Oops! At the range.

[puma guy]

I took my son-in-law to the range to shoot a Rem 742 .308 I gave him to hunt with this year. (his first deer hunt) I had already checked it, but wanted to be sure it would "shoot" the same for him. With him not being an experienced high power rifle shooter I was satisfied with his "minute of deer" shots. I also took my old 1964 .243 Model 70 to check it as I'd not shot it in several years. I had let another son-on-law use it and got it back 2-3 years ago. I tool several shots and made some scope adjustments and got it acceptable. We'd set up a large a large 25"X25" deer photo target with an X-ray image of vitals for our final shots. I took my shot at it first then my son-in-law put the 742 .308 on the rest. His shot was off just a little and he thought he'd pulled it so he decided to take another shot. I was watching the target through my spotting scope when he fired, but saw no hit on the entire target. As we tried to figure out what happened he grabbed another round off the bench and was about to load it when he said "hey, I know what happened". My .243 ammo was still on the bench and the wayward shot was a .243 shell in the .308. He looked around and found the empty case. Sure enough! Fire formed a .308 from a .243!. I didn't measure the mouth of the .243, but it was close to the .308 cases. I'm surprised there wasn't noticeable gas leakage when he fired.

[narcissist]

Glad nothing bad happened, wish you both the best of luck during hunting season.

[03Lightningrocks]

A few years back I made a similar mistake. I was test firing a new .380. Then I fired my Glock 9mm. By mistake, I reloaded the magazine on the Glock with some .380 rounds left on the bench. They fired fine but would not cycle the slide. It took me a dozen or so rounds before I stopped blaming the gun and realized I was firing .380 in my 9 mm.

[Tex1961]

A few years back I made a similar mistake. I was test firing a new .380. Then I fired my Glock 9mm. By mistake, I reloaded the magazine on the Glock with some .380 rounds left on the bench. They fired fine but would not cycle the slide. It took me a dozen or so rounds before I stopped blaming the gun and realized I was firing .380 in my 9 mm.

Whew. I’m not the only one who’s done that.

[Excaliber]

A few years back I made a similar mistake. I was test firing a new .380. Then I fired my Glock 9mm. By mistake, I reloaded the magazine on the Glock with some .380 rounds left on the bench. They fired fine but would not cycle the slide. It took me a dozen or so rounds before I stopped blaming the gun and realized I was firing .380 in my 9 mm.

Whew. I’m not the only one who’s done that.

I suspect a lot of us have.

[oljames3]

A few years back I made a similar mistake. I was test firing a new .380. Then I fired my Glock 9mm. By mistake, I reloaded the magazine on the Glock with some .380 rounds left on the bench. They fired fine but would not cycle the slide. It took me a dozen or so rounds before I stopped blaming the gun and realized I was firing .380 in my 9 mm.

Whew. I’m not the only one who’s done that.

I suspect a lot of us have.

[Lynyrd]

I took my son-in-law to the range to shoot a Rem 742 .308 I gave him to hunt with this year. (his first deer hunt) I had already checked it, but wanted to be sure it would "shoot" the same for him. With him not being an experienced high power rifle shooter I was satisfied with his "minute of deer" shots. I also took my old 1964 .243 Model 70 to check it as I'd not shot it in several years. I had let another son-on-law use it and got it back 2-3 years ago. I tool several shots and made some scope adjustments and got it acceptable. We'd set up a large a large 25"X25" deer photo target with an X-ray image of vitals for our final shots. I took my shot at it first then my son-in-law put the 742 .308 on the rest. His shot was off just a little and he thought he'd pulled it so he decided to take another shot. I was watching the target through my spotting scope when he fired, but saw no hit on the entire target. As we tried to figure out what happened he grabbed another round off the bench and was about to load it when he said "hey, I know what happened". My .243 ammo was still on the bench and the wayward shot was a .243 shell in the .308. He looked around and found the empty case. Sure enough! Fire formed a .308 from a .243!. I didn't measure the mouth of the .243, but it was close to the .308 cases. I'm surprised there wasn't noticeable gas leakage when he fired.

243 308 (2).jpg

Amazing! I never thought about those two rounds having almost the same case. I'm glad nothing bad happened.

[WTR]

I thought the .308 was the parent case for the .243. So no surprise that it fired and fire formed.

[The Annoyed Man]

A few years back I made a similar mistake. I was test firing a new .380. Then I fired my Glock 9mm. By mistake, I reloaded the magazine on the Glock with some .380 rounds left on the bench. They fired fine but would not cycle the slide. It took me a dozen or so rounds before I stopped blaming the gun and realized I was firing .380 in my 9 mm.

Whew. I’m not the only one who’s done that.

I suspect a lot of us have.

Not me, but I’ve been fog-bound in other ways before.

AKSHUALLY... I did once load a couple of rounds of some .40 S&W into a .45 ACP magazine, but discovered the error before loading it into the gun and firing it.

[jason812]

In high school my buddies grandpa gave him a .270. We went to sight it in and after the third or so round hit the target keyholed, we realized his grandpa forgot what caliber the rifle was. It was .30-06.

[mrvmax]

I was just out on an MLD hunt and they have you sight in before the hunt. My buddy and I both took two rifles with us in case we had problems with one. He tried sighting in his .270 but it was not grouping so he brought out the 7mm magnum. It sighted in well so he used that to hunt.

The next day at the blind he grabbed ammo from his pocket and loaded up. He fired at a white tail and he felt something on his face and knew something was odd. He had fired a .270 in the 7 mag. The case ruptured but the rifle looked fine. Somehow he managed to hit the deer and killed it with a .270 fired out of a 7 mag rifle.

[puma guy]

At least I can tell him he's in good company! To Lynyrd and WTR; yes, the .243 Winchester's parent case is indeed the .308.

[ScottDLS]

Anybody tried to shove a Beretta 9mm mag in a Sig P226? They seem to fit, but don’t feed too well...

[The Annoyed Man]

Anybody tried to shove a Beretta 9mm mag in a Sig P226? They seem to fit, but don’t feed too well...

[Soccerdad1995]

I can attest to the ammo mix-ups. I've loaded and fired .380's through a 9mm once. This is the reason why I try to never bring a .380 or a .40 on a range trip where I am also shooting a 9mm gun.