G20 10mm w/ .40 S&W conversion?

M

Model12Win

Moderator
Hey all!

Well, it's time for this old cowboy to get another gun! I've been looking at something that shoots the 10mm cartridge for some time. I already have a Glock 19 Gen 4 in 9mm that I absolutely love, but I want me a "big 10" as it were. I have also been looking at some other 10mm guns, like the Colt Delta Elite and the new Sig P220 in 10mm, but I find myself coming back to the Glock 20 every time due mainly to it's magazine capacity and the great experience I've had with my G19.

I plan to use the gun as a dedicated home defense handgun and also in the woods during hunting season as a backup pistol, and just in general when wearing around the property. I will be running full-power Double Tap/Buffalo Bore/Underwood 10mm ammo in the gun for defense work. I'm truly a revolver man at heart, and run full power .357 magnums through my wheelguns for carry. But, a semi-auto with the same or better power with 15+1 rounds is just an awesome idea to me.

But, 10mm ammo in general... is quite expensive!!! :what:

I was about to give up hope, when one day I found out that a company known as Lone Wolf makes a replacement barrel for the Glock 20 that allows the gun to shoot .40 S&W ammo:

https://www.lonewolfdist.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=951

I don't own any .40 S&W guns, but the ammo is MUCH cheaper than 10mm! How does this barrel work? It says it takes standard G20 magazines, which is a good thing. I would be using this barrel only for practice and range use/plinking. I'd be using the 10mm Glock barrel and 10mm ammo for "serious purposes" as it were.

So does anyone have any experience with this conversion barrel for the Glock 20? Will it be the answer to by prayers? Will it be reliable enough for target practice and training?

Thanks so much for your time guys, and have a great day!! :D
 
I don't have one, but I've heard nothing bad about them. But honestly, the G19 and G20 are so similar, just shoot the G19 if you want to save money and use the G20 when you need full power. That is what I do.

FWIW, the G20 will feed, fire and eject 40 S&W rounds just fine with the 10mm barrel. It isn't something I'd feel comfortable doing for thousands of rounds, but I've tried it just to see if it works. Lots of guys do it on a regular basis. I view it as an alternative better than throwing rocks if I ever found myself with only 40 ammo.

Here is a good source for inexpensive 10mm ammo, really any caliber.

http://www.georgia-arms.com/new-10mm-180gr-full-metal-jacket/

I'm close enough to buy locally and avoid shipping, but it may still be a bargain. Their ammo is top notch. Pretty much the only handgun ammo I buy is from them.
 
I don't have that exact combo, but my experience may carry over. Bought my Glock 29 in 2008 and without checking my records for more specific dates... I picked up my KKM .40 S&W conversion barrel nearly three years ago.

Using my normal 10mm G29 magazines and this barrel, the pistol runs fully 100% all the time. I have over 6k thru the pistol and something around 3,000 of that is in .40 S&W. All handloads, I've never put a factory round of .40 through it. Shoots to point of aim, simply does not ever stop.
 
I've got a Gen 4 G20 and a Lone Wolf 40 caliber conversion barrel. I bought the G20 for it's power. The G20 is the gun I bring with me when hiking or camping. When I carry the gun, it's always with 10mm ammo and the stock barrel.

I use the conversion barrel at the range to help save money on ammo since 10mm is so expensive. So far I haven't had any problems with the conversion barrel after shooting ~600 rounds through it.

I own 3 "native" Glock 40 caliber guns - a G22, G23, and G27. The G20 is actually my favorite Glock to shoot in 40 caliber. The big heavy G20 slide helps tame the recoil of the 40 caliber and it feels like I'm shooting a 9mm.

I recommend the G20 - especially if you get a conversion barrel. If I were to do it again, I'd probably get one of the longer 6" conversion barrels for increased velocity.
 
I have a friend with a Gen4 G-20 with a Storm Lake .40 S&W gunsmith fitted barrel, probably the most accurate .40 S&W pistol I can recall shooting. But the guy reloads for both calibers, so the reloads probably have something to do with it.
 
I've got a G20SF, it is my happy pistol :)
But its totally out of CCW rotation...due to hunting mods...

I went with the Lone Wolf 9" barrel in 10mm, tapped for compensator.
For hunting Hog/Deer/Black Bear at close range, there is no better tool.

