Range Incident : 5.56×45 vs 5.45×39

By John Farnam

5.56x45 vs 5.45x39.5
5.56×45 vs 5.45×39.5
Defense Training International, Inc
Defense Training International, Inc

Ft Collins, CO –-(Ammoland.com)- Range Incident:

I normally advise students, when they retrieve live rounds of ammunition from the ground, to check them carefully before stuffing them back into magazines.

Sometimes, I fail to emphasize the “check them carefully” part enough!

Yesterday, during an Urban Rifle Course in TN, a student came to me complaining that the bolt on his AR would not close. Examination revealed the base of a live round protruding out of the chamber. However, the bolt, even with a running start, refused to close on the round.

The student switched to another rifle and continued with our Program.

During the next break, we attempted to knock the recalcitrant round back out of the chamber with a cleaning rod inserted from the muzzle end. We had no success! That round was really wedged in there.

At the shop later in the evening, we finally got the stuck round knocked loose, and the rifle was returned to normal service.

The Problem:

My student had inadvertently picked up a Soviet 5.45×39 round off the ground, and, mistaking it for a 5.56×45 (223) round, nonchalantly inserted it into his AR magazine. When he subsequently reinserted the magazine into his rifle and attempted to close the bolt, the errant round went partway into the chamber, but then became hopelessly wedged with the base sticking out the back, as noted above.

In retrospect, it is a good thing the round did not chamber!

No harm done, and my student successfully completed his training, and his rifle (once we freed the stuck round) was none the worse for wear.

However, had something like this happened during a tactical scenario, the rifle would have been out of action at a critical moment and could have not been returned to service quickly.

Lesson:

Live rounds of ammunition picked-up off the ground during training exercises need to be segregated and examined at a later time, not casually returned to magazines with the intention of immediate reuse. That is the procedure we will recommend from now on!

This important lesson was not lost on me, nor on the balance of our students!

/John

About John Farnam & Defense Training International, Inc
As a defensive weapons and tactics instructor John Farnam will urge you, based on your own beliefs, to make up your mind in advance as to what you would do when faced with an imminent and unlawful lethal threat. You should, of course, also decide what preparations you should make in advance, if any. Defense Training International wants to make sure that their students fully understand the physical, legal, psychological, and societal consequences of their actions or inactions.

It is our duty to make you aware of certain unpleasant physical realities intrinsic to the Planet Earth. Mr Farnam is happy to be your counselor and advisor. Visit: www.defense-training.com

19 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
tom tompson

Story makes no sense. The 5.45 is a shorter case, and the bullet is a smaller diameter. So the bolt would have closed but the round would have been too deep in the chamber to extract or let firing pin strike primer.

Is this story made up for a blog entry?

tom tompson

Actually I overlooked the case diameter, so I suppose the tapered case could have gotten wedged into the chamber pretty good….

David

I had this happen to me when a friend gave me some of his leftover 5.56. He shoots steel case and also has an AK-pattern in 5.45. Not quite the same as the above story, where the ammo was picked up off the ground, but still something that lead to a similar outcome. At an arms length while loading magazines, I didn’t notice the difference. Hit my bolt release and immediately noticed something was up because the rifle was well out of battery. The round will start to chamber but the case’s different shape got hung up on the chamber… Read more »

Ken

2 Weeks ago I was at the range with my friend and his 5.56 I had my 300 BLK. We got his 5.56 sighted in, then switched to my 300 BLK after clearing all of his stuff off of the bench. Note, my mags are color coded and were pre-loaded. My range bag is specific for this particular rifle and a different color. Even though I’m absolutely paranoid about mixing my ammo, somehow one of my friends 5.56 got mixed in with my 300 BLK, I WAS paying attention to each and every round and thusly I caught it immediately…that… Read more »

Anthony

Dave from San Antonio, I disagree strongly about this being “an instructor goof up”. If this student cannot readily see the difference between these two carriages (like you pointed out), maybe he should be taking a basic firearms course and not a combat rifle course for “farmiliarization” of his weapon and ammo. Hell, why don’t you blame the guy at the gun store who sold him his gun for him not being “familiarized” with his weapon and ammo? Why don’t you blame the last student that ejected the “wrong round” in the dirt on the range? Should the instructor load… Read more »

Iroquois Plissken

That is nonsense…this is why we put erasers on pencils. Everyone makes mistakes, including this ding dong who just suggested that someone take a “basic firearms course” instead of a “combat rifle coures” because they made a mistake and happened to pick up the wrong round off the ground. No one is to blame…not the instructor, not the student, not “the guy at the gun store” and not the “last student who ejected the wrong round in the dirt on the range.” WTF is the “wrong round” anyways? It’s a life lesson and it could happen to anyone…including you sir.… Read more »

5WarVeteran

EXCELLENT reminder!

