M&P .40 with option to use 9mm barrel?

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tattooedsurvivaldude

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Hey guys, so I know that Sig does this, but I'm about to purchase the m&p 9mm, until I read a post in a thread about a guy about to buy a m&p 40 and purchase a 9mm barrel to go with it so he can have both calibers.

I haven't gotten a response from him yet so I'm asking y'all if you know about it or have this setup and it's PRO's and CON's.

Thanks guys...
 
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The recess in the slide is sized for .40 cal. Therfore you will potentially lose a little bit of engagement with the extracter. There are several threads here where folks have done this.

I haven't done it, but I looked over the part numbers. The 9mm magazine is different from the .40/.357SIG. Some folks report the .40 mags work OK with 9mm rounds, but if it does not, you have the option to buy 9mm mags ($25 each). You potentially have 3 calibers. 9mm, .357Sig, and .40 cal. .357 SIG is .40 cal necked down to 9mm. In some bullet weights it is supposed to be very similar to .357 magnum. Midway has barrels.

CDNN has M&P.357 Sig for $399 and nite sights for $30 additional.
 
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If you have any desire to make a multi-caliber pistol, you will need to buy an M&P in either a .40 S&W or .357 Sig caliber, then purchase the 9mm barrel separately. The .40 S&W and .357 Sig use the same magazines, and have the same capacity. You will most probably need 9mm magazines for proper feeding from the magazine into the breech. I have a M&P 40C (compact) that I bought a Storm Lake 9mm barrel and 9mm magazines for. This combination works well, and is a fairly cheap conversion to make. I've never fired a .357 Sig, and I doubt I would ever purchase a .357 Sig barrel unless they were practically giving them away (I'm very pleased with the .40 S&W, and the 9mm gives me the ability to shoot cheap practice ammo).

By the way, as a point of reference, I believe I paid around $90.00 for my (used) Storm Lake 9mm barrel, and (approx.) $25.00 for the magazines (12 round capacity).

Best of luck,

Dave

2/23/12: for what it's worth, I found the (Forum) sales ad for the Storm Lake 9mm barrel and magazines:

Storm Lake S&W M&P Compact 40cal to 9mm conversion.
For sale is an excellent condition Storm Lake S&W M&P40 C to 9mm conversion with 3 magazines. All for $155. The barrel alone is $148 at Midway. The barrel is blued. Works perfectly. Please email me for pictures. Shipping is $5. Thanks.

As I recall, both factory and aftermarket replacement barrels were out of stock and/or hard to come by when I was looking for this a couple of years ago.

Best of luck,

Dave
 
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Thanks guys, yea I've read the few posts that I found and so far seems that it's mostly a hit or miss. I want to try it but not if there are more CON's then PRO's. I originally was going to purchase the 9mm, but saw the post about the conversion drop in, and thought "Hey, that's a pretty slick idea, drop the 9mm barrel in and use it at the range."

So I just wanted to get people's opinions and personal experience from this.

Does anyone know if 9mm is more available then .40? I'm a gun noob so please excuse the questions if they seem in-experienced. This would be my first handgun purchase and ownership. I wanted to get the 9mm because ammo is cheaper and what i gather more available. I also like the size increase of the .40 over the 9mm plus you only lose 2 rounds going from 9mm to .40.
 
They're starting to get hard to find in Asheville. I found 2 9mm FS pistols. One new and one had 68 rounds through it. I bought the new one for $20 more. As I said CDNN has some listings for .40, 9mm and ,357 SIG. They want $429 for the 9 and .40 and $399 for the .357SIG. Also they offer nite sights (which I very much like) on the .357 for $30 additional.

I think a lot of people are buying pistols with their tax refunds.
 
Double-O-Dave said:
If you have any desire to make a multi-caliber pistol, you will need to buy an M&P in either a .40 S&W or .357 Sig caliber, then purchase the 9mm barrel separately. The .40 S&W and .357 Sig use the same magazines, and have the same capacity. You will most probably need 9mm magazines for proper feeding from the magazine into the breech. I have a M&P 40C (compact) that I bought a Storm Lake 9mm barrel and 9mm magazines for. This combination works well, and is a fairly cheap conversion to make. I've never fired a .357 Sig, and I doubt I would ever purchase a .357 Sig barrel unless they were practically giving them away (I'm very pleased with the .40 S&W, and the 9mm gives me the ability to shoot cheap practice ammo).

By the way, as a point of reference, I believe I paid around $90.00 for my (used) Storm Lake 9mm barrel, and (approx.) $25.00 for the magazines (12 round capacity).

Best of luck,

Dave
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That's exactly what I was thinking I would do. Have you had any issues dropping in the 9mm barrel and shooting it? I've heard of problems with the Storm Lake conversion barrel, but not the stock S&W one.

I'm having a tough time deciding between 9mm and .40 lol. This would be my first handgun and dont want to acquire a .45 till I was comfortable and trained.
 
