XD40 9mm barrel swap, questions

[andrewshogun]

Hi - Was wondering if anyone has had negative experiences swapping a 9mm (firedragon) barrel into an XD40. A few questions.

1. I've heard some have issues using the mag that came w/ the .40 with the 9mm barrel, and others say loading 9mm bullets into the .40 mags did not cause any issues at all. What seems to be the consensus here?

2. Is accuracy affected in the .40 and 9mm configurations?

3. Will an XD40 w/ the 9mm barrel swap really shoot just like an XD9?

Thanks.

 

[Exmasonite]

hmm...

i've never heard any "terrible" stories about it. i think inherently the system is less reliable, but that could just be my impression. I don't think i'd ever depend on a conversion barrel in a SD situation. stick w/ the stock, OEM set up.

i remember reading over on www dot xdtalk dot com/forums about some users switching to a lighter recoil spring b/c the 9mm rd doesn't cycle the slide as well as the .40 but i thought both stock guns use the same spring anyways.

as to the mags...

some people have no problem just using 9mm rds in the .40 mag. sometimes the flanges are too wide on the .40 mag and don't hold the smaller 9mm rds as well. at that point, you have a couple options:

a) bend the flanges slightly on the .40 mag to hold the 9mm rds. note: wouldn't trust these mags for .40 in SD situation (FTF). b/c of this, it's better to just have dedicated "9mm mags"

b) buy separate 9mm mags to use to avoid all the trouble.

that's about all i know... swing by XDtalk, lots of knowledgable people with more hands on info. i'm just relaying what i learned. (i looked pretty hard at this w/ my .40 service but ended up just getting a XD 9 SC)

 

[geocole]

XD Mag

I have both 9mm SC and .40 SC for CCW. I shoot both at the range using the small mag. I have never had any trouble in either gun.

 

[okey0]

i did the conversion. i had to do some filing on the 9mm conversion barrel to get the slide to go fully to the rear. accuracy is no different.

i just use the .40 magazines and load them with 9mm. only had a problem one time-i stuffed 18 rounds of 9 mm into the .40 magazine, and had a fail to feed. i've yet to have ANY problem other than that. I use primarily WWB and reloads. no modification to the magazine, i can go back and forth between .40 and 9mm in less that 15 seconds by just swapping the barrel.

 

[Walkalong]

I have heard mostly good things about the 9MM conversion barrels. The big advantage to them is allowing you to shoot two calibers with one gun and shoot the cheaper 9MM ammo. I am with Exmasonite as far as not using the conversion for carry. They are pretty reliable, but cannot match the reliability of the standard barrel in .40 because of the difference in case head size.