Gunsmith and approx cost to ream .40S&W to 10mm?

[wally]

Approximately how much would a gunsmith charge to ream a .40S&W barrel to 10mm? Recommendations of who could do the work in a timely manner?

I've an EAA Witness-P Compact .40 S&W that is an unreliable POS. Its the full sized frame, .45ACP witness mags will lock into it. I think the over long magazine for the cartridge is a large part of the trouble. Its way too unreliable to ever sell to anyone else.


Since I enjoy a project and have nothing to really lose here beyond what I spend to give it a try, I'm thinking of a couple of options.

EAA will sell a 10mm barrel for ~$100. But there might be issues with barrel to slide fit.

I could get a third party .357SIG barrel for ~$140 but I don't really want another caliber and it doesn't really address the over long mag issue. But I'm getting better reliability using Witness steel frame .40 S&W mags with a spacer glued to the back so they lock in, but it still occasionally spits out a live round or has a nose up jam (using the strongest magazine spring I could find) and doesn't lock the slide back because the follower isn't wide enough.

I could get a Witness 10mm conversion kit and put it on my Witness P .45ACP and convert the .40 into a .45 compact frame full sized slide uniqueness using the .45 upper, but the conversion kit costs about the same as I originally paid for the .40.

But getting the .40 barrel reamed to 10mm should be the cheapest way to go. I know people do this with Para P16 guns.

Cheapest is of course do nothing and use the gun as a bad example

--wally.

 

[Spartacus451]

Its way too unreliable to ever sell to anyone else.

I'll assume you mean because it would be wrong to sell someone an unreliable gun. You sir are a gentleman. The shooting community needs more people like you.

I have heard that bottleneck cartridges feed better so .357 Sig might help. I don't understand why that should be the case so take it for what it is worth.

I would say the cost should be less then 50 dollars or so.

 

[wally]

Lower cost would be better but I've got no feedback on who might be able to do such a thing.

It shoots fine with my reloads or light FMJ loads (Wolf) but any full power JHP has issues (I've tried 155gr, 165gr and 180gr of various brands). I think the mags just can't keep control of the short rounds under the recoil of full power loads so it'll nose up jam or sometimes even spit out a loaded round, so I hope the longer 10mm would fill the magazine better.

--wally.

 

[HSMITH]

Wally, do you handload? If so you can stay with the cheaper brass and stretch the loads to 10mm length just by throating the barrel. I will throat the barrel for you for the cost of return postage. Shoot me an email and we can talk about it, I don't get here much anymore.

 

[wally]

Thanks so much for the offer, I do reload, but I like all my guns to be able to use factory ammo.

I know Hunter's Custom does work to turn Para P16 .40S&W into 10mm, but he wasn't familiar with EAA guns and didn't want to give an estimate "without doing a little research first". Maybe he'll get back to me.

--wally.

 

[jon_in_wv]

Have you tried heavier mag springs??

 

[wally]

Have you tried heavier mag springs??

Yes I'm using the strongest magazine spring Wolff has for it. Also have tried stronger and lighter recoil springs.

--wally.

 

[Big Az Al]

Reaming a chamber

It has long been said in the circles I have moved in all my life:

NEVER RECUT A CHAMBER WITH A DIFFERRENT REAMER!

The biggest reason for this is there are tolerances in production of barrels, and reamers, most variances should be small. BUT the potential for a huge differrence is there.

If the factory barrel was made using a new reamer that is at the upper end of +tolerance, and the recut reamer is at the -tolerance, it may not be unsafe but does the customer want that step showing up on every case that ever gets fired in the reworked chamber? and I have seen ruined barrels because of not paying heed to the above NEVER!

So I may be able to do the job you are asking for, but the price structure will be such that I have CMA'd myself! That is if the barrel gets ruined, I have charged enough to replace it with getting hurt to bad! and breaking even is taking a hit!

So find a 10MM barrel pay the price and call it a good deal! Or convert over to 45acp.

My 2C