Was out target shooting with the wife. I had my 357 and she had her 9mm. We were switching off guns back and forth and I started loading my 357 with her ammo. Luckily she caught what I was doing out of the corner of her eye. Saved me from a bonehead mistake. Anyone else have a similar experience
I ALMOST blew it up!
- Thread starter Irish B
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Yeah, I didn't know that a 16 gauge shotgun shell would chamber and fire in a 12 gauge Browning A5. It sounded funny and after checking we discovered the mistake. Too many boxes of shells on the table. No harm except for embarrassment at making a rookie mistake.
Be careful when you've got more than one caliber/gauge out at the same time.
Be careful when you've got more than one caliber/gauge out at the same time.
Somehow I got a couple of .380's mixed in my 9mm reloads not too long ago and fired one out of my Glock 19. The Glock stove piped but I didn't think anything of it (which I should have cause it's never malfunctioned before), cleared it and kept firing. A couple of mags later I caught myself loading a .380 into the mag and that got me thinking about the stove pipe, I looked at the casing and sure enough it was a .380. Didn't hurt anything, I checked that full box of 9mm reloads (800 rounds) and found 6 .380's total in it. 
9mm in a .357 is definitely a bonehead mistake (sorry, your words! 
) but you wouldn't have blown anything up. It may or may not have actually detonated, and if it did it would have been uneventful. Same max pressure in a 9mm as a .357 Mag with a bullet that is two-thousandths undersized. In fact, Ruger made a run of convertible Black Hawk revolvers that was capable of using both rounds, albeit with swappable cylinders.
9mm in a .38 Special would not be a good idea.
) but you wouldn't have blown anything up. It may or may not have actually detonated, and if it did it would have been uneventful. Same max pressure in a 9mm as a .357 Mag with a bullet that is two-thousandths undersized. In fact, Ruger made a run of convertible Black Hawk revolvers that was capable of using both rounds, albeit with swappable cylinders.9mm in a .38 Special would not be a good idea.
I'm guessing your wife caught you pretty early: A 9mm case is tapered, and measures 0.391" at the base, whereas .357mag & .38spls measure 0.379", so it's unlikely you'd get even the 1st into the cylinder. Given another second or 2, you'd have discovered the mistake yourself, well before you even tried (unsuccessfully) to close the cylinder.
jglsprings
New member
Like MrBorland said. Not really a problem...
Well, not a big a problem.
Well, not a big a problem.
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Kreyzhorse
New member
You wouldn't have blown any thing up or even been able to close the cylinder, but it is a good lesson to always check that you are using the right ammo.
How many of us haven't loaded 9mm LARGO instead of the much more common 9mm LUGER.
Actually, I was shooting next to a friend and he had a LOT of issues shooting his TOK 213. A couple of shots later, he exclaimed, "Oh, THAT'S why!" Turns out that what follows the 9MM is just as important!
Actually, I was shooting next to a friend and he had a LOT of issues shooting his TOK 213. A couple of shots later, he exclaimed, "Oh, THAT'S why!" Turns out that what follows the 9MM is just as important!
Friar Whently
New member
Out of curiosity, supposing the 9mm did load into the .357 cylinder, would anything bad have happened if it fired? If the gun is chambered for a more powerful round, what is a weaker round going to do to the gun?
I mainly ask because of the title of the OP...what exactly would have "blown up"?
I mainly ask because of the title of the OP...what exactly would have "blown up"?
A couple of years ago, our club was hosting a Sunday shoot for a local group. They were signed up to shoot skeet, trap, and five stand disciplines, and I was one of the designated range officers. I was watching a group on the trap line, and one of the shooters had a misfire. Since they were of unknown ability, our rule was to clear all guns and have a cease fire. We immediately made the line cold, and I went to check the fellow's gun which had misfired. He told me that he evidently didn't load a fresh shell. Didn't sound right. I cleared the line, and took the gent's shotgun to check for myself.
You guessed it. When I put a rod down the barrel to check for a blockage, a 20 gauge fell back to the bolt face. I removed the shell, checked for any other obstructions, and then checked his shooting pouch. Three more 20 gauges in with the 12 gauges.
The bolt on the Benelli came forward with enough force to jam the 20 gauge round into the chamber; another shell into the chamber would have caused a catastrophe.
After the outing was done, we took an identical Benelli, trimmed a couple of empty hulls to correct length to see if both rounds would completely chamber. They would. This might not work on a 12 gauge with 2.75" chambers, but the Benelli would seat the round deep enough because the chamber was designed for 3.25" shells.
