1911.....9mm to 38 Super conversion

[milprileb]

Bottom line up front : Conversion 9mm caliber 1911 to 38 Super was successful, cost 39 dollars for barrel, 18 dollars for Mec Gar magazine and works like a charm.

For half a century I have heard praise for 38 Super 1911's and never got around to buying one but always wondered ...did I miss something. So when CDNN had SIG manufacture stainless steel 1911 barrels in 38 Super up for 39 bucks, I ordered one and installed it on my 9mm 1911. Took a small amount of fitting barrel so 9mm extractor would work but beyond that filing (minor hand work...totally easy), the pistol with Mec Gar mags works like a charm with 38 Super ammo.

Horse traded for 38 super brass...not that common to find but got more than enough for a few years serious shooting. Been handloading for the 38 Super and no issues at all.

Now....truth be told, all I achieved beyond chasing my curiosity about 38 super was a less anemic 9mm shooting 1911. I'm owning having done all of this but I got to question why I thought 38 Super was a rainbow to chase. Its a bit finicky to hand load for but I can deal with that. Its the end state I flog myself about....the pistol is no more accurate than when it was in 9mm caliber and at best only marginally more effective than 9mm so why did I bother doing this.

Not out much money, didn't achieve anything other than finding out for half a century I was missing Nothing. I'm a 45acp guy, don't much like 9mm so having a "better 9mm" which is what the 38 Super is---- just doesn't do much for me.

Easy conversion and economical if you got the itch to do it. Just that at the end of the project you own a caliber in the dust bin of history and that is a place it probably deserved to be but don't get me wrong, I like 38 super for self defense a lot better than 9mm but thankfully I don't have to make that choice.................I own plenty of 45 acp 1911's which do the job superbly.

[ramsys]

Congratulations on your conversion success. I started on that route in the early 80s with my Colt Combat Commander .45. after reading a Guns and Ammo article on the subject, I bought two blued Colt Commander slides in .38 Super and 9 mm from then Sherwood International in Northridge (although either caliber slide would have worked for both caliber barrels) and Bar-Sto barrels in .45 acp, .38 Super and 9mm (the late great Irving Stone wrote up my orders himself from his old Burbank, Ca. shop). After a month, my pistol and the fitted barrels and slides were shipped back to me from Irv's new shop in Twenty-nine Palms. I enjoyed the conversions but soon got tired of switching slide/barrel setups and nearly losing recoil spring plugs being jettisoned downrange landing among thousands of empty casings 😰🥴. So I built two separate pistols in .38 Super and 9 mm with ODI double action (Seecamp system) SS receivers and other parts; back then the Shotgun News was a great resource for any gun-related project. Fast forward to February, 2019; I acquired a used full size Rock Island Armory 1911 in .38 Super, non-supported barrel. As an alternative low cost ammunition solution, I got a Dan Swenson 5" semi drop-in 9 mm from Midway, U.S.A. and the drop in conversion worked flawlessly. After a silimlar successful conversion project with my EAA Witness pistol, I ordered a Rock Island Pro 1911 slide in 10 mm with low profile adjustable sights from Hooper Gun Works and selected internal parts and Swenson barrels in 10 mm and .40 S&W, again, from Midway. The extractor is key: it had to be from Ed Brown. Another successful drop-in conversion, no gunsmith fitting necessary, with all four calibers feeding, firing, extracting and ejecting from the Rock Island receiver mated to a Rock Island Pro slide. But I opted to use the 9mm barrel with the original G.I. type slide since the 9 mm case head fits loose on the Pro slide breechface and extraction/ejection could be intermittent problems. Happy conversions.

[Ric4509]

milprileb - I'm curious what make is your 9mm? Correct me if I'm wrong CDNNs SIG .38Super barrel you bought from them is ramped right? Meaning your 9mm 1911 is also using a 9mm ramped barrel. If so how was the fit?