Don't sweat the cost of ammo, just get into reloading.
Basically, you're just loading a nuclear-hot .40 round, same bullets, just using more powder...
experiment carefully...as this is kind of rocket science...
for hunting, one has to strike a balance with speed and bullet size/weight...
and EVERY barrel has its own sweet spot characteristics...
so what works for one may not be so good in another.

One of these days I'll probably get around to buying a .40 barrel...
but in all honesty I'm looking for a 3rd Gen S&W Shorty .40 or a Star Firestar instead.
Having an extra dedicated carry pistol (or 5) around is NEVER a bad thing...
as when you haveta use your main, it gets held for testing...
so you better have a backup (or 5) :(
 
If you don't reload 10mm, the cost of factory ammo will set your wallet on fire. It's the Swiss Army Knife of pistol calibers, it works well for whatever you want to use it for!
 
I have a G20sf. It gets nightstand duty. I also have a Lone Wolf 10mm barrel for it - not the 40 conversion.

All I can add is that the G20 is a great gun. The Lone Wolf barrel drops right in and gets a lot of range work (tighter tolerances yields less worked brass - which is better for reloading).

I've thought of getting a 40 conversion barrel, as I know Lone Wolf makes a great product and I have no doubt I would be completely satisfied with it.
 
I have this exact combo and love it.

I originally got the LW barrel so I could shoot the G20 at IDPA without leaving 10mm brass sprayed all over the floor (which makes me shudder just thinking about it).

Made no other changes to the gun. I use the 10mm mags. Never had any issues with reliability.

I once heard someone describe this combo as being like shooting 38 Specials out of a 357 mag revolver. I agree with that description. If you want to add the flexibility of shooting 40 S&W out of a G20, I recommend the Lone Wolf barrel highly.
 
Please join those of us who have discovered the wonder that is 10mm. I just had to check price and availability of 10mm a few minutes ago to see how expensive it really is, and yes, it's pricey. But, I was amazed less by the 60 cents a round than I was by the fact it's available in quantity--I haven't seen that in a long time.

While many may say most factory 10mm is not much more than 40SW, and that may be true, there are a couple of relatively inexpensive products out there that are excellent shooting loads when you do choose to shoot 10mm in the G20, yet not shoot that stuff that comes 1 round to the box. One is Armscor's $28/box FMJ ammo--yes, it's a light to moderate load, but it is crazy accurate and might also be a great intro for folks timid about shooting 10mm. Another is Remington UMC's $32/box nickel plated stuff--very nice shooting indeed. For those that don't have any use for the nickel plated brass, the UMC product is available cheaper in regular brass cases.

Anyway, I don't think the G20 can be beat for firepower, capacity, reliability and price. I'm sure you'll be happy with it and very pleased with how it shoots. I think 10mm isn't going away, and in fact with Sig and Glock just having introduced new models in 10, all indications are it has a steadily growing number of enthusiasts. I don't expect ammo prices to plummet due to this tidal wave of excitement, but the time for 10 has come.
 
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On ammoseek.com .40 S&W is running about $0.22 per round for the cheapest, and 10mm is running about $0.38 cents for the cheapest.

That's a significant price difference (to me). I do not reload. So, I think I'll be getting a Glock 20 soon as well as a Lone Wold .40 S&W conversion barrel.
 
Tennessee Jed said: I once heard someone describe this combo as being like shooting 38 Specials out of a 357 mag revolver.

That's a great analogy. I agree completely
 
While I think the analogy is a good one, I wouldn't want to conclude the two scenarios are equivalent. The 357 and the 10mm seem much closer to one another in performance than are 38 Special and 40SW. At least some offerings in 38 Sp +P produce about 1/2 the muzzle energy of 40SW with a similar bullet choice (re: Speer Gold Dot ammo as an example).

Seems like a good deal to me, and I'm really starting to like the idea. I could just never think of any reason I'd want to do this, but as a hand loader, there are two:

First, I shoot mostly at an indoor range and my brass recovery is seldom much better than 75-80%. I have not built my portable magnet-supported curtain to stop the brass, and if it goes forward of the firing line, it belongs to the club. That's real money to me getting sold for scrap by somebody else.

Second, the G20 configured with a 40SW barrel should be able to handle 40SW loads that are equivalent in pressure to 10mm loads. I've long been interested in looking at just how many 10mm loads can be mimicked in 40SW (not necessariy the powder charge, but the bullet weight and muzzle velocity). This would be a reasonable platform to do that with.

There...I've talked myself into it with logic totally sufficient to provide a purchasing rationale. Thanks everybody!! ;)
 
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