Shooting 380/9mm short/9x17 in a 9mm pistol?

mozambique technique

mozambique technique

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Just wondering if it's safe to shoot .380 out of a Glock 17? I have a handful of rounds I wanted to blow off.
Is there enough of a diameter difference to make it unsafe? Is a short round in an auto a cause for concern?

Thanks for any info.
 
9mm its not designed to shoot .380 don't do it. it wouldn't even cycle a slide. ammo being more scares and expensive ts not even worth it that way
 
Bullet diameter is one consideration. Case length and pressure is another.
Would you shoot a 7.62x51, x54 and x25 interchangeably? Probably not so I would not recommend doing it with the .380 either.
Odds are it will go bang but probably won't extract as the .380 rd won't have the same recoil impulse to cycle a 9mm slide.
But I won't be too interested in trying!
 
The 380 case is shorter so it may not even go off, they head space on the case mouth so your looking at a big difference. I wouldn't do it.
 
Ran a 380 through my Glock 17 last year by accident. Did not fire but did jam the pistol up. Took a while to unjam.
 
The .38 special will fire out of a .357 mag because they are rimmed. 9mm and 380 auto don't have that same rim.
 
For a semi auto the round would hang from the ejector due to being too short to correctly headspace on the mouth of the casing. And the .380 is a little smaller than a 9mm by.015. Enough to possibly slip past the ejector hook and make for a lovely jam. You see the 9mm is slightly tapered while the .380 is truly parallel. So the head on the .380 case is that .015 smaller.

From a 9mm revolver? If the moonclips hold the rounds well enough that they can't slip out and fall into the chamber I guess so. Expect a lot of blowback or badly deformed .380 brass though. The case is either going to stretch out into that .007 gap all around or it's going to split and likely gases will come out the rear cylinder gap.

So it's not really a great idea. I'd find someone with a gun that can use it and trade them for some 9mm.
 
ah, good point on the casing diameter at the head end. Not worth playing with.

BCRider said:
For a semi auto the round would hang from the ejector due to being too short to correctly headspace on the mouth of the casing. And the .380 is a little smaller than a 9mm by.015. Enough to possibly slip past the ejector hook and make for a lovely jam. You see the 9mm is slightly tapered while the .380 is truly parallel. So the head on the .380 case is that .015 smaller.

From a 9mm revolver? If the moonclips hold the rounds well enough that they can't slip out and fall into the chamber I guess so. Expect a lot of blowback or badly deformed .380 brass though. The case is either going to stretch out into that .007 gap all around or it's going to split and likely gases will come out the rear cylinder gap.

So it's not really a great idea. I'd find someone with a gun that can use it and trade them for some 9mm.
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I had a few Wolf Commercial Reloads that I found using .380 Casings. Seems to be no problem with 9mm RN. But I believe an OAL for 9 X 19 and a workable powder load can be safely achieved. I have accidentally done this maybe twice in 5K rds reloaded. Safe? Not really as the headspace is a concern since the casing is shorter and a major load might pose some safety issues. I only reload 9mm and after these few mixed up casings, I sort my casing after tumbling and during hand priming.
 
Oh, another thing about either a semi or using them with moonclips in a 9mm revolver. The .007" drop from center is going to result in an offset strike to the primer. In some cases that may be enough to result in a primer strike that fails to set off the primer. Just depends on how well centered the firing pin is to the chamber to begin with and in which direction any error is directed.
 
spooksar said:
The 380 case is shorter so it may not even go off, they head space on the case mouth so your looking at a big difference. I wouldn't do it.
Click to expand...

+1. At best it headspaces on the extractor, at worse it jams things up pretty solidly.


geologist said:
I'd use it as an excuse to buy a new .380 ACP pistol.......
Click to expand...

Now this is the correct way to view the situation. :cheers:


BCRider said:
Oh, another thing about either a semi or using them with moonclips in a 9mm revolver. The .007" drop from center is going to result in an offset strike to the primer. In some cases that may be enough to result in a primer strike that fails to set off the primer. Just depends on how well centered the firing pin is to the chamber to begin with and in which direction any error is directed.
Click to expand...

I can't imagine 0.007" off center is going to matter, that is only two sheets of paper in thickness. Most firing pins are well over 0.040" in diameter and will easily hit the center of the primer when the case offsets that much.


Mark
 
Demolition Ranch YouTube channel did that test.

The guy loaded magazine with .380 and 9x19 alternating, like 10 rounds total.
In his particular pistol it has been shooting every time he pressed the trigger, but .380 couldn't fully recharge the pistol for the next shot, so he did it manually. He did not experience any other problems.

I believe, in revolver with moon clips (therefore, not relying on headspace), it should be equivalent to shooting .38 Special from .38 Magnum revolver, or .22 Long or Short from .22LR revolver.

However, as one of the very first posters said, it just makes more sense to sel .380 ammo and buy more 9x19 ammo.
 
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