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CONVERSION BARRELS FOR GLOCK PISTOLS

Written by Subject: Gun Rights

OPTIONS-REASONS-COSTS-LINKS

     (Publisher: A friend was over yesterday while I was getting ready for our trip back east. Part of this preparation is the Safe storage of various firearms we have in the home. Those that will be house sitting will bring their own protection, so I can put my protection securely away. One of these tools is a Glock .40 that I purchased from a friend in need of money {which is how I get most of my firearms}. I was told something that I did not know that I thought you should all be aware of about one of the features of Glocks.
     Here is my personal situation... I have reloading dies for at least 6 calibers. As part of our activism here in Phoenix, Az many of us learned the economics, law and skill of reloading ammunition. There have been several times that we invite people to come over and learn how to reload and to stock up on their target ammo {boxed ammo for stockpiling is still the better choice for those with the resources, but... having this skill provides more options}. When I got my first .40 caliber firearm I thought, 'Great... another caliber I got to worry about getting ammunition for'. Then the DHS and friends starting buying up gazillions of .40 cal. rounds. In an ideal situation we might think that eventually this is all going to be made available to the peasants as government surplus when the DHS 'stands down' from whatever they think they need that much ammo for (Hollow Point BTW :(
     It's common for me to have concealed (legal without a permit or ANYTHING else here in Arizona :) a 9mm KelTec that has a belt clip that can just slip in my Pocket/Clip to my Pocket/Clip to my Belt. It's the smallest gun I could buy that was still at least a 9mm. The handgun I perform the best with is my 9mm Beretta that I've had for well over a decade (but it's too large to carry around all the time). So every year or two I might put out the call that I'm going to be doing some reloading of 9mm and whatever and we'll have a group training class for those interested and we'll stock up on ammo when the supplies are available and everyone isn't in a panic and paying waaaaay too much for anything to do with ammo. But do I have to stock up now on all things .40 caliber now too?
     The first time that I fired the .40 caliber Glock I was very surprised by its power and the function of Glocks in general. I was also as accurate with it as I am with my 9mm Berretta... damn it, another caliber to worry about. Donna has a small .380 she carries (Real Estate babe in an empty house with someone you just met means you carry a firearm with you. There was a number of women raped and killed just this way years ago here in Arizona BTW). But Donna has a thing for .45s too.
     Solution?... I got enough .40 caliber rounds to practice with a little bit (expensive stuff) and a box to fill some mags for home defense. But should I need this firearm for any prolonged time it'll quickly become a paperweight. I just learned that I can quickly replace the barrel with a 9mm one and the 9mm Glock magazines I have for another firearm will now work in this gun and the 9mm reloads can now be put to use in another firearm for the price of a barrel.
     More information here than many are comfortable sharing but all of this is common knowledge to the regular readers of FreedomsPhoenix or the listeners of our Radio Show and all of our friends and family so none of this is a big secret and is more typical of many homes than some may be aware of. I recently found out that the average household in Montana has 27-30 guns. I doubt Arizona is that high but when the local media is prompted to document all of the firearms and ammo of some criminal they just arrested the media's cameras are directed by government agents to
several displayed rifles and handguns along with "thousands" of rounds in ammo. We then would report the overwhelming comments in print and online of how the opinion of the people has drastically shifted from, "OMG, look at that arsenal" to, "Seriously?... I got thousands of rounds of .22 and I still got money left over from a hundred dollar bill and that'll only last my family 3 camping trips. And if you count the firearms of a family of 4-6 with teenagers and college age young adults it's not uncommon to be at least into the double digits of firearms." And you knoooow that the young teenage boys like to make their guns 'Look' all techy cool.
     It's a 'culture' battle that we are engaged in. Education,... and it's happening at the speed of electrons.
     The control of information is where we can see the front lines of this war between Good and Bad... and it starts with the definition of what is Good and what is Bad.
     The ability of individuals being able to defend themselves and their families is more commonly seen as Good and I don't know what the counter to that realization is in America and around the world. But I do know that 'they/them/those that just won't leave us alone' won't abandon the effort to convince Americans that we would be safer by disarming. But history is full of many many 10s of millions that were killed by their own governments soon after being disarmed.
    Sooooo, the following information sent me personally was good information that I thought you would benefit from and with the above perspective, those of you living under a more openly repressive regime may better understand why I share this information with you.

Peace,
Ernie

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Ernie,

I mentioned to you as you were packing up for PorcFest the ability to buy a "conversion barrel" for your .40 caliber Glock pistol(s), giving you the ability to change back and forth between either 9mm or .40, depending on ammo availability, training motivations or whatever. Here's a brief breakdown of all that.

