Shield 9mm Conversion...

[Dave270]

I just bought a Shield 9mm and it seems to me that I read on one of the forum, that I could convert my 9mm to a 40 S&W just by buying a 40 S&W barrel and the Recoil Spring Assembly. I was wanting to know if this was so and where do you get the barrel and Recoil Spring assembly. . And question #2 is this. Can I use the 9mm magazines or do I need to purchase 40 S&W magazines..

Thanks for the help..

Dave

 

[Saudade]

Not so. You can "convert" a .40 to a 9mm, but not 9 to .40.

 

[Smitty357]

Actually, yeah u can convert the Shield 9mm to .40 with just by getting a Shield .40 barrel and trimming it down a little. A few members here have done this before. Here is my original post as far as the .40 to the .9mm.

Look on the 2nd page post #65. Rob explains what needs to be done to the .40 barrel to make it fit into the 9mm slide. Read farther through the pages at page 3 post #110, u will find a write up on the successful conversion and a little video. This post is where everything started, so theres a bit of knowledge still sitting in that thread..........Your only problem, IMO. Is finding a .40 barrel for the Shield.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-wesson-m-p-pistols/280665-converted-my-shield-40-9mm.html?highlight=Converted+shield

 

[Saudade]

Did I misread? The link you posted is .40 -> 9mm

I think the spirit of the question is using "drop in" parts. If you need to machine parts to fit, it may be a one-way trip. You'd certainly void any warranty.

 

[shoots]

9-40

You can convert from 40 to a 9 with replacing parts, a 9mm barrel only. Not the other way. Sorry.

 

[Smitty357]

Did I misread? The link you posted is .40 -> 9mm

I think the spirit of the question is using "drop in" parts. If you need to machine parts to fit, it may be a one-way trip. You'd certainly void any warranty.

The link is to my original Shield .40 to 9mm conversion.

But withing this discussion we discussed the 9mm to .40 conversion and some members did it. So technically everything is covered there as far as going from either caliber to the other. Check the post #s in my previous post. Those are the key posts.

U dont have to machine any parts. All u have to do is use a drimel tool or a grinder and drimel a small amount of the .40 barrel to make it fit into the 9mm slide. Very easily done, nothing special here at all. This is covered in post #110, and yes that is going from 9mm to .40

Basically the barrel is the only part u change, either way. Its just the .40 barrel requires very minor shaving to make it technically drop in. Check the first post #65. It'll show the pictures of what needs to be shaved.

 

[RobzGuns]

The only problem, as mentioned, is finding just barrels for the Shield.
S&W stopped selling factory barrels almost 3yrs ago (to ANYone) and none of the usual aftermarket barrel companies have come up with any conversion barrels.

So... Unless you find someone on ebay, or gunbroker, selling a 'parts gun', you're not going to find a barrel. If you do find someone, they're probably going to want about as much as it would cost to buy another Shield.

 

[Dtoshield]

I've contacted ALL of the companies doing conversion barrels for the M&Ps and Glocks. With over 1 million shields manufactured (and growing) you'd think they would be interested. Not a single manufacturer has a plan for a conversion barrel. Great opportunity for a new guy to come into the market and start with that barrel and expand into others. Helps keep the big guys honest on price as well.

 

[shawn mccarver]

Remember that: (1) S&W does not sell "conversions," and they strongly disapprove of the practice of using 9mm in a .40 or vice-versa; and, (2) unlike .40 and .357 SIG, which do have the same head and breach face dimensions, 9mm and .40 do NOT have the same head or breach face dimensions, which can cause all sorts of problems. If you want to shoot .40 instead of 9mm, please sell the one and buy a different gun, or buy a second gun in the desired caliber.

 

[Smitty357]

Remember that: (1) S&W does not sell "conversions," and they strongly disapprove of the practice of using 9mm in a .40 or vice-versa; and, (2) unlike .40 and .357 SIG, which do have the same head and breach face dimensions, 9mm and .40 do NOT have the same head or breach face dimensions, which can cause all sorts of problems. If you want to shoot .40 instead of 9mm, please sell the one and buy a different gun, or buy a second gun in the desired caliber.

If my memory serves me correct. We have had this discussion before around here. The extractor and the barrel are the only 2 parts different between the 9mm and the .40, aside from the magazine. With that being said, the extractor has never had issues from the conversion.

Keep in mind we have been converting these since the Shield came out. And as u can see from the forum. There has never been a report of a Shield conversion that hasnt pretty much worked flawless.

