Converting 40VE to 9mm

[Doctruptwn]

I was reading a post here yesterday, and some body mentioned to the OP if they wanted a 9mm to buy a 9VE 9mm barrel and use it in the 40VE. Well being naturally curious, I dug out my Sigma's, A 40 VE and 9VE and proceeded to swap the barrel on the 40VE.

Anyway, The barrel swapped fine and the 40VE functions by hand with the 9mm barrel, However the Mag's from the 9VE will not work in the 40VE frame. My next observation was that I can load 9mm rounds in the 40 mags and it seems to cycle fine by hand.

So My question 1) Has anybody actually done this? 2) Did you use the 40 cal Mags or 9mm Mags? 3) did You have any issues with the change over?

Now you may ask if I already have a 9VE why not just carry that one instead of the 40VE. Well the answer is pretty straight forward, 1)The 9VE is the Wife's. 2) I was thinking of converting the 40 VE so I could carry a back up chambered in the same round as the primary carry. The 40 VE is the only gun I own in 40 cal, I have several in 9mm and 45 acp so back ups in those calibre's aren't an issue. I was thinking if this works fine then I could go back to not having to deal with 40 S&W ammo.

 

[PDL]

Don't know what thread you were reading, but each and everyone I've seen says 'Don't think so' etc.
If Smith could make money making a conversion kit, don't you think they'd have done it?
Sorry, don't mean to sound abrasive.

 

[Doctruptwn]

No offense taken, Thought it was a novel idea. Did find the post on another forum. Obviously I belong to too many gun forums, Can't keep them straight.

As it ended up I was only partly correct in my original question. The OP wanted to convert a 9ve to 40ve and got the "don't think so" but it could go 40 to 9 but thats where it ended. Didn't sound like anybody had done it. But thanks for your time.

 

[OKFC05]

Yes it has been tried. No, the magazines will not interchange.
9mm wil sometimes feed out of the .40 magazine, but you can't count on 100% reliability.
For me, that adds up to don't do it. I'm not willing to risk my life to save the $300 cost of buying another 9mm Sigma.

Your life, your choice.

 

[Doctruptwn]

Yeah that why I asked about issues. If it were a simple barrel change and presto, 100% reliability them it might be something to consider, Otherwise it's simply a novel idea.

 

[handgunner356]

The forty breechface is .030" wider than the nine. A good forty extractor will catch the nine case, but it's probably not 100% reliable. Nine and forty mags will often work in each others guns, but again probably not 100% reliable.

 

[MK]

The usual .40 S&W can be converted to .357 SIG, but not 9mm.