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Using The Right Caliber...


nbright

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This past weekend I shot a classifier match using a production Glock 17. Running a little low on ammo I had to scrounge up a bunch of factory 9mm loads since I was both low on reloads and time. The first stage was not a classifier, but a run and gun ending with the Texas star. Usually an open shooter, I was looking forward to working through the stage with two reloads on this 25 round stage. Beep, off we go, first mag went flawlessly, onto the second mag and had a jam. The second round from the mag was stuck entering the chamber, rack the slide, dropped the mag, rack the slide, and still no joy. Finally the round popped out, and I finished the stage very disturbed by what happened with my old and very reliable Glock.

Upon further review, that's what happens when you try to chamber a .40 caliber round in a 9mm. I'm just happy it wasn't the other way around...

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  • 3 weeks later...

They usually fire the other way around, bullet just rattles down the bore. Won't cycle the gun though and you have an odd looking case to show your friends.

I was running a guy shooting a 9mm pistol a few months ago. After his second or third failure to eject, I looked closer and he was loading .380 in it. Funny thing was, he had bought several boxes of .380, and had no 9 with him.

Edited by Steve Koski
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  • 2 weeks later...
They usually fire the other way around, bullet just rattles down the bore. Won't cycle the gun though and you have an odd looking case to show your friends.

Or in my case... an interesting looking barrel...

bulge2.jpg

bulge3.jpg

This was not at a match, BTW...

A few years ago I was taking a class at Front Sight. I was using a P239/.40 and that day I had the Blazer ammo with the aluminum cases.

We did some malfunction clearance drills, and afterwards I picked up the cartridges I'd dropped on the ground.

Later, back doing live fire, I had a "click no bang". Rather than waiting a minute in case it was a squib and then taking the gun apart, I did the beachbunny ninja "tap rack assess" and shot again.

Kaboom.

Do you see where this is going?

One of the rounds of Blazer I'd picked up was a 9mm instead of a .40.

I didn't notice it when I was loading mags, but the P239 obviously did.

When the 9 found its way into the chamber and didn't fire, the .40 that I tap-racked apparently forced it into the barrel. When the 40 went off it detonated the 9mm cartridge. My instructor dug the casing out of the target (at least I was accurate ) And I'm very grateful for the strength of the steel SIG uses (I play piano...LOL...)

The slide wouldn't retract more than 1/8 of an inch. I sent the gun back to SIG with a spare .357 barrel I had on hand and they returned it to me a week later.

I keep the barrel in my range bag as a reminder... and have trotted it out when I see people picking up cartridges off the ground

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Yikes.

You know, I have kinda gotten out of the habit, but I used to only load my mags out of the ammo box.

All my reloaded ammo went through a case gauge, then into the ammo box. This allowed me extra opportunities to handle the ammo...thus, extra opportunities to catch any defects.

Sounds like I should get back into that habit. Off the top of my head, here are some errs that could be prevented:

- Ammo boxes are divided into rows of 10. No more losing count of how many round you've stuff in a mag.

- Allows for easy checking for high primers.

- Easy to pick out the "one that doesn't belong" (9mm in a box full of 40)

- If you are gauging and handling the ammo, you will catch that one round that didn't get crimped...the round that jams the 'gun that never jams'.

- Up-side-down primers...spotted easily.

I am sure there are plenty more...

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That's exactly why I mark my cases (black magic marker on the headstamps, for me...), and check those rounds I pick up for my mark, and right bullet type, etc, before putting them back in the box. Like Flex, I only load out of the box...

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Flex and Dave have it... I ONLY load out of the ammo box. If it's not in the box, it don't go into a mag. If it falls out of my hand or hits the ground, it goes in the bottom of the bag to be recycled/checked and then used only for practice.

I haven't had a match malf related to ammo since I started doing this... However, I DID have a couple of malfs with my practice ammo a while back as I had loaded loose into an ammo can and neglected to chanber check each round. I'm now chamber checking ever practice round as well...

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I reload, and I do exactly what Flex said. After loading all rounds go into ammo box trays so I can verify primers are not high, nor flipped, and just last night I noticed 1 round in a tray of 50 seemed to be a little shorter than the rest. Pulled it out and measured it and sure enough the bullet was set back into the case. Must have been worn brass.

Quickly threw that one in the trash. B)

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