Jake

We had a meet and greet, one member inserts his full magazine into the M&P pistol, fires one round and
knows something is not right.

The pistol was M&P .40 and the magazine was 9mm.

Lesson learned, if you use another persons firearm, use their magazine and their ammo or pull fresh ammo
out of your box, never any reloaded ammo.

Peter

Ego? Embarrassment? Immaturity? Excessive viewing of “action” flicks”?
You shined; he didn’t. With luck he’ll sell-out and abandon the sport, eliminating future negativity on our sport.

Carlos

A few years ago I attended a course in which a student was experiencing intermittent malfunctions during class. His carbine would fire a few round then *click*. At the first break the instructor (supposedly a certified AR Armorer) was looking at the carbine but could not get it to function reliably. So I offered the use of my spare carbine. So I trudged up the hill to my truck and dragged my spare AR down the hill for him to use. The instructor loaded up one of the student’s magazines and proceeded to experience the same intermittent issue. I looked… Read more »

3gunNatty

Very scary! This is why there can never be enough training. Often times when I search for ammo online using http://www.ammospy.net I have come across scenarios where the retailers even mis label ammo with the wrong calibers. This can also end in the same result. Very important to pay attention when purchasing ammo as well.

John

Here recently I purchased 500 once fired 40 S&W brass from one of the brass companies that sell them going through the brass and inspecting them I found one 9mm in the 500 rounds and it had to been shot in a 40 S&W pistol because it was expanded out to 40 caliber with the side split all the way down one side hope the person that fired it was not hurt when the round went off and the weapon was not destroyed in the process.

Witold Pilecki

As a handloader, all my brass is thoroughly inspected, sorted by brand, cleaned and bagged, regardless of where I get it from. Traditionally, all .45 ACP brass used a large pistol primer. I found out by accident, that Federal has .45 ACP brass with small pistol primer pockets. This is for their “green” ammo that uses a small primer supposedly to release less toxins on detonation. I load with a progressive press, and can just imagine what would happen if I tried to prime a small primer pocket with a large primer. Therefore, I purged all my Federal .45 ACP… Read more »

DrSique

Training should include bringing enough ammo to a gunfight that one doesn’t find the need to scour the ground looking for loosies. Running around with an empty rifle seeking a few rounds certainly doesn’t sound like a winning tactic.

Janek

I’ve heard of ‘newbies’ unknowingly loading 9mm rounds into the magazines of their .40 S&W autos and wondering why their ejected ‘brass’ is bulged beyond recognition. I guess they were lucky!

Swampeast

I had a similar experience at the range one time. I was breaking in a 9mm and a .380 and a 9mm round found its way into the .380. The round did not chamber properly so I cleared it and discovered it was the wrong caliber. Nothing bad happened but I won’t shoot those two handguns at the same time again.

2nd Amender

a few years back, at a public range, I witnessed a young guy trying to jamb a round into the chamber of a Mosin- Nagent rifle by continuously slamming the bolt handle with his hand. He won the booby prize when the firing pin hit the primer!! I gave what first aid I could out of my kit and told him and his friends to get to a hospital. He was in shock! The explosion of a partially chambered rifle round blew wood splinters and metal shrapnel into his hand and arm. Hopefully, he retained that arm at full capacity!… Read more »

Dave from San Antonio

They are students…they should be “familiarized” with the ammo they “should” be chambering and the ones they should not. The difference between the 5.45×39 and the 5.56×45 is pretty obvious, at least when you look at them. This sounds, unfortunately…like an instructor goof-up…especially in safety. Lucky the round didn’t fire.

Eric

A few 300 blk kabooms from chambering in a loose 556 chamber and hard on the FA.