 

Calibers available:  Not only can you have a 9mm conversion barrel for your .40 caliber Glock, but there is another caliber based on the .40 that easily can be converted for as well,…the .357SIG (not to be confused with the .357magnum). The .357SIG is nothing more than the .40S&W parent case necked down to 9mm, making a bottle-necked case with all the powder capacity of the .40S&W, but pushing the lighter 9mm projectiles. This produces velocities and performance very near that of the legendary magnum cartridge, which inspired the name for the new round. You can think of this round as a 9mmMagnum.


So this means you can actually have 3 caliber options if you choose to.

But more is not always better. The .357SIG ammo is not as common as either the .40 or 9mm, is more expensive when it can be had, and has a horrendous muzzle blast much louder than either of the other two.

While I, as a gun geek, personally love this round, I recommend you not bother with it.


Barrel Styles Available: Several makers now produce "drop-in" conversion barrels to allow you to fire 9mm out of your .40 caliber Glock. And nearly all them offer you 3 basic options for that barrel.

Standard Profile

Ported

Threaded

The standard profile barrel needs no description.

But what benefits/capabilities does one get with either a threaded or ported barrel?

Threaded Barrel Pros: Threads allow the attachment and use of either a sound suppressor or a recoil compensator.

     Compensators: devices which redirect some of the venting blast exhaust to counter-act the recoil or kick of the handgun. Compensators (simply called "comps" in gun lingo) typically direct these gases upward, producing downward thrust to act against muzzle-rise (also called muzzle-flip), but also produce a small amount of "backblast" forward thrust, to counter against rearward energy. In this way, they differ from ported barrels. (More on that in a moment.) Comps thread onto a barrel's muzzle and have a wide variety of venting and jetting designs. For our purposes, one should focus on only the ones that vent exclusively upward and not the side-venting models.

While comps have been used for decades by competitors in the simulated combat sport leagues due to their effectiveness at reducing recoil and muzzle-flip, making the weapon more controllable and allowing for more speedy target re-acquisition and engagement,…they have the detrimental side effect of increasing the noise levels even greater than normally experienced.

 

Sound Suppressors: Known inaccurately as silencers to the general public, suppressors are not nearly as quiet as Hollywood portrays them,…but they do reduce sound signatures dramatically and impressively.

 

I won't bother here to try to explain everything about suppressors or try to sell you on the idea. You already know if this is something you one day might want or not.

But if one has a threaded barrel with a comp on it today,…they could have a sound suppressor on that same gun tomorrow. Machining a suppressor from scratch is much easier than machining an extended barrel and then threading it. And by themselves, with all sorts of attachments that are NOT so nefarious as a "silencer", simply owning a threaded barrel isn't inherently damning.

Threaded Barrel Cons: Even if you do not attach anything onto your threaded barrel, it still extends out beyond the original profile of your Glock. This can interfere with holsters if they are closed-end types. And if they are open-end types, the nub of the extended barrel may protrude far enough to come in contact with things, perhaps even receiving damage to the threads. Thread protecting caps help. But in my opinion, the best thread protector is an actual useful device, such as a comp.

If one does decide to attach a comp to their Glock, this might necessitate finding odd-size holsters. However, for mid-size Glocks like your G23, the combined length of a short comp like that supplied by EFK Firedragon here in Phx. adds up to about that of the standard full size G22, and can be holsters for such can be used.

 

Ported Barrel Pros: Ported barrels bleed off propellant gasses early before the bullet leaves the muzzle, causing a downward jetting action to counteract muzzle-flip. They are cheaper than the cost of buying BOTH a threaded barrel AND comp. They also add less overall weight to the pistol than a comp system. They are easier to clean and maintain than the sometimes difficult to remove deposits that over time will begin to fill in the chambers/ports of a comp. Ported barrels also tend to not be as loud as comps.

Ported Barrel Cons: Ported barrels do NOT produce the counteracting forward thrust which only comps can. And just like threaded barrels, ported ones extend beyond the original profile of the pistol and present similar problems with fitting holsters and such.

COSTS:

The most common and affordable of the manufacturers of these conversion barrels is LONE WOLF, based in Idaho. Others include STORM LAKE MFG., BAR-STO, EFK FIREDRAGON and KKM.

Here in the Phx. area, you can order or pick up LONE WOLF conversion barrels at DILLON PRECISION off of Frank Lloyd Wright at the Scottsdale Air Park. Most recent cost for one is $100 for the standard profile. Threaded  or ported versions are $125 direct from LONE WOLF.

 

 

LINKS:

LONE WOLF DISTRIBUTORS https://www.lonewolfdist.com/Products.aspx?CAT=82

STORMLAKE BARRELS http://www.storm-lake.com/model_gl

BAR-STO PRECISION MACHINE https://www.barsto.com/category_main.cfm?ID=G23&cco=33

EFK FIREDRAGON (standard profile 9mm conversion barrel for G23)

                                 (9mm bore compensator)

KKM PRECISION (Model G23 barrels and options)

DILLON PRECISION (Lone Wolf standard profile Glock barrels)

JAGER PRODUCTS (compensators for Glocks)
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