Fig.1 S&W 1911TA in unusual condition
As you can probably tell from the photo above, something is very wrong here. What you see is a .40 caliber case that almost made it out of a .45 caliber barrel. What you cannot see is the .45 bullet that is lodged in the barrel behind the .40 case. The analysis of the event points to the following scenario: a .40 round was inadvertently loaded into the .45 magazine and managed to be chambered and fired. The pistol cycled but did not extract the .40 case, loading a .45 round behind it. The .45 round was fired and drove the .40 case down the barrel and almost out. It appears that the empty case acted like an umbrella in the wind and expanded to the point where it engaged the barrel rifling (visible in photo). This provided enough resistance to plug the barrel, and subsequently bulge the barrel to the point where the slide and barrel were locked so hard that they could not be moved, even by repeated application of a ballpeen hammer.
So, what do we learn from this? In the immediate sense, the shooter learned that his pistol was strong enough not to blow apart in his hand. More to the point, we should learn that attention to detail is incredibly important. The agency had transitioned from .40 to .45 in the past year. The ammo for that day’s training was from factory new cases. It is unknown if the .40 round was left over in some of the shooter’s gear or if possibly someone picked it up off the ground at the range and added it to the ammo table. We will likely never know.
This type of mix-up is fairly common, especially with agencies that transition from 9mm to .40 or .40 to .45, as well as with entities that use multiple calibers simultaneously, such as 9mm subguns and .40 pistols. While this does not make the event acceptable, it simply highlights the need to stay vigilant at the range.
Fig.2 Showing color x-ray view of bullet lodged in barrel
I have seen, and actually done it myself once, loaded a 9 in. 40. In all cases I’ve seen, the extractor caught the rim and the round fired, probably rattling down the barrel. I always been told, and have warned my shooters this could happen. Mistakes happen. It just reinforces that we must pay attention.
I remember about 2 years ago a coworker of mine was handling his g23 mag. It was making a weird sound like something was loose inside. He gave it the old “hmm that’s weird” and started to holster it. I took it and started emptying the rounds. He had 12 rounds of .40 HST and 1 round of 9mm HST (likely from an agency we share the range with, 9mm users at the time). So he says “that explains why I have an extra round here doesn’t it?”
While I have never seen it happen, I warn my students and officers of the possibility of just this type of incident. Shooters and Instructors need to be aware and make their students aware of this very real danger.
Be Safe
One time, at MP5 Camp…
Seriously c. ’97 our head firearms instructor and I went to MP5 Operator. We’d not yet received our MP5/40s, so had borrowed a couple of 9mm MPs from another agency.
Sure enough, as we practiced transitions on steel, things went South. Transition-Bang/Clang-Click-Tap/Rack-Bang/Clang-Click….lather-rinse-repeat through most of the pistol mag.
Took pistol apart, looked fine, then saw pile of new wildcats on the ground: necked up 10x19mm Parabellums. Checked spare mag. Yep, 229 mag full of 9mm FMJ.
Only bright spot was I was getting good hits with projectiles the never touched rifling…
Good god man!! I want to make a poster of this pic to show students the importance of why we check what it is we are bringing to the range for training.students should never pick up rounds from the range ground or floor,students should never be on line with out the weapon checked by range staff,weapons,ammo,and magazines need to be checked by more then one person,it’s sad to say,but things like this and others happen.great job with putting this story out there for all to see and learn from.
Stay low and reload,with right ammo!!
I work at a gun store and indoor range. Every so often when cleaning the range we come across 9mm necked up to 10mm and .40 necked up to .45. I think it’s best to shoot one caliber put that one away when your done then move on to the next caliber. Sadly I think with the most recent influx of new shooters on the scene this will happen more often.
The boyfriend bought a new Remington 1911R1 and we bought 5 boxes of Estate by Federal ammo to run through it… about midway through the second or third box, he stops and says, “it fired, but didn’t eject, and that didn’t feel right..”….