 

[RobzGuns]

Keep in mind we have been converting these since the Shield came out. And as u can see from the forum. There has never been a report of a Shield conversion that hasnt pretty much worked flawless.

Refresh my memory...
How many members here actually got the Factory 9mm Shield barrel before S&W stopped selling them and the supply dried up?

 

[Whitwabit]

Remember that: (1) S&W does not sell "conversions," and they strongly disapprove of the practice of using 9mm in a .40 or vice-versa; and, (2) unlike .40 and .357 SIG, which do have the same head and breach face dimensions, 9mm and .40 do NOT have the same head or breach face dimensions, which can cause all sorts of problems. If you want to shoot .40 instead of 9mm, please sell the one and buy a different gun, or buy a second gun in the desired caliber.

I have a 40c ..

Storm Lake makes both a 9mm barrel and a 9mm conversion barrel for the 40c .. .. I bought the 9mm conversion barrel and the 357 sig barrel and just measured the head on all three the 9mm conversion barrel, the 40 S&W and the 357 sig and the dimensions on all three are exactly the same .. I used a precision micrometer I own from my time as a machinist .. it measures to 1/1,000 of an inch ..

 

[GRU_ 7_ mech]

What about SD9VE to SD40VE? I do not want to ....just asking

 

[V0OBWxZS16]

I have a 40c ..

Storm Lake makes both a 9mm barrel and a 9mm conversion barrel for the 40c .. .. I bought the 9mm conversion barrel and the 357 sig barrel and just measured the head on all three the 9mm conversion barrel, the 40 S&W and the 357 sig and the dimensions on all three are exactly the same .. I used a precision micrometer I own from my time as a machinist .. it measures to 1/1,000 of an inch ..

The breech face is on the slide and not the barrel. It's where the case head contacts the slide.

 

[Smitty357]

Refresh my memory...
How many members here actually got the Factory 9mm Shield barrel before S&W stopped selling them and the supply dried up?

Id be lying to u if i gave u a number. But im sure it wasnt very many. Because after the cat was out of the bag. S&W quickly pulled the plug on the barrels. All the ones that were picked up. Were the ones already sitting in the distributers stores.

 

[Whitwabit]

The breech face is on the slide and not the barrel. It's where the case head contacts the slide.

Sorry my bad .. used the wrong name of the barrel surface ..

But I measured all three barrels and all three measured the exact same measurements .. the only difference I could find between the three was the inside diameter of the barrels or the caliber ..

The 9mm barrel I purchased part number (SW-MPC-9MC-358)Smith&Wesson M&P Compact 40S&W/357Sig-to-9mm Conversion 3.58" OAL

The 357 Sig barrel I purchased part number (SW-MPC-357-358) Smith&Wesson M&P Compact 357 Sig 3.58

Has anyone else measured the difference between their 9mm and 40S&W barrels and whether it was listed as a conversion barrel or just 9mm ??

 

[Smitty357]

In reference to the .40 to 9mm. A factory 9mm barrel in a .40 slide at the breech face. Will have a very minute side to side play. This is because the factory 9mm itself is also smaller at this point.

A real conversion barrel such as storm lake. Will have this section of the barrel fit for the .40 slide. So it will not have that small side to side movement. Very easy to tell the differences.

 

[McE]

Of all the various things to fret over about your day in court, like using your handloads for carry ammo, having trigger mods, etc, running a barrel not made for the gun is higher on the list of legitimate concerns than the others, imo.
So they pull a 9mm slug out of the bad guy, they're looking for a 9mm weapon, they see you were using a Shield 40. Sounds crazier to a gun illiterate jury peer than a trigger kit or some such.

 

[USAF385]

Just buy a second gun.

I had a G27 and bought the 9mm barell and some mags.... But rarely swapped between the two.

I also had a Sig P250 subcompact in .40 and the exchange kit to full size .45..... I rarely swapped.

For me, it's not worth it. It's almost like having a second gun.... but not.

Just my opinion. Obviously a lot of folks do it for different reasons and like it. Converting large calibers to .22 kind of makes more sense to me because I can understand training benefits, but swapping between to larger calibers is just gimmicky to me. I prefer to just save the cash for an entirely new gun.

 

[Smitty357]

Of all the various things to fret over about your day in court, like using your handloads for carry ammo, having trigger mods, etc, running a barrel not made for the gun is higher on the list of legitimate concerns than the others, imo.
So they pull a 9mm slug out of the bad guy, they're looking for a 9mm weapon, they see you were using a Shield 40. Sounds crazier to a gun illiterate jury peer than a trigger kit or some such.

