oops.. .380 in a 9mm?

[Slim]

I was going through a box of 9mm reloads, and one round didnt go off. Waited 20 secs or so, then cycled the action and kept going. Upon inspection of the dud round, it turned out that it was a .380. The pin had hit the primer, but my guess is not hard enough.

1. What is the likelyhood it could have gone off ?
2. If it had gone off, what kind of "fun" might I have experienced?

My bad, obviously. I was seeing how fast I could go with my new Uplula and not inspecting the rounds as I was loading the mag. My guess it would have felt different going into the mag if I had done it by hand.

 

[Cuda444]

It happens. Sounds like you handled it well, too! Assuming it's something similar in caliber or smaller, I doubt you'd have any problems. It'd probably go bang and not cycle the slide fully. The only time you'll run into trouble potentially is say a 40 or 45 in your 9mm mag, if the gun would even load and cycle a round into battery correctly. Regardless, I'm glad everything worked out without incident!

Happy shooting!

 

[drgrant]

A .380 going off in a 9mm Luger handgun isn't that big of a
deal. It's probably not going to hurt the gun if you did it a
few times, even. The normal scenario is you hear "POP!" and the
gun goes off, but the action won't cycle because there's not enough
recoil generated by the .380 to cycle a 9mm slide and recoil spring
arrangement. So you'd have to jack out the empty case afterwards.

Think of it as a learning experience to keep good tabs on what
you are using for ammo.

-Mike

 

[The Village Idiot]

While I'm not sure of the loadings for 9mm rounds, the standard 9mm is the Parabellum, the 9mm Kurz (German for short), or 9mm Corto(Italian for short) is also known as .380 ACP. The Parabellum in 9mmX19mm while the short is 9mmX17mm.

 

[Slim]

While I'm not sure of the loadings for 9mm rounds, the standard 9mm is the Parabellum, the 9mm Kurz (German for short), or 9mm Corto(Italian for short) is also known as .380 ACP. The Parabellum in 9mmX19mm while the short is 9mmX17mm.

Ah, I see now. I originally thought that it was a bad reload with the bullet pushed down too far in the casing. Then I noticed .380 stamped on it.

 

[DavidC77]

They just did a torture test on Guns & Ammo TV. They reloaded a bullet wrong to see what it would do, well it blew the heck out of a TC. Chunks where flying everywhere.

 

[Weerd Beard]

Just make sure when you get a funny "bang" from the gun, and have to eject a spent case ALWAYS check your barrel for obstructions. If you got a squib load, and you fire a live round into an obstructed barrel you could be looking at a serious problem.

I'd have to agree with these guys here, I doubt you'd have seen much of a problem if that .380 had gone off.

Its not ideal, but its still a less powerful round in a more powerful chamber.

Arrrr