[FireArmFan]

I was at the range last year. and we took a whole bunch of Newbies to shooting. People from work. we had a whole bunch of different pistols in 2 different lanes. In one lane we had a compact springfield xd .40 and a kimber 1911 .45. one of the newbie guys we brought along, accidently loaded the .40 in the Kimber. he took one shot and it fired. he shot again and the gun jammed up pretty bad. we were lucky it didnt turn out worse. The kimber belonged to a friend of mine and he took care of it at home and it still fires great. I figure it was better he load the .40 into the .45 than the other way around but it wasn't good either way. he hit the paper on the first shot that fired before it jammed. anyone ever witness anything like this before?

[mete]

The two cases are fairly close in dimensions. While I've heard of the problem I haven't heard any really bad results . There is also the 12/20 ga problem which has resulted in serious injury and in one case I remember death. Don't mix ammo !! Keep different ammo separately

[4fingermick]

The shotgun one is really dangerous, the 20Ga (and 16G I believe) fall down into the chamber and the rim stops on the front of the chamber, pull the trigger, nothing happens, open gun, no case visible, throw in another, gun closes, fires. whammo! big problem. That was why the different gauges were coloured differently at first. 12Ga's were red, I never owned anything else and I can't remember the colours. I've got them in an old shotgunning book if anyone is interested. Mick.

[BobHAJ]

NEVER NEVER NEVER have more than one caliber of ammo open one the table at the same time. Did I say NEVER.
I don't care if it's .22 and 30-06. If you develop good habits this will NEVER happen.

[MD_Willington]

Last time I went shooting with my wife's church group someone did just that, the slide was racked with the muzzle pointed at the sod, the entire cartridge just slid right out. We all did a double take and checked the rest of the .45 mags.

[FireArmFan]

yep, live and learn. we try to keep the ammo as seperate as possible now, and make sure everyone knows the differences

[Reyn]

We had a female deputy load a 9mm rd into a .357 sig and fire it at qualifications It fired,then jammed.

[kungfuhippie]

This scares me.

I read of a guy firing 7.62x54r in his steyr 8x56r to "reform the brass" and it was a smaller bullet so it was "ok"


The crap you'll find on the internet.

(nice trick for reloaders is to reform the russian brass correctly)

Never shoot the wrong bullet in your gun. And pay attention. Never assume, always know when it comes to guns.

"I don't think it's loaded" is not good enough

"That looks like 9mm" also bad

being sure is the only way to be safe.

[Big Calhoun]

When going to the range, I always buy range ammo. If I start shooting a .45 first, then the .40s and their ammo stay on the lower level of the bench. Once I'm done with the .45s, I swap everything -- .45s on lower level, .40s and their ammo on top level. I've never misloaded the wrong caliber and by some of the stories I've read, I don't want to.

[TonyInFla]

Went to the range for annual requalification. Everything was going smoothly and was shooting well and having fun. Got into the dark house and the range officer had laid out ammo for everyone at the fireing points. 9mm, 40 cal., etc. I lined up at 45 ammo and proceeded to load my mags. When I got the eighth round in a 7 round mag used my flashlight to check the box and found a box of 40 cal. in with 45. Luckly I caught it before fireing. Always check, never assume.

[XavierBreath]

My take, FWIW:

When taking newbies shooting, it should always be a 1:1 ratio.

Even then, never take your eyes off them.

In addition, I will not take anyone shooting who cannot recite the four rules. I figure if they want to go shooting bad enough, then they can remember four sentences. If they cannot, then They simply do not care enough, and I figure they are unsafe.

[4v50 Gary]

Someone loaded my Sig P220 .45 mag with a 9mm and threw the mag to me. I fired it and heard a "poof" instead of a bang. The 9mm didn't function the action. I checked the barrel. No bulges or other damage. Tested it with normal ammo. Fired fine.

[Coronach]

When taking newbies shooting, it should always be a 1:1 ratio.

Even then, never take your eyes off them.

In addition, I will not take anyone shooting who cannot recite the four rules. I figure if they want to go shooting bad enough, then they can remember four sentences. If they cannot, then They simply do not care enough, and I figure they are unsafe.Bingo.

Also, a S&W 4506 (.45 ACP) will chamber a 9mm round just fine, if by "chamber" you mean "pull it out of the magazine and send the whole thing flying down the barrel." It is pretty amusing, and I have used it as a humorous demonstration of why you need to pay attention to what you're doing ("...because other variations of this are a lot less fun").

Mike

[ruckus3008]

My dad had just borrowed a Glock 23 from a friend. and I picked it up to look at it, ejected the mag andnoticed it was ful of 9mm ammo. I was kinda curious as to the size difference so I took the barrel out and pur a round into the chamber. It had quite a bit of room to move around inside the barrel. kinda funny.

[hksw]

one of the newbie guys we brought along, accidently loaded the .40 in the Kimber. he took one shot and it fired. he shot again and the gun jammed up pretty bad. we were lucky it didnt turn out worse. The kimber belonged to a friend of mine and he took care of it at home and it still fires great. I figure it was better he load the .40 into the .45 than the other way around but it wasn't good either way.

He was not the first and he won't be the last.

IMO, the more common handgun mismatches aren't a serious concern unless you get an extremely rare occurrence like a primered but powderless .40SW shot through a .45ACP gun and the bullet not getting kicked out of the barrel. I've been witness to .380ACP into a 9mm semi, 9mm through a .40SW gun, and a .40SW through a .45ACP platform. Only things happened were, at worst, the cases bulging at the mouth and the guns not fully cycling. To go the other way would be impossible. .45ACP will not chamber into a 10mm, .40SW, or .44spl/mag barrel/cylinder and the same with 10/.40 into a 9mm, .357/.38.

The 9X18, though, would be a little more serious.

[EDIT : I take that back. There could be instances of much smaller cartridges being entirely pushed into the rifling unfired (shooter none the wiser chambering the next round) and create a potentially explosive blockage for the next round to run into.]


Rifle cartridges, now, are a different story.

Always a good idea to keep track of ammo, though.

[Big Gay Al]

That is why when I go shooting, either I take only one gun, or all the guns I take are the same caliber.

Found out through testing, it's unfortunately, possible to chamber a 9x19mm round in a CZ-52. (7.62x25mm Tokarov). I would not want to be around if that happened on the range.

[Coyote3855]

I was range officer at a club IPSC practice session. Guy had a Glock 9mm that was not cycling. I had him unload and show clear. Picked up several spent brass, which was split the lengh of the case.

I asked him, "Do you have this same Glock in a .40 at home?"

He turned beet red.

Yes, he had installed the .40 barrel in the 9mm.

[NORTEXED]

Standing in a now defunct gun shop on 28th street in Fort Worth one day, and a couple of Vietnamese gentlemen come in with a soft case and are standing at the long counter. One of them opens the case and pulls out a Ruger .45 auto. I immediately scooch over the other way as it's apparent they have no idea what they are doing. The shop has a big barrel of .223 SS109 loose ammo at the counter selling "per round". One of the aforementioned "Gentlemen" reaches down, picks up a .223 rnd, and before I can anything, he drops it down the muzzle, and snaps the hammer which drives the whole round back out the end of the barrel. Why the primer didn't go off I'll never know. I along with 2 other customers take the gun away from the idiot and hand it to the not much brighter sales guy and request that he hold it till we are out of the store. BTW, the not much brighter sales clerk turns out to be an off duty Ft. W. COP.