A week ago, I took my wife to the range, and we were shooting pistols chambered in .45 ACP and .40 S&W. She was reloading a 1911 magazine and asked me which box to load from (since it didn't occur to her to read the box...). I pointed to the box on the left. What I didn't know was that about 2 minutes before, my son had switched the boxes around - I don't know why - and so my wife loaded that 1911 mag full of .40 S&W from the box on the left. Naturally, it stovepiped when she tried to drop the slide. Fortunately, they called a cease-fire just then, and it was while safe-ing the gun for her that I discovered the magazine loaded with the wrong cartridges.NcongruNt wrote:WildBill wrote:Trying to use incorrect ammunition for a firearm is not just a mistake made by novice shooters - many experienced shooters have accidently loaded the wrong round in a firearm. Making sure that you pair the proper ammunition with the correct gun requires constant diligence, the same as making sure that your finger is off the trigger and your muzzle is pointed in a safe direction.
Especially for those of you who like foreign military rifles, there are many variations and varieties in rifle cartridges. Checking to verify compatibility of rifle ammunition is just as important as for pistols.
I agree that loading an incorrect round into a gun is not a mistake only made by novices. I stated that telling the difference between calibers (upon inspection) would be. Someone experienced with particular rounds would know the difference when identifying the rounds before loading them. Not paying enough attention to what one is doing is the common mistake in these situations, not the inability to tell the rounds apart. I think that a push for "constant diligence" - as you stated - is more practical and beneficial in ensuring firearms safety, rather than recommend people not get similar caliber guns. The emphasis on diligence when handling and loading firearms carries over to preventing mistakes in many more areas than just mistakenly loading the wrong round into a firearm.
Shame on me. I assumed the boxes were as I had left them, and since I was in the middle of doing something else, I didn't take time to read the box myself either.
