Coworker Break-In

wow! Glad to hear he's alright. I hope he attempts to "harden" his place, it'd be a tragedy for him to come home late one night to find these guys waiting for him but better prepared! 9mm/45/357 are all good cartidges... but an ar with a blinding spot light would sure have made them jump!

If he was a pal of mine I would hope to convince him to pay closer attention to what he stuffs in that pistol first, followed immediately by what he could do to deal with the loose security around his house. Patio sliders are by nature not known as good for security, but things can be done to keep the panels from being so easy to lift up and out of the track. Changing to a different caliber pistol does nothing to make his place harder to enter.

Obviously he doesn't Practice with the right People!!!

I placed a reasonably small order for 9MM Luger on a very popular and well-regarded on-line ammo site (pre-shortage) and a couple boxes of Makarov were mixed in. The seller rectified the mistake immediately. But it just goes to show even knowledgeable people can make mistakes.

I too am surprised he got the rounds into the mags in the first place...this is just another example for why diligence is so critical when dealing with our weapons.

This story is totally made up.

There's no way 9mm Makarov is going to chamber in 9mm Luger. There's no way 9mm Largo is even going to fit into a 9mm Luger magazine. It is 5mm longer.

Your co-worker likes to tell long tales, my friend.

I assume the OP meant to say 9mm luger, not largo. As for the 9x18 not chambering in 9mm Luger, that may be, but he didn't say it did. He said the gun jammed. If it had chambered it would have fired or went Kaboom!

He said the gun jammed.

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Actually, he said the gun went "click." which suggests that the round chambered, the disconnector was depressed, and the hammer fell.

We can suppose all day as to what really happened.

If the friend exists, he needs to do pay more attention to his weapon regardless.

Your friend *should* have racked the slide as soon as he picked up his pistol. If I'm heading *anywhere* with a firearm to "check out" something, I'm going to have a full magazine, a round its going to be chambered, my safety is off, and my finger is going to be REALLY close to the trigger.

That's why I love the 1911. Carry it cocked and locked, and a nice extended safety is so natural and easy to disengage.


-Matt

Ya know, instead of all the different guns and calibers suggested in this thread, maybe the coworker will be motivated to you know, go buy the correct ammo (and verify that!) and get some range time...money that will be far better spent getting used to an existing gun (I'm assuming a metal framed Smith auto...good guns) than being spent on something else.

"Wow, he was lucky, the way I understand it, you "can" shoot 9mm (para, nato, etc) in a 9mak."

I may be mistaken, but I am under the impression that 9X19 is a high pressure round (SAAMI specs anyone?), and although it might chamber in a mak; you seriously risk a kaboom.

Where did the 3 intruders go? jumped the 10 feet down? That is certainly possible w/ the kind of adrenaline you would get from staring into the business end of a pistol held by an angry homeowner, but this still smells fishy.

Unbelievable!
If he has so many guns and he shoot them once a month how could he mistaken the ammo???

He is LUCKY!

I probably would have done a few things different, but who knows it did not happen to me.

I must be a humanitarian because I would have "lit them up" with my flashlight and warned them to get out of my house, informed them I have a gun and that if they do not stop, and leave I will be forced to defend myself. I am only saying that, say he kills one or two of them... maybe all of them any witnesses are going to hear "Get the **** out before I start killing people!"

When did he call 911?

I would have (And do have) my SD/HD ready at all times. Loaded, one in the chamber with the safety on. I keep a .357 in my nightstand with my surefire.

I would have eaten the steak.

3 lessons to be learned here IMO

while we can blame "Mike" for not knowing and should try to educate him...i have a feeling he had some help in his "selection" of ammo.

i've been in store where someone will come to the counter and ask for "9mm ammo" and be handed any box that says "9mm" on it. i've even seen a seller tell a customer that .380 is "the same thing". the funniest is watching a clerk hand .380 ammo to someone wanting .38 spl..."it'll fit". actually 9x17mm and 9x18mm ammo will fit and fire in a 9x19mm handgun

just as likely is the situation that someone "gave him" some 9mm ammo they had laying around

i don't think a switch in caliber will help, he just need to be educated in recognition of the correct ammo.

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I think 9M's thoughts above are close, if not, the exact problem "to begin with"..

