40 S&W shot in a 45

[Guest colrmccoll]

I was at the range several weeks ago shooting my 45, a Para-Ordnance P13 with double stack magazine.

Unknown to me a 40S&W round was in the pile of 45's. I began firing with a full magazine containing the one 40 round.

The difference in noise got my attention. I noticed the bullet did go down range but fell well short of the 25 yard target. The brass did not eject. The round had chambered without any problem.

There was no damage to the pistol and I went on to shoot many more.

[Guest Grout]

Oops.

[krunchnik]

Did that once with a 41 mag in a Ruger 44 super blackhawk,had to drive all 6 casings out of the cylinder with a punch.Boy them Rugers are tough.

[Fadex]

Daaaaaang...

[SpacemanSpiff]

I have a Sig P229 in .40 also with a .357 sig barrel. One time I got to the range with a loaded mag of .357 sig, put in the gun, and pulled the trigger. Something seemed different. I looked at the stamp on the barrel ... yep, .40

The .357 will load fine in a .40 barrel but not the other way around. Live and learn. At least the barrel wasn't damaged.

[frankmako]

i bet that got things going.

[Guest Jennings382]

Ooops!

[I_Like_Pie]

I have a 9mm that someone ran through a .40 S&W. Looks just like that without the rupture...kinda like a reverse bottleneck.

[enfield]

Been there, done that (.40 in .45).

[musicman]

That looks fun! I never really put them side by side, but is a .45 case shorter than a .40 case? I'm guessing that is what accounts for the odd compression ring around the case mouth.

Glad all is well.

[Superman]

.45 case is about .050 longer than a .40 case

[Guest db99wj]

No fun, I have seen 9mm out of a 40 before too. Don't want to do that too often!

[enfield]

It's not too exciting - you get a pop like a champagne cork and half an hour later the bullet hits (or doesn't hit) the target sideways.

[Guest AeroEngrSoftDevMBA]

When I took my HCP course last year there was a father son duo that rented a couple .40's (Glocks I think) from the range for the qualification test. They bought two boxes of ammo and the guy at the counter apparently gave them 9mm. Neither of them bothered to read the box before loading up the weapons.

IIRC the son actually got one round off plus ejection and stove piped on the second round.

Sure, the range gave them the wrong ammo, but they should have checked. Later the instructor gave us instructions to fire one round and only one round. The son emptied the magazine.

He passed.

[VolunteerGuns]

Ive sent a .357SIG thru the pipe of my .40 one myself... Makes you just a little more cautious for the next couple of trips to the range..

[Guest PerazziTM1]

Were you in the movie "Lucky You" ?

shoot good, be safe,

[Guest johnmattwill]

I have done that before too... Loaded a .40 S&W round thru a .45 ACP....

Sounded kind of like a dud, and got my attention.... lucklie, no damage to the gun.... ...

I felt stupid!!!

[VolunteerGuns]

You could always keep only handguns in one calibur, and i'd keep all the rest. You wont have to worry bout that problem anymore.

[VolunteerGuns]

(the above offer is available to anyone who wants to take me up on it...)

[Guest 70below]

When I took my HCP course last year there was a father son duo that rented a couple .40's (Glocks I think) from the range for the qualification test. They bought two boxes of ammo and the guy at the counter apparently gave them 9mm. Neither of them bothered to read the box before loading up the weapons.

A buddy of mine had a similar thing happen at a local indoor range. He asked for a box of .45, the clerk gave him .40 and he didn't think to check it. Fired the first shot and knew something was wrong, looked at the split casing and realized what had happened. He went and told the guy that had given him the ammo what happened and the guy insisted he gave him .45. Despite the fact that my buddy didn't have a round of .45 on him when he got to the range (hence why he bought some).

He wasn't blaming the guy, he knew it was his fault for not checking it or noticing when he loaded the first mag, but he simply wanted the guy to be a little more cautious.......but the guy kept swearing it was .45 that he sold him. The employee then took the box of .40 and put it behind the counter and went to get the manager, when he came back the manager asked my friend to see the ammo and my buddy said the employee took it and put it behind the counter, the employee said he didn't have it. My buddy then told the manager which box it was and that he bet there was a round missing.....sure enough the manager opened up the box of 49.....lol.

Lessons learned, trust no one else for your own gun safety, and double check anything a clerk hands you.