Storm Lake .357 SIG conversion Range Report

[asilcot]

Good to see that you have wear marks on your hood in the same places as those on mine. They're not the same shape, but at least I know that what I'm seeing on mine is normal. Thanks for the photo!

I sent an email with a picture of my barrel to Storm Lake and received this reply today: " It appears to be normal wear. Put a little lube on that portion of the hood and your shouldn't see any abnormal wear and tear on your slide. Thanks!"

This is what I thought but I wanted their opinion.

 

[swsig]

I had another range session yesterday. I shot 50 rounds each of American Eagle and Lawman, and 30 rounds of SIG Sauer. I had yet another light strike with the SIG rounds during 2-handed shooting, and one with American Eagle during 1-handed shooting. Neither was out of battery. So maybe my striker has gone bad. I called up S&W customer service this morning and explained that I was getting light strikes with my striker with 4000 rounds on it. Instead of sending me a free one as part of the lifetime service program, they charged me $9.95, plus tax and shipping. While this is cheaper than the $17.59 Brownells sells it for, and way cheaper than the $29.99 than Midway USA wants, I was surprised that I had to pay. I told that to the CS person, but he didn't budge. Is 4000 rounds too soon to qualify for a free replacement striker? Or, is the era of free replacement parts over at S&W? Hmm....

 

[asilcot]

My only experience with S&W service has been right out of the box problems. The lifetime service policy has always sounded a little foggy to me. Maybe rightfully so considering your experience.

Are you going subsonic with all of this 230 grain ammo?

 

[swsig]

Are you going subsonic with all of this 230 grain ammo?

Those would be interesting for sure, but nobody seems to make them. The mythical "230g" .357 SIGs were the result of some serious brain fade on my part because I shot a bunch of rounds from my Shield 45 right after shooting my 40c. However, 230g .357s might give some reloaders some food for thought.

Thanks for pointing that out. I've corrected my post accordingly.

 

[swsig]

New striker = A good day at the range

I received my new striker two days ago, installed it, and took my 40c Storm Lake .357 SIG conversion to the range yesterday for a good workout. I shot 50 rounds each of Lawman, American Eagle, and SIG Sauer .357 SIG ammo. I then switched barrels, and shot 50 rounds of Winchester Ranger .40 cal. ammo. All 200 rounds fired perfectly. It was the first time I'd gotten through an entire box of SIG Sauer ammo without a failure to fire. Apparently the source of my FTF problem was the striker. And that wasn't the only good news. I had by far my most accurate session ever with my 40c .357. A good day all around!

So, if you make the Storm Lake conversion, and your striker has some miles on it, (mine had 4,000 rounds), it's a good idea to get a new one. And because there is some additional friction as the new barrel wears in, it's also a good idea to get a new recoil spring assembly and use additional lube to overcome that friction to avoid the out-of-battery events I experienced.

Finally, at the risk of drifting my own thread, I'll comment on the package my striker came in. There have been a lot of posts on the Forum, as well as on the SIG Talk forum about the failures of the SIG P365's MIM strikers. Well, SIG may have problems with their MIM strikers, but S&W is proud of theirs! Look at the attached photo, and you can see that S&W is more than willing to announce that their M&P strikers are MIM parts.

That's all for now. If I have any new adventures to report with my Storm Lake conversion, I'll update this thread.

 

[CB3]

Finally, at the risk of drifting my own thread, I'll comment on the package my striker came in. There have been a lot of posts on the Forum, as well as on the SIG Talk forum about the failures of the SIG P365's MIM strikers. Well, SIG may have problems with their MIM strikers, but S&W is proud of theirs! Look at the attached photo, and you can see that S&W is more than willing to announce that their M&P strikers are MIM parts.

S&W may be marketing their MIM parts as superior, equal to steel, or something to be proud of, but having to replace a worn striker causing misfires after 4,000 rounds is nothing to brag about IMO.

