wild cat mccane
New member
Well, I've learned things. Thanks!
Turning a 9mm 1911 to at 38 super
- Thread starter Gulfcowboy
- Start date
stagpanther
New member
Are they that hard to find now? It was fairly widely available in bulk both regular brass and nickle-plated when I got my 38 super 1911. I wonder if it's a dying niche cartridge.
Jim Watson
New member
I meant you would spend a lot of time looking for your ejected brass on the ground, and distinguishing it from 9mm. If you are shooting factory ammo or loading new brass, that is not a problem.
Mike Irwin
Staff
"Well, we still get warnings not to shoot .32-20, .38-40, and .44-40 High Velocity in revolvers and 1873 Winchesters even though the hot loads haven't been made in decades. The last I saw was .32-20 in a 1960 listing. "
I still see boxes of HV .32-20 occasionally at gun shows and, more importantly, in mixed lots of loose .32-20 rounds sold in baggies.
So it's still out there.
I still see boxes of HV .32-20 occasionally at gun shows and, more importantly, in mixed lots of loose .32-20 rounds sold in baggies.
So it's still out there.
As to the hunting possibilities with a .38 Super...for small game, chucks or coyotes, it would do well with some stalking to get you in close...but for deer, I'd not recommend it, nor the 9mm. But for a fun gun, good for SD purposes etc., I like the .38 Super over the 9mm as it offers more in the way of load possibilities: very high speeds with 115 & 124 gr JHP's make it a good defense gun, and the same case volume will still allow good practice ammunition with tailored loads.
I've done two conversions for lack of a better word. Here's what worked for me with a 70's series .45 ACP Colt Combat Commander...and also worked with a much later built Ruger .45 SR1911 CMD. Can't say how it would work with your frame, but I had no issues with parts fitting without modification on either of the two guns. Both of which follow Colt's Commander tolerances. Other than replacing the .45 Slide Stop with a Colt made 9mm stop, a 9mm (IIRC) ejector, & a 9mm/.38 Super recoil spring, no other parts needed work. Below, is the story.
Over 30 years ago, while perusing the old "Shotgun News" (printed gun ads before the internet), I found a guy selling complete Commander length Series 70 Colt slides, bushings, & barrels with links in 9mm and .38 Super. At the time, I had a nickeled Colt Combat Commander in .45 and bought both caliber uppers for about $100 each...it might even have been less.
Both fit on the frame just fine and would cycle, but ejection using.45 ejector was iffy. To fix that, I installed a 9mm ejector, and that cured the ejection problem, and also worked equally well with the original .45 slide/bbl. The gun functioned just fine with factory rounds or handloads.
I also acquired the necessary 9mm and .38 Super magazines but soon found that the .38 Super was all I really needed as it functioned just fine in either caliber. Reading Kuhnhausen's shop manuals, I found that I should have used a caliber specific slide stop as well, tho the gun did just fine with the .45 stop.
Range testing showed that the .38 was the most accurate, better even than the original .45 ACP tube, albeit, by a small margin. All three are all capable of sub-2.5" groups from a sand bag rest at 25 yds with handloads and some factory ammunition. Too, the 9mm and .38 barrels were interchangeable in either 9 or 38 slide and the point of impact doesn't change. Pretty remarkable I think.
When Ruger came out with their 1911's in the Commander length (the CMD), I tried the 9mm and .38 Super upper assemblies that had worked so well on my Colt and found that both were equally good on the Ruger. Ruger must have stuck pretty close to the Colt Series 70 tolerances I'd say.
The only glitch in this whole saga, is that the slide will not always lock back after the last round. I've guessed that it's a spring or load velocity/pressure issue but have never really trouble shot it.
I load for both calibers but keep my loads fairly conservative, not exceeding 9mm velocities in either caliber, for the most part. Of the currently available bullets, the 130 gr FMJ RN by Winchester is the most accurate in the .38, but Montana Gold 124 JHP's or Hornady's version do about as well....and Missouri Bullet Co's 124 LSWC's feed, function and provide a lower velocity and equally accurate practice round. I also cast my own as well and have found that Lyman's venerable, 356402, a truncated conical sized to 0.356+ does well too.
