Shooting 9mm through a .40?!

[conw]

I'm actually glad to have this info. This might sound silly, but it could actually make a difference in a one-time life-or-death situation where you didn't have the right ammo for your gun.

 

[Mr_Rogers]

Actual photo of two 380 hollow-point bullets, base of one on the left, nose of the other on the right. Turns out the "bright" individual involved had reloaded some 380 Auto cartridges but he had distorted the cases and so they would not fit in his 380. Since he wanted to reuse the cases he decided to fire them in his 9mm carbine to remove the bullets and powder. :banghead::banghead::banghead:
Thank heaven he used a carbine since a less strongly made gun would probably have blown up. After the first round made a funny noise on firing he took no notice, the case apparently ejected OK, so he fired a second round. That's when he realized there was a problem. I removed the two bullets from the barrel for him.

 

[Deanimator]

Anyway I didn't realize 9mm would fire so easily(he never would have known) with a completely incorrect caliber inside. The cause of the mix up was the box the guy sold him the glock in said glock 17(I think) and 9MM Parabellum on the front.

Weird coincidence: I got a Glock 17 box when I bought a Glock 22 also! Of course I knew I was buying a Glock 22 and have only ever fired the right ammunition through it.

 

[enfield]

I've fired (accidentally, if not negligently) a .40 in a .45 1911. Bulged & split case, failure to cycle, could hear the round hit the target after the mild pop.

 

[Tribal]

I saw that happen when the shooter rented a .40 (SIG P229 IIRC) but bought 9mm ammo for it, the range salesperson and the shooter both apparently having failed to notice it.

The same thing actually happened to me way back before I had bought my first pistol and was trying some out at a rental place. I was using a Kahr PM40 and my problem wasn't that I couldn't hit anything but that the gun itself wouldn't fire at all. The RSO came over and couldn't get it to fire either. He ejected the cartridge, flicked it on the floor (assuming it was a dud), racked another round, and once again: click. Finally he figured out what the deal was and sent me back to the counter with instructions to chew out the staff (which I didn't do).

In my defense, I had simply assumed that .40 was the Imperial equivalent of 9mm.

I've also accidentally fired .22lr out of a .22wmr cylinder in a Mini-Revolver. I didn't notice anything different except that two of the casings had expanded and were a pain to get out.

I haven't made any similar mistakes since (probably because I've only shot 9mm, .45, and .22lr lately...)

 

[axeman_g]

Done it...

Loaded a SA XD .40 mag with 9mm... first rd was awfully wrong. Pulled mag out and realized the issue. I was actualy very concerned at first, but a check seemed to be fine. I dont shoot .40 anymore so nomore issues.

 

[jad0110]

Dirkster,

Thanks for posting the HK add, I about pissed my pants ... ROFLMAO!

 

[FieroCDSP]

I think this thread brings to the fore-front a couple items.

1:Even stamping the caliber on the barrel or frame and on the ammo box can't cure extreme inexperience, stupidity, or lack of attention.
2:We need to be extremely attentive to what we're doing with guns. Don't assume anything, as we all know what "assume" means.
3:When you teach people about guns, make sure they know how to properly ID the ammo a gun uses.

 

[Confederate]

Wow. What a selling point!

Elmer Keith told the story about a few guys who were taken at gunpoint back in the late 1800s and forced into labor. It wasn't an uncommon practice of the day, but the guys were disarmed, their guns unloaded, then given back to them to put back on. The idea is that they didn't want anyone passing by to be suspicious about what was going on. As long as the men appeared armed, no one would notice.

While the guys were working, one of them found a loaded cartridge, but alas, it was the wrong caliber! So one of them took a strip off his shirt and rolled it around the cartridge until it would fit the larger chamber in his single-action revolver (.45 Colt?). He then loaded it into his gun and at the appropriate time shot the foreman dead at point blank range.

The story sound plausible. As long as you can get the primer under the firing pin, you should get some velocity. So what if it keyholed? The dead guy never knew what hit him.

 

[TheLibertarianMind]

Worst I have seen; An off duty policewomen and her brother where shooting a Glock 17, apparently the brother loaded a Wolf 9x18 Mak (steel case) out of a bag of free mixed 9mm ammo she had received from her department.

I was asked to help fix her gun. The round fired, but the gun locked up and did not cycle. The trigger was not reset, and the gun was slightly out of battery. I used a dowel rod to determine whether the round was fired or not, after I confirmed that the cartridge was spend, it took all of my strength to cycle the gun.

Imagine the most stubborn jar of pickles to open X 2 = Glock with Makarov shell jammed in it.