 

[swsig]

S&W may be marketing their MIM parts as superior, equal to steel, or something to be proud of, but having to replace a worn striker causing misfires after 4,000 rounds is nothing to brag about IMO.

I agree. My original 40c striker lasted nearly 10,000 rounds. I don't know if S&W has a typical expected lifespan for their strikers, but if they do, I'd like to know what it is. Since my 40c is my main EDC, I shoot it a lot. I don't need any light strikes! In the future, I'm going to assume 4,000 rounds is the upper limit of a striker's usefulness, and will replace mine preemptively at that point even if it is working perfectly. Ten bucks is cheap insurance.

 

[BearBio]

To the OP=Your results mirror mine in my G27 Glock (Storm Lake Barrel in 357 Sig). One inch at 7 & 10 yards.

 

[swsig]

Since my last report, I have been to the range twice, firing an additional 200 rounds with my Storm Lake .357 SIG conversion barrel. All of these were self-defense rounds. One of my criteria for choosing an SD round is that it must fire 200 times consecutively without a failure before I will carry it. In previous range trips, I had shot 100 rounds of Speer Gold Dot (#54234) without a problem, so I shot 100 more of them. All fired perfectly, so I now have my carry ammo.

I had also purchased some Federal HST rounds (#P357SHST1) and some Remington Golden Saber Bonded rounds (#GSB357SB), so I decided to shoot 50 of each to see if they might be more accurate than the Gold Dots. All of these fired perfectly as well. The Golden Sabers essentially tied with the Gold Dots for accuracy, while the HSTs were slightly worse. I'll stick with the Gold Dots, but the Golden Sabers were the most cost-effective of the lot, with a cost of $.48 per round vs. $.60 per round for the other two.

With these last two range visits, I have now gone over 350 rounds with six different brands of ammunition without a failure. And as I have never had a failure with any of the 300 rounds of SD ammo I have shot, I consider my 40c .357 SIG conversion to be ready for carry duty. Bottom Line is that my Storm Lake barrel is an excellent product, and I can bestow upon it the swsig Seal of Approval.

 

[KF7JA]

Bloop?

If you find the 357sig's recoil too stout, you can always "bloop" it out of the 40S&W barrel. It will hardly recoil at all . Keyholes the heck out of the target though. Ask me how I know?

I just got a factory SW 357 sig barrel for my compact MP 40. It's a 1/4" longer than my factory 4". I like that because reminds me what ammo I should be using. I also have a 9mm barrel that I removed the factory coating and polished the stainless to avoid confusion. Taking all three to the range today.

I don't think I want to try blooping a 9 or 357 down my .40 barrel!

2nd Update:
new S&W .357 Sig barrel, $99 on eBay!

Update:
Took my MP 40 to the range. Shoots 9, .40 and 357 Sig perfectly. No problems except anticipating with the 357. Can't really feel much recoil difference except a slight progression from 9-.40-357. 357 is definitely louder. I was using Perfecta .357 Sig, 124 grain FMJTC. Now need to find a good source of 357 ammo.

 

[Zebra War Wagon]

I have the 40 cal Compact 2.0 and purchased the 357 Sig barrel and a 9mm conversion barrel. Took them to my local smith and had the 0.25" wicked off and a re-crowning of 11 degrees. All 3 shoot perfectly and accurately. I use the appropriate 9mm magazines when shooting 9mm. To bad no one is making the correct length barrel for the 2.0 Compacts!
Attached are a few pictures of the various barrels in the slide.

 

[swsig]

Since my old thread has been revived, I might as well provide an update. Since my last post in April, I have shot over 1,000 rounds through my 40c's Storm Lake .357 SIG conversion barrel. Most of those (90%) were Lawman 125g FMJ. All fired perfectly, and I'm pleased with the accuracy, so I consider my .357 barrel to be fully broken in. I carry it daily now.

I'm surprised that Storm Lake has yet to manufacture a .357 conversion barrel for the M&P 2.0 compact/subcompact. I know they're a small company, but the 2.0s have been out long enough that there must be a market for conversion barrels by now.