Accidentally fired .223 out of 7.62x39 rifle

[Michael94]

Today I messed up and feel like a complete idiot and fired a .223 round out of my vz58. I was in a rush and found a .223 round in the trunk and tossed it into my 7.62 ammo box since it was closest.

By the time I got to the range I completely forgot about that. When I was loading my mags I was talking to the guy next to me and not paying attention. Started firing and on the last round I heard a "poof" like a squid load. Dropped the mag, waited a minute, slid the dust cover back. First thing I noticed was that the casing was brass and not steel. Pulled the casing out and it formed to the size of the 7.62 chamber and was split down the side. When I looked down the barrel I could see a line of unburned powder and the barrel looked okay and everything seemed to work.

I left the rifle with a gunsmith to check it over. Luckily no one got hurt and I learned my lesson. Won't be taking any shortcuts and will be paying extra attention when loading mags.

[ShawnC6]

Surprised it lined up and fired.

I’m sure the rifle is fine.

[King0265]

I would of thought it would be kinda loose and not stack properly in the mag

[moogles]

Both of the above

[phillyblt]

Wow be careful. happy your ok

[Michael94]

The people at the gun store said the same thing. They were surprised it fired at all. And it may have been lose, but I wasn't paying my attention. Here's the picture of the casing, with a non exploded casing.
http://imgur.com/a/frmNeZu

[dirtybarry]

Neat, the length of cartridges are close enough that with the 5.56 round stuffed into the throat of the chamber the firing pin could hit the primer close enough to centre to make it go bang.
Clean the powder out of the chamber and it'll be good to go. The bullet must have left with about 63 ft/sec velocity and an interesting trajectory.

[Phat Eagle]

Saw a similar thing happen at a public range day at a local fish and game club... One of the participants shot 5.56 out of a 7.62x39 AR with similar results.

[JoeShmow]

Could have been worse.

[btabin]

Surprised it fired. I let a friend load magazines and he ended up using .223 in one and tried firing it out of my Vz 58. The cartridge got stuck. First and last time I let anyone load my mags, experience be damned.