I love my 1911 in .357 SIG and intend to continue to use it for carry and the night stand, but I'd like to be able to hit the range with it on a slightly cheaper budget in .40. I've got absolutely no love of .40, but it's cheaper, more readily available and easier to reload.

So for the pure economics of getting one of my favorite guns to the range more often, what do I need to swap calibers?

Just a barrel? or a barrel and a recoil spring? Or something else?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Oat_Action_Man,

Usually just the barrel. Then adjust the sights.

Let us know how it turns out.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...160063244#8160063244

I asked earlier, doesn’t look promising.

Hmmm...

Not too afraid of handing it off to my 'smith to fit the barrel, provided the price isn't exorbitant. I'll have to give him a call.

I found these barrels at Brownells: 1911 barrels.

Anyone know what the difference is in the ramp styles? Apparently Windsor/Nowlin vs. Clark/Para-Ord. I've never heard of this distinction before. Can either one go into a 1911 or is their something distinct about a frame that you need one or the other ramp style?

Also found this kit at Midway with the bushing and the link: 1911 barrel kit

This will help you figure out what ramp you have.


http://www.schuemann.com/Porta...%20Barrel%20Ramp.pdf

If you still can’t figure it out, post a pic of your barrel.

I expect only a barrel change. However, you may have to have a gunsmith fit the barrel for best results.

That is usually all it takes for most other SIGs and I assume this is a SIG 1911 you're referencing. Even if it isn't, a barrel change should be all that is required. I don't think a change in recoil spring is required, but would be worth looking into.

As has been mentioned, the sights will also be off as .357sig is flatter shooting than .40S&W.

I've considered getting a Nightmare Commander in .357sig.

Well, the SIG Tacops 1911 (at least in .357) is the Wilson/Nowlin ramp, for anyone's future reference.

Based on the picture linked by tha1000, there is a definite difference in profile of the feedramp from the reference picture there. The SIG ramp goes all the way down and doesn't cut off vertically at the base.

I'll look at a .40 barrel to order and see what happens. If I get it worked out, I'll report back.

There's a guy over on the 1911 forum that had a 10mm bbl installed in his 357. From his posts it worked fine, no drama. He got his from Fusion. He did say they had to make a special cut in the bbl hood due to the external extractor.

So I finally got around to ordering one.

Went with a government length .40 barrel/bushing kit from Nowlin. Eyeballing the photos on their site, it looks like a match with the factory .357 sig barrel, but it may not have the extractor notch.

I also picked up a 16 lb recoil spring, just because I'm not sure what weight comes with the .357 sig model.

I'll post when the barrel arrives with any smithing that needed to be done and how it works.

Awesome! I'm excited to see how it goes!

Small update:

Nowlin barrel arrived yesterday. It definitely needs a notch cut for the external extractor and the feed ramp on the barrel slightly different where it interfaces with the frame. The Nowlin has slightly chamfered edges an the SIG barrel mates directly up to the frame ramp.

I did a dry fit and the Nowlin barrel fits fine in the SIG frame. The different profile in feed ramps shouldn't be that bad. I hand fed a round off a mag into the Nowlin barrel and it looked fine and any difference in profile is well below where the top round fits.

Nowlin bushing is tight as hell, too.

So I dropped everything off at the smith this morning. Also having the SIG barrel cerakoted black just so I don't do something dumb with a .40 and a .357sig barrel both in the white.

Hopefully will have it back in about 3 weeks.

quote:

I don't do something dumb with a .40 and a .357sig barrel both in the white.

Do not be concerned, a 40 will not chamber in a 357 & a 357 in a 40 will just wobble down the barrel with low pressure. I know from experience!

Very cool, I'm oddly excited. I want to shoot my 1911 in Single Stack, but .357 doesn't fit categorically and is more expensive. Especially as it seems to be more and more lost brass matches, but I could always stay after.

I'm trying to figure out which Dawson Precision sights will fit best for this gun/project as well.

Got my gun back from the smith this morning and headed straight to the range. Lockup on the Nowlin barrel is [i]tight[/]. Smith notched for the external extractor and did some other fitting around the ejection port.

Got about 100 rounds through it, mostly good.

Shot some PPU 180 gr FMJ and, god, that was like a powder puff load. No recoil at all and failed to lock on the last round.

Switched to some 165gr Golden Sabres and ejection was perfect.

Switched to some 155gr Rainier flat points I hand loaded years ago and finally pulled out of the closet. They shot great...until I locked the gun up.

Gun failed to go into battery on the last round and the last live round was stuck as shit. Like had to pound it on the bench stuck. Looked at the round and I don't think it was loaded long or anything, but there was a perfect semi circular indent on the flat point of the bullet. I think it went in at a bit too steep of an angle and smashed the nose right into the chamber.

The Nowlin barrel is definitely a nice piece of kit. Accuracy was excellent. One hole excellent consistently at 5 yards.

The reliability issue was just a confluence of a tight gun and ammo, so I'm not bent about it. 1911 probs.

All in all, I definitely did not end up saving money vs. shooting .357 sig, but I got a seriously accurate upgrade.

I'll keep testing with different ammo until I'm totally confident in reliability, but I still think .357sig will be the defensive load of choice. The Nowlin barrel is so accurate that I will need to switch out the factory SIG night sights for something that allow greater precision, though.

So end of story: the swap is doable for the 1911, but it's not as simple as with a 229 or similar barrel design. On an internal extractor 1911, maybe it'd be a bit easier.

Awesome! Having picked up a new CZ in 40, I’ve an even better reason to do this.

Thanks!

Now to find a ‘smith as everyone says, “Nobody around here.”

How is it running? Any photos of the barrel hood, I’m thinking of trying this myself.

I'm up to about 300 rounds through the new barrel now. Runs more or less 100%.

I think I diagnosed the problem with failures to feed to magazines. Gun runs just about perfect using the SIG factory mags. The 3 Metalform mags are where all the malfunctions came from. I'm also going to check my handloads; I suspect I loaded the on the long side, which might also help the major lockup I had before.

I asked for some Wilson/Tripp/SIG mags for Christmas so I'll wait for that to do a final extended testing. When I get maybe 3 or 4 more quality mags, I plan on running another 500 or so through it and seeing if it will go to defensive use.

Ran a box of HSTs through it with no problems. Really soaked up the recoil.

I finally got a bushing wrench. There was no way I could disassemble the gun without one...and it still takes a few whacks with a nylon hammer to get the bushing free. That's related to the gunsmith setting the tolerances, of course.

Overall the gun is extremely accurate with the Nowlin barrel and any ammo.

I'll try to get some pictures for your info.

Awesome, thanks!

Bump.