Should I have a 40 S&W barrel in my Delta 10mm

[Afterburnt]

I saw someone mention on another thread that he converts his 10mm to 40 S&W with just a barrel and recoil spring change. I have a Colt DE and was thinking it might be a good idea to be able to switch to this caliber considering ammo availability. If so what vendors have a good barrel for a reasonable price?

[JTROKS]

I have a Caspian build 10mm that worked great, but just had to have a 2nd barrel for it in 40 S&W thinking it would be cheaper for practice. The gun has the non-fully supported chamber so I ordered a Wilson 40S&W gunsmith fit barrel. First time I took it to the range with factory 155 truncated FJM I had rounds popping out of the 10mm mags causing death jams. It would feed the first round then the second a maybe, the third would be laying on top of the mag so the 4th round will be stripped by the slide while the 3rd round is jammed in there between the chamber either pointing upwards or sideways, or it will do a double feed. The rounds in the magazine would move forward due to recoil and since the 40 is a shorter round there is not much mag lip holding it in there when the slide cycles it may feed or may pop out. Since I reload my own ammo the quick solution was to seat the bullet out to gain some length. It worked, but the chance of having the bullets seated into the rifling is high. My loads were just enough to make major at the time - 180 grain hard cast at 1000 fps so the pressure wasn't high enough to cause any increased pressure and blow up brass. After about 2 hundred rounds and my barrel gets all leaded up some I had rounds failing to fully seat in the chamber due to the bullet hitting the leading. Not good for an IPSC gun. Solution buy 40 S&W mags seat the ammo to normal length, or have the barrel reamed with a longer lead to compensate for the fouling. I ended up buying the mags. It worked like a charm, but the mags had welded base plate and at that time they only made 8 rounders. My Shooting Star 10mm mags packed 9 and in USPSA/IPSC that one round can mean a standing reload. That pistol taught me a lot and once I had enough to build my high cap Para/STI the Caspian pistol is now back to 10mm. BTW, Wilson makes 9 round 40 S&W mags for single stack 1911s.

[Afterburnt]

Thanks lemme look for a few 40 S&W mags for a 1911 Delta, any leads?

[JTROKS]

http://www.brianenos.com/store/wilson.html

http://www.desertoutdoors.com/1948rdblmaby.html

I might sell my 8 rounders - I have 8 of them.

[Afterburnt]

I saw some 10 rounders in a Brownells catalog, Metalforms? Pretty damned expensive but I sure would like the option of shooting 40 from my DE since my dies will load both and 40 ammo is on the shelf, sometimes. The only downside is sm pistol primers are hard to find. I have to research a drop in barrel, any suggestions?

[JTROKS]

Most manufacturers of quality 1911 barrels are all good, but you need to decide if you want to gamble with the accuracy potential of a drop in barrel. The secret to excellent accuracy wit a 1911 is a quality barrel that is properly fitted. Some drop in barrels will give great accuracy, it all depends on the tolerances.