Bond Arms 9mm to 38 Super

[cherokee5425]

I have a Bond Arms Ranger with the 4.25" 410/45 Colt barrel. I also have a 3" 38/357 Mag, 3" 9mm, 3" 44 Spl and a 3" 45ACP. I really want a barrel in 38 Super, I emailed Bond Arms if they have any plans of offering one, but they don't. I was thinking about purchasing a 4.25" barrel in 9mm and having it rechambered in 38 Super. Does anyone have any advice or experience on rechambering a 9mm to 38 Super. Thanks in advance.

 

[DWalt]

I can’t say that it would be an improvement over leaving the barrel in 9mm, but I don’t see it as being impossible if you want to do it. I once rechambered a 9mm GM barrel to 9x23, and it works fine with both 9x23 and .38 Super. I would personally not want to make the conversion, but it’s your gun and your money.

 

[minconrevo]

You will want to check case and casehead spec's of 9mm and 38 Super before you proceed. I would not suggest doing it.

 

[cherrypointmarine]

I have a Tisa that came with both 9mm & 38Super barrels . All you do is swap the barrel , throw in the mag and you're good to go . Just for grins I tried the 38Super in the 9mm mag and 9mm in 38Super mag , no problems . It's sort of like my CS40 and other guys with a 4013 . I got a spare barrel and slide and had the barrel reamed to 10mm . All I do is swap the slide and I can shoot 40 or 10mm . I don't see any problem if you can get a spare barrel . BMCM did the work on my CS40 , you might send him a PM and see what he thinks .

 

[hardluk1]

Your money so decide all on your own how to spend your money.

 

[stansdds]

Bond Arms makes Derringer style handguns, so I don't think a magazine and barrel swap will do the trick. With such a short barrel, I don't know that the Super 38 will have any real advantage over 9mm, especially when compared to 9mm +P.

 

[robertrwalsh]

9mm are about .007 fatter around the base than .38 super. Depending on how hot things are that will give you some brass bulging. If you reload your brass that MIGHT be an issue. Since you will not be dealing with feed ramps that won't be an issue. I am unsure of how tight the extractor is fitted on a Derringer-type handgun so you might have issues with extraction.

 

[DWalt]

9mm are about .007 fatter around the base than .38 super. Depending on how hot things are that will give you some brass bulging. If you reload your brass that MIGHT be an issue. Since you will not be dealing with feed ramps that won't be an issue. I am unsure of how tight the extractor is fitted on a Derringer-type handgun so you might have issues with extraction.

Brass base bulging is not a problem. As I do not know how the Bond Deringer 9mm extractor works, there may be some extractor adjustment needed to use the semi-rimmed .38 Super brass. Or just use rimless .38 Super Comp brass instead of .38 Super.

 

[colt_saa]

My Model 940s have both been rechamber for 38SUPER. The oldest was done probably 25 years ago.

When two cartridges are compared, the one that is faster in the long barrel is also faster in the short barrel. How much faster I do not recall after all I did this 1/4 of a century ago

Hand loading the brass that came out of the modified chambers has never ever been a problem

Could there be an extraction issue in a derringer? Yes it could be, but I would not expect it to be a problem.

We are not exactly talking about a gigantic difference in pressure

With your existing assortment of barrels I do not see an advantage to adding 38SUPER. If you want more power than the 9MM Parabellum, you could always go to the 357 Magnum

Now if you are doing this because you like having things that are weird and different (something that I totally understand) then I do not see any reason not to go forward with this conversion.

 

[cherokee5425]

I also have a S&W 940 with the 3" Barrel which I love. I've thought of trying to find a extra cylinder and have it reamed out to 356tsw I'd love to find one of the J frames that were chambered in it, I believe that they were called "Pocket Rockets"

 

[Alk8944]

You could also simply buy a .38 Special barrel for the Bond. The rim of .38 Super cases should have enough to headspace in the .38 Special. There isn't enough difference between the .38 Special and .38 Super cases to cause any problems, the rim is just smaller on the Super. This way you don't need to buy a reamer that will cost about as much as the 9mm barrel would.

 

[colt_saa]

I also have a S&W 940 with the 3" Barrel which I love. I've thought of trying to find a extra cylinder and have it reamed out to 356tsw I'd love to find one of the J frames that were chambered in it, I believe that they were called "Pocket Rockets"

NO, NO, NO

This would not be a safe idea

The PC 940 Special is not the same frame as a production 940.

Many of the tweaks that the Performance Center made to the J-frame design to create the PC 940 Special became the J-Magnum frame that was released in 1995

I have been shooting the 356 TSW firearms for many years now. Over that same time frame I have been loading for them and I have been converting other nine millimeter firearms to chamber this pouting round

Not every firearm is a candidate for conversion. Remember the 356TSW cartridge operates at 50,000 PSI while 9MM Parabellum operates atb35,000 PSI

I have converted quite a few of my N-Frame revolvers to fire 9x23 Winchester. Plus all of the shorter cartridges of course

But it is very nice to own several of the originals