Hey guys and gals. I posted about my G22 9mm conversion in a conversion barrel thread om another forum, but thought I should make my own thread, since I will be doing a bit of an experiment or reliability test, here.

I have a four year old G22, with who knows how many .40 rounds through it, that I retired as my duty pistol. I decided to order a Lone Wolf 9mm conversion barrel for it since I don't use it anymore, and I don't have a lot of time to reload .40 and .45 anymore. I ordered the barrel blind marked and finished in black, to retain a factory like appearance. I got it a few days ago, ran a brush through it, and installed it.

I went ahead and installed the 9mm extractor, ejector (trig mech housing), and spring loaded bearing, since I had them on hand, and won't need to convert it back anytime soon. I also Krylon Fushioned six base plates in green, and put them on some G17 mags for the conversion. This was done so I don't confuse them for my other .40 mags.

I put 50 UMC and 100 WWB through it yesterday, for a total of 150 problem free rounds. I am shooting strong hand only, since I cut a nerve in half on my weak hand, and it will be out for another three weeks.

I didn't clean it, and I went back out today, with 200 more WWB. Still no hiccups. Accuracy seems good enough. I could manage 4-5" 5 shot groups at 25 yards, one handed, rested, and not really concentrating. I was certainly capable of tighter groups with my .40 and .45 Glocks in the past, but that was when shooting with both hands. So, I think the conversion barrel is doing just fine as far as accuracy is concerned. I'll have to wait until I can shoot with both, to really test the accuracy of the conversion barrel.

So, I have 350 rounds through it in two days, with no cleaning. I plan on shooting 200 per day for the next few days, to get to 1000. Do you think it will get there without a jam, without cleaning? Or should I clean it every 500 rounds, and see how far it will go? Let me know what you think, and take a guess as to when it will jam....

I will update as I go....
Here are some pics....

*I have decided not to clean it until it fails.  I have one vote over at GT for no further lube (I considered 4 drops CLP at 500 round intervals).  What do you think?

Shoot it till it fails! No lube, just knock crud out of the chamber now and then.
I have considered the .40 to 9mm conversion alot and I am interested to see how reliable it can be. Most folks over on GT are of the opinion that caliber conversions are ok for range plinking but not for self defense. The idea is that a Glock is perfect as is and any (major) change will simply decrease reliablity.

However, I've never read about a high round count test. Start shooting.

I gotta see how this ends..

Well, statistically and logically, if you haven't had a failure so far, there's no reason to believe that you'll experience failures at a rate higher than a non-conversion barrel might.  Going with the 9mm extractor and ejector and 9mm mags, you'll probably be REALLY happy with your test results.  

Test is done.  I had a failure to eject at about round #710, with no cleaning, and only the initial, minimal lube.  

Had 350 through it before today.  I brought out 100 Fed American Eagles, 100 Winchester white box, and 200 Remington UMC's.

Went through the AE and WWB with no problems, 200 rounds in about ten minutes.  Before I started in with the UMC, I had to run the pistol under the facet at the range, because it was so hot I couldn't charge it without burning myself. I noticed the UMC (yellow 250 round value pack) was significantly milder in recoil than the AE and WWB.  About 160 rounds into the UMC, at about round #710, the combination of the crud and any remaining lube getting washed out, due to the steam bath it got under the facet, and a weak round, the slide short stroked, and caught the case still in the pipe, and the next round was still under the slide.  I cleared it and fired 40 more without incident, for a total of 750.

While I am surprised that it didn't make it to 1000, I am still going to attribute part of the jam to the ammo.  I have no doubt that it would have passed 1000 easily on the AE or the WWB.  The UMC just seems underpowered and dirtier than the others, and I noticed a few of the UMC's were much quiter and less recoil than the rest.  The UMC was very inconsistent.

I am glad that I can now clean it up and lube it properly.  I am a stickler when it comes to cleaning after a lengthy range session.

My solution for the hot slide is to wear gloves. I've gone over 1000 rd at 1 range session with my G17. Wearing gloves makes it much easier to rack the slide. Meijer has inexpensive Mech Pro gloves that were on sale for $6.99/pair during Father's day (these are cheap versions of Mechanix gloves). The Mechanix gloves are much better made (more refined) but you will need about $15-$20 for 1 pair.

Use Mobil 1 when you lube before the next test...far superior to ANYBODY'S CLP!