Just curious...

[310Pilot]

Just to give a ridiculous example, about 60 years ago I tried to shoot some 22LR in a 45-70 Springfield 1873. Believe it or not, on one attempt the firing pin actually struck the rim of the cartridge and it went off. The result was a 22 case that unfurled in a spiral configuration and a bullet that simply dropped out of the muzzle (probably the result of lowering the muzzle). It did go bang, though. I never tried to do it again, just did it to see if it would work (kids do silly things sometimes). As I recall, it took several tries before I got it to go off.

On a more serious note, I have used 38 spl in 357s and 44 spl in 44 mags frequently, as designed. I found that 32 acp chambers, fires and extracts reliably in my 432PD, chambered in 32 H&R mag. That is rather unusual. I sold quite a few Charter Arms in 32 H&R when I worked in a lgs, and none of them would do that. I discovered the ability of my 432 to do that just out of curiosity, as I had an old box of 32 acp left over from some long ago gun. Some of my customers gave me boxes of it after buying ammo at Walmart, thinking that a 32 is a 32 - I reiterated that they had to buy the correct ammo
The result was some free plinking ammo for me.

 

[Baltimoreed11754]

.45CS-.45 Schofield shoot fine in a .45colt chamber and with a spacer .450 and .455 Webley.

 

[HankB]

45 long colt through .410

Thompson/Center used to chamber Contender barrels for both .45 LC and .410 - maybe they still do. They even came with a screw-on choke (with straight grooves to stop the spin) for use with .410 shotshells.

The choke had to be removed when firing .45 LC.

 

[ColbyBruce]

.22 WRF shoots just fine in my .22 MRF guns.

 

[diyj98]

Of course there's people shooting all kinds of things in gun that weren't designed for it. Just a few I've ran into:

I knew a guy who would shoot .410 out of their 45-70 trapdoor.

I had a cousin who wrapped tape around 20 gauge shells so he could shoot them in a 12 gauge single barrel.

At a local range, I met a guy who was shooting 300 Win mags in his 300 Weatherby.

I once had the husband of a coworker bring me his daddy's old rifle to look at because it wouldn't fee shells. He was trying to load 22 WMR in a 22 WRF rifle.

A local gun pawn shop showed me a Winchester 94 chambered in 375 Winchester. The owner didn't know what it shot, but told me it wouldn't chamber the 375 H&H ammo he had. It's a good thing it didn't!

 

[IAM Rand]

460 mag/454 Casull/45 Colt.

 

[Tex1001]

.22 WRF shoots just fine in my .22 MRF guns.

I've had success with this too.
I read a couple of articles (Long ago) that said this was a no-no.
Seems safe enough to me.

 

[GypsmJim]

Obsolete and very rare, but fits into your question none the less.

.41 Special (.41 Police originally for a minute) and .41 mag.

My club's indoor range was recently remodeled and all "magnum" ammo was outlawed. Had to switch to .38 spl and 44 spl, etc.

Starline has introduced .41 Spl brass, but boy was it hard to find any reasonable loading data. What I did find classified it as a wildcat cartridge.

I DID go ahead with it and was quite pleased with the results.

 

[Narragansett]

Good question, and I don't have an answer. I understand the how but don't know if it was intentional or just a happy accident.

Many shotguns can fire 2 3/4, 3 and 3.5-inch shells. Someone here will know the facts.

But I do not think you can fire 2 9/16" shells out of 2 3/4" chambers

 

[ralph7]

I've had success with this too.
I read a couple of articles (Long ago) that said this was a no-no.
Seems safe enough to me.

Safe, yes. Waste of an expensive shell? Yes...

 

[DWalt]

You broke an extractor shooting .40 out of a 10mm, or 9mm in a .38 Super?

Because .40 in a 10mm works fine.

9mm in a .38 Super chamber. The extractor holds the case against the breech face in the slide so the primer can be struck by the firing pin. It works, but not forever. Using the extractor to set the cartridge headspace for the 9mm in a longer chamber is not the best idea. Same for using a short .40 S&W cartridge in a longer 10mm chamber. It can work, but eventually the extractor will fail.

The interesting thing was that when my extractor claw broke off, the fired 9mm case was not ejected, it remained in the chamber. That proves that the Browning short recoil design requires the presence of an extractor.
See: Can you shoot 38 Super in a 9mm?

Also see #4 here: 9mm - In a .38 Super? | 1911Forum

 

[peh_7]

Two More That Should Work

460 mag/454 Casull/45 Colt.

Also, 45 Schofield and 45 Cowboy Special should work in this or any combination up to the longest chamber. I have a Ruger Super Blackhawk Bisley in 454 Casull that can handle all four 45s if needed.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

9mm in a .38 Super chamber. The extractor holds the case against the breech face in the slide so the primer can be struck by the firing pin. It works, but not forever. Using the extractor to set the cartridge headspace for the 9mm in a longer chamber is not the best idea. Same for using a short .40 S&W cartridge in a longer 10mm chamber. It can work, but eventually the extractor will fail.

