.38 Super to 9mm 1911

[graycrait]

Eureka!

This isn't my first 1911 and might not be my last, but for carry I use a Glock 19. Regardless, I like tinkering a bit, ergo my CCF G17 and my aftermarket G34, as well as fixing & tuning dozens of revolvers and pistols for friends.

I received my "value priced" (OK, cheap) 1911 9mm barrel, bushing, link and pin last nite. This was ordered for my .38 Super made by S.A.M. in the Phillipines. I polished the 9mm barrel with a bench driven felt wheel a bit as it was a might dirty or it was simply some brown rust preventative. I'm not sure where my bargain barrel was made but I suspect also the Phillipines. I then used red jewelers rouge followed by some ultra fine polishing compound I have for knife sharpening using a Dremel and felt pad. I had to widen out the link pin hole on the barrel legs, lapping it (them) with a right-sized steel punch covered in valve grinding compound to get a snug but smooth fit. OK, I did spin the link a bit on my DMT round tapered knife sharpener to speed the process up. I polished the lip of this rampless barrel, cleaned it all up and oiled it up.

I installed the barrel and using the only .38 Super magazine I had - I cycled some A-Zoom 9mm snap caps. That didn't go too bad so I next loaded the mag up with 9mm Brown Bear steel cased rounds from Russia. Keeping my hand off the safety grip I then cycled a few mags' worth. Then I cycled a few mags worth using a standard grip. No shots fired in the house!

I think I may have to tweak the extractor and maybe the ejector, but I think the thing will run. A new mag or two wouldn't hurt either.

I'm no expert but getting one of these things to run right is somewhat of a chore, but not that hard. This thing runs in .38 Super well enough, now I need to see how it will do in 9mm.

I'm sure manufacturers and custom makers who sell high dollar 9mm 1911s shudder at things like this project, but if it works, and it will, if not right away, then in a few more weeks.....

A Phillipino .38 Super is generally relatively inexpensive, then add the 9mm barrel, bushing, link and pin for $60.63 (including shipping) and you have a "value priced" 9mm & .38 Super. I've shot quite a few decent 1911s, Les Baer, Wilson, Nighthawk, custom-made handbuilts, etc., and owned several 1911s before this one. However, for my personal purposes I classify 1911s as range guns only as I do my CCF G17 and my aftermarket G34.

The .38 Super is a straight walled cartridge that is .384 fore and aft, and .900 long, while the 9mm is a tapered case . 391 rear to .380 at the front with overall length of .754. 9mm bullet width is .355, while .38 Super is .356. You have a chamber difference, but C.U.P. and overall speed of the bullets are similar. Using the same grain weight bullets and same powder (although powder amount is different) you will typically see about 125fps greater speed in the .38 Super, although with 115 grain JHPs the speed difference flip flops with some powders. However, my 115 grain +P Cor Bon JHPs for 9mm state 1350fps at 466ft/lbs while the .38 Super +P Cor Bon JHP are rated at 1425fps at 519ft/lbs). I'm sure that JSPs in either pistol are low cavitation high penetration rounds. But with modern JHPs at these speeds either caliber likely mushrooms and energy dumps AOK for all intended purposes.

I'm interested in recoil comparisons between the calibers that produce like ballistics. Factory 9mm practice ammo is about half of what .38 Super costs. Hopefully range time will come this weekend and if links don't break and the thing extracts and ejects I will be delighted. However, I do expect to have to tweak the ejector and extractor. It will be interesting to see if the thing will work using the same recoil spring, but I would expect that different powders/burn rates and other variables will require some tuning between calibers - maybe not though. One of my old books says that soft cast lead 9mm can be shot in .38 Super barrels but I am not going to try that due to chamber depth differences. "Jumping the gap" doesn't seem to be a really good idea.

For those interested in doing a .38 Super to 9mm conversion I heard that RIA will be selling .38 Supers in the US at some time, if they are not doing so right now. I had contacted one custom guy about building a 9mm 1911 and he said approx. $2,400.00. Of course you can buy an STI or other 1911 9mm for somewhere around a grand. I figure I have some time and about $400.00 in the project except for the micarta grips, along with learning something in the process. In several weeks I expect it will shoot as well as most 1911s and it will be a two-caliber pistol.

Like I said earlier, I carry a Glock, although my G19 likely looks little like yours. I've been practicing grinding, stippling, smoothing actions, etc., so much so that friends are giving me their NIB Glocks to "enhance" for their own uses. Making a Glock feel and shoot great is so much easier and less costly than a 1911. But 1911 triggers are just so great that piddling around with a 1911 is fun.

Craig

[Guest Mugster]

Sounds good!

You got a link or a phone number from who you ordered that barrel?

[molonlabetn]

Did you change the recoil spring to a lighter one?

[mrming]

Err.. 38 super to 9mm still seems like a down grade to some of us. I can understand wanting the more common caliber but...

to each their own I suppose.

[molonlabetn]

I'm pretty sure that the reason was the cheaper ammo.

[Magiccarpetrides]

I'm pretty sure that the reason was the cheaper ammo.

Thats the impression I got as well.

[mrming]

But at $400 for the conversion so far.. couldn't he have picked up a dillion progressive and have even cheaper ammo still ?

Not saying its not neat, just the $$ doesnt quite figure.

[patbax2]

I think he might have $400 in the gun and the conversion all together.

[fizik]

yeah he said he had like 60 bucks in the conversion, so it sounds pretty cool.

[jaysouth]

9mm brass is plentiful. Reloaders who shoot .38 super police it up no matter how long it takes.

[deerslayer]

A friend did the same thing with a Rock Island .38 Super and he had the same problem. He solved his problem by using 10 round 9mm magazines by Metalform, I believe.

[graycrait]

I went to the range today and got the 9mm barrel to work in the .38 Super. It worked well in fact as long as I didn't use WWB or UMC ammo. I used 6 or 7 types of ammo. I've got about $400.00 in the whole deal with two .38 Super barrels and the 9mm barrel. I had a bunch of recoil springs already from my 1911 .45 projects so switching out recoil springs is about all I did. I may fool around with a new ejector. I am hoping to get this gun into the arthritic hands of one of my shooting buddies whose collection of over a dozen ,45 1911s are sitting idle due to the recoil spring tension being too strong for his hands. The 9mm recoil spring is ideally around 11lbs in the this gun, but I want to try some variable strength springs before settling on a specific weight spring. In any case this thing is easier to rack than your standard .45 1911. I'll probably end up trading it off for another Glock.

My CCF stainless steel Glock frame project has come along so well I would like to try one in the G19 size. My other Glock projects are taking precedence over the 1911. One more friendly G21SF grip reduction and I am done working on friends' Glocks for a while.

Craig in Clarksville

[Tacblack]

I am thinking of doing the same with my Nowlin super runs great and like super is my favorite round. Brass prices are high, I can buy lots of 9mm brass for what super cost. Im getting too old to look too hard for super brass LOL.

Probably get Jeff Walley to rebarrel my super for 9mm.