I have had zero problems with the Storm Lake 9mm barrel. I've read several reports that the Storm Lake barrel is actually more accurate than the factory barrel. I don't know if that's true or not. I get excellent accuracy from both the factory .40 S&W barrel, as well as from the aftermarket Storm Lake 9mm barrel. Generally speaking, 9mm ammo will be more readily available, and cheaper than .40 S&W. .357 Sig ammo is pretty hit and miss with regards to availability, and the price is pretty high. I noticed you mentioned this will be your first handgun. If you are looking to maximize your experience, and minimize your costs, I would strongly suggest buying a .22 caliber handgun to start with. You should look at either a modern, double action revolver, or a semi-auto pistol. S&W and Ruger make excellent quality, and affordable .22 caliber semi-autos that would be excellent training guns. .22 caliber ammo is cheap and plentiful. You can build good habits with the .22 before moving on to more powerful center fire calibers. Bad habits are hard to break, but easy to develop. If you have your heart set on a center fire caliber, I'd consider a used .38 Special revolver to start with - especially one with a 4.0 inch barrel. They are inherently accurate, and easy to learn on. .38 Special ammo is easy to come by, and should be affordable - more so than .40 S&W ammo. The .38 Special revolver is very versatile and can be used for informal target shooting, self/home defense, and small game hunting. It is my favorite caliber and I own more .38 Special / .357 Magnum revolvers than any other revolver or semi-auto in my collection.

Best of luck,

Dave
 
Double-O-Dave said:
I have had zero problems with the Storm Lake 9mm barrel. I've read several reports that the Storm Lake barrel is actually more accurate than the factory barrel. I don't know if that's true or not. I get excellent accuracy from both the factory .40 S&W barrel, as well as from the aftermarket Storm Lake 9mm barrel. Generally speaking, 9mm ammo will be more readily available, and cheaper than .40 S&W. .357 Sig ammo is pretty hit and miss with regards to availability, and the price is pretty high. I noticed you mentioned this will be your first handgun. If you are looking to maximize your experience, and minimize your costs, I would strongly suggest buying a .22 caliber handgun to start with. You should look at either a modern, double action revolver, or a semi-auto pistol. S&W and Ruger make excellent quality, and affordable .22 caliber semi-autos that would be excellent training guns. .22 caliber ammo is cheap and plentiful. You can build good habits with the .22 before moving on to more powerful center fire calibers. Bad habits are hard to break, but easy to develop. If you have your heart set on a center fire caliber, I'd consider a used .38 Special revolver to start with - especially one with a 4.0 inch barrel. They are inherently accurate, and easy to learn on. .38 Special ammo is easy to come by, and should be affordable - more so than .40 S&W ammo. The .38 Special revolver is very versatile and can be used for informal target shooting, self/home defense, and small game hunting. It is my favorite caliber and I own more .38 Special / .357 Magnum revolvers than any other revolver or semi-auto in my collection.

Best of luck,

Dave
Click to expand...

Well thank you very much for the info and opinions =] I considered a .22 at first but as a new father of a 10 month old baby girl, and not living in the best of areas, I wanted the handgun to be a bit more powerful for home and self defense.

I've shot .22, 9mm, 308, 30-06, I shoot well with a 9mm. So that's why I considered stepping it up a bit to a .40 with an option of a 9mm barrel. It just seems like having 2 guns in one is pretty handy and is cheaper than buying both guns.
 
jaykellogg said:
They're starting to get hard to find in Asheville. I found 2 9mm FS pistols. One new and one had 68 rounds through it. I bought the new one for $20 more. As I said CDNN has some listings for .40, 9mm and ,357 SIG. They want $429 for the 9 and .40 and $399 for the .357SIG. Also they offer nite sights (which I very much like) on the .357 for $30 additional.

I think a lot of people are buying pistols with their tax refunds.
Click to expand...

Yea, almost everyone I talk to about guns lately is buying some with their tax returns haha. I encourage it, before something happens to guns and their prices, or with whats going on with the economy, get em while you can. Who knows whats going to happen in the near future.
 
tattooedsurvivaldude said:
I'm having a tough time deciding between 9mm and .40 lol. This would be my first handgun and dont want to acquire a .45 till I was comfortable and trained.
Click to expand...

The .40 will have a punchier recoil than the .45, and many .40 rounds have more power than .45 rounds.

The .40 is not 'less' of a gun than the .45. If you want an easier shooting gun, get the .45.

If you want the ability to drop a $60 factory 9mm barrel in and rip off a few thousand 9mm rounds, get the .40.
 
Lost Lake said:
The .40 will have a punchier recoil than the .45, and many .40 rounds have more power than .45 rounds.

The .40 is not 'less' of a gun than the .45. If you want an easier shooting gun, get the .45.

If you want the ability to drop a $60 factory 9mm barrel in and rip off a few thousand 9mm rounds, get the .40.
Click to expand...