We finally get the case out of the gun and it is misshaped and doesn’t look right… low and behold, there was a .40 round in the .45 ammo box.. according to the range master, he has seen that a time or two but only with Winchester ammo… makes me wonder if they don’t police their work as well either? We got lucky and no damage to the gun and nothing like this occurred but it makes one wonder…
I can see MAYBE mixing 9mm & 40, but 40 & 45???
It’s best to stay awake while loading. 😉
Mixing 9 with .40 or .40 with .45 are both quite common occurrences. If you are wearing gloves, the size difference may not be as obvious. If you are training alone on your own time, this problem is easier to avoid since no one is cracking the whip to get you back on line to meet a time hack.
You know what can be really hard to discern is 10mm and .40 I have one of each but I try to keep the ammo separate and I check it before I load anything, and haven’t had any problems.
Negligence, there is no excuse!!
While I am neither pointing a finger or have any knowledge of this incident….
Complacency has destroyed a lot of gear and injured or killed its share of humans.
There is no “down” time when working with or around weapons (firearms). Attention to detail is critical during all phases!
this can also happen with revolvers using full moon clips, a friend who has an S&W 610 and an S&W 625 had them both out on the bench with loaded F-MC’s laid out as well …
some loaded with 10mm/40 S&W the others with 45 acp…
he picked up a clip and put it in the 625, they all went bang without any problems…
the group wasn’t even on the paper, he was going wtf? and pulled the clip, 6 split and expanded 40 S&W’s in the F-MC…
i wonder what would have happened if he’d grabbed the 10mm 170 grain HCL’s and shot them in the 625?…
be careful, it only takes a seconds inattention to make things go south…
I inadvertently fired a 9mm out of an XD40 once. The gun cycled and picked up the next 9 like everything was fine, but something didn’t feel right and when I investigated the odd report and soft recoil, it became apparent what happened. Luckily for me the only damage that occurred was to the fired 9mm case being bulged out on one side to the size of the .40 chamber and a decent bruise to my ego..
It was a cheap lesson that rings loudly still, even years later. Always be vigilant.
One of the reasons I don’t have guns in calibers that are close to each other. I reload so I could see components getting mixed up if not careful also.
I bought an old S&W Chief’s special for my mom. A few years back, she was staying at my place with her boyfriend, and apparently he did what he thought of as a favor by cleaning it and reloading it for her.
Unfortunately, he had found some loose .38 super auto rounds in my desk drawer and loaded those, and yes, they do chamber. I can’t imagine what might have happened if somebody had tried to shoot that, likely a catastrophic cylinder failure.
Naturally we had an educational discussion, and I policed up the loose ammo.
I know we’re talking about pistols here, but one time I went shooting with a friend and his 03 Springfield. We went through about 200 rounds of 30-06 and as I was loading up the last few rounds I noticed 2 of em didn’t seem to be as long as the rest. He ended up mixing some of his 308 in with his 30-06.
.308 won’t fit in an ’06. The case of the .308 is too wide. Likewise the ’06 neck would engage the barrel of a .308 rifle and the bolt wouldn’t close.
Well, as this is My choice weapon, I learned long ago to look at each and every shell You put int a .45 magazine. I do fire a .40, a 9MM, .38 cal. , .357 Magnum, anf a .45 Colt. Should a shell miss fire, or not fire, it is ejected, and culled with the brass.
Let’s be careful out there ! We are the god guys.
That was supposed to be good guys !
Your analogy is wrong. This is a correct caliber bullet for the bore. What has happened is the lead separated from the jacket and left the jacket stuck in the barrel. That is not a case but a jacket. If a 45 had been fired behind a 40 case it would have driven the 40 case out the barrel and on to parts unknown.
Others have made this assumption as well. However, when viewed from the front the primer flash hole in the case was a dead giveaway as to what it was.
A friend of my sister took her 380 to the range and actually fired a 9mm through it. It bulged the barrel to where the slide will not come off. Ruined it. I reload my own. Each round is checked at least twice and a mixup can usually be found in the crimp mode. It just doesn’t feel right. Be safe out there.