Sig P229 .357 Sig Question

[skipsfirearms]

I would like to take my .357 Sig P229 with a stainless slide and remove the bluing from the slide and then buff the SS slide. I have had one person tell me that just buffing to shine the SS will eat away metal and I could make the slide dangerous. Does anyone have any suggestions or comments about this. I know customers who have done the same on their slides without any problems? I also want to make sure I don't buff enough to blur the writing.

Question #2.

I want to put a 9mm Barrel into this Sig. I was told that there were several 9mm barrels and some would not work. I was told specifically that I had to have a 9mm barrel made for a P229 that is factory .40 caliber. I don't understand what this matters, but maybe someone with more experience could help me. I know I will have to have 9mm Mags, but I don't understand about there being "Different" 9mm barrels.

HELP!!!

[doughnut]

Okay, I'll take a stab at question 2. Note, I'm not an expert of any kind but I've owned and shot many Sigs and I currently own two 229s, a 9mm and .40S&W. To begin with, it's known that a 229 chambered for .357 Sig can be easily converted to .40 by simply swapping factory barrels, the same is true for .40 to .357 Sig. In respect to 9mm it's a different story. The slides on the 9mm and .40/.357 are different. If you put a factory Sig 9mm barrel in the .40/.357 slide and look at the space around the business end of the barrel you can see why it won't work, there's too much gap. Also the locking blocks in the frames vary between 9mm and .40/.357 guns. I know for a fact that Bar-Sto makes a conversion barrel to switch .40/.357 guns to 9mm. Bar-Sto's barrel is the same outer diameter as the factory .40/.357 barrel so it properly fits in the.40/.357 slide. My understanding is that the Bar-Sto barrel is semi-drop in meaning that is may drop right in and it may not. Bar-Sto will fit the barrel for a small fee (I don't remember exactly how much but I beleive it's very reasonable).

I don't know why Sig didn't make it more modular as in one frame, one slide and barrels that would swap without the need to change parts, etc. Matter of fact, a .40/.357 mag won't fit in a 9mm 229 frame! I don't get it, but anyways. i hope this helped. I can't help you on the finish question. I have seen blue slides that were polished on the flats like a "Equinox" model but I can't begin to tell you what was used or how it was used.

For all things Sig check out www.sigforum.com. There's a bunch of good, Sig specific info there. Goodluck.

Edited July 11, 2008 by doughnut

[mdlave]

+1 for the Bar-Sto barrels. I have a P229 in 40SW, and the Bar-Sto 9mm barrel I purchased dropped in without a hitch. Lockup was tight, and 9mm fed flawlessly. The 40SW magazines even worked fine. As always, YMMV.

As for question #1, I'm curious about that too.

www.ccrrefinishing.com looks good, but I have no experience with them.

My slide has some holster wear, and I've considered having it refinished.

[skipsfirearms]

Great information guys, thanks. I guess the guy I was talking to was right about the 9mm barrel, and now I actually understand what he meant.

Thanks for the help.

[The Rabbi]

I would like to take my .357 Sig P229 with a stainless slide and remove the bluing from the slide and then buff the SS slide. I have had one person tell me that just buffing to shine the SS will eat away metal and I could make the slide dangerous. Does anyone have any suggestions or comments about this. I know customers who have done the same on their slides without any problems? I also want to make sure I don't buff enough to blur the writing.

Bead blast and polish. Buffing it will not make it dangerous, unless you plan to buff about 1/2" of metal off. Be careful around the lettering

Obviously strip the slide first and dont polish the top. Typically people want to leave that matte.

The second question got answered pretty well.

Edited July 11, 2008 by The Rabbi

[Guest jwp]

Blast it with aluminum oxide then polish it with some 000 steel wool or even newspaper if you have some time on your hands.

[Guest rockytop]

I don't have any experience with blued models but have polished the slides on a couple of Kahrs with matte finish slides. I used 400 grit sandpaper followed by 1200 grit and then finished by polishing with a dremel and jeweler's rouge compound. I agree with rabbi about not polishing the top of slide. Also, + 1 on the reccommendation to check over at Sigforum. Thats a super forum in my opinion. There is a guy over there that does some fantastic work on polishing barrels, controls, and I think slides. If you contact him (guns@customizedcreationz.com), I'm sure he can send you pictures and advise you. You can find examples of his work on various threads there.