 

[Fisherman_48768]

Probably looked something like a 40 fired in a 45 would look like:http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/Fisherman_48768/BOOBO40INA45CHAMBER.jpg
Guy that fired this swears the 40 was in a box of 45 issued to his department

 

[clemsonu0219]

very dangerous... bullet coming out too low or high and catching barrel

 

[Cliff47]

One night a while back I had an attack of curiosity, and wondered if a 9mm dummy round would fit in a .40 S&W chambered pistol I had just acquired. It chambered all right, and slid down the barrel and landed right into the tumbler holding my beverage of the evening. It came out appropriately chilled. Should have known, .355 is less than .40 any night of the week. The laws of mathematics have not been repealed.

 

[grimjaw]

The worst I've done is used a CZ P-01 9mm magazine in a Ruger PC9 9mm carbine. I didn't realize the switch until it was empty and time to change magazines. I considerate it a tribute to the reliability of the Ruger, rather than a reminder of my inattentiveness. :/

jm

 

[punchdrunk]

Someone told me that its possible to get a 12/20 burst by loading a 20 gauge in a 12. Then the 20 slides forward. You think it didn't chamber a round and you put a 12 in behind it. pull the trigger again and boom. Just by word of mouth. is it possible ? what about with a 9 in a 40?

 

[RNB65]

I've accidentally fired 9mm thru my XD40 a couple of times. Both times I thought it was a squib load due to the reduced noise and recoil. Then I looked at the mag and realized I had stuck 9mm rounds into it. Cases were bulged but no harm was done. Each time I checked the barrel to make sure it was clear and continued shooting (with the correct ammo ).
-

 

[rino451]

Guy have me the rest of his box of 9mm that he didn't want to finish through his brand new HK .40. He was having problems with his accuracy during part of the class and finally notice that he had been pulling from a 9mm box to reload. Gun didn't see affected.

 

[ashtxsniper]

I have shot probably 30 380 and 30 9x18 through a Berreta 92 intentionally to see if it would work in a last ditch type situation. They wont cycle but they come out just as fast as they would in the proper gun. I also reloaded a few 9x18 cases with a full house 9x19 powder charge and a 115 grn bullet set to the same overall length as a 9x19 and they shot great and cycled fine.

 

[Jim K]

I have no proof, but believe at least some reported blowups were caused this way:

Shooter loads magazine of a .40 pistol with mostly correct rounds but accidentally includes a 9mm. When the gun chambers the 9mm, the smaller round is pushed into the barrel but does not fire because the firing pin does not reach the primer. The shooter, thinking he had a misfire, racks the slide, keeping the gun horizontal. Now there is a live .40 round in the chamber and a live 9mm round in the barrel. The shooter fires. Barrel bulges or blows as the .40 bullet hits the 9mm round.

Same thing can happen with .45 and .40.

Don't mix ammo!

Jim

 

[novaDAK]

9x18 through a Berreta 92

If that is even possible, it is extremely dangerous because the soviet 9x18 is a .365" while the 9x19 NATO is .355"

 

[passintime]

You beat me to it novadak. That is absurdly dangerous.

 

[Lonestar49]

User-Error, no doubts as.. a light should go-ON

...

As mentioned by many so correctly, and it could turn out ugly for anyone..

File this under "luck" and that is always a good thing to have around..

I know that, once, when I took both my P229's, 9mm and 40cal, that even with my placing the 40cal/347 mags that are clearly marked, in different colored mags holders than my 9mm mags, somehow, while I was loading my 40cals, and my CA. mags hold max 10 rounds and, as I got to the 7th round loading, I could feel a big difference, with 3 to go, and only could force the 8th round in, and I knew, round count wise, something was not right, along with the feel.. resistance wise.

Sure enough, somehow I got the 9mm mag mixed for the 40cal/357mag. Both are marked, but hard to read in the dark.

Counting works, along with feel/touch, and the light went-ON

Stuff happens, but when something doesn't work right, feel right, sound right, that is the time to investigate and find out, or discover, why..

As the old saying goes, ~ Learn or Burn ~


Ls

 

[lvcat2004]

Well, I always check my ammo before I shoot, but perhaps that's why I only own 9mm, 380, and 454 Casull's....no mixing them up.

 

[Ringer]

Wow, I guess I'm surprised so many cases where these 9's actually fire in a .40. I don't own a .40 caliber gun but if you put a 9mm cartridge inside a piece of .40 brass it fits with plenty of room to spare. I would think the whole cartridge would slip throught the chamber and fall out the end of the barrel. How are these things even able to discharge?

 

[Mr_Rogers]

The extractor claw holds the cartridge in position during firing (rather than the cartridge seating on the case mouth as designed).