1911 .45 to 9mm conversion

[YammyMonkey]

I'm thinking about getting my wife a 1911 officers frame/3"bbl model. I'm not really fond of the performance of the .45 out of such a short bbl and was wondering what it would take for me to convert a standard .45ACP gun to a 9mm gun.

Obviously a new bbl, mags and recoil spring would be required but I think I would need to get an entire new slide as well that would match up to the smaller 9mm base? Is this going to be more of a PITA than it's worth?

Thanks.

 

[Jim Watson]

Yup, takes a whole new upper assembly. And some luck on feed ramp matchup.

I have a Springfield Ultra Compact 9mm - no longer cataloged but there might be some in stock here and there.

Kimber makes the Tactical Pro 4" in 9mm.

Me, I'd just look at some of the light bullet .45 ACP like Federal 165 grain Personal Defense Hydrashok, or some of the Taurus 185 gr Copper Hex.

But what does SHE think about it?
A subcompact .45 has a good deal of recoil. I don't shoot my OACP for long strings.

 

[YammyMonkey]

She has no issues with my Kimber aluminum officer framed and 4" bbl gun with 20lpi frontstrap checkering, but it also has a bull bbl and she doesn't shoot it quickly at all. She actually shoots that gun better than my full size steel SA 1911.

 

[BluesBear]

Is she completely sold on the 1911 platform?

Some great deals can be found right now on the S&W 3913 and 6904/6906.
That design was based on the 9mm cartridge and is much more compact than any 9mm officers would be.

If she really wants a 1911 style why not consider .38 Super instead of 9mm. if you're stuck with the size why not go for max performance?

Of course leaving in it .45 is probably your best bet.

 

[YammyMonkey]

Yep, she's sold on the 1911. Stubborn girl.

 

[brickeyee]

A complete upper, mags, slide stop, and ejector.
Rarely worth the trouble.

 

[BluesBear]

Yep, she's sold on the 1911. Stubborn girl.

LOL
Stubborn berhaps but a keeper nontheless.

So just tell her that they only come in .45.


or...

 

[Shorts]

A 9mm Officer's is something I had in mind as well, as I currently have my project Oacp frame. Then I started leaning over towards a Springfield Ultra Compact as far as trying to make it work. I didn't get full blown into the research, but I'm not too sure who makes a 9mm 3.5" barrel. ....springfield? para? any custom makers?

Anyhow, my thoughts about it was I'd need to find a SA upper half, and even then, I think it'd still need a cut to the frame as I think* the SA 9mm UC barrel is ramped.

Well, that was as far into the project as I got. Really, I think it'd be much better overall to find a Springfield 9mm Ultra Compact. There are a few out there, it just takes some looking. Aside from that, I think things start really getting into a lot of work and a pretty penny. If you're going to be paying a lot already, might as well get it ready to shoot


This summer I did a 9mm Commander slide on top of the .45 Oacp frame. It's a fun shooting pistol. I'm working on fine tuning this thing, but this gun hasn't hiccuped a round since I got it feeding after fitting the barrel to slide. It's scarey reliable.

 

[BluesBear]

Of course you could just buy a brand new Detonics Combat Master in 9mm.

 

[YammyMonkey]

Shorts, the project you did with the Commander top end and the Officer's frame is exactly what I'm looking to do for her.

Maybe I'll just buy her her own Colt CCO/Kimber Compact size .45 a few thousand rounds, a .22 conversion and a few bricks of 22lr. Just have to find a decent outdoor range and the time to get her out there. New kid kinda limits that sort of thing and the money to do it.

BluesBear, she's definitely a keeper, are the new Detonics any good?

 

[BluesBear]

In the October/November ussue of Handguns, Walt Rauch gives it a good review. It seems to be a fair and honest assessment. The only problms allued tois the possibility of the occasional feed failure from limp wristing.
The way I read it, I think that might have been due to the fact that it was brand new and the triple recoil spring assembly (which is reported to be good for 5,000 rounds) hadn't broken in yet. The FTF all occured with one shooter, Walt had no such problems during his shooting.

The new one seem to be a bit pricy*, but since Jerry Ahern revived the company they seem to have strong customer service.

*All I have seen is MSRP. I have no idea what the street price is.

 

[bountyhunter]

A complete upper, mags, slide stop, and ejector.

You can make it work with the entire frame assy complete common to both units without changing either the ejector or slide stop (just use the .40/.45 slide stop). I have a Trojan with interchangeable top ends for a 9mm and .40SW. It takes a whole new slide and barrel (and mags of course) and the slide/barrel must be fitted.

It will cost you more than a new gun to have one built unless you can find a used top end in 9mm and just hope it works on your receiver(?)

 

[Shorts]

Yup, it's not hard to have an interchangeable unit. I've got the 9mm Commander top end and the 9mm Officer mags. The ejector is the stock unit from the Officer's .45 frame which didn't need to be touched. And the feed ramp is good to go for both the 9mm and .45 rounds. I do use separate slide stops, the .45 SS was inconsistent on last shot lock back. No big deal, you get the parts, you use them. All you do is take a minute to break down the gun and switch them out.

I'm currently looking for a .45 Officer's slide to have an additional "gun". The 9mm is still a range pistol until I get it where I want it, then I'm going to move it to carry. That's actually why I'm looking for the Oacp slide. As it is, this pistol is shorter than my currect CCW, but I'm thrilled about having an even more compact pistol to carry.

On the Detonics guns, the grip width (front to back) looks wider than other 1911s. Is that just a perspective thing since the gun (grip?) is shorter than fullsize 1911? Is it smaller than an Oacp?

 

[Jim Watson]

Detonics are about the same front to back of the grip frame as a Colt, the difference is the frontstrap and MSH/grip safety are of a longer radius, leaving more frame side flats. They show in front of the grips and make the butt look bigger. Detonics is a shorter butt than an OACP, Metalform has dedicated magazines.