Storm Lake XD40 to 9mm conversion barrel

[John A.]

I was wondering what your guys opinion about caliber conversions for handguns.

For years, I rolled around the idea in my head to get a conversion barrel and magazine to change my Springfield XD40 Tactical from 40 S&W to 9mm Parabellum.

For a long time, I put it off for various reasons, but it has recently been back on my mind and I don't really have a legitimate reason not to do it now.

With ammo being so scarce, being able to use more than 1 caliber per weapon, just makes more sense to me.

So, today I ordered a factory magazine and backordered a Storm Lake 40 to 9 conversion barrel. ETA on the barrel is early May.

I don't know a lot about the storm lake brand, or how well their conversion barrels are in either the XD's or other popular guns, but after doing some researching, they had better online reviews than EFK firedragon barrels did.

I also purchased a Springer Precision trigger kit for the gun. I did my own trigger job on it several years back before any aftermarket options were available, but lately the trigger has seemed a bit mushy, so I think it's time to give it some attention. There were a few different brands available for it too, but I will be replacing the trigger bar anyway, so the springer precision brand was my first choice for that. Even if I will have to fine tune it to the gun.

 

[MikeD]

Re: Caliber conversion

I had thought about it a while back when I had my M&P 40c. I also looked at the Storm Lake barrels and never saw anything bad about them. A Glock 19 sort of fell into my hands and I never followed through with it.

 

[oli700]

Re: Caliber conversion

Owning the 10mm Glock I have the king of conversions because everything after 10mm is downhill so you can turn them into any caliber.
I have done a lot of reading on it and the Storm Lake barrels seem to have a very positive following...... But I honestly don’t see putting the money in the Glock platform after I got to know it so that’s where it ended.
I have a killer 9, 357 sig....why?, I can shoot 40 S&W if I have to right through the 10mm barrel , I can turn it into a 45acp because that’s a popular caliber that would make since for shortage reasons. I would probably just rather buy a dedicated 45acp or acquire my Dad's P85

Now if my CZ was a 10mm I would probably buy all the conversions I could get, but then all that shooting abuse goes to one frame and I don’t like that either.....so I guess it’s a no for me LOL.

Where it makes since though is in a SHTF situation, you could pack one pistol and a few barrels and mags for acquiring and being able to shoot ammo varieties along the way while being able to travel lighter.....makes more since than trying to pack a pistol for every caliber. But that’s if you plan on being nomadic or something, I'm holing up.

 

[John A.]

Re: Caliber conversion

The conversion isn't for a glock. To be perfectly honest, I don't particularly like glocks. (gasp, yeah, I know, blasphemy, but I never have). I just never liked the grip angle or the way they seem to point. They always just felt "wrong" to me some how.

This conversion barrel is going to be for a springfield. I bought it in 40 S&W, and I can get a 9mm and 357 sig barrel for it. Matter of fact, the 40 and 357 sig magazine are the same if memory serves me correctly.

But since I am trying to consolidate calibers, having the pistol capable of 40 and 9mm both, opens up more options for me personally where ammo is concerned. And thus why I ordered the 9mm conversion barrel for it.

I can't recall ever seeing an abundance of 357 sig ammo locally anyway, although I know one or two guys who own guns chambered for it. But I always felt the 357 sig was more of a wildcatter round and I never understood how it could benefit me more than what I already own. [shoulder shrug]

And honestly, short of NBC fallout, I don't plan on going anywhere either. But being able to allot and or share ammo is pretty important for me.

 

[John A.]

Re: Caliber conversion

The springer precision trigger kit came in today and I fitted it to my frame. (Sear, trigger bar, trigger spring, and sear spring)

http://shop.springerprecision.com/produ ... oductId=10

I had to take quite a bit off of the front contact edge so the sear and firing pin worked correctly, but only had to barely shave the back to reset the trigger properly.

It has just a little more takeup than my old trigger did (which I did the trigger job to initially with the factory parts), and honestly the springer setup feels a little looser probably due to the different springs, but overall It's been way overdo giving it some TLC.

 

[oli700]

Re: Caliber conversion

I always thought XD’s had decent for factory DA triggers…..but I have only shot XDm,s….are they the same trigger ?
I was shooting the G29 yesterday and the "25 cent trigger job" is actually a lot nicer than factory, was making a beer can jump around at roughly 10 yards....good enough for me

 

[John A.]

Re: Caliber conversion

The XD and XDm triggers are mostly the same. The XDm trigger has more junk to it but overall very similiar.

I bought this pistol not long after springfield started importing them (rebranded HS) and the only aftermarket part for them for a long time was nothing more than sights and springs.

I started fooling around learning how the action worked and done my own trigger job and extended slide release and posted on the xdtalk forum how I did it, and low and behold, it was only a couple months later what do you think were being produced?

Yep, extended slide releases and aftermarket trigger jobs.

Look at the dates on these posts
http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/polling-pl ... -poll.html

Even luvs2shoot (springer precision) and I were making posts about trigger jobs in the same timeframe. Look at post #3 and 25 for example
http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/sa-xd-xd-m ... first.html

I did not like the factory trigger when I first got it. You had to pull it what seemed like a half a mile getting all the take up out of the trigger before you started pulling the sear to fire it.

