My P226 came in 357 Sig and I acquired the OEM 40 S&W barrel for it. My question is - am I going to experience unusual wear by routinely shooting with either barrel? Or should I pick one and stick with it?

I never saw any unusual wear when I had 357, 40 and a Barsto 9 for my 226.

I had a CPO 226 with .357 SIG and .40 barrels.

I mainly fired it with the .357 SIG barrel and the majority of wear showed there. Whenever I happened to install the .40 barrel, there were no issues.

There might - theoretically - be enough variance from specifications between the two barrels to induce some odd wear. I wouldn't worry about it, though, since both barrels should be built to exactly the same external specifications.

I have .40 S&W and 357 SIG barrels for my two P229s and I have not seen any evidence of unusual wear switching between them. But I shoot a lot more .40 S&W than 357 SIG.

I shoot both calibers out of my 226 and haven't noticed any difference in wear.

+1

quote:

Originally posted by JG:
I never saw any unusual wear when I had 357, 40 and a Barsto 9 for my 226.

The .40/.357 combo is one of those perfect matches that apart from slightly different wear patterns, I doubt you’ll ever be able to tell the difference. And those differences are likely to be centered on the barrels. I really wish the .357Sig had taken off as well as the .40 did. I think it is the better of the two rounds for a lot of reasons.

Thanks all. I will continue to use both barrels without worry.