[henryfrank]

Hello guys!

I'm trying to get a 40 cal P226 to work with a 9mm barrel that seems to fit it well, but before I go out and shoot it, I wanted to pick up a 9mm recoil spring to git it the highest chance of working. The annoying thing is that everywhere I can find them online costs a tremendous amount to ship (sometimes almost as much as the spring itself). Since I am not convinced the setup will work, I don't want to spend that much on shipping and was hoping to find one locally, or find an online place to get them that can ship it cheaper. Do any of you have any advice?

Alternatively, since I am only testing it right now, if any of you replace your spring on a schedule (e.g. like 2.5K rounds) and have an old spring with a few hundred rounds left in it and don't mind duct taping it into an envelop and sending it along, I would really appreciate it and cover any postage.

Thanks!!

 

[Malicious Compliance]

Welcome to SIG Talk!

I can personally assure you the setup will work. I currently have 2 P226's, on originally chambered in 357 SIG, the other in 40 S&W. I have run 9mm in both of these guns, about a thousand rounds, with no problems what so ever. One 9mm barrel is a SIG OEM 9mm barrel, the other a Silencerco 9mm threaded barrel to run suppressed. If your 9mm barrel fits into the slide and the slide will go into battery with no parts of the barrel hitting any parts of the frame, you should be good to go and not need to fit the barrel. I'd say spring for the recoil spring and while you are at it, why not get a parts kit? They include replacement springs that you will need eventually, and reduces the bite of shipping costs. Top Gun Supply is a great place to go for these parts.

 

[Willard]

henryfrank, welcome to the forum from the southwest corner of Indiana.
Malicious Compliance is correct, and if you are planning to make this a permanent member of the slide, you will probably want to get replacement sights to correct your POI. If this is a used pistol, it would benefit you to get the "Parts Kit", and replace all of the springs as Malicious Compliance suggested.

 

[flwing]

I checked Wolff Gunsprings and for a p226 the 9mm recoil springs are 15# and the .357/.40 are 20# - the one you have will work, but you should get the right one for your caliber. Depending on what load you're shooting they're available in 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 & 19 pounds.
https://www.gunsprings.com/SIG-SAUER (SIGARMS)/P-226/cID1/mID4/dID254

 

[jjoe]

Is this something new for the P226? I've read about using a OEM 9mm barrel in a .40S&W slide for the P224 & P239, but not the P226. I looked over the "Barrel Conversion" thread but may have missed something. I bought .40S&W-9mm conversion barrels for a P226, P229 & P239 way back before any of this info was available. Was there a change in specs at some point, or was it just that no one ever tried before? Always learning something new here.

 

[Malicious Compliance]

Is this something new for the P226? I've read about using a OEM 9mm barrel in a .40S&W slide for the P224 & P239, but not the P226. I looked over the "Barrel Conversion" thread but may have missed something. I bought .40S&W-9mm conversion barrels for a P226, P229 & P239 way back before any of this info was available. Was there a change in specs at some point, or was it just that no one ever tried before? Always learning something new here.

I'm not aware of any changes to the spec of the P226 in any calibers. We updated the Caliber Conversion Table in April 2015 to incorporate my findings at that time.

 

[henryfrank]

Thanks so much guys! I will try it out. The reason I am kind of concerned is that the hood of the original barrel seems to reach up higher on the breach than the 9mm. It's not by a lot, but it's a tighter fit for sure so I am not 100% confident in it yet. This does give me hope though! I'll probably wait until I need to buy something from TGS and see if I can add the springs on top of it then. I'd still prefer to test it with a worn-out spring if anyone has one just to make sure, but if nobody has one, I might just have to buy one from the get-go.

Malicious Compliance, have any of you guys tried the 20lb spring with the 9mm barrel? How much worse does it cycle the light stuff? Do you get failures?

Thanks!

 

[Malicious Compliance]

Malicious Compliance, have any of you guys tried the 20lb spring with the 9mm barrel? How much worse does it cycle the light stuff? Do you get failures?

Sorry, no. I just use factory springs, have no clue what their weights are. When using a 9mm barrel, I use the SIG OEM 9mm recoil spring. Same when shooting 357 SIG, 40 S&W, 45 ACP or 10mm in my SIG's. Factory recoil spring specific to the caliber, no problems.

 

[Mills]

When you say local, we would need to know what area you are in, El Paso, Orange, Texarkana, Dumas, Houston, Big D, Brownsville...am I getting warm?
Mills

 

[jkao42]

As someone who has also put a 9mm barrel in my 40sw 226, i had problems with my 40 spring. Stovepiped every round as the slide would not go all the way back. I was told that in a lot of cases it will work, but keep in mind my springs were pretty much brand new. I ended up going with the factory sig spring for 9mm. My reason was the 3 strand design will most likely hold up better than wolffs single strand design. Never had a problem with wolff though.

I'm surprised you got a 9mm oem barrel to work in a 40sw slide, I was always told the hood dimensions are different and you need to get a conversion barrel. Mine is a barsto (highly highly recommended)

Heres a pic, sorry she's so greasy!

 

[henryfrank]

Whoops. You're right. Forgot to specify. I'm in Houston.

 

[Mills]

Whoops. You're right. Forgot to specify. I'm in Houston.

I went to the SIG web page to dealers in Houston.
I stopped counting at 75 and wasn't even close to end of list.
Give it a try.

Me, I would order it as most likely chesper than time, fuel, wear n tell on me and vehicle.

Good luck.
Mills

 

[Superwoody]

As someone who has also put a 9mm barrel in my 40sw 226, i had problems with my 40 spring. Stovepiped every round as the slide would not go all the way back. I was told that in a lot of cases it will work, but keep in mind my springs were pretty much brand new. I ended up going with the factory sig spring for 9mm. My reason was the 3 strand design will most likely hold up better than wolffs single strand design. Never had a problem with wolff though.

I'm surprised you got a 9mm oem barrel to work in a 40sw slide, I was always told the hood dimensions are different and you need to get a conversion barrel. Mine is a barsto (highly highly recommended)

Heres a pic, sorry she's so greasy!

I never tried shooting mine with the .40/.357 spring but I could tell a pretty significant difference by just installing the 9mm spring in how much stiffer the original spring was so I could see it having trouble with the 115gr blow back especially.

 

[henryfrank]

Sounds good. I'll get a 9mm recoil spring and test it out. Thanks!