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Old 12-27-2012, 02:40 AM
espresso junky espresso junky is offline
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Accidently loaded 9mm into my 40 Shield Accidently loaded 9mm into my 40 Shield Accidently loaded 9mm into my 40 Shield Accidently loaded 9mm into my 40 Shield Accidently loaded 9mm into my 40 Shield  
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Default Accidently loaded 9mm into my 40 Shield

During a recent family outing at the shooting range, someone accidently loaded 9mm ammo into my 40 Shield mag. The first shot, all I heard was a click. Did a tap and rack and cleared the round thinking it was a bad primer. With the second shot, also heard a click with the pull of the trigger. Did a tap and rack but decided to look at the ejected bullet only to realize the magazine was loaded with 9mm. Both bullets, the primer showed a slight indentation from the striker hitting it (wished I would of saved both bullets to post a picture). Just curious why the gun didn't fire? Heard of other stories of people accidently mixing up 9mm and 40 S&W with the result of the 9mm brass expanding out front and cracking due to smaller diameter in 40 barrel. Did it not fire because the striker was too light of a hit on the primer? Just glad no one got hurt.

Lesson learned: keep 9mm and 40 S&W away separately and don't let dumb *** family member load magazine for you.
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Old 12-27-2012, 06:19 AM
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A couple of years ago, a guy was at the range and could hardly hit the target backer. When he left. I noticed all his .357 Sig ammo was split at the neck. I'm guessing he was shooting the Sig ammo in a pistol chambered in .40S&W.
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Old 12-27-2012, 06:32 AM
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junky:

SOME undersized rounds have to be held against the breech face by the extractor to fire.... Otherwise, they tend to move up the chamber and out of the way. If the chamber is tight and a little dirty, I suppose you could get a mess - lots of brass and burned powder all over the place. Good advertisement for safety glasses....

I once loaded a bunch of .380's into a 9mm (S&W M39-2) magazine. First round fired fine, with little indication, other than the slide not working properly. That's when I noticed the somewhat torn up case. Nothing made it outside of the gun, though. Definitely held by the extractor. (The .380 and the 9mm projectiles are close enough in size, but they headspace on the case mouth, and the .380 is a lot shorter....)

Where you really run a risk is if the projectile doesn't make it out of the barrel and you don't notice. This may be especially interesting when the ball is somewhat large for the barrel. More likely, I think, in rifle rounds, where cases can be all kinds of goofy, and somewhat interchangeable, even though the ball is quite different.

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Old 12-27-2012, 08:31 AM
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If you hand chamber a 9mm in a 40, the cartridge will fall into the chamber and not fire (It may fire if aimed straight up, but not recommended.). When fed from the magazine, it will be held by the extractor, but not close against the firing pin. Also, the smaller diameter will produce an off-center FP strike. Some 40's will consistently fire 9mm's from the mag, some never.
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Old 12-27-2012, 09:51 AM
beemerphile beemerphile is offline
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I accidentally put a 9mm mag from my Glock 26 into my Glock 27 at the range once. Every shot hit paper, but it did not have enough recoil to operate the action. After two stovepipes, ole stupid figured out what he had done. I was surprised that it reasonably launched the bullets. Cases were expanded uniformly at the mouth and did not split.
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Old 12-28-2012, 10:46 PM
robkarrob robkarrob is offline
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The 9mm cartridge should fall straight through the barrel, unless thel casing rim is oversized. The outside diameter of the 9mm rim is smaller than the inside bore diameter of the 40 S&W. The 9mm cartridge should fall completely through the 40 barrel. If you get an oversized rim, the firing pin/striker should not hit it hard enough for it to fire. But if you do get it to fire, the bullet will have very little pressure behind it and will have very little foot pounds of energy. Too much pressure loss.

Bob
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Old 12-29-2012, 02:22 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beemerphile View Post
I accidentally put a 9mm mag from my Glock 26 into my Glock 27 at the range once. Every shot hit paper, but it did not have enough recoil to operate the action. After two stovepipes, ole stupid figured out what he had done. I was surprised that it reasonably launched the bullets. Cases were expanded uniformly at the mouth and did not split.
We've had a few instances of this happening on the range. The extractor held the case back against the breech face so the striker could ignite the round. I was surprised the cases did not burst.
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Old 12-29-2012, 05:53 AM
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My FIL managed to fire a 9mm in a .40. It blew the case out at the bottom and out through the mag well. Fortunately no injury or damage. Not a good thing.
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Old 12-29-2012, 08:05 AM
MSgt G MSgt G is offline
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Good to see that I'm not the only "dummy" who has done this! I now restict my outings to one or two calibers at the most so I can pay closer attention to what I'm doing.
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