Lastly, when Ciener was offering .22 uppers for the 1911 Commander length slide, I bought one and it's accurate & quite reliable, but only if.....I keep the slide rails clear of grease and lube sparingly with something like RemOil or CLP and swab out the bbl. and slide face/ejector.
A decade ago, I gave gave the Colt to one of my sons, but kept the Ruger as well as the 9mm and .38 uppers...thus making it a truly 4-caliber all steel Commander.
HTH's & best regards, Rod .... Here's a pic of the Ruger CMD with the .38 Super upper in place.
I've done two conversions for lack of a better word. Here's what worked for me with a 70's series .45 ACP Colt Combat Commander...and also worked with a much later built Ruger .45 SR1911 CMD. Can't say how it would work with your frame, but I had no issues with parts fitting without modification on either of the two guns. Both of which follow Colt's Commander tolerances. Other than replacing the .45 Slide Stop with a Colt made 9mm stop, a 9mm (IIRC) ejector, & a 9mm/.38 Super recoil spring, no other parts needed work. Below, is the story.
Over 30 years ago, while perusing the old "Shotgun News" (printed gun ads before the internet), I found a guy selling complete Commander length Series 70 Colt slides, bushings, & barrels with links in 9mm and .38 Super. At the time, I had a nickeled Colt Combat Commander in .45 and bought both caliber uppers for about $100 each...it might even have been less.
Both fit on the frame just fine and would cycle, but ejection using.45 ejector was iffy. To fix that, I installed a 9mm ejector, and that cured the ejection problem, and also worked equally well with the original .45 slide/bbl. The gun functioned just fine with factory rounds or handloads.
I also acquired the necessary 9mm and .38 Super magazines but soon found that the .38 Super was all I really needed as it functioned just fine in either caliber. Reading Kuhnhausen's shop manuals, I found that I should have used a caliber specific slide stop as well, tho the gun did just fine with the .45 stop.
Range testing showed that the .38 was the most accurate, better even than the original .45 ACP tube, albeit, by a small margin. All three are all capable of sub-2.5" groups from a sand bag rest at 25 yds with handloads and some factory ammunition. Too, the 9mm and .38 barrels were interchangeable in either 9 or 38 slide and the point of impact doesn't change. Pretty remarkable I think.
When Ruger came out with their 1911's in the Commander length (the CMD), I tried the 9mm and .38 Super upper assemblies that had worked so well on my Colt and found that both were equally good on the Ruger. Ruger must have stuck pretty close to the Colt Series 70 tolerances I'd say.
The only glitch in this whole saga, is that the slide will not always lock back after the last round. I've guessed that it's a spring or load velocity/pressure issue but have never really trouble shot it.
I load for both calibers but keep my loads fairly conservative, not exceeding 9mm velocities in either caliber, for the most part. Of the currently available bullets, the 130 gr FMJ RN by Winchester is the most accurate in the .38, but Montana Gold 124 JHP's or Hornady's version do about as well....and Missouri Bullet Co's 124 LSWC's feed, function and provide a lower velocity and equally accurate practice round. I also cast my own as well and have found that Lyman's venerable, 356402, a truncated conical sized to 0.356+ does well too.
Lastly, when Ciener was offering .22 uppers for the 1911 Commander length slide, I bought one and it's accurate & quite reliable, but only if.....I keep the slide rails clear of grease and lube sparingly with something like RemOil or CLP and swab out the bbl. and slide face/ejector.
A decade ago, I gave gave the Colt to one of my sons, but kept the Ruger as well as the 9mm and .38 uppers...thus making it a truly 4-caliber all steel Commander.
HTH's & best regards, Rod .... Here's a pic of the Ruger CMD with the .38 Super upper in place.
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