.380 barrel in a Gen one shield .40

[mikol357]

Okay. Got one that has been percolating in the back of my mind for a bit. If we ignore the question of why someone would want to do this, it might make it a little bit easier to answer to the praticality of it.

I have a Gen 1 Shield40 and have managed to get my hands on barrels in 9mm and 357sig. Shooting 9mm through it works like a dream. I have seen barrels offered on Ebay in .380 in the 3 inch length that seem that they would work in a 9 or 40 Shield. With being able to load 40, 357 sig and 9mm into the magazine, I figured .380 would load into it as well.

Is the difference in the length of the cartridge enough that it would cause feeding issues with the extra distance to the feed ramp? Would the .380 have enough power to cycle the weapon through battery? Are there other problems that I am missing that would indicate that this is impractical?

Currently more curious than anything, but I really like the .380 cartridge as I get older and my hands start to hurt more after shooting .40's for too long! Lol!

Thanks!

 

[vipermd]

You may have feeding problems, and the springs on Gen 1 40 cal shield are very strong. So if you get the barrel, practice with to make sure it works , all the tim. Be Safe.

 

[Jim Watson]

I once had a distantly related project to put 9mm Makarov in a 1911, starting with a 1991A1 9mm P. I loaded some 9mms way down and put in a light recoil spring and it shot OK. But the supply of heavy ball Makarov dried up and I did not pursue having a barrel made.

So I think you will need a much lighter recoil spring to shoot .380 in a .40 Shield which might clash with the recoil spring vs striker spring balance.

But an ebay barrel is probably not very expensive, and springs are cheap, so have at it and let us know if it works.

 

[murphydog]

I presume from your post that you are using .40 magazines for .357 Sig and .40 S & W, and 9 mm for 9 mm?

.380 may feed through a 9 mm magazine, but as noted above may not cycle the slide and headspace would be off, so I would recommend against trying it.