You guessed it. When I put a rod down the barrel to check for a blockage, a 20 gauge fell back to the bolt face. I removed the shell, checked for any other obstructions, and then checked his shooting pouch. Three more 20 gauges in with the 12 gauges.
The bolt on the Benelli came forward with enough force to jam the 20 gauge round into the chamber; another shell into the chamber would have caused a catastrophe.
After the outing was done, we took an identical Benelli, trimmed a couple of empty hulls to correct length to see if both rounds would completely chamber. They would. This might not work on a 12 gauge with 2.75" chambers, but the Benelli would seat the round deep enough because the chamber was designed for 3.25" shells.
Sure Shot Mc Gee
New member
Living on a farm as a kid. We had at times Coons and Skunk meander into the yards. My father went to shut the front yard light off one summers night and spotted a rather large and unusual behaving skunk not far from the house in our front yard. My father hurriedly grabbed his 12 ga. single shot Iver Johnson out of the gun cabinet with two rounds in hand. He quickly proceeded to the houses front stoop. He loaded up his favorite little "handy dandy shotgun" and took his shot. Nothing happened? He opened the receiver while keeping an eye on his quarry and again chambered yet another 12ga. round. {Thinking the misfired first round ejected itself upon opening.} During this event the rather large and friendly skunk seemed to be closing the distance between them. Iver's barrel split wide open!! the skunk sprayed and hurried away from the encounter never to return. And my dad? Lets say? I heard some really loud and nasty swear words for the first time.
But not the last. The only scared person in the house that night was my mother. But you wouldn't think so? by her not so un-becoming UN-lady-like-behavior directed at my fathers fiasco. He blew-up his favorite shotgun given to him early on in their marriage by his late father-in law. In the morning we determined it to be a 20-12ga. mix-up. Pops wasn't hurt any but his first tomato juice bath donated from my mother canning shelf didn't go as well as planned? Took a few days for the air to clear in that house. But the humor stemming from that event and night never did.
[for us kids]
But not the last. The only scared person in the house that night was my mother. But you wouldn't think so? by her not so un-becoming UN-lady-like-behavior directed at my fathers fiasco. He blew-up his favorite shotgun given to him early on in their marriage by his late father-in law. In the morning we determined it to be a 20-12ga. mix-up. Pops wasn't hurt any but his first tomato juice bath donated from my mother canning shelf didn't go as well as planned? Took a few days for the air to clear in that house. But the humor stemming from that event and night never did. [for us kids]
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Good thing it wasn't a 20ga!...
Ok,now this part I don't quite understand. You cannot "jam" a 20ga shell in a 12ga chamber. Its too small. Normally what happens is the 20ga falls through the chamber and sticks in the 12ga barrel a few inches ahead of the chamber. Since the chamber is completely empty now (with the 20ga shell stuck in the bore) a 12ga shell can be chambered with no indication there is anything wrong. This leads to the infamous, and dangerous "12-20 burst", where the barel blows open at the obstructed point when fired.
Now, if the 12ga gun design allows the extractor to hold to 20ga shell in the chamber, its still grossly undersized and would certainly burst, if it went off at all. Not a good situation, either. This risk is why US ammo makers used (mostly) yellow/orange for 20ga shells since the 50s, and never (or rarely)used those colors for 12ga.
Not sure if this is still the case, but for many decades a yellow shell meant it didn't go in a a 12ga. Every other color could. When I was a kid, they taught that in Hunter Safety training. And, they had pictures! They also had some very ...sobering pictures of why its stupid to have loaded guns in cars. Ah, youth....
There are a number of rounds that will fit into a .357 mag chamber, including some that should not be fired. Bottom line is that if it fits in the .357 chamber and the cylinder closes and rotates normally, it won't turn your .357 into a grenade in your hand (factory ammo only, bad/wrong handloads are a completely different matter!!!!).
Just like Hoytinak,I've come close but did'nt load the gun and cussed myself for getting the few 380 round's I had mixed up with the numerous 9mm round's I had.
It's alot of fun when you have to wear reading glasses and look at the back of every round and read that tiny lettering to see what caliber it is from round to round in a plastic rounds box.
It's alot of fun when you have to wear reading glasses and look at the back of every round and read that tiny lettering to see what caliber it is from round to round in a plastic rounds box.