Converting a 1911 .45 to 38 super

[Paradiddle]

So - new barrel, new barrel bushing, new spring.

Anything else? Do you need to do some extractor work?

I'm kinda curious about doing it to my Colt.

Jeff

[BigRich]

New slide, new extractor and new ejector as well.

[MustangO4]

I have a friend with a nice Colt in 38 Super who might be willing to traade. Do you want me to pass him your contact info?

[Miltiades]

Suggestion

I suspect that your best financial decision would be to spend the money it would cost to covert the .45 on buying a .38 super. Then you would have two guns rather than one for your expenditure.

[JTROKS]

The pain of swapping a 38 super with a 45 acp upper is the ejector. It is not the same size unless you can get a gunsmith to make it fit both slide, but you may run into some ejection problems unless the ejection port is lowered. You will also have a slight gap when viewing the fit of the ejector from the rear of the slide. You will need a complete slide with barrel and a modified ejector. Another problem you may run into is that modern 38 super barrels have fully supported chambers, whilst your 45 acp barrel is not. Sooo make sure you take that into consideration before swapping or buying the super conversion. Goodluck.

[brassburnz]

I converted a Para Ordnance gunsmith kit in .45 acp to 9mm/38 Super. You need a complete topend in 9mm/38 Super. You may or may not need a different recoil spring, depends how you have your .45 acp set up.

You will also need a different ejector because the .38 super case has a smaller diameter than .45 acp. Naturally you will need different magazines.

You may also have feedramp issues. I have fully supported ramped barrels, so for me it's not an issue.

[Fantasma]

Buy an RIA if you really want a .38 super for an inexpensive price and a great gun. You can buy them for about $340-$410 depending if you want nickel or blued. Places to look for them is gunbroker, Sarco, belshire, centerfire systems (for centerfire use freakshow as the middle FFL because centerfire doesn't ship to CA)

Hope this helped and showed you a different option.

[Paradiddle]

Thanks - seems like a lot of work.

[Paradiddle]

I have a friend with a nice Colt in 38 Super who might be willing to traade. Do you want me to pass him your contact info?

Blued or stainless? Mine is Colt Series 80 blue and that is what I would want (I don't like stainless). I had Hoag tune mine up.

Shoot him my email - maybe we can swap pictures. I'll PM you with my email.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Paradiddle]

Buy an RIA if you really want a .38 super for an inexpensive price and a great gun. You can buy them for about $340-$410 depending if you want nickel or blued. Places to look for them is gunbroker, Sarco, belshire, centerfire systems (for centerfire use freakshow as the middle FFL because centerfire doesn't ship to CA)

Hope this helped and showed you a different option.

So no Cali vendors stock them?

[Fantasma]

So no Cali vendors stock them?

I have seen them locally but they want like 500+tax+dros for them. I rather have it shipped.

That is what i did. I paid 475 OTD with dros and fees for a Nickel .38 Super having it shipped. That may or may not be an option for you. It is a nice option to consider.

[buffybuster]

It's not worth it. In addition to an entirely new topend and ejector, the feedramp on the frame is different for a 45ACP and 38Super. Unless you mill out the frame for a fully supported barrel, you'll never get it 100% reliable.

[Army GI]

38 Super is a neat caliber. Unfortunately it never took off because of the Army brass' infatuation with the 45 ACP. Imagine how popular the 38 Sup would be today if it was adopted by the US military in the 30s. It would be enjoying the super stardom that the 45 Auto does today, while the 45 Auto would just be a curiosity like the 45 Auto Rim or 30-40.

[JTROKS]

38 Super is a neat caliber. Unfortunately it never took off because of the Army brass' infatuation with the 45 ACP. Imagine how popular the 38 Sup would be today if it was adopted by the US military in the 30s. It would be enjoying the super stardom that the 45 Auto does today, while the 45 Auto would just be a curiosity like the 45 Auto Rim or 30-40.

So true, but hey we still have the 9mm NATO and so many of our guys that actually goes into harm's way wanted something bigger. Some of the SF guys did get the bigger caliber pistols. Let's face it, when pistols are put to use it usually is at fist fighting and rock throwing distance. I like the idea of making big .45" diameter holes instead of .355".

[What Just Happened?]

If you're in the area, I just saw an RIA 38 super in nickel at Ammo Bros when I went there on lunch today.