I've never had the chance to shoot the .45, a .40's recoil is greater than the .45?

I like the idea of the versatility of being able to shoot 9mm with a .40 caliber gun. Two guns in one if you will.
 
tattooedsurvivaldude said:
I've never had the chance to shoot the .45, a .40's recoil is greater than the .45?
Click to expand...

The recoil impulse is different. The 45 is more of a push and less snap than a 40. Both are great rounds and the 40FS will give you a 50% mag capacity increase over the 45FS.

tattooedsurvivaldude said:
I like the idea of the versatility of being able to shoot 9mm with a .40 caliber gun. Two guns in one if you will.
Click to expand...

That is a benefit because the 9mm is much cheaper to shoot than the 40 or 45.
 
Midway seems to be out of most everything except one of the Storm Lake barrels but honestly I'm going to go with a factory one, if I can find one. :)
 
Go for it

tattooedsurvivaldude said:
Thanks guys, yea I've read the few posts that I found and so far seems that it's mostly a hit or miss. I want to try it but not if there are more CON's then PRO's. I originally was going to purchase the 9mm, but saw the post about the conversion drop in, and thought "Hey, that's a pretty slick idea, drop the 9mm barrel in and use it at the range."

So I just wanted to get people's opinions and personal experience from this.

Does anyone know if 9mm is more available then .40? I'm a gun noob so please excuse the questions if they seem in-experienced. This would be my first handgun purchase and ownership. I wanted to get the 9mm because ammo is cheaper and what i gather more available. I also like the size increase of the .40 over the 9mm plus you only lose 2 rounds going from 9mm to .40.
Click to expand...

You can just buy the 40 cal and then purchase the drop in barrel in 9mm everything functions fine, and yes get 9mm mags so you don't risk feed problems being you can put 9mm in 40 cal mags but once again you risk feed problems, but I wished I could buy the barrels directly from S&W for the conversion as opposed to a 3rd party company.
 
I recommend buying the 40 and getting the 9mm conversion barrel, however you may want to keep an eye on the Apex Tactical website. I believe I read that one of the better barrel makers, Bar-Sto I think, is going to be offering a 9mm conversion barrel in the near future, and sold by Apex. Lots of people are expecting superb accuracy from these barrels.

I also seem to recall seeing a few posts in the M&P pistol section where some people talk about buying the standard 9mm barrel directly from S&W for about $60, and using them in their 40 cal guns.
 
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I have a m&p40 and 40c. I use 9mm factory barrels for both. Shoots great but try to use the 9mm mags because the 40 mags don't work that well. It's true the barrels are sold out everywhere. eBay has the factory and storm lake barrels for sale. Hope it helps you.
 
wantmoresmiths said:
I recommend buying the 40 and getting the 9mm conversion barrel, however you may want to keep an eye on the Apex Tactical website. I believe I read that one of the better barrel makers, Bar-Sto I think, is going to be offering a 9mm conversion barrel in the near future, and sold by Apex. Lots of people are expecting superb accuracy from these barrels.

I also seem to recall seeing a few posts in the M&P pistol section where some people talk about buying the standard 9mm barrel directly from S&W for about $60, and using them in their 40 cal guns.
Click to expand...

I too have read this. So I'll be just waiting. I'm still debating the .40. I mean, it sounds like an awesome idea, to get a bigger caliber pistol, that has an option to convert another caliber. Very versatile. Especially on the range. Say you run out of a caliber, and your buddy has got some of the other...YANK. Done and done haha.
 
I love all my 9mm's but bought a M&P40C just so I could convert to both a .357 and the 9mm.

I will be picking up my M&P45 tomorrow and will have three M&P's but am still waiting for a 357 barrel from S&W so then I would actually have 4 M&P's, also just received my 14 round mag made by S&W with an X-Grip glued to the mag from 44mag.com in todays mail so tomorrow I guess I s[end some time alone with my new gun at the range after I get off work!
 
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>>>Bad habits are hard to break, but easy to develop<<<

Very true. From as early as possible, try to develop a routine--'habits', especially on the range. My wife got into shooting later than me, but she's a great example--she's almost ritualistic in that she always places our guns, magazines, ammo and other gear in the same places, moves with a paradoxical combination of robotic grace--nothing 'herky jerky' in the slightest, but very fluid and consistent. She's a pretty darn good shot for being 5ft tall and 90 pounds--she can go from 45 ACP to 40, 38, 22, to 380, Glock, Springfield, S&W, Sig, etc, using semi autos or revolvers in pretty much any order and still manage tight groups. Sort of proof that as long as you have two good hands, the size of the grips doesn't have to matter that much.

It came naturally to her, but for a lot of us, including me, it was worth while sitting back, watching her and other folks 'out on the range'--people who have consistent form and habits.

If you don't have that now, you can still get better--just sit back a spell and watch others, especially the old timers.

As Yogi Berra said, "You can observe a lot by watching"
 
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