As much as I try to pride myself on being careful and read threads of others doing like things thinking it would not happen to me, Guess What? It did today. I was at the range shooting. I took a box of hollowpoints to shoot through a 9mm Para Helwan Brig. handgun I got awhile back. It is a single stack liscensed copy by Beretta. I shot a few mags of FMJ through and then thought I would try some HP's since I had never yet. Pulled at the box that I pulled from my ammo drawer(note. I thought I had give all my 380 ammo away when I got rid of my last and thought all ammo in that drawer was 9mm) when I got it out and loaded the mag, I noticed right away the bullets were short. I pointed it out to my buddy. I thought it was just because of that certain hollow point though and they were loading in the mag as if they fit under the feed lips and all. I inserted mag and racked the slide. All as normal. I then started to shoot. Here are some observations: 1. my shots all hit high and right. 2. Every single round didn't quiet eject. Each empty was half way out and the loading round nose diving. Again, I was contributing this to the bullets being short and thought I will have to try a different brand of hollow points. 3. The rounds were considerably and noticeably less in recoil. After all this you would have thought I would have caught on before I finished the mag. Well I contributed that to the fact that these hollow points must be loaded alot lower than others. "you think?" what an idiot I was. I was just about to load a mag in my High Power to shoot when I tilted up the box and saw 380 auto on the end of the box. I just about hit the ground. I took my handgun apart, pulled the barrel and checked it out, cleaned it, didn't see any signs of damage. Loaded it back and shot 2 more mags of FMJ 9mm ammo through it. It did group a little higher than it usually does but the group was tight at about 2 inches at 25 yards for 8 shots. I done it again with the the same tight group but maybe a little closer to where it usually hits. I quit and went home. What do you all think? Anything else to check? From the way it shot afterwards what conclusion do you draw? By the way, always check every box before loading you guns. I will from now on. Lesson learned.
Accidently Shot .380acp in 9mm Para.
- Thread starter Whiteymin
- Start date
- Status
Well, I sort of think you will check things out better in the future before loading, or if when shooting something does not feel right. A lesson like this will probably make you look harder at all things gun related in the future and better keep you on your toes, so you will probably be a safer shooter because of it.
All the best,
GB
gandog56
Member
I sort of did almost the same thing. Ruger mags for a 9mm and 40 S&W are not that different. Somehow I grabbed a loaded 9mm mag and shoved it into my 40 cal. Th pistol fired, but the recoil was extremly light and the action did not cycle. I immediately field stripped the gun fully expecting to find a squib round lodged in the barrel. To my surprise, the barrel was clear. Looked at the mag, and went oh @#$%&^%. Yep, a 9mm will go through a 40 cal barrel:banghead:
Sistema1927
Member
Both 9mm and .380 are rimless, and headspace on the case mouth.
How did they even fire?
How did they even fire?
Leedavisone
Member
Guns are like women
Your predicament reminds me that guns are so much like women. You need to keep feeding them the same line, or they get cranky on you. I suspect that you did no harm (I have done similar things myself without dire results). Also reminds me of "Rodeo Love" with a woman (kinda like the ammo situation). "Rodeo Love" is, when you are making love to the wife, you whisper the name of an old girlfriend in her ear, then try to stay on for 8 seconds. Much like ammo...
"Fortunately, I always keep my feathers numbered" -Foghorn Leghorn
Your predicament reminds me that guns are so much like women. You need to keep feeding them the same line, or they get cranky on you. I suspect that you did no harm (I have done similar things myself without dire results). Also reminds me of "Rodeo Love" with a woman (kinda like the ammo situation). "Rodeo Love" is, when you are making love to the wife, you whisper the name of an old girlfriend in her ear, then try to stay on for 8 seconds. Much like ammo...
"Fortunately, I always keep my feathers numbered" -Foghorn Leghorn
BHPshooter
Member
What a coincidence... I had a customer ask me if doing that was okay. Detailed in this Thread: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=268882
Anyway, glad everything turned out okay.
Wes
Anyway, glad everything turned out okay.
Wes
Desertscout
Member
I would imagine that the case headspaced on the extractor. Not at all dangerous and we do it with Glocks every so often. It's not at all a problem.
Not knowing and doing it by accident may not be so good. It could have dangerous with certain other rounds.
atblis
Member
Also popular
I think firing a 9x19 through a CZ52 with the 7.62x25 barrel installed has been done a few times. That's quite scary considering how weak those pistols are.
Fortunately, swaging a bullet down doesn't produce as much of a pressure increase as most would think.
I think firing a 9x19 through a CZ52 with the 7.62x25 barrel installed has been done a few times. That's quite scary considering how weak those pistols are.
Fortunately, swaging a bullet down doesn't produce as much of a pressure increase as most would think.
atblis
Member
My personal favorite
THe old 20 gauge lodged in the forcing cone of a 12 gauge. That's a good one.
The bullet swaging thing is a funny one. I've run across it in books a few times, and the general concensus is that it doesn't quite have the results most would think. In some cases, the pressures doesn't spike like you'd think it would.
THe old 20 gauge lodged in the forcing cone of a 12 gauge. That's a good one.
The bullet swaging thing is a funny one. I've run across it in books a few times, and the general concensus is that it doesn't quite have the results most would think. In some cases, the pressures doesn't spike like you'd think it would.
A guy next to me at the range....
was having a hell of a time with his 1911. When I looked at it, I noticed his ammo was 45 Glock........no wonder he was haveing problems. He bought the ammo on sale and thought he was getting a good deal.........no problems though....chris3
was having a hell of a time with his 1911. When I looked at it, I noticed his ammo was 45 Glock........no wonder he was haveing problems. He bought the ammo on sale and thought he was getting a good deal.........no problems though....chris3
Jim Watson
Member
There was one PD academy that trained for malfunction clearance by loading the occasional .380 in their cadets' Beretta 92 9mm magazines. The lesser cartridge would feed and fire, but not function the action, leaving some sort of FTE hangup to manage.
- Status
