My Raffle Prize (Bar-Sto Barrel)

[JHA XD40]

Well, it's been a few months since the raffle, but last week I finally got the Bar-Sto barrel (9mm conversion barrel for my XD40 V-10) that I won. So, I decided that I needed to take a trip to the range Friday after work.

Tried to get ammo from wal-mart on thursday, but they didn't have any .40 value packs. Tried a different wal-mart Friday on my way to the range, no value packs there either, but I bought a couple hundred rounds of 9mm in value packs. Finally found .40 value packs at the third wal-mart that I tried and I was off to the range.

Got lucky at the range b/c they charged me for the targets, but not the range time. (I asked about it and they realized their mistake, but let it slide) I had already bought a 15rnd 9mm magazine b/c I didn't want to bend the feed lips on one of my other magazines, so I loaded up my 9mm magazine and put my Bar-Sto barrel in. Half way through the first magazine, I had a FTE. I locked the slide back and after some work, I managed to drop the magazine out and extract the case. I think I had one magazine, out of 100 rounds, that didn't have any FTE.

All in all, it is a neat little thing to have, but definetly doesn't extract reliably. I don't know how much it will get used unless I figure out how to make it extract more reliably. I want to be excited about it, but I have to admit that it was a little disappointing.

jonas

[MtnCamper]

Disappointing too I'll bet. i was looking at buying a barrel from Old School, sounds like a definite extractor problem, and nothing to do with the barrel, or the mags. I wonder if it's normal, do other guys experience this too? I thought I'd put in a heavy spring, and the 9mm barrel, and tap, tap. But not that much difference in the ammo price, plus the barrel cost???

Would you buy one, if you hadn't won it?

[JHA XD40]

I had planned on buying one if I hadn't won it, but it was on the list after new sights and a CC trigger job.

Would I recommend one now? Dunno. If someone comes along and suggests something that improves the extraction of the 9mm. If you have the time, search on here and you'll find plenty of people who have bought conversion barrels from Old School. Some have worked well and some have had extraction problems, but off the top of my head I can't remember any solutions to the problem.

jonas

[hobocircus]

I've read on this forum that some of these replacement barrels need to be fitted in most cases. I think someone even did it themselves with a dremel.

[Ed Ely]

Recoil springs. Try different ones until you get
the machine tuned for extraction with the 9mm
bull barrel installed.

Also suggest that you polish the feed ramp
on the new barrel.

Ed

[synchro]

Originally Posted by Ed Ely

Also suggest that you polish the feed ramp
on the new barrel.

What would one use to polish it?

[MtnCamper]

I used 500 grit paper. Tear off a piece, and roll it up, then use short strokes to polish it.

[justfish]

Shame your didnt work well. I bought one second hand from the trading post of this site. It's a EFK, I believe. I have a few boxes of rounds (all WWB) through it and it has been flawless. I also changed the spring, but have no idea what # it is, just the guy I bought it from said postolgear.com recommended it for 9mm conversion.
I did polish feed ramp as already mentioned. I do it on all my guns. I use a Dremel and the cone shaped polisher. It gets a mirror shine.

[mpholic]

Originally Posted by JHA XD40

Well, it's been a few months since the raffle, but last week I finally got the Bar-Sto barrel (9mm conversion barrel for my XD40 V-10) that I won. So, I decided that I needed to take a trip to the range Friday after work.

Tried to get ammo from wal-mart on thursday, but they didn't have any .40 value packs. Tried a different wal-mart Friday on my way to the range, no value packs there either, but I bought a couple hundred rounds of 9mm in value packs. Finally found .40 value packs at the third wal-mart that I tried and I was off to the range.

Got lucky at the range b/c they charged me for the targets, but not the range time. (I asked about it and they realized their mistake, but let it slide) I had already bought a 15rnd 9mm magazine b/c I didn't want to bend the feed lips on one of my other magazines, so I loaded up my 9mm magazine and put my Bar-Sto barrel in. Half way through the first magazine, I had a FTE. I locked the slide back and after some work, I managed to drop the magazine out and extract the case. I think I had one magazine, out of 100 rounds, that didn't have any FTE.

All in all, it is a neat little thing to have, but definetly doesn't extract reliably. I don't know how much it will get used unless I figure out how to make it extract more reliably. I want to be excited about it, but I have to admit that it was a little disappointing.

jonas

Consider the fact that the extractor was designed for the rim diameter of a .40 caliber round not the rim diameter of a .355 round. Many have done this conversion and don't seem to have any problems but I wouldn't be surprised by those that do.

This is why the .40/357SIG conversion works so well. The have the same rim.

[Exmasonite]

MtnCamper Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:30 am Post subject:

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Disappointing too I'll bet. i was looking at buying a barrel from Old School, sounds like a definite extractor problem, and nothing to do with the barrel, or the mags. I wonder if it's normal, do other guys experience this too? I thought I'd put in a heavy spring, and the 9mm barrel, and tap, tap. But not that much difference in the ammo price, plus the barrel cost???

Would you buy one, if you hadn't won it?

Mtncamper: You say you'd put in a HEAVY spring... isn't the recoil on the 9mm going to be LESS than the .40? Wouldn't you want a lighter spring for the lesser recoil? That would give you more extraction "power" with the weaker spring....

I'm not too familiar with FTE, though so please set me straight on this.

thanks!

matt