Lesson 1. Never assume the_clerk is handing you the correct ammo. "Verify before you buy" and "any chance" of getting 9mm Luger for 9mm short/380acp or visa verse is confirmed, corrected, verified, at the store, not when the need arises and one pulls the trigger and clk or one of several other possibilities, one shot, not enough/correct bullet charge to cycle out the first fired round and load the next correct size/powered, or incorrect, underpowered, bullet i.e short 9mm/380acp in 9mm gun or, somehow putting 9mm in a 380's mag but..

Lesson 2. Having an "unloaded/chambered" SD/HD gun when the need arises and then "racking in" the first shot only to have the gun jam one way or another, and there ya are..

Lesson 3. Keep one's HD/SD gun loaded/one in the tube, always.

Guns only go bang when one's trigger finger pulls the trigger, so to avoid finding a problem when you need that first shot, I would suggest, highly, to Mike, from now on keep one in the tube/chambered, that way he'll not discover "a problem" i.e jam at the moment of need, rather, at the moment of no-need and be able to correct it without his life being on the line, one way or another, with no bang, FTFC, jam, one underpowered shot only, with gun not cycling out the spent casing nor loading the next bullet.

~ Verifying ~ goes a long ways, in so many ways.




OMMV,


Ls

Tell your buddy to go and by a .38 special or .357 mag. Revolvers don't jam and it doesn't sound like he is familar enough with weapons to get the benefit of a semi auto.

Jeez... That story made me break out into a sweat. I switched home defense guns in my house from semi auto's to revolvers for that specific reason.

The 9mm Largo is 9x23 BTW...

EDIT:

At least the dog got some steak...

Story smells fake either from the co-worker making it up, the OP making it up, or a mis-communication between Mike and OP.

If it's true, I'd vote for Mike being a drug dealer. A team, that climbed to the second story (?!?!) and came prepped for his dog? Suggests they knew him, and knew he'd have something valuable. However, that is contra-indicated by the fact that they broke in when he was known to be home and known to be armed.

If you keep a gun for defense, without a round chambered, you are.... Badly misinformed, to put it politely.

If it's true, I'd vote for Mike being a drug dealer. A team, that climbed to the second story (?!?!) and came prepped for his dog? Suggests they knew him, and knew he'd have something valuable.

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I was thinking the same thing.

I'm glad Mike is OK.

Mike will get much more effective use out of his defensive tools if he practices with them more than once a month imo.

Perhaps a gun club that hosts action shooting near by, or even a bullseye club. The regularity will significantly increase his weapons handling safety, and will enhance his ability to utilize the correct ammunition for the appropriate firearm.

i don't think a switch in caliber will help, he just need to be educated in recognition of the correct ammo.

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Exactly, switching calibers or types of firearms is useless if you are not capable of using them safely and correctly. If you cannot properly use your firearm then you need training. Attempting to protect yourself and property in a way you dont know how is unsafe and plain dumb. If his story is true then he is lucky for surviving his ignorance.

Interesting,frightening if true, also he probably used to be/ is a drug dealer if it is true. Even thugs don't do that much planning if they see you have a lexus with tinted windows ( didn't say it was a new lexus). There was something else there they wanted for sure, I do know someone who makes up crap like this though, if it happened to me I doubt I would be at work the next day.

to address the shotgun recommendation. if someone doesn't chamber a round in a gun for HD, what makes you think he'd be able to chamber a round in a shotgun under stress

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Pump shotgun? 12 Gauge? 2 3/4 or 3'' shells, not that hard to figure out. Racking a pump shotgun isn't especially difficult, just wouldn't want to try to load one in the dark. Which is why I keep mine loaded and chambered with the safety on, guess they won't be scared off when I tell em I'm armed because they won't hear the 'KAA-Chook' Lol.

Something about it just doesn't seem feasible. I know that tests were run with Glocks where 9mm Luger rounds were repeatedly chambered in .40 cal. Glocks, and the gun did fire (not accurately and not without damage to the 9mm casings). If those .40 cal. Glocks could "chamber" a round, although the rounds were held solely by the extractor, then the extractor of the S&W should have at least held the 9mm Mak round in place. seeing as they should have fairly close diameters. As for the 9mm Largo, adding 4 mm to the total cartridge length, would they even seat in a 9X19mm magazine? The whole thing seems off to me.