.40 caliber round mistakenly fired in a .45 caliber pistol

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A few years ago I was haveing a shootoff between a model 25-5 and a 24-3. I inadvertedly put a 44 special in my 25-5 45 colt and lit it off. I never would have known it except for the swelled cracked case.
 
I am trying to understand how the 40 would fire, yet be able to move past the chamber and down into the barrel.
 
I went shooting one day with a bunch of friends, several of whom had very little firearms experience or knowledge. At one point, one guy was trying to shoot his .45 ACP 1911, but he was having trouble chambering a round. He tried it twice, but the round just wouldn't chamber...so he called me over and asked for my help. I took a look at it, and found there was a case stuck in the chamber. We used a cleaning rod to tap it out, and it was blown out, and split.

Apparently one of our "friends" had inadvertently loaded it with some 9mm. I don't know exactly how it played out for them, because they (whoever "they" might have been) never said a word, just put it back in its case and walked away.

In any case, I field-stripped the gun, and checked it out as best as I could, and I couldn't see any obvious problems. Even so, I advised my friend not to shoot it any more that day, and that he should have a gunsmith check it out. He did, and it was deemed okay. It hasn't given him any problems since, and this was probably 6 or so years ago.

Tim
 
The extractor may have held it close enough to fire, but I don't understand the physics that drove the brass down the tube either?

I mistakenly fired .44 mag loads down a my Ruger Bisley .45 Colt.

At 50' the bullets were hitting low and going through the target mostly upright.

Just a plain careless mistake. Both were 7.5 Bisley models and I picked up the wrong one.
 
I made that same mistake when taking a .32 auto, and
a .380 auto to the range at the same time. Not wearing
my reading glasses to check ammo selection was
bone-headed, looking back. I have two bulged empty .32
cases here at my desk. Cleared the Fail To Eject, and did it
again. Could have tumbled/upset and blocked the barrel.
I kept the cases in front of me as a reminder. Murphy
is always waiting for a fool!
TACC1
 
Confession is good for the soul, so I am told. I made a similar mistake with my Ed Brown EE. A 10mm round made it into a bag of 45 acp and was loaded in a magazine.

The 10mm round feed, chambered and fired. It didn't eject and was therefore, discovered. The round, when it was fired, didn't "feel" right.

The case was, of course, split for it's full length. The pistol was field stripped and no sign of damage was found. I have always been careful in my preparations and when shooting but, the take away from that experience is to check and double check. Then check again.
 
sophie said:
You just can't fix stupid.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say "stupid." Just inattentive.

Back in the day we didn't have fancy mag loaders & had to load our 1911 mags by hand. An "off" round would have been obvious. With my Uplula loader I have come close to loading a round backwards. :eek:

I was checking out the hotpants & spike heels a few lanes down...:o
 
I too must confess, about 3 year ago I owned 1 Springfield Armory XD9 and XD 40. I told both to the range. I was shooting the 40, it felt a little lite less recoil, I fired a full mag and when to check the target and all holes were no where hear a group and all the holes were elongated. when I got back to the bench I started to pick up my brass and they were all split. The bell still had not gone off. I fired another mag same results. Then it hit me 9mm out of a 40cal. I checked the gun over and found no damage. I learned a valuable lesson, I keep ammo and guns together when I get to the range and only one gun on the bench and always , always check the ammo for right gun. You really have to watch your self when you have 2 guns that look the same and the mags fit in both guns.
 
The case wouldn't have been supported while firing causing it to warp enough that it would fit partially into the barrel... the following 45 round with the weight of the slide smashes it in further (which SHOULD be felt by the shooter you would think) and the next one is fired. Would be my guess.
 
kelly green, thank you for this info/thread. i've read happenings of this sort. maybe 40+ years ago, when i had a 35 cal and a 7 mag., checking the zero, i was on the range w/ both boxes on the table. fired a few rds of 7 mag., after fireing the 35, i pulled the trigger and heard a click. sat there for a while, knowing i loaded a rd. opened the bolt, cleaning rod to take out the 35 cal, slight dent on primer, but did not go off. learned a lesson. since, i keep only the ammo for the weapon i'm shooting on the table. if i lend someone ammo, i take it to them. i was glad no one next to me got hurt.
 
Generally there isn't any harm caused to the weapon when the next sub caliber is fired in it, AS LONG AS THE EMPTY CASING IS EJECTED. However, when that split casing is left in the chamber a fresh round can push that empty casing down the barrel and cause all sorts of problems. As can be seen in this particular case.

I'll also note that the shooter should have noticed the reduced recoil and excess debris. Every report I've read on the net about someone making this mistake has a note by the shooter that he got peppered in the face by the blowback of hot particles.

Good news is that it was done in a 1911, so there is a high potential that the gun can be repaired simply by replacing the barrel and barrel bushing. Bad news is that this particular model has one of those infernal full length guide rods, so it's going to take getting the slide back in battery somehow to get the barrel bushing out of the slide. If that isn't possible the next stop will be at an EDM Machine Shop to remove the barrel bushing and probably the end of the guide rod and barrel via electronic machining. Offhand I'd say that infernal full length guide rod is going to cost the shooter in the region of 300 bucks for the EDM work and he'll have another 250 into the gun replacing the barrel, bushing, and guide rod.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of full length guide rods in a 1911. They are a needless complication in a brilliant design and totally eliminate the ability to "rack" the slide by pressing the spring plug against a handy edge.
 
Several times I've found 20+ cases on the ground. I could understand an occasional mistake, but what I found suggests that the shooter never realized there was a problem. The gun functioned correctly so he just kept shooting
 
Silver Dollar said:
I only shoot .38 Special, .357 Magnum and .45 ACP. The big ones can't fit into the revolver accidentally and small ones fall out of the magazine so it's harder for me to screw up.
Click to expand...

Same with me. I have 2 9mm's and a .38 revolver. The 9mm falls through the .38 and the .38 won't fit in the 9's.:rolleyes:
 
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