.380 cartridges in a 9mm pistol

[LibShooter]

I got my first 9mm pistol, today. (A Bersa) I noticed that at a glance 9mm ammo looks a lot like the .380 my wife loads in her Bersa. That got me thinking what would happen if we got the rounds mixed up. I assume the 9mm wouldn't fit in her .380 magazine, but the .380 would load in the 9mm magazine.

Does anybody have an idea what would happen if I accidently fired the wrong ammo? Any first hand experience?

Thanks.

 

[jonnyc]

OK, when you say "9mm", do you mean 9x19 Parabellum/Luger or 9x17 Kurz/ACP/Browning Short.....which is actually .380???
No offense, but your post is not clear and I'm not sure if you know the difference.

 

[LibShooter]

I'm sorry. I mean 9x19 Parabellum/Luger.


Yikes! My brother has a Makarov. Now you've given me ANOTHER round to worry about.

With 9x17mm, 9x18mm AND 9x19mm there's plenty of opportunity for confusion.

 

[beatledog7]

The answer is ... pay attention. Salt looks a lot like sugar, but how often do you confuse the two?

 

[LibShooter]

Salt looks a lot like sugar, but how often do you confuse the two?

Funny you should use that analogy. Every Christmas my family reminisces about the "Salty Pumpkin Pie of 1999." Mom's eyesight was going. That's when she started having Dad read the labels.

Maybe it runs in the family.

Honestly, I don't think I'll actually make this mistake. I was just wondering what the implications might be. However, knowing myself, I know it's possible.

 

[Hypnogator]

You can shoot .380 ACP ammo in a 9mm Luger pistol, but the round will probably be too weak to cycle the slide properly. It's not a good practice, and if you single-load the rounds, they may be pushed into the chamber ahead of the extractor. That may result in a failure to fire, or if it does fire, it will set back from the pressure and may, in some pistols, damage the extractor. But the gun won't blow up.

Your 9mm Luger ammo won't chamber in your wife's .380, and, as you say, I doubt it would even fit into the magazine.

 

[LibShooter]

But the gun won't blow up.

Thanks!

 

[Okie45]

If you are worried about a mix up, keep your ammo brands a different manufacture and a different bullet type. For the example, in the 380 use Winchester flat nose FMJ and for a hollowpoint use Critical Defence. For the 9mm, use UMC round nose FMJ and Gold Dot hollowpoints. That way you have look and feel in your side, both the bullet shape, the ammo casing color etc... Choose the brands you like to use, I'm just suggesting if you are that worried about a mix up, make your bullets as different as possible while still using good brands that feedwell.

 

[JohnKSa]

But the gun won't blow up.

Probably won't blow up.

The chamber is longer in a 9mm than a .380 and that means that if a .380 round is fired in a 9mm chamber the bullet may hit the chamber mouth. The chamber mouth on an automatic is a sharp step and that sharp step can shave off bullet material. One or two shots probably wouldn't be an issue, but if enough bullet material builds up, it could potentially cause enough of an obstruction to generate dangerous pressures--particularly if you go back to shooting 9mm.

It's not something that's terribly likely to happen, but there is some potential for a catastrophic incident, particularly if one were to shoot a lot of .380 in a 9mm pistol.

The reason this isn't typically an issue in revolvers when shorter rounds are fired in a long chamber is that revolver chambers generally don't have a sharp step at the chamber mouth. There's a tapered transition at the front of the chamber.

 

[Pilot]

Defintitely not a good ideas.

 

[dirtengineer]

I know that a .380 case reloaded in 9X19 dies will not fire in a Taurus PT99 (got mixed in with my 9mm brass somehow). It went far enough into the chamber that the firing pin didn't strike the primer at all.

 

[JohnKSa]

It depends on whether or not the extractor will hold it in position.

 

[Wildbillz]

I would think that, there would also be some danger of the round lodging in the chamber and a scond round being chambered onto it. If one or the other went off it would be ugly.

I saw some pictures where a guy firing a 1911 45acp chambered a 40S&W and then followed it up with a 45acp. Not a good day.

WB

 

[tipoc]

Such things do happen. A box of ammo spills and something gets mixed up.

First off you will likely see or feel feel the difference in the rounds in your hand as you go to load them in a magazine. Or you may note that one round in the box is a good bit shorter than the others. If you don't notice this...

You will likely notice that the .380 rounds do not fit in the 9mm magazine as they should. You can try it right now and see what the difference looks like...see once you see it it ain't hard to miss.

At this point most shooters will go "Is this right? What's up with this round?" If not, ignore it, have another beer and shot to match the ones you've already imbibed and continue.

The .380, cuz it is a less powerful round than the 9mm, will likely not damage the gun when it goes off but, can and will likely cause a jam, being shorter and all. Feeding, properly chambering, extraction will all be problematic. A few may feed but not many. This will be a clue to the sober.

You can also lesson the likelihood of some mix up by never loading a round by dropping it in the chamber (I don't know why some fellas do this, it gets you nothing) load from the mag.

tipoc

 

[mavracer]

9x19 is tapered and is a bit larger at the base of the case. If it fires it probably won't hurt the gun but it's highly likely that the case will split and hot gas can send small pieces of debris back in the shooters face. It can send gasses down into the magwell and cause problems there.

 

[J_McLeod]

I know that a .380 case reloaded in 9X19 dies will not fire in a Taurus PT99 (got mixed in with my 9mm brass somehow). It went far enough into the chamber that the firing pin didn't strike the primer at all.

It doesn't work too well to swap dies because the cases have differnt dimensions besides the length. A .380 case is straight walled, while a 9x19 case has a slight taper to it.