glock, caliber-conversion, 9mm, .40swThe frames of Glock pistols in 9mm, .40S&W, .357SIG, and .45GAP are identical except for the ejector. I know people who shoot 9mm using a .40 frame with either a conversion barrel, or a full 9mm slide. According to them, the pistol is reliable enough for range use even without changing the ejector, making it easy to switch back and forth between calibers. Is the opposite true? Could I take a 9mm frame, put a .40 slide on it and use it to shoot .40 S&W?
At least one site sells a G22 (.40S&W) slide/barrel that fits G17 (9mm) frames. You would also need .40S&W magazines. Swapping the slide and barrel alone may just work for you or you may run into occasional ejection problems. If that's the case you should replace the trigger housing, which also contains the ejector, with a G22 (.40S&W) version.
It’s easy to convert from .40 or .357 SIG to 9mm because the 9mm is a smaller (diameter) round - so the conversion barrel has walls that are thicker than they need to be, structurally. You can buy drop-in conversion barrels to shoot 9mm out of a .40 or .357 SIG model.
HOWEVER, it is not so easy/cheap to shoot .40 or .357 SIG out of a 9mm Glock, because the hole in the front of the slide will be too small for the .40 or .357 SIG barrel.
If you wanted to do that, you’d need to buy a new slide & barrel, not just a conversion barrel.
I have been happily shooting 9mm rounds out of a Gen 2 G23 with a Wolf conversion barrel. I have been using G19 magazines. I purchased a 9mm ejector to use with the conversion barrel, but forgot to swap it in, and haven’t had trouble despite my failure to make the swap. It’s not a difficult process.
These types of scenarios are not at all uncommon. The manufacturer is going to try to keep as many parts the same as possible to reduce the cost of tooling changes.
All content is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.