My first WTF moment at the range today.

[Nick Leduc]

I have seen the stories here of the crazy stuff everyone sees at the range and just figured I was either lucky to have never seen it, or I don't spend enough time at the range.
Today, as I packing up, a younger "kid" (mid twenties) had a target set up and started shooting. I tend to not watch people while Im there, so I didn't see anything he was doing, I could just hear the shots. Id say 20 or so. When I was ready to get my target, I finally started to approach him to see if he would pause for a moment.
He assumed I had been watching him prior and started to explain why his gun wasn't running properly.
"Yeah, I picked up this new 9MM ammo. Its just weak, wont cycle or eject from my gun".
So I took a round and instantly though, man, you are shooting 380s. These things are definitely short to be 9mm. Then I flipped it around to check headstamp, and I saw 9mm there. Because of the lighting, it took a minute to read the 9x18Mak on there.

I get that its not too crazy of a story, but shooting the wrong ammo for your firearm has got to be up there. it didn't even fully register with him when I told him until I had to flat out say, you are shooting the wrong ammo.

 

[Goliathan]

Dang that could have been bad. Glad he was educated by someone else rather than by a mishap.

 

[Lip]

Once at the eastern rifle and revolver club. Had a local of decent bring in all his spawn to run around the range whilst he shot. Grabbed my crap and left.

 

[oldguy68]

Nice job helping the younger guys out!

 

[Woody1911a1]

hey , a lot of folks shoot 40's out of 10mm pistols , intentionally

 

[whacko]

Lucky guy....could have been much uglier.

 

[Nick Leduc]

Nice job helping the younger guys out!

Actually it made me think about my actions at the range. I tend to say hi, but generally keep to myself. But am now thinking, if I spent 2 seconds and watched him shoot, maybe I would have questioned how it was performing quicker than when he decided to quit himself.

 

[Nick Leduc]

Once at the eastern rifle and revolver club. Had a local of View attachment 264764 decent bring in all his spawn to run around the range whilst he shot. Grabbed my crap and left.

I almost always bring my 2 & 3 year olds to the range with me. Buuuuuuuttttttt I leave them in the van, with the heat/AC cranked, DVD player blasting! That usually gets me a good hour session!

 

[Lip]

I almost always bring my 2 & 3 year olds to the range with me. Buuuuuuuttttttt I leave them in the van, with the heat/AC cranked, DVD player blasting! That usually gets me a good hour session!

The secret is to have them run past the firing lanes, all 6 of them.then you get the range alone.

 

[milktree]

"only use the correct ammo for your gun" and "know what the correct ammo for your gun" are both taught in any firearm safety course.

Or they should be if they're doing even a half-assed job.

 

[Goliathan]

It's taught, but people make mistakes. I've seen similar boneheaded things on the range but I'd rather educate than humiliate.

The guy looking down the muzzle of his 1911 to check it clear, on the other hand...

 

[Nick Leduc]

"only use the correct ammo for your gun" and "know what the correct ammo for your gun" are both taught in any firearm safety course.

Or they should be if they're doing even a half-assed job.

Yeah, the big issue here is that slang starts to take over. How often do we refer to 45ACP as "45" or 9x19 Luger as "9". When you get accustomed to calling it your "9" when you go to purchase ammo, you see 9mm and you just grab it.

I had a coworker last year that was new to shooting ask to trade me some ammo that he purchased by accident (aka wasn't paying attention). He purchased a box of 44 magnum and a box or 38S&W. His pistols were 44 Special and 38 Special...…….

 

[Shawnyc]

I was going to say maybe the clerk at Walmart handed him the incorrect box, but then you said it was 9x18Mak. I would think a shooter who is that into it and has pistols of obscure calibers wouldn’t make that mistake?

 

[milktree]

Yeah, the big issue here is that slang starts to take over. How often do we refer to 45ACP as "45" or 9x19 Luger as "9". When you get accustomed to calling it your "9" when you go to purchase ammo, you see 9mm and you just grab it.

I had a coworker last year that was new to shooting ask to trade me some ammo that he purchased by accident (aka wasn't paying attention). He purchased a box of 44 magnum and a box or 38S&W. His pistols were 44 Special and 38 Special...…….

Wow... the first one I can see, it's a relatively common cartridge, but when I *WANT* .38 S&W, I'm always pointed to the .38 Spl.; I've even had some knuckleheads tell me they were the same thing!

Where do you find 9x18 Makarov that you can buy it by accident?

 

[nstassel]

Wait until you see someone shoot 9 out of a .40 or .40 out of a .45.

 

[enbloc]

So you CAN shoot 9-mak out of a 9x19 pistol. Good to know...

 

[Lip]

So you CAN shoot 9-mak out of a 9x19 pistol. Good to know...