Take note, no one said anything about using a converted gun as a carry weapon. When we convert, we are talking about back yard plinking and cheaper training (of course train with ur carry caliber also, never forget this). I'd never recommend carry a converted weapon. I dont care if its a true converted barrel or not. Thats just a big no no, IMO.

 

[Whitwabit]

Of all the various things to fret over about your day in court, like using your handloads for carry ammo, having trigger mods, etc, running a barrel not made for the gun is higher on the list of legitimate concerns than the others, imo.
So they pull a 9mm slug out of the bad guy, they're looking for a 9mm weapon, they see you were using a Shield 40. Sounds crazier to a gun illiterate jury peer than a trigger kit or some such.

Everyone I know (4 people and myself) that has a model of the 40 S&W and also has a 9mm barrel or 9mm conversion barrel use the 9mm barrel for practice but always carry the 40S&W barrel when carrying .. so really don't think your comment has any bearing on how we carry .. or at least the people I know ..

 

[McE]

It was a response to those who say they have the extra barrel to be prepared for ammo shortages- always shoot 9mm but have the option to shoot 40 because they remember so darn succinctly that during the last shortage all they saw was 40 on the shelves.
Guess I still haven't understood why you'd carry 40 when the real, tangible benefits of 9 outweigh believed benefits of 40. All of this aside from 'practice what you carry' which doesn't seem to be valued here.
Buy a Shield 40, drop additional money on a barrel and mag to shoot 9 (not your carry caliber) at the range, saving you a nickel a shot, break even after 2500 rounds or so for the cost of the conversion, when that could've instead been 5000 rounds of actual practice on an actual carry caliber instead if you went with a Shield 9, which if you carry, you get faster followup shots and more rounds in the mag over that 40? I don't get it.

 

[Smitty357]

It was a response to those who say they have the extra barrel to be prepared for ammo shortages- always shoot 9mm but have the option to shoot 40 because they remember so darn succinctly that during the last shortage all they saw was 40 on the shelves.
Guess I still haven't understood why you'd carry 40 when the real, tangible benefits of 9 outweigh believed benefits of 40. All of this aside from 'practice what you carry' which doesn't seem to be valued here.
Buy a Shield 40, drop additional money on a barrel and mag to shoot 9 (not your carry caliber) at the range, saving you a nickel a shot, break even after 2500 rounds or so for the cost of the conversion, when that could've instead been 5000 rounds of actual practice on an actual carry caliber instead if you went with a Shield 9, which if you carry, you get faster followup shots and more rounds in the mag over that 40? I don't get it.

Actually i get faster follow ups and more accuracy with my Shield .40. And even better with my xds .45.

Then again, ive shot .45 and .40 all my life. The 9mm is new to me because I never seen the need to carry one. During ammo shortages it was nice to have the .40 and the .45. As the 9mm seemed to disappear at a rapid pace.

Also lets remember, when those of us bought the factory 9mm barrel for our Shields. The price of Shields was through the roof. It was way cheaper to buy an extra barrel versus buying a whole new weapon in a different caliber.

 

[McE]

I'll just say, unless you use carry ammo as target ammo, then ammo shortages aren't really a concern in regards to what you carry.

I have a few boxes of my chosen carry ammo, and even though I shoot a mag of it through every once in awhile, I will always have enough carry rounds to carry. FMJ ammo shortage on the store shelves only affects range time, not carry. And if you don't have enough carry ammo now to last all the bad guys you'll encounter in your lifetime, then you should stock up.

 

[Smitty357]

I'll just say, unless you use carry ammo as target ammo, then ammo shortages aren't really a concern in regards to what you carry.

I have a few boxes of my chosen carry ammo, and even though I shoot a mag of it through every once in awhile, I will always have enough carry rounds to carry. FMJ ammo shortage on the store shelves only affects range time, not carry. And if you don't have enough carry ammo now to last all the bad guys you'll encounter in your lifetime, then you should stock up.

Any time i use my carry weapons for practice. I always use my carry ammo. Why would i use ball ammo? I'm trying to prepare myself for what to do in a SD situation. And in that case, i want to know exactly what to expect from my weapon. And yes it gets expensive, but it is what I do.

9mm is for ball ammo. Having fun with family and friends.

 

[McE]

I think there's enough leeway to shoot a same weight bullet without having to pay for the bullet shape.
Carry 124gr jhp, shoot 124gr fmj. My times are no different on the clock. POI between the two are identical.