The interesting thing was that when my extractor claw broke off, the fired 9mm case was not ejected, it remained in the chamber. That proves that the Browning short recoil design requires the presence of an extractor.
See: Can you shoot 38 Super in a 9mm?

Also see #4 here: 9mm - In a .38 Super? | 1911Forum

Prior to WW2 Astra (Spain) offered 9mm pistols that would function with any of the common 9mm cartridges of the time (9mm Browning/.380ACP, 9X19 Parabellum, 9X21, etc). I think it was the Model 600 series.

 

[tops]

I have wrapped tape around 12 ga. shells to shoot in 10 ga.
I have cut the brass off 16 ga. shell and inserted 20 ga. and used in 16 ga. Do the same to shoot 16 ga. in a 12 ga. Larry

 

[ColbyBruce]

Safe, yes. Waste of an expensive shell? Yes...

I can find .22 WRF cheaper than .22 MRF.

 

[WR Moore]

In the case of 10mm, a lighter loading was introduced for the FBI because the 10mm was uncomfortable or uncontrollable for some shooters.

Not really. After all, the Bureau issued the model 13 .357 Magnum. The size of the 1000 series pistols and the N frame length reach to the trigger was the major issue. That one could adapt a 9 mm size frame to the .40 made it a better fit (and more concealable) for a great many more people.

The multi caliber Astra was the model 400. While it would fire the .380, it wouldn't eject the spent case. .38 Super was way over pressure and exceeded the design intent, not a good idea. Would work with 9 mm Browning long, 9 mm Largo and a bunch of other cartridges of similar ballistics and dimensions, .38 ACP (NOT Super) included. Also the 9x19 mm, case held by extractor. The Astra 600 was a dedicated 9x19 caliber pistol.

 

[DWalt]

Prior to WW2 Astra (Spain) offered 9mm pistols that would function with any of the common 9mm cartridges of the time (9mm Browning/.380ACP, 9X19 Parabellum, 9X21, etc). I think it was the Model 600 series.

I think you are speaking of the Llama “Extra” military pistol, many of which hit the surplus market back in the late 1960s. They were basically close copies of the M1911. They were caliber marked as “9mm/.38” so many believed that meant that they could be used with both 9mm Luger and .38 Super ammunition. While that was sort of true, what it really meant was that both 9mm Largo (the Spanish 9x23 military round) and .38 Super could be used, not too surprising given that those two cartridges were very similar and largely interchangeable. While 9x19 cartridges could be used in the Extra, it was never designed for or intended to use 9x19 ammunition, and was subject to extractor claw failure as previously described. The Astra 400 was an entirely different pistol design which was designed for use with the 9x23 Largo cartridge only. The similar Astra 600 used the 9x19 cartridge only. Neither was intended for using other cartridges (but the Astra 400 could use the .38 Super round).

 

[colkid]

That's what I have been told. 40 S&W is a short 10 MM.

 

[Skeet 028]

I have wrapped tape around 12 ga. shells to shoot in 10 ga.
I have cut the brass off 16 ga. shell and inserted 20 ga. and used in 16 ga. Do the same to shoot 16 ga. in a 12 ga. Larry

I've shot literally more than aa million shotgun shells...and never even thought about doing that. Ya learn something new every day. Oh the statement about not shooting a 2 9/16 inch shell in 2 3/4 inch gun is wrong. It is shorter and shoots just fine. In shotguns longer shells sometimes won't chamber but if they do, they'll shoot. Pressures will rise sometimes quite a bit and usually will not extract/eject from pumps and semiautos. Ejection ports are shorter generally or the ejector is wrongly placed for some like the 2 3/4 inch 870

 

[DWalt]

I've shot literally more than aa million shotgun shells...and never even thought about doing that. Ya learn something new every day. Oh the statement about not shooting a 2 9/16 inch shell in 2 3/4 inch gun is wrong. It is shorter and shoots just fine. In shotguns longer shells sometimes won't chamber but if they do, they'll shoot. Pressures will rise sometimes quite a bit and usually will not extract/eject from pumps and semiautos. Ejection ports are shorter generally or the ejector is wrongly placed for some like the 2 3/4 inch 870

Yes, the main problem in shooting a longer shotshells in a shorter chamber (at least in a repeating shotgun) is in ejection, as the ejection port may be too short. I have yet to see anything definitive showing that there is a significant chamber pressure increase. In fact there is no reason to assume that there would be. Just think about it.

I have an early Winchester Model 1912 in 20 gauge which has a 2.5” chamber. It handles Winchester and Remington 2-3/4” shells just fine, but not Federal shells as the fired Federal plastic cases are just a wee bit longer and will hang up on ejection. And they are difficult to remove. So I do not use them. I have measured that 2.5” chamber to be very slightly more than 2.6”, which is about the same length as fired Winchester and Remington plastic 2-3/4” shells. Federal fired plastic cases measure a little over 2.7”. Not much, but enough to cause a problem.