Don't shoot Remington .22 out of the m&p 22.15, or in my case. Aluminum casings out of a cobray m11

 

[MisterHappy]

The Mystery of Chamberings is something that I stress in LTC and HE courses - I once had a Dick's (Back before they became their name) try to give me .38 Special, when I wanted .380.

No problem - I edumacated the young feller behind the counter....and talked to the manager, telling him that he should train the employees better (I know, waste of time )

So...I'm helping to teach an LTC course, and one of the other Instructors was my then ~14-15 year old son. He recounted the story to the class as an object lesson. "But," interjected a student, ".38 and .380 are mathematically equivalent."

We then explained that it was a name for a specific chambering, and that in a break I'd go into it in more detail.

My point is, that some people can "know" stuff that's wrong. 9mm is a good one - there are (4) different Nines that I can name, without google-fu.

 

[EddieZoom]

I've seen similar boneheaded things on the range but I'd rather educate than humiliate.

Right on man. There are enough crusty old miserable pr@cks hanging around gun ranges...we don't need to add to the ranks ;-)

Teach. Coach. Mentor. Share what knowledge and/or wisdom you've been able to accumulate.

 

[alpineboard]

Never put a 20 gauge shotgun shell in a 12 gauge shotgun. Also, do not carry mixed lots of ammo at any one time.

 

[Glockster30]

Wait until you see someone shoot 9 out of a .40 or .40 out of a .45.

I've seen something similar while shooting at an indoor range. The shooter next to me who I knew started complaining about his bullets keyholing on the target at 35'. He was using a P229 in .40 S&W and asked me to take a look at his gun. I picked it up and sure enough, it had a .40 S&W barrel. Then I looked at his ammo and it was .357SIG. He was quite embarrassed when I told him what he was doing, but he did have a good excuse, at least he thought it was. He then pulled an aftermarket .357SIG barrel for his P229 from his range bag and thought that he left it in his 229. I told him that I was quite impressed that he was even hitting his target with keyholing boolits.

 

[white feather]

At the height of the Newtown buying spree, I was at Fairground Traders in Brockton. He had some interesting 9mm ammo. It was 9x23... he didn't seem to know that it was not your average 9mm round.

 

[92G]

i thought 9x18 is too fat to chamber in 9x19. no?

 

[PaulR]

I remember one time what I perceived to be a gang-banger came up next to me at the range. I was shooting shoot-n-c targets at a cardboard box.....he had nothing to shoot at. So I figured I'd be nice to him,
"You want a target to shoot at?" I asked?
"sure, thanks"
so I hand him the shoot-n-c and he goes to try to press it against another box like mine....nothing doing, presses, it falls, presses, it falls.
"here you go" go I said...as I took the target back from him, PEELED the backing off and stuck it on the box for him.
.
.
walked back to the table..
.
.
"gotta go, have fun, bye"

 

[LoginName]

Meh... we all make mistakes, at least this wasn't a disastrous one.

I'll out myself here and confess to trying to run .380 through a 9mm.
Took me 3 rounds to catch on.
Felt like shooting a .22 and the slide didn't cycle.
Took a look at the ammo and sure enough it was .380, funny thing is I didn't even own a .380.
Only thing I can figure was that when I bought it, it was stacked in with the boxes of 9mm and
I didn't check it.

I still have 47 rounds of .380 here somewhere if anyone wants it.

 

[Goliathan]

i thought 9x18 is too fat to chamber in 9x19. no?

Maybe not. The specs seem pretty close, although I am not a gunsmith or ammo guru by any means. Depending on the gun and its tolerances it might not have too much trouble chambering.

Especially if they guy has been jamming fat boolits into the chamber and stretching out out!

 

[Nick Leduc]

i thought 9x18 is too fat to chamber in 9x19. no?

.010", itll chamber. Plus these rounds were pointed, giving more clearance in the chamber.

Hornady Critical Defense Ammo 9x18mm (9mm Makarov) 95 - MPN: 91000

 

[10mmdave]

hey , a lot of folks shoot 40's out of 10mm pistols , intentionally

Yup, works fine but can be hell on the extractor

 

[92G]

for my P229 I have a 9mm slide and a 357/40 slide, so naturally I accidentally fired a magazine of 9mm through my 357 barrel. the ammo felt really weak. here I am yelling about this shitty Speer Lawman "357 sig" ammo and how it's underloaded. brass was limping out of the ejection port. my wife says something like "you sure the ammo is ok?" to which I'm like "no it's underloaded shit!". anyway it cycled and grouped fine but didn't lock the slide to rear. thankfully only witness was the wife who had already seen far dumber from her husband.

 

[BrianWilson]

Wait until the guy next to you blows the top strap and upper half of the cylinder of his .44. The no longer attached parts make the damnedest noise as they go sailing on by your head.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y5i2SP_C9s