Shooting different calibers in same gun?

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theboyscout

theboyscout

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I know the 357mag shoots the 38. But does any other gun shoot different calibers,

1) What rifle shoots another rifle?

2) What pistol shoots another pistol?

3) Shotgun shoots another shotgun?
(I don’t think one shell fits another but a 2 3/4 will fit a 3”)
 
When of my favorites in convertibles is using a 9mm. barrel assembly in a M1911 chambered for .38 Super. Just add the barrel set-up and a 9mm. magazine and you're good to go.
 
Despite the obscure naming convention, a "38" and a "357" both shoot the same "caliber" bullet (which is not 0.38")
 
Well the obvious other one is that .44mag will also shoot .44spl.
.454 Casull will also shoot .45LC (and a S&W .460mag will shoot both the .454 and the .45)

My Rossi M92 in .357mag will also shoot .38s.

Some rifles chambered for .22LR will also shoot .22short and .22 Long.

There are some others as well.
 
In some revolvers you can buy an additional cylinder in a compatible chambering. Examples include:

.22lr & .22wmr

.357/.38 & 9mm

.454, .45lc, .45acp

Also .45LC can fire .45 Schofield, .327 Federal can fire .32 H&R Mag, .32 S&W, etc...
 
With switch-barrel guns you can shoot as many different cartridges as you have barrels chambered for. I have several barrels for my NEF Handi-Rifle and T/C Encore. FWIW "cartridge designations" are different than "calibers." the .30M1 Carbine and the .300 H&H Magnum are both ".30" caliber but VERY different cartridges. Words mean things. To sound knowledgeable it is best to use the correct word to accurately describe actions and things. Hopefully not beleaguering the point, note the difference between clip/magazine, bullet/cartridge, semi-auto/automatic, cylinder/chamber, and accidental/negligent. On the High Road we should all "aim" for correct terminology to accomplish better understanding and communications.
 
327 magnum will shoot .32 H&R Mag, 32 S&W Long, .32 S&W

.357 Max will shoot .357 mag (I believe), .38 Special +P, 38 Special

.445 Super mag will shoot .44 magnum, .44 Special

460 S&W mag will shoot .454 Casull, .45 LC, .45 Schofield

500 magnum will shoot 500 special

In general with revolvers there is a magnum version of every caliber. The number does not necesarily properly reflect the bullet caliber, as in the above examples all the bullets are the same caliber (diameter). Wikipedia is a good sorce for this information.

Obviously, if a gun is not rated for a magnum cartridge, it is unsafe to fire a mag from one of these guns. Typically the magnum cartridges were lengthened in order to prevent them being chambered in a revolver not rated for magnums.

Some lever action guns can do this also.

I guess you could say the same is done with NATO and commercial ammo in rifles. 5.56x45 will shoot .223 remington, but not the other way around. I'm going to let others chime in on rifles, as I'm more of a pistol shooter.
 
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You can shoot 458 Win Mag out of a 458 Lott. Also most of the "improved" rounds can shoot the parent cartridge. Even as far as shooting 300 H&H out of a 300 Weatherby.
 
.22 Mag will shoot .22lr, or .22 short
Click to expand...
Not unless you are talking about a gun like the Ruger Single-Six which has two different cylinders chambered for the .22Mag and .22LR respectivly. The Mag and LR have different bullet and neck diameters. They won't both fit in the same chamber.
 
Define Calibre



1. (Military / Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) the diameter of a cylindrical body, esp the internal diameter of a tube or the bore of a firearm
 
.22 WRF in .22 Magnum (as a single shot at least: some .22 Magnum tube fed magazines won't work as repeaters with .22 WRF).

Not that it is a great idea, but it can be done, if all you have is a.22 mag gun and .22 wrf ammo.
 
.22 LR (long rifle), .22 long, .22 short, and .22 CB Cap all use stepped bullets, having the outer diameter of the bullet the same as the casing with the portion fitting into the casing reduced in diameter. Since the outside diameter of the casing, the case head, and the bore diameter are the same for all these rounds, they can all be fired in a gun chambered for .22 LR.

.22 Magnum does not use a stepped bullet, but has a larger diameter casing to fit around the bullet. Even though the bore diameter is the same as the smaller .22 rounds, they should not be fired in a .22 magnum chamber, as there is significant risk of splitting the casing and releasing hot gases into the action.

A few seconds with a set of calipers and example rounds of each caliber will easily convince you of the very real difference.

It's like discovering that you can insert a magazine of 9x19 ammo into a pistol chambered in .40 S&W and chamber and fire a round. The extractor will hold the round in place well enough to allow the firing pin to ignite the primer. The bullet will exit the barrel and go somewhere but the casing will split and the action will probably not cycle. This was discovered by experience when a friend wanted to try my Sig 226 with attached laser sight and inserted a magazine of his (factory) ammo. Unfortunately, my Sig was .40 and his was 9mm. No damage, just embarrassment.
 
Years ago there was a gun called the Cadco Medusa. It was a revolver that used a specially designed cylinder that allowed the gun to fire nearly any type of ammunition that was ~.38, including rimmed and rimless cartridges.

It was a very clever design, but never caught on.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk. Hence all the misspellings and goofy word choices.
 
Not unless you are talking about a gun like the Ruger Single-Six which has two different cylinders chambered for the .22Mag and .22LR respectivly. The Mag and LR have different bullet and neck diameters. They won't both fit in the same chamber.
Click to expand...

Ah, yes Mr. Dauben. Thanks for the correction. I was thinking of the Single-Six. The case dimensions are not the same so you need a different cylinder. I also forgot about the .22lr case splitting issue when fired in a .22 mag due to the lack of support.

So I guess I should strike that example from what I posted. I'll do that.
 
Iron Sight,

Caliber also has another definition relevant to the firearms/weapons world. It is the length of the barrel divided by the diameter of the bore. In other words it is how many times longer is the the barrel than the diameter.
This is very frequently encountered in naval guns (sometimes also in artillery and tank/anit-tank guns). For example the USS Iowa class's main armament is described as 16/50 guns, that is 16" diameter and the barrel is 50 diameters long. The older USS South Dakota class used 16/45 guns. These barrels were 5 X 16" shorter and had correspondingly lower muzzle velocity and range. Think 24" barrel vs. 22" barrel.

This definition is not exactly on topic but hopefully interesting to enthusiasts.

Dan
 
Here's one that no one has mentioned yet.

A 10mm revolver, loaded using moonclips, will shoot .40 cartridges using the same moonclips
 
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