Range Brass At A Glock GSSF Match

[GBertolet]

I was a range officer at a Glock match. At the end of the match, after we put the props away, I picked up a small bucket of brass from my stage. Here's a case that was in it. It is a 9mm fired in a 40 cal gun. The extractor must of held it against the breech face so it could fire. Not perfectly aligned, as the hit is off center. Not a big deal, but I thought it was neat. I bet the bullet rattled down the barrel, and it was likely a miss by the shooter.

[SciFiJim]

:shock: Does someone not know what caliber pistol they have?
I guess if it is round and goes bang, they think it is all good.

[*Paladin*]

Buddy of mine did that one time at a gun shop in Vegas. He rented a Taurus (what he believed was a PT-92). He put a full mag of 9mm through it before I noticed the goofy brass on the floor. Sure enough, it was a Taurus PT-101 (.40 SW). The guy behind the counter that rented him the gun also sold him the box of ammo. Obviously, my buddy should have double checked the model, but both of us assumed the box of ammo was the correct cartridge for the gun he rented. Moral of the story? Don't ever assume anything, because we all know what happens when you assume...

[eljefe]

I manage an indoor pistol range, and see this more
often than I would like.

Last week, I had a guy shoot a 40 round through a 45,
with ill effect. The case blew out the brass, split it
lengthwise. That was the 1st one...the 2nd one
stayed in the chamber and had to be poked out
with a cleaning rod.

The problem usually occurs when two caliber pistols
are on the bench at the same time. Fortunately,
there is normally just a bruised ego, and nothing
more serious, that results.

[Jim]

I did something incredibly stupid one time that almost cost me dearly. Not quite the same as firing a 9 in a 40, but along the same lines of firing the wrong caliber ammo.
THIS (http://fgsp.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/on-the-brink-of-disaster/) could have ruined my rifle and injured me badly. And what would have made matters really bad was, I was alone, out of cell tower range and out in the middle of no where.
I confess my stupid mistakes in hopes that somebody might learn from it and avoid a bad outcome.

[MtGun44]

YEE-haaa! I'll bet the pressure was pretty darned high with the 8x57 round.
Good that it was safe in the end.

It is amazing what we manage to get away with some times.

I've seen the "Fat 9mm" brass a few times, too. Seems like "Fat .40" is even
a bit more common.

Bill

[Thin Man]

Yesterday I was called to a local pawn shop to help with a pistol that would not feed ammo from the magazine into the chamber. When the shop traded for the pistol, they were not able to read any of the detail on the side of the slide such as model number, caliber, etc. All of this writing had simply faded away on the slide, but the serial # was clear on the frame. The clerk recognized the pistol as a Taurus, took a peek at the chamber and assumed it was a .40 S&W caliber. They sold the pistol as 40 S&W caliber, but the buyer brought it right back. He never got the first round to chamber as the slide always stopped short of locking down. With a quick look, I informed them they had a Model 957, caliber .357 Sig, rather than a Model 940 in .40 S&W. The shop owner was thoroughly embarrased, then relieved that the .40 rounds did NOT lock down...he knows how that would have ended. Now he owes me a lunch for his oversight.

Thin Man

[454PB]

Yup, that mixing ammo on the bench can getcha.

I fired a .44 magum round in my Puma .454 Casull. No danger involved, but it sure bulged that case out nicely.

I recall reading many years ago that P.O. Ackley fired .45 ACP ammo through a 30/06 rifle on purpose.......I don't recall that purpose, but he said it swaged those .451" bullets down to .308" with no problems or damage to the rifle. Not something I want to try.....

[MtGun44]

Hmmm - assume soft lead boolit and it has a chamber designed for 60,000 psi,
brass is a perfect fit, so it should seal properly.

Probably OK, but weird. A 230 gr .308 is pretty long.

Bill

[Phat Man Mike]

we had the same thing happen at one of our IDPA style shoot's .. guy shot about 4 rounds of 9mm in a .40 barreled glock! he had been in a hurry to start shooting and blam there it was!

[9.3X62AL]

Jim, THAT is a pretty sobering photograph. Thanks for psoting that.

I avoid range days with similar-sized cartridges. Intentionally. I won't take 22-250 and 243 rifles out together. Same story as to 30-06 and 8 x 57. 223 and 243? SURE. 25-20 and 30-06? You bet. I want DISCERNABLE DIFFERENCES IN APPEARANCE in all the calibers I have along, whenever possible.

[btroj]

Jim, THAT is a pretty sobering photograph. Thanks for psoting that.

I avoid range days with similar-sized cartridges. Intentionally. I won't take 22-250 and 243 rifles out together. Same story as to 30-06 and 8 x 57. 223 and 243? SURE. 25-20 and 30-06? You bet. I want DISCERNABLE DIFFERENCES IN APPEARANCE in all the calibers I have along, whenever possible.

I agree entirely. By not shooting similar calibers on the same day you avoid a lot of trouble like this.

Scary. Luckily nobody was injured. No matter how often it happens with no injury eventually someone does get hurt.

Brad

[SciFiJim]

Hmmm - assume soft lead boolit and it has a chamber designed for 60,000 psi,
brass is a perfect fit, so it should seal properly.

Probably OK, but weird. A 230 gr .308 is pretty long.


Not that I would want to be the one to try it, but it would be interesting to see what the boolit looked like afterward.

[TXTad]

I fired a few 7x57 in one of my 8x57 rifles once. Everything was going bang, the recoil was light, but I figured I'd bought some surplus training ammo and didn't worry about it. I had it in my mind I was shooting 8x57, and the brass was coming out looking like 8x57, so there weren't any red flags until I went to load another five rounds in and realized they looked skinny in the front. That explained why I wasn't hitting anything.

[EMC45]

I have found the same brass several times. Funny thing is it was ALL fired from Glocks. It was at different ranges as well so it wasn't all done in the same day/by the same person. My brother loaded up a magful of .380 in my Beretta 92FS once. Fired a few then wondered why the gun jammed....

[sargenv]

I'd be happy to take those off your hands... not for reloading.. well, not for the usual reloading anyway ;)

.388 OD of a 9mm to .420" for the 40.. interesting... lol

[SciFiJim]

I'd be happy to take those off your hands... not for reloading.. well, not for the usual reloading anyway

Planning on loading up some Asperly Aimless rounds? :kidding:

[Dframe]

I accidentally fired a couple of 44 specials in my 45 Colt one day. Since then I have scrupulously avoided using similar calibres at the same time on the range.