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10mm / 40s&w

itchy300itchy300 Member Posts: 122 ✭✭
edited February 2014 in Ask the Experts
A friend of mine was told you could take a .40, change the barrel on it, and shoot 10mm. Is this true?

Comments

  • NeoBlackdogNeoBlackdog Member Posts: 16,566 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I might try putting a 40 barrel on a 10, but not the other way around. The 10mm is a longer, more powerful round. 10's wouldn't fit in the magazine well of a gun designed for 40 and the 10's would probably beat the crap out of the frame on a gun designed for 40.
    I do know for sure that with a Glock in 40 you can do a simple barrel swap to 357 Sig. If you swap barrel and mags you can also go to 9mm.
  • MG1890MG1890 Member Posts: 4,649
    edited November -1
    Depends on the gun. Government model? Yes, I believe.
  • Sig220_Ruger77Sig220_Ruger77 Member Posts: 12,748 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The biggest thing here, is what gun are we talking? Most .40's are built on smaller frames like a 9mm. Most 10mm's are built on a larger frame like a .45. In most cases you are fine going from a 10mm to a .40, but not from a .40 to a 10mm.

    Jon
  • beantownshootahbeantownshootah Member Posts: 12,776 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by itchy300
    A friend of mine was told you could take a .40, change the barrel on it, and shoot 10mm. Is this true?

    Its true with 40SW and 357 SIG. The 357 SIG was designed specifically to be barrel only drop-in conversion for most 40SW guns. So if you have a gun in one of those two, swapping to the other usually only requires a simple barrel change.

    On 40SW to 10mm, there might be a few individual exceptions, but in general NO. . .this CANNOT be done safely/easily with the vast majority of .40SW pistols on the market. As already mentioned, most "service" 40sw guns are either built on 9mm platform frames, or proprietary 40SW type ones, and simply aren't physically large enough or built tough enough to handle 10mm rounds. Even if you did have the appropriate barrel made, the gun would beat itself apart with 10mm rounds pretty fast.

    In a FEW cases where the gun is available in 10mm, then you might be able to do this sort of conversion, but even there "barrel only" probably wont cut it.

    10mm is much hotter than 40SW and if you don't also swap out the slide spring for a stiffer one, you'll probably ruin your 40sw gun by beating it up with 10mm rounds. You may also want/need to change magazines as well.

    Its probably fairer/easier to look at this in reverse. If you're starting off with a gun in 10mm, there is a reasonable chance you could convert it to 40SW. (You may be able to run 40SW straight through a 10mm gun WITHOUT conversion. . .but this is not sound practice, and probably best considered "emergency only").

    As one example, large frame Tanfoglio (marked in USA as "Witness") guns can be swapped into 9mm luger 40SW, 38 super, 45 ACP, 10mm, and potentially a few other calibers by changing uppers.
  • royc38royc38 Member Posts: 2,236 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have a Delta Elite that I had a gunsmith make me a .40 cal set up and then I can switch back whenever I want. Like was mentioned above I would use a 10mm to go down to 40 cal but I wouldnt advise a 40 cal to a 10mm.
  • tsr1965tsr1965 Member Posts: 8,682 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    It is true with some pistols, but most of the ones that don't need the barrel fitted it is not. The reason I say this is, that the magazines for the 40 S&W are too short for the 10mm round. However, it is true that you can rebarrel a 10mm to a 40S&W, and I even know guys on herre who regularly shoot 40's in their Model 20, 10mm Glocks, with no modifications.

    S&W once made a revolver that used moon/half moon clips to hold the rounds, that you could shoot either 10mm, or 40 S&W in.

    Lastly, don't evere let anyone tell you that a 40 S&W is the about the same power level as a 10mm, because it is not. When loaded to ther design intentions of both rounds, the 10mm, actually is right in there with bottom end 41 Magnum loads.

    Best
  • Sig220_Ruger77Sig220_Ruger77 Member Posts: 12,748 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by beantownshootah
    quote:Originally posted by itchy300
    A friend of mine was told you could take a .40, change the barrel on it, and shoot 10mm. Is this true?

    Its true with 40SW and 357 SIG. The 357 SIG was designed specifically to be barrel only drop-in conversion for most 40SW guns. So if you have a gun in one of those two, swapping to the other usually only requires a simple barrel change.

    On 40SW to 10mm, there might be a few individual exceptions, but in general NO. . .this CANNOT be done safely/easily with the vast majority of .40SW pistols on the market. As already mentioned, most "service" 40sw guns are either built on 9mm platform frames, or proprietary 40SW type ones, and simply aren't physically large enough or built tough enough to handle 10mm rounds. Even if you did have the appropriate barrel made, the gun would beat itself apart with 10mm rounds pretty fast.

    In a FEW cases where the gun is available in 10mm, then you might be able to do this sort of conversion, but even there "barrel only" probably wont cut it.

    10mm is much hotter than 40SW and if you don't also swap out the slide spring for a stiffer one, you'll probably ruin your 40sw gun by beating it up with 10mm rounds. You may also want/need to change magazines as well.

    Its probably fairer/easier to look at this in reverse. If you're starting off with a gun in 10mm, there is a reasonable chance you could convert it to 40SW. (You may be able to run 40SW straight through a 10mm gun WITHOUT conversion. . .but this is not sound practice, and probably best considered "emergency only").

    As one example, large frame Tanfoglio (marked in USA as "Witness") guns can be swapped into 9mm luger 40SW, 38 super, 45 ACP, 10mm, and potentially a few other calibers by changing uppers.





    Very good explanation there.

    Just to give a real-life example of this.....I have a Glock 29 10mm pistol. I actually run an aftermarket 23# spring in mine. I believe the factory spring to be too light when shooting 10mm loads where they are meant to be. I purchased a .40 conversion barrel made by Lone Wolf. I use that barrel, the factory spring(17#) from the G29 10mm, and the factory 10mm magazines and everything works great!

    Jon
  • TxsTxs Member Posts: 18,801
    edited November -1
    Though there are a few large framed pistols chambered for it, the whole idea behind the .40 S&W design was to take a 10mm case and shorten it to create a round of this caliber which could be double stacked in the same grip frame size as all those 9mm's out there on the market.

    Their case head dimensions are the same, but due to greater cartridge length it simply isn't going to fit in most of those smaller frame size pistols the .40 S&W was intended for.
  • rsnyder55rsnyder55 Member Posts: 2,526 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have a Glock 20C (10mm ) and shoot 10mm, 40S&W, and 357Sig with it. The only thing I change is the barrel. Everything else is the same. Magazines, slide, spring....
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