 

[oli700]

Re: Caliber conversion

isnt that some shit

 

[John A.]

Re: Caliber conversion

Yeah that was at a time when I had my FFL and I was considering getting into some manufacturing, but after I looked into it more, I wasn't willing to sink the thousands of dollars into patents and business liability insurance and lawyers and other associated crap to offer them commercially.

Just for what it's worth, my extended slide release prototype is still on the gun and going strong and costed less than three bucks to make.

And yes, the paint wearing off is a testament to some of what I have put it through

 

[oli700]

Re: Caliber conversion

Right on, all these years , looks like the pistol has been a good companion

 

[John A.]

Yeah, Oli, it's been a good one. It has laid beside of my head for almost 7 years now.

The conversion barrel is still backordered although the ETA date has changed from May 8 to April 18th, but I did get the factory 9mm magazine yesterday evening.

To make it easy for me, I engraved 9mm on the back of the mag so I can distinguish it from my 40 cal mags at a glance.

I did find out more about the storm lake company since my last post. It seems that they used to provide some barrels to Shuetzen Gun Works (SGW) back in the day and have always been known for their high quality.

So that's some positive feedback about them.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkWSx1-QFKg[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqvlCq-rbw4[/youtube]

I also watched a good youtube video that explained how to modify the 40 s&w extractor to better fit both the 40 and 9mm rim if I do happen to have consistent extraction failures although I don't really expect that to happen since the parts are pretty well worn in.

But I'm not going to touch the extractor until I see if I need to or not.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAnborHvOak[/youtube]

 

[LAZY EYED SNIPER]

Re: Caliber conversion

I always thought XD’s had decent for factory DA triggers…..

My XD40sc is the only factory handgun I gave up on trying to learn how to shoot. The stock trigger on mine broke like a wet carrot and I ran out of patience. Invested in a PRP trigger kit and after the install it shoots about as good as my factory Glocks...

 

[John A.]

I was less than impressed with my factory trigger too LES.

It felt like you had to pull the trigger a half a mile before you actually started to move the sear to fire it.

I did quite a bit of work on mine with a 2 stage stainless steel solid guide rod and slide bushing (something the original xd was lacking with no bushing and hollow guide rod), a 16 pound recoil spring too.

Just that alone tightened up my groups considerably.

But I still sat down one rainy saturday and figured out how to get the trigger acceptable before I was fully satisfied with it.

The only reason I changed to the springer trigger kit now is the springs are getting weak and was feeling mushy.

If I could just order replacement parts for the gun, I would've done that, but I didn't want to send my gun in for factory service because that's the only way to get a replacement springs and parts for the gun from the importer.

That is the REAL downfall to the gun in my opinion.

I understand that Springfield doesn't want to be liable for the assembly of their guns if they don't do it themselves, but I think that's the main reason more departments don't adopt them for service.

 

[LAZY EYED SNIPER]

I don't blame you for not want'n to send it off.

I'm all for the home made fix whenever possible...

 

[John A.]

Got a tracking number for the conversion barrel.

It shipped a month earlier than originally expected. [happy dance]

ETA is monday, unless it gets misrouted like the last order that delayed it an extra 2 days.

 

[LAZY EYED SNIPER]

SWEET man!

Lookin forward to seein how you like it...

 

[oli700]

Re: Caliber conversion

I always thought XD’s had decent for factory DA triggers…..

My XD40sc is the only factory handgun I gave up on trying to learn how to shoot. The stock trigger on mine broke like a wet carrot and I ran out of patience. Invested in a PRP trigger kit and after the install it shoots about as good as my factory Glocks...

Like I said I have only shot my pards XDm.....wasn’t sure if they were all the same but there is no way no how my Glock trigger is better than his XDm trigger.
He got the gun in a trade for his dirt bike so he isn’t the original owner of the pistol and I haven’t seen the trigger bar out of the frame….not that I would know an XD aftermarket trigger, the pull is lighter and the break is lighter, it has that kind of trigger that surprises you on the break.....I know triggers bro and this is a good one

 

[LAZY EYED SNIPER]

I've never shot an XDm to compare, but it sounds like they made some improvements over the original XD triggers...

 

[John A.]

Glad he got a good trigger Oli.

Mine was truly bad straight out of the case.

Here are some pictures of the groups I was getting before and after my mods.

Completely factory

After trigger work and recoil rod and spring/slide bushing

Targets shot at the same distance, off hand, and just shooting regularly. I'm pretty sure I was standing 25-30 feet from the target. That's usually the distance I practice with my pistols.

someone who could actually shoot a pistol well would likely do a lot better than I do, but for me to be able to consistently hit what I am aiming at is undisputable from before and after.

I haven't shot the gun since I put the springer precision trigger in yet, but I expect that it's going to be about the same as my trigger job. It feels pretty close to the way it did before when I was dry firing it.

 

[oli700]

Can’t wait to see the groups !.....cool how the littlest things clean them up. The twenty-five cent job I did on my G29 helped it greatly....wouldn’t have guessed considering I polished what appeared to be smooth parts.