber on the shooting bench at a time is a good rule, as well.

I dunno, maybe its just me... but I was trained to look at my ammo when loading a gun or its magazine. And, when I say trained, I don't mean trained by the military, I don't mean just told, or taught in a one time safety class, I mean trained as in taught repeatedly over many years and seeing the worst possible results at a young age.

There is a reason I don't own a 20ga shotgun. never have, never will, unless someone gives me one as a gift, if they do, I'll ask them if I can pass it on to someone else.

Anyone care to guess why??
 
Trivia Alert:

Well, .22 Special WILL work in a .22 Magnum.

You just have to know that .22 Remington Special was their name for the .22 Winchester Rimfire, which is the same diameter as .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire. Not related to .22 Stevens Long, Rifle, though.
 
I bought a used barrel for my Browning HP, first range session, accuracy atrocious, then I looked at a fired case......
 
Even scarier is the guy who drops a 20 gauge while not paying attention in his 12 gauge gun followed by a 12 gauge round. The 20 slips down into the barrel just enough to allow the 12 to chamber. The resulting KABOOM can be deadly.

I have seen this only once (and thankfully not next to this person. He was shooting some skeet and had some 20s in his vest pocket from a hunting outing, was blabbering with his squadmates and didn't notice, until it was too late. No fatality; the gun was toast, he suffered some facial and arm injuries; luckily he had his eye protection on as a piece hit his lens shattering it like a car window without falling apart.

When I go to the range with handguns, I always bring two VERY different cartridges, as in 9mm and .22lr or 38 and 45ACP. Just one little extra safety step I take.
 
Okay, not meaning to be a huge smartalf, but caution is the word of the moment when you have ammo or weapons. If you have banned an entire category of weapon from you collection to prevent dangerous mistakes, well,there may be a few ill mannered souls out there who might tease you.
 
Thank goodness for trivia!

Until today, I had never even heard of .22 Special.
Click to expand...

As an aside, I have a NAA mini in 22 Mag and 22 LR (two cylinders). I bought a Thad Rybka pocket holster for it. However, it has a small pouch for 5 reload rounds. The problem is that the 22 mag rounds won't fit. I found that 22 WRF did and they fit the 22 mag cylinder. Obviously reloading this little gun in a fight would be a cluster, but hey ...
 
.380 will work in a 9mm gun.

I know because I was shooting a Beretta Nano once and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't cycle between rounds. . .
 
If you have banned an entire category of weapon from you collection to prevent dangerous mistakes, well,there may be a few ill mannered souls out there who might tease you.
Click to expand...

They can try...:D

I haven't banned an entire category of weapon, merely a single caliber that I neither have a want, or need, or use for. AND one that is probably the easiest and most dangerous ammo mistake risk to happen. Also there was a several decade period where I wasn't the only one with access to the family shotguns and ammo supply.

There has been a 12ga in my family since before 1900. Usually several. We use .410 for the light work. Using the 12/20 burst as a stated reason for not having a 20ga is a bit of a "stall tactic". Its not the only, or really the main reason I don't have a 20ga, but when I state that it is, is usually forestalls someone "explaining" to me how good the 20ga is, how its just as good as the 12, how the guns are lighter, etc, etc, etc...

I also don't have any .40/10mm pistols, not from any fear of the risk of getting the wrong ammo in a gun, but simply because I have no interest in them. I have guns and calibers that "wrap around" what the .40/10mm can do, on both sides, so, for me, there's no point to having them.

Other people seem to like them a lot, and that's a good thing for them, just not for me.

There are a number of firearms designs and models I don't have, and won't have, because I don't care for them. I have a number of firearms most other people see little or no point in owning. We're all different in our likes, and needs, and that's a good thing.

Don't tell me how I need a Glock, and I won't tell you how you need a Desert Eagle. Fair enough?? :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top