Hello, I am looking to get another 226r, LOTS of used LEO 226r in 40, none in nine. The 40's can be had for 450 or so, I know I need a BBL and mags, what else? Sight change due to POI shift?? if its going to be 2-300$ in stuff , i may as well and pony up on the 9mm. Suggestions??

About $407.00
https://www.sigsauer.com/store...it-p226-9mm-blk.html

dang, had no idea I had top replace the slide , geez...$$$$$

You probably don't have to. Someone on here will know how to do it for less $.

you can use a conversion barrel (assuming that you are just playing, I wouldn't use one for serious work).Barsto is the gold standard. About half the full slide.

If all you want to do is play at the range, you only need a conversion barrel. 9mm rounds will feed from 40 magazines. No sight change is really needed unless you shoot at 25 yards and beyond.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
you can use a conversion barrel (assuming that you are just playing, I wouldn't use one for serious work).Barsto is the gold standard. About half the full slide.

I don’t know if that is the case anymore, been hearing lots of stories about quality problems from recent Barsto barrels. Evidently Mr. Barsto turned it over to his family and they are a little less concerned with quality and service than what he was known for.

( https://www.m4carbine.net/show...Sto-barrel-complaint) )

I bought a EFK Fire Dragon 9mm conversion for my P229 and it has been flawless. Dropped right in, locks up good, no extraction problems whatsoever.

Lots will say “don’t use it for anything other than the range”. I disagree, if it is solid after the 500-600 rounds I have through it (as it has been) then I have no worries about using it for SD.

That said, my P229ST (blessed by Bruce Gray himself) is not a gun I carry so it is irrelevant in my case. I did have Lone Wolf conversion barrel in my G23 though that was carried frequently and also never had any issues.

Bottom line, if it works it works. If it isn’t reliable than choose something else for SD.

yes sir, i have a lone wolf in my duty glock, from 40 to 357 Sig, 100% reliable w/over 1k rounds thru it so far..keep it clean , keep it lubed LOL

You do not need a conversion barrel to go from 40 to 9mm in a P226. You can buy a 226-9 barrel and recoil spring at the least and play at the range. I bought 9mm mags also for my 226 which is now three caliber ready.

If you just want to use the gun to play at the range, that's one thing. But if you want it for self-defense as well, you need to match the slide to the caliber you are loading. The .40 slide is heavier. Also, you can load 9mm into .40 mags, and that will be fine -- most of the time. Again, just a range gun or self-defense? You can, alternatively, load 9mm mags into the .40 frame, with just a bit of rattle. Same caveat.

My advice: keep the .40 as a .40 every time you carry it. Turn it into a 9 at the range.

My 226 started out as a .22 Classic, and I added both Sig's 9MM and .357sig Conversion kits.
I use .357 and 9MM mags for my 9MM practice all the time.
As usual, I over-bought the 22 magazines and have more than I'll ever need. Which is still a good thing I guess.

The 9MM and .357 sig reliablilty is great....with the .22 having the usual .22 issues I've experienced in all my .22 semi-automatics.

But gthe .22 in a 226 platform is a real joy for training new pistol shooters on a great platform.

With my .40S&W P229 I've done conversion barrels, a drop-in ready EFK Fire Dragon and a semi-fit Bar-Sto that needed a complete fitting, nothing "semi" about it. With 9mm mags they actually did very well once everything was fitted right. I've also tried using a regular 9mm factory barrel that I pulled out of my P229R. It worked, but the cutout for the barrel hood is wider for .40S&W than for 9mm, and I've always been under the impression that a snug fit for that hood is an important part of getting proper barrel lockup. I haven't tried a complete slide swap, though I don't think that should present too many issues if I did. At least I think so. Meanwhile I've since sold off my conversion barrels since I really enjoy shooting fo-tay out of my .40 P229 and besides, I now have two 9mm P229s and don't need a makeshift third to go with them.

If I were you I'd be on the lookout for one of those Talo edition P226 Classic Carry versions. They weren't the usual premium dollar P226s that come direct from SIG; for a while there you could find them for under $700, much like the P229 Classic Carry is today. Not sure what they're going for these days as we haven't had one in a while.

quote:

You can buy a 226-9 barrel

It has always been my impression that this is a no go on a 226 due to the slide size differences.

The barrel diameters on the 226 are the same across the three calibers. The width of the barrel hood is slightly narrower on the 9mm compared to the 40/357. There is no difference in the mags in the Maxwell as the mags are the same dimensions. The feed lips are different for the different calibers. Now that is not true for the 229 as the 40/357 and the 229-1 are larger than the original 229-9.

I posted about this a while back, but it appears to be gone now. I bought a DAK "government agency" trade.

I used a EFK barrel that dropped in, no problems. I have to use 9mm magazines--the feed lips on my .40 magazines are too large to hold 9mm (more on this below).

It may have been based on my particular pistol's age, but I had to get a new slide stop from Sig. As I recall, the slide stop that came with it had a wider bend for the .40S&W's ogive, so wasn't contacting the slide stop with the 9mm magazines. Sig sent this to me for free and the new one works. It's the same part for all calibers, so they redesigned it at some point.

Again, probably based on age of the gun, my .40S&W magazines have a little extra bump on the follower. With the new slide stop, this bump isn't needed, and the 9mm magazines don't have it. If the newer .40S&W magazines don't need the bump, they may also hold 9mm rounds.

In my case, figure $165 for the barrel, $20 each per magazine (at least 2) and that's about $200. For me, it's worth it to have both calibers. If you are just going for a 9mm, probably easier to find something you want (and maybe not a DAK).

For casual shooting, I have not noticed a difference in impact between the two calibers.