Posted: 5/31/2010 1:49:22 AM EDT
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Just started "playing" with Glocks even though I have owned a 27 for many years. I just purchased a Used 22 and 21 and now thinking of a custom project for fun and the wife. I am a .45 fan (1911 since PRE-teen years)so I got a 21, bought my 10 year old a G22 which I am going to convert to 9mm for now while he learns centerfire, my wife is a .38 Super fan what to do... Found out I can get a .38 Super Barrel for the G20 so now I am shopping for one, question is should I bother? My plan is for a all out race gun in .38 super if possible, looking to see if I can get a long barrel chambered for that so I can place it on a long slide, have it C ported and then fit a custom compensator on the end. Since I am going that far and will be doing the trigger job am I better off just buying a aftermarket frame also and starting from scratch? If worse comes to worse I'll settle for C-Porting a standard slide with the .38 super barrel. Question now is has anyone tried a .38 super Glock conversion, I know barrels have been very limited in the past? What would you say the best setup would be a 9mm mag and extractor? G20's are not all that common in the used market and I really don't think many PD's used them also so trade in's are probably slim, have not seen any yet so I am basing my rough costs of ground up build with custom frame and slide based on a new G20 price. If I can find used G20 in the $380 range then I think a retrofit would probably be best in cost vs. return. Rich |
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Wow...........where to begin...........
No, I have no experience converting any Glock to .38 Super, but I'm sure 9mm mags would not work for said cartridge................ I'm guessing KKM or Jarvis makes a .38 Super conversion barrel for the G20...................just might have to do a fair amount of fitting, etc. etc., to get it to run well.........................now I'm just speculating here, grasping at straws, mind you. 
Hopefully COSteve can drop in and chime in on this one........he's done extensive, diverse and sundry caliber conversions..................he may know much more. Initially, I'd say that with all the cost/trouble, just peruse the EE, or other avenues, and buy a race gun already chambered in .38 Super, usually gonna be a 1911 style platform. We had one selling locally (WA) about a year ago, goin' for around 1100, with all the "fixins". A deal I would have loved to snag.
But academically, I can see the coolness in overcoming the challenge of having a solid running Glock in .38 Super. I am no help at all, merely interested in this pursuit. 
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I could do a 1911 in .38 Super blindfolded but that's because I have played with Colt's since I was a kid, LITERALLY! But as you state it's just a cool factor and just because my wife kind of likes the Glock but is a .38 Super fan. I have a 1911 in Super that she likes and she is the proud owner of a rare SIG P220 in Super with an american mag release (not the heel version). The .38 Super is not too far away from the 9mm shell casing so I would have thought that a 9mm mag should be close and may need a bit of modifications to make it work I'll have to pull out a caliper and check a few rounds next to each other. I kind of feel like RipVanWinkle here, I have done some experimenting with guns in the past but for various reasons been away from any serious work, mostly due to an out of state move and many life changes in the past years. Over the years of stress I have forgotten about a lot but hope to re-learn a lot quickly, Colts are a been there done that, same with AR's...it's time to play with the Glocks and light that fire again with firearms. I have moved my interests from Colts and AR's to Glocks and HK's...guess you can say from expensive/expensive to inexpensive/REALLY expensive :-) Rich |
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Quoted: i would have loved to find a g20 for $380! Been able to pick up a Like New In box G21 for that much and a Like New In Box G22 for $350 both with night sights and comercially over the internet. I guess with some luck and searching/patience I MAY be able to find a G20 for that, maybe a bit more but it should not be out of the question if I am willing to deal with private sale. |
Well okay then, my friend, thank you for the background............we understand much better where you're coming from now. Not that you "need a .38 Super gun", but that you have a desire to do this with a Glock!
A P220 in .38 Super...................wow, interesting, never even knew of one. You should take pics and show that thing off over in Handgun Discussions, maybe, very cool. I sure wish I could add more to the technical discussion of how to do this........................surely in the next day or two, one of the resident experts will be along to help. I for one would love to see this project happen, if only for academic and technical interest.
I am only versed in conversion from .40 to 9x19mm. But this is all fascinating nonetheless.
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Yea that P220 is an interesting gun, I just steped in it little did I know. My wife liked my Commander so much and I walked into a local dealer and was about ready to walk out when I did a double take on the ejection port... .38 Super ???!! It was like it was placed there "for a reason" and I just could not walk out without it. Even the higher up's at SIG know about it but ask twice..the one with a standard not european mag release ? Really...you have one of those? I have heard they often fetch $1,200 if in good contition and no more than 500 were ever made, more rare than the 9mm P220. I'll try to get some gun porn posted later. Yes..it's a just for fun modification to the Glock, I have purchased a threaded black barrel from Lone Wolf for my Son's G22 in 9mm and we are still waiting on our Form 4 to come back so we can pick up the supressor, that will be fun but a wild caliber in a Glock would be neat to have. Honestly Glock's are a dime a dozen...they are a good "tool" but a race glock would be cool with one of these mini-red dot's dovetailed into the slide like the FN tactical. 
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Quoted: A P220 in .38 Super...................wow, interesting, never even knew of one. You should take pics and show that thing off over in Handgun Discussions, maybe, very cool. I just posted a few photos under the Gun Porn Pic thread in the SIG forum. Just heard they were imported in 1994-1997 but most of them were converted to 9mm due the lack of popularity of the .38 Super. My receipt shows 12/4/1994, 21 days before Christmas...it sure was a fun 21 days before I had to wrap it and place it under the treel for the wife 
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While the 38 Super will work marginally in the G20 mag (feed lips need tweaking), it's performance is actually a step down from the 10mm. I'd suggest that for a fun 9mm bullet size you consider the awesome 9x25 Dillon which is a 10mm case necked down for a 9mm bullet. Double Tap sells ammo and barrels and Dillon sells dies so you're covered. Many say that a 125grn 357mag is the end all man stopper. Double Tap's 125grn 9x25 Dillon surpasses their 357mag's performance in a 4" service length barrel by producing a whopping 1,700fps in a G20 while their hot 125grn 38 Super +P load only produces 1,350fps from a 1911. |
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I'll have to check them out. Other than buying some WWB when I could over the past couple of years just to have a little extra brass I have been reloading for about 18 years so I don't know much about the ammo people out there other than the "Canned Heat" from GA that was at all the gun shows around the SE. I got to really do something with a glock soon. I had a GREAT time this weekend getting my hands dirty. Got a package from Lone Wolf on Friday with all sorts of little parts and I spent quite a few hours twidling, taking pictures and notes and polishing.  
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