I'm looking at purchasing two guns and the seller doesn't know the caliber. They are a Luger and a C96 Broomhandle. Can I simply have him drop a dummy 9mm cartridge into the barrel and see if it closes on it or will a 9mm chamber in a 763x25 gun?

A 9mm will not chamber in a 7.63 chamber.

If a 9mm cartridge will not drop into the Luger chamber, then it is a 7.65Para caliber. The seller can also compare the size of a 9mm bullet(diameter) to the bore size of the handgun.

Great, thank you both.

The 9X19 case will chamber in the 7.63 X 25 chamber. Loaded rounds can potentially chamber under certain circumstances, in which the bullet is set back into the case far enough to permit entry and lockup. This yields catastrophic results.

A previous poster evidently thought you were asking about the 7.65 X 19 ".30 Luger" chamber.

Owners of Tokarev and other pistols in 7.63 X 25 should exercise great caution to prevent 9 X 19 rounds from getting mixed in.

-Bruce

A common wooden pencil is a close fit in a .30 bore, LOTS of wiggle room in a 9mm bore.

quote:

Originally posted by Grayguns:
The 9X19 case will chamber in the 7.63 X 25 chamber. Loaded rounds can potentially chamber under certain circumstances, in which the bullet is set back into the case far enough to permit entry and lockup. This yields catastrophic results.

You don’t always post on the SIGforum, Bruce, but when you do, it’s priceless. Thank you.

Thanks again for all the help.