Lesson learned at Gun Range this week....

[Jeep4Play]

I recently purchased a Saiga 12 shotgun and couldn't wait to shoot it so me and my son (he's 22 Yrs. old) went to the range last thursday. I decided to bring several guns and make an afternoon of it since the weather was so nice and i had some new optics on my Sig .223 that i needed to dial in. The range is divided into 3 sections, pistols,rifles and shotguns on the end and since we had all 3 types we started out on the pistol range. We had 4 different pistols so we started out with the Glock .40 and Kimber .45 ,i brought 100rd boxes for each and two clips for each. We took turns shooting one then the other, as my son was shooting one i was reloading the clips for the other and he'd do the same for me. I shot the Glock then set it down and grabbed the Kimber and started to shoot it, the first shot made a distictly different sound and the case didn't eject, i removed the clip locked the slide open and looked and the case was still in there. I tried pulling it out but couldn't get the shell out so i got a cleaning rod out of my range bag and ran it thru the barrel pushing the casing out and inspected it. The brass was split all the way down one side and swollen up. After looking at it more i realized it was a .40 casing and NOT a .45 ! I grabbed the mag and sure enough the whole clip was loaded with .40 's , apparently when reloading my son had grabbed a handful out of the wrong box and loaded both .45 clips with the ammo for the Glock .40 . Embarassed and irritated at myself i was concerned it might had damaged my beloved Kimber so i took it over to the range master and explained what happened and to let him look it over. He said i was lucky it was a quality gun and not some "cheaper" made .45 or it could of easily blown up in my hand injuring myself and possibly my son.Lesson Learned ! I went back and put the Glock and it's ammo back in range bag and for now on no matter how many guns i bring only one at a time is put on the table and only the ammo for that gun is put out. I kept that casing as a reminder for both me and my son who by the way felt terrible and couldn't believe he did that and kept saying "what if" , what if it had blown up and hurt you or trashed my favorite pistol. I just told him that we both learned a valuable lesson and joked i guess it's like that skydiver saying...always pack your own parachute...you can bet i'll always load my own clips from now on and never have two boxes of different ammo out at the same time. It made a lasting impression on both of us and just in case it didnt i put that split casing in my safe so everytime we get any guns out it's there staring us in the face ! Hopefully someone will read this and if they were guilty of doing this same thing they will change the way they shoot multiple guns at one outing. On a side note the Saiga 12 is a beast ! 12 rds of 12 gauge as fast as you can pull the trigger.

[Hoi Polloi]

The brass was split all the way down one side and swollen up. After looking at it more i realized it was a .40 casing and NOT a .45 ! I grabbed the mag and sure enough the whole clip was loaded with .40 's , apparently when reloading my son had grabbed a handful out of the wrong box and loaded both .45 clips with the ammo for the Glock .40 .

That is scary! I'm happy to hear that you and the gun are safe!

[JJVP]

I recently purchased a Saiga 12 shotgun and couldn't wait to shoot it so me and my son (he's 22 Yrs. old) went to the range last thursday. I decided to bring several guns and make an afternoon of it since the weather was so nice and i had some new optics on my Sig .223 that i needed to dial in. The range is divided into 3 sections, pistols,rifles and shotguns on the end and since we had all 3 types we started out on the pistol range. We had 4 different pistols so we started out with the Glock .40 and Kimber .45 ,i brought 100rd boxes for each and two magazines for each. We took turns shooting one then the other, as my son was shooting one i was reloading the magazines for the other and he'd do the same for me. I shot the Glock then set it down and grabbed the Kimber and started to shoot it, the first shot made a distictly different sound and the case didn't eject, i removed the magazine locked the slide open and looked and the case was still in there. I tried pulling it out but couldn't get the shell out so i got a cleaning rod out of my range bag and ran it thru the barrel pushing the casing out and inspected it. The brass was split all the way down one side and swollen up. After looking at it more i realized it was a .40 casing and NOT a .45 ! I grabbed the mag and sure enough the whole magazine was loaded with .40 's , apparently when reloading my son had grabbed a handful out of the wrong box and loaded both .45 magazines with the ammo for the Glock .40 . Embarassed and irritated at myself i was concerned it might had damaged my beloved Kimber so i took it over to the range master and explained what happened and to let him look it over. He said i was lucky it was a quality gun and not some "cheaper" made .45 or it could of easily blown up in my hand injuring myself and possibly my son.Lesson Learned ! I went back and put the Glock and it's ammo back in range bag and for now on no matter how many guns i bring only one at a time is put on the table and only the ammo for that gun is put out. I kept that casing as a reminder for both me and my son who by the way felt terrible and couldn't believe he did that and kept saying "what if" , what if it had blown up and hurt you or trashed my favorite pistol. I just told him that we both learned a valuable lesson and joked i guess it's like that skydiver saying...always pack your own parachute...you can bet i'll always load my own magazines from now on and never have two boxes of different ammo out at the same time. It made a lasting impression on both of us and just in case it didnt i put that split casing in my safe so everytime we get any guns out it's there staring us in the face ! Hopefully someone will read this and if they were guilty of doing this same thing they will change the way they shoot multiple guns at one outing. On a side note the Saiga 12 is a beast ! 12 rds of 12 gauge as fast as you can pull the trigger.

