rental range faux pas

[esquare]

So I went to a rental range yesterday to rent a few guns. Anyway, I rented a kahr cw9 and bought a box of ammo and the guy hands me 380. I look at it and mention that I think the gun is a 9mm, and he said, yes, it's 9mm short, which is the same as 380. Thinking that the guy actually knows what he's talking about, I thought, wow, didn't know that, and proceeded to the range. I load up the first mag and it's just not right, so I check out the gun on the phone, and sure enough it's chambered in 9mm para, so back I went to get the ammo exchanged. Sort of annoying.

My questions are, what would have happened if I tried shooting 380 in a 9mm para gun, and has this happened to anyone else?

 

[kwelz]

Chances are it would not have functioned, the round would have fired but the action would not cycle. However I doubt you would have seen anything catastrophic from it.

 

[Shadow 7D]

It would have fired, and the bullet would have gone down range, and the slide won't fully cycle, depending on the gun, that might mean nothing happens, a FTE, a stove pipe....

next time remember to return the ammo with his sign (blue collar comedy)

BTW, 9x17 vs 9x19

 

[mgmorden]

Don't be too embarrassed. I actually tried the same thing once as the instructor in my hunter's safety class way back when had mentioned the same thing - that .380 was "9mm Short" and that you could fire them in 9mm guns no problem - just like the .38 Special/.357 Magnum situation.

Basically, the round will chamber. It'll fire. The action won't cycle right and the case won't likely clear the ejection port. Other than that, not much.

End result: it doesn't really work right, but there was no harm to me nor the gun.

 

[esquare]

I'm not the one embarrassed - the rental guy was the one who insisted it was chambered in .380. But it's good to know that in this particular case it would have just not cycled the slide properly. That's definitely good to know.

 

[Dokkalfar]

Well, this instance was pretty harmless.. But remember its your hand holding the firearm when it fires. If I were you, anytime you rent something double-check (as you did on the phone) if they tell you one type of ammo works in another type of gun. No point risking your hand/life on their word.

 

[writerinmo]

My stepson managed to fire two rounds of 9mm through my .40. The spent cases didn't eject, I took the gun from him and dropped the mag, racked the slide and the brass fell out, so he put the mag back in and chambered a round, bang, same thing... I was like... this pistol has NEVER FTE on me, now all of a sudden two in a row? The second brass I had to punch out with a dowel, I took one look at it and knew what he had done... got ahead of himself loading up the .40 mag while we were still shooting 9mm! I never have two calibers of ammo on the bench at the same time, but he managed to find a way around that! Now he carries the two VERY EXPANDED 9mm casings on his keychain as a reminder to pay attention.

 

[shotgun-2]

My wife shot a cylinder of 41 Mags thru a 44 Mag and then handed me the gun when the cylinder would not open as the brass was set back too tight against the recoil sheild with expanded and some split brass. I do not get 41's and 44's out at the same time any more when shooting. :banghead:

 

[hardworker]

Complain to the guy, maybe he'll give you a box of 9x19 on the house for screwing up.

 

[Hardtarget]

Years ago .380 was listed as 9mm kurz. In other words...short. Sorry, its not the same thing as the .38 in .357 when talking about semi auto guns. Revolvers ARE just a bit different.

I watched as .44-40 was shot in the Taurus "Judge" even though it is chambered for .45 Colt. Poor groups from good shooters.

We think nothing of shooting .22 short/long/long rifle in the same gun. Some if this works...some doesn't.

Mark