P226 in 40 for Production?

[John Hearne]

I've been saving for a P226 Enhanced Elite in 9mm to shoot Production in USPSA and possibly SSP in IDPA. I just found an Enhanced Elite in 40 S&W for a really good price. I was wondering about the wisdom of shooting a 40 for Production and the possibility of using a 9mm barrel in it. The slide is not marked with a specific caliber so I think a 9mm barrel might be "legal."

As a final consideration, I have access to a bunch of 40 S&W brass for free but not so with 9mm.

Any ideas?

Edited September 19, 2012 by John Hearne

[JGus]

Buy the P226 Enhanced Elite 9mm for Production. Then if you want to shoot .40s&w, you can buy a .40s&w exchange kit (I think Sig calls them X-Change kit) that can be used on the 9mm frame. You can find them for a little over $200 if you search hard enough. Now you have two guns in one with two different caliber uppers and one frame.

But unless it's specifically a 9mm "conversion" barrel for the .40s&w slide, I don't think a standard 9mm barrel will work. But, I don't think using a 9mm conversion barrel in a .40s&w slide is legal in production, even though I doubt if you would get much slack from anyone at your local club.

I own four Sig P226's in both 9mm and .40s&w, and I think they are outstanding guns. I use a Sig X-5 Competition model in .40s&w for Limited and a USPSA model for Production. So I'm definitely biased towards Sigs. The Enhanced Elite you are saving for would be an outstanding gun for Production, and just a great gun to own for any reason.

[Joe L]

John, I think you have to be under 39 oz for IDPA SSP class. A Stainless Steel Elite (SSE) won't make it, an Enhanced Elite with an alloy frame will, of course. I shoot my SSE in ESP with the Tacops magwell grips.

I have an alloy P226 40 that I converted to 9mm using a Bar-Sto conversion barrel. It has performed flawlessly. The hood width is different between the 9 and 40 barrels/slides so you have to use a conversion barrel to put a 9 barrel in the wider (hood only) 40 slide. Also you need a lighter 9mm recoil spring and the sights will be different elevation-wise. I put an adjustable LPA sight on the slide so that I could use the 40 or 357 or 9mm barrels in that slide without changing the sights. I would not hesitate in getting the 40 and a Bar-Sto conversion barrel, unless you really want to run SSP, and then you need to check the weight limitation. My local club won't weigh the gun, if it fits in the box and looks stock, and isn't SAO, it is OK for SSP. Probably not the case in most places. I don't mind running ESP with my all stainless P226. I love the additional weight, although many shooters prefers the lighter alloy frames.

Joe

Edited September 20, 2012 by Joe L

[blaster113]

as others have mentioned I don't think the 9mm conversion barrel in a .40 slide is Production legal. just shoot .40 minor for Production. .40 at minor 130 pf is almost like cheating legally haha. I have access to tons of .40 brass, but decided on 9mm for my P226 cause I didnt want to have to screw around with the dies and powder measure on my 650 to load long oal .40 major for Limited (primary competition gun) and short oal .40 minor. You can find 9mm just about anywhere in case you want to shoot factory stuff (like at a match away from home), finding factory loaded .40 minor is just about impossible. I've never seen any myself.

[ClayK]

Other alternative is to get the Caliber X-Change kit from Sig and run with a 9mm slide and barrel up top for production, swap slides to run limited in .40.