KKM 40 to 9 conversion barrel review for M&P

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LoneStarWings

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I just got a 40 to 9mm 5" barrel conversion for my M&P's. I have 3 5" barreled M&P 40 models so it made sense to get this. I ordered the black nitrided version to maintain a more stock look, and it arrived about 3 weeks after I ordered it directly from the kkm website. My M&P 40's are old enough to still have blue recoil springs.

kkm3.jpg kkm4.jpg kkm5.jpg kkm6.jpg


I used remingtnton UMC 115gr FMJ to test it out. First I wanted to see if it would group or significantly change my POI so I set up two B-6 targets at 25 yards and was pleased with the results. I brought up my point of aim a few inches for the second group and all the rounds landed in the black.

kkm1.jpg kkm22.jpg

Pretty solid 3" groups. More accurate than the factory .40 barrels by 10- 20% or so, at least with me pulling the trigger.

Having limited patience for shooting tiny groups at 25 yards, I moved the target to 10 yards and did some drills. I mostly wanted to test the reliability of the barrel and proceeded to blaze through the 250 round Remington UMC bulk pack. I was expecting a few malfunctions at first as the new barrel was broken in, and was pleased that I only had 1 stovepipe about midway through the second magazine, about the 25th round through the pistol. After that it chewed through the rest of the 250 round bulk pack without a hiccup.

Next I put it in one of my other .40 pro's, this time the CORE with a Trijicon RMR07 and shot it for accuracy. After 10 five shot groups, I averaged 3.9" at 25 yards, still with the 115 gr Remington UMC. I fired 150 rounds all in all with the KKM 40-9 barrel through the 40 CORE with no malfunctions. Groups tended to expand toward the end of the testing, probably due to barrel heating and shooter fatigue. The ejection pattern was similar to the previous pistol. POI was about 2" high and right vs 180gr .40 S&W.

Here are the 3 best groups:

coresighters.jpg coresighters2.jpg coresighters3.jpg

Top pistol here used:

mp1.jpg

I will probably run a few hundred defensive hollow points through the barrel when I can to further test reliability, but so far so good. Overall I'm pretty pleased, the 9mm barrel will be a nice thing to have on hand if for some reason 9mm is all I can find, or in a budget crunch if I need to save money on ammo.

The ejection was noticeably weaker than with .40 S&W ammo. Empty brass landed about a foot to my right instead of 2-3 feet. Still, only the one stovepipe and +p type defensive ammo would probably eject a little more authoritatively. Thumbs up, the KKM barrel seems like a good buy.
 
Great review!

Since you mention +P carry ammo, would you actually use a 9mm conversion barrel for defense?
 
Yeah, my personal test is if it'll fire 200 rounds of defensive ammo without a malfunction, then I'm comfortable using it for anything. Also in the case of the M&P platform the factory produced 9mm has a chequered reputation with regard to accuracy, speculatively due to barrel design. From what I see the KKM barrel exhibits no such problems.
 
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