Thread: 9mm conversion

I was just thinking how it may be nice to have a 9mm slide for my 1911. After reading through some of the 9mm/38 super threads i see its isnt simply a slide swap like my .22 conversion. I would prefer 9mm over 38 super just because of ammo avaliability and it would just be used to suppliment live fire training with the pistol. So this leads me to some questions.

-Have many of you done a 9mm conversion and how did it go? Was it reliable?

-About how much did the conversion run?

-Where did you find a good barrel and magazine?

-Since ive never "built" a 1911 slide before how much of an issue is it to do if im pretty decent with hand tools? How much actual fitting is there on the rails and barrel?

-Am i right in thinking i could just buy a magazine, barrel, slide, firingpin etc., guide rod and springs and i would be good to go? The lower in question is a Wilson Combat CQB compact so would it have a useable ejector or would i have to swap that out?

The ejector would almost be a deal breaker for me since the CQB has an aluminum frame and i dont want to keep knocking out the retaining pin and open up the hole. Buying a new frame, trigger, etc. isnt an option either as that will just cost me too much.

Let me know what yall think or if i would be better off just loading some lighter .45 loads and be done with it. Time wise buying the 9mm ammo would be nice though. Just so you know what my goal is; I am looking into the 9mm because i can shoot the .22 without flinching but when i move to the plain .230 gr. .45 i flinch sometimes. There is a big difference between me shooting the .22 and the .45 accuracy wise. I thought the 9mm may be a good way for me to get more time on the pistol with lower recoil but more than the .22 can offer.

Thanks for any help.

daveohno had a Colt Special Combat Government converted to 9mm with good results. If you don't see him post here you could send him a PM.

just my opinion but i think the conversion may be more trouble than its worth, in order to achieve the reliability and accuracy it would require a lot of fitting and some pretty precise measurements. i don't know how long you've been shooting but for most people that flinch usually goes away with time and practice. if you reload your best bet may be to go with some lighter target loads and work your way up to a full power load. ... but thats just my opinion

blkexp98

I'm going to make an assumption here and say your CQB is 45 acp, in that case you have answered your own question. The ejector has to be changed.

Now on the other hand you mentoned 38 super in which case you are basically looking at an upper change. The barrel, recoil spring and mags have to be changed when going from 38 super to 9mm Para.

I'm not familar with the CQB I think it is a compact in which case commander size slide would be the longest you can go with. The 5" slides leave a gap in the dust cover.

Frankly you would probably be money ahead to buy a 9mm 1911, Springfield makes one, as do several of the "Custom" manufactures, and Rock Island is suppose to have one out soon.

doctruptwn: Your spot on with the .45 caliber. The frame is basically an officers with a commander slide. I really dont want to start changing that ejector so i think passing on a "conversion" is the right way to go. I think common sence left the building when i wrote about the ejector. It would have to be different for the smaller case dia. Thanks for the heads up .

frsorrow: I think your right as well and i can make a good many reloads for what it would cost to do a conversion. I made a post over in the reloading forum and have already recieved a couple replies. Thats why this is such a great site.

Thanks.

I could be wrong, but I think that most new 9mm 1911s on offer today have ramped barrels.

Been there, done that (but didn't get the tee shirt).

Having done a .45 ACP to 9mm conversion, allow me to editorialize a bit.

I did the conversion because I wanted to be able to practice using a 1911 but with cheaper 9mm ammo. I have to assume that's why most people would want to shoot 9mm in a 1911. If the ammo cost were equal, I would absolutely stay with the .45 ACP.

Primarily due to differences in the ejector, this isn't a 10-second swap like a Ciener .22LR conversion. The 9mm slide (or, at least, the Armscor Super .38 slide that I used) won't go on the frame with a .45 ejector mounted. Therefore, I had to change the ejector. Could I now slap the .45 slide back on and shoot .45 ACP using the 9mm ejector? I don't know because I haven't tried it.

I did not undertake the conversion with the idea that I would end up with a "convertible" pistol. I have, and had, no intention of switching that pistol back and forth between 9mm and .45 ACP. I already had the receiver, from a Commander project with which I was never fully satisfied. I couldn't find a 9mm 1911 when I was looking, so for me it made sense to buy a slide and barrel and make the conversion.

For most people, unless you want to make a "convertible" I don't think it makes economic sense to do as I did. I think it makes far better sense to buy a complete 9mm pistol, or to buy a Rock Island in Super .38 and just get the 9mm barrel and magazines from Ivan.

Could I use mine as a convertible? Probably. If I were to do that, I would leave the ejector un-pinned so I could swap that out when changing calibers. That probably offends most of you but, in reality, with a slide on the pistol where's the ejector going to go? I don't care to do that. I have a couple of .45s I can shoot. Now that I've done my conversion, my intention (at least at the moment) is to keep the Rock Island as a 9mm.

Add up the cost of doing a conversion. Put prices to the following parts, and then see what you can buy a complete pistol for.

* Slide
* Barrel
* Recoil spring
* Barrel link
* Link pin
* Barrel bushing
* Firing pin
* Firing pin spring
* Firing pin stop
* Extractor
* Ejector
* Ejector pin
* Magazines


This is what you'll need to do a 9mm conversion

Hawkmoon, it'd be great if you or someone else could do a more in-depth writeup and then sticky it. seems like someone asks about a 9mm conversion at least once a month across the 'smith and manufacturer forums.

- emilio

I did a more detailed write-up awhile ago, but I couldn't find it. I may have to tweak the search parameters to look farther back.

Wilson has (or had) a .38/.45 ejector, if my assumption is correct, you can use that permanently on the pistol and change the slide assembly at will.