There I fixed it for you.

[OldCannon]

On a side note the Saiga 12 is a beast ! 12 rds of 12 gauge as fast as you can pull the trigger.

It's awesome, isn't it? :)

Also...
[youtube][/youtube]

[texxas guy]

I recently purchased a Saiga 12 shotgun and couldn't wait to shoot it so me and my son (he's 22 Yrs. old) went to the range last thursday. I decided to bring several guns and make an afternoon of it since the weather was so nice and i had some new optics on my Sig .223 that i needed to dial in. The range is divided into 3 sections, pistols,rifles and shotguns on the end and since we had all 3 types we started out on the pistol range. We had 4 different pistols so we started out with the Glock .40 and Kimber .45 ,i brought 100rd boxes for each and two magazines for each. We took turns shooting one then the other, as my son was shooting one i was reloading the magazines for the other and he'd do the same for me. I shot the Glock then set it down and grabbed the Kimber and started to shoot it, the first shot made a distictly different sound and the case didn't eject, i removed the magazine locked the slide open and looked and the case was still in there. I tried pulling it out but couldn't get the shell out so i got a cleaning rod out of my range bag and ran it thru the barrel pushing the casing out and inspected it. The brass was split all the way down one side and swollen up. After looking at it more i realized it was a .40 casing and NOT a .45 ! I grabbed the mag and sure enough the whole magazine was loaded with .40 's , apparently when reloading my son had grabbed a handful out of the wrong box and loaded both .45 magazines with the ammo for the Glock .40 . Embarassed and irritated at myself i was concerned it might had damaged my beloved Kimber so i took it over to the range master and explained what happened and to let him look it over. He said i was lucky it was a quality gun and not some "cheaper" made .45 or it could of easily blown up in my hand injuring myself and possibly my son.Lesson Learned ! I went back and put the Glock and it's ammo back in range bag and for now on no matter how many guns i bring only one at a time is put on the table and only the ammo for that gun is put out. I kept that casing as a reminder for both me and my son who by the way felt terrible and couldn't believe he did that and kept saying "what if" , what if it had blown up and hurt you or trashed my favorite pistol. I just told him that we both learned a valuable lesson and joked i guess it's like that skydiver saying...always pack your own parachute...you can bet i'll always load my own magazines from now on and never have two boxes of different ammo out at the same time. It made a lasting impression on both of us and just in case it didnt i put that split casing in my safe so everytime we get any guns out it's there staring us in the face ! Hopefully someone will read this and if they were guilty of doing this same thing they will change the way they shoot multiple guns at one outing. On a side note the Saiga 12 is a beast ! 12 rds of 12 gauge as fast as you can pull the trigger.

There I fixed it for you.

+1 and you got lucky that day

[Excaliber]

That error is extremely easy to make.

I know - I didn't have any trouble at all doing exactly the same thing in my Kimber Ultra Carry several years ago.

I got exactly the same results, too - a split cartridge, no damage to the gun, and a red face.

I also made the same resolution - only one type of ammo on the bench at a time and confirmed as the right stuff for the gun in hand.

[texanron]

I can see how this simple but potentially costly mistake can happen. Lucky for me (sort of) the shooting range I attend charges by the gun so I'll only have one out there at a time. Bullets are expensive enough as it is. I just need to make sure I pack the correct ammo for the gun I'm shooting that day.

[i8godzilla]

Glad to hear the outcome was not bad.

I did this once putting a 9MM magazine into a XDsc .40. The two magazine looked identical. The result was an expanded case that did not eject and the next round was jammed. In clearing the jam, I released the magazine and knew right away what the issue was. As soon as the slide was locked back, the live round and spent case both 'dropped' out. We have since marked the magazines.

[WildBill]

That error is extremely easy to make.

I know - I didn't have any trouble at all doing exactly the same thing in my Kimber Ultra Carry several years ago.

I got exactly the same results, too - a split cartridge, no damage to the gun, and a red face.

I also made the same resolution - only one type of ammo on the bench at a time and confirmed as the right stuff for the gun in hand.

It probably happens more often that you hear. Inserting a 16 or 20 gauge shotgun shell into a 12 gauge and then following with a 12 gauge shell is probably the most common mistake.