Lone Wolf 40-9 conversion barrel for Glock

[bruzer]

I did this review on another site many months ago. I have seen a few questions pop up so I thought I would post it on this site too. For those that shoot Glock pistols in .40 S&W but like the 9mm also Lone Wolf makes a simple drop in conversion barrel. My test subject is the Gen 4 Glock 22. My Wife likes the little wolf picture engraved on top of the barrel hood. OK, so do I because 40-9 is engraved on it too. Good to be visually reminded that I do in fact have the conversion barrel installed.

So with a 9mm magazine I load up, take aim and shoot. WOW I hit where I was aiming. Traditionally I have been at least 2 inches low shooting .40's with this gun. A couple more shots and I am not making a ragged hole but, very smooth shooting it is and more accurate I am. Went through some magazine changes, slide locks back on empty mag, mag drops free, new mag feeds first round, very nice. Now the Wife takes over and shoots very nice groups. Much tighter than with the .40 because she is not having to anticipate or flinch. My groups are much tighter too because of the same reasons. After the range session my Wife says, "WOW, my hand does not hurt." I had to agree. Shooting the 9mm was very easy on the hands. Shooting .40 cal rounds will leave the Gen 4 grip texture impression, with all the little bumps, on our hands . Now for someone that actually works with your hands it won't be an issue but my baby smooth ones are so sensitive.

So here is the down and dirty. For ammo I was using a mixture of PMC, +P ammo and Winchester White Box. Magazines were 1 Glock 9mm, 3 Korean 9mm, 1 Glock .40 and I even tried the .40 thunder stick 30 rounder. About 85 rounds shot, the Wife had one stove pipe at first and the thunder stick failed to feed on the last round. And yes I made it THUNDER! Glock and Korean 9mm magazines so far there are no issues. Even the Glock .40 magazine loaded with 9mm will work. The .40 thunder stick was tried just because, so it failing to feed the last round was no real surprise. Some of the brass was ejecting forward and some to the right rear. So far none to the head. My goal was not to put 100,000 rounds through it at one time. I wanted to see how it would do with magazine changes, what type of magazines would work or fail and the overall feel. I believe my Wife was pleasantly surprised with how much smoother the G22 was with the 9mm and that is the biggest challenge for the Lone Wolf. Two thumbs up.

I will be adding more posts as I have had more range trips with the conversion barrel.
Mike

Read More

 

[bruzer]

Posted 26 June 2011 - 02:57 PM
Got out this morning and fed more rounds thru it. Does not do very well with the Winchester White Box target ammo. Stove pipes and some failure to feed. That ammo does not have enough power to properly cycle the stock .40 cal recoil spring. Feed it good ammo and no failures at all. Really makes sense if you think about it. +P 9mm ammo is silky smooth and a joy to shoot. Swapped back to the .40 barrel and my hand feels the power and the grip more. Then back to 9mm to finish the day.
Mike

Posted 01 July 2011 - 09:15 PM
The other day I headed out to the hills with a buddy to do some shooting. I did not keep track but went through a few mags of 9mm and .40. I like having the ability to shoot multiple calibers out of the same gun. My Buddy shoots the .45 1911 so this allows him to get the feel of other calibers too. My first shot with his 1911 was in the dirt. I forgot how easy the 1911 trigger is after shooting the Glock.

Made it to the range yesterday with the Wife. About 120 rounds of Remington 9mm through the 40-9 conversion barrel with the stock .40 cal recoil spring. 34 round 9mm mags no failures. G22 15 round mags will hold 17 rounds of 9mm and no failures. No failures for me but, the Wife had a couple of stove pipes so I loaded up some +P ammo and no more failures for her but she went back to the Cougar after that. Did I mention that I am really liking the conversion barrel and shooting 9mm plus having the ability to shoot .40 in less than a minute?
Mike

 

[bruzer]

Posted 08 August 2011
I do believe that using weaker 9mm target ammo can cause ejection issues (stovepipes) when using the stock .40 recoil spring from the Gen 4. Using +P 9mm ammo has resulted in ZERO failures and it really makes a smooth shooting gun. In fact the recoil feels BETTER using +P 9mm ammo. The more I run it the less 9mm stovepipes my Wife is having so I believe it takes lots of shooting to break-in the stock .40 recoil spring. Dang it, now I have to do more shooting!
Mike

Posted 13 August 2011 - 08:55 PM
The other morning I was able to get more 9mm and .40 down range. The gun ran flawless. One Korean mag has a weak enough spring that it is failing to lock the slide back on the last round. I knew when I first got them the springs would eventually be a problem. Those cheap mag springs have half the tension of the Glock brand mags. They are cheap for a reason and never do I use them for carry. It still feeds fine and for TARGET PRACTICE ONLY but I will be in search of better springs in the near future. Or if someone knows of cheap used G17 mags I would not mind that one bit.
Mike

Posted 27 August 2011 - 10:13 PM
Got out bright and early this morning. 60 rounds of 9mm down range. Finished the day with 45 rounds of .40. Did some weak hand shots and the 9mm is so much smoother than the .40. The gun was flawless for both 9mm and .40. Unfortunately the floor plate of one of the Korean Mags broke apart. Did I mention how CHEAP these things are and that I would only use them for TARGET PRACTICE ONLY?
Mike

 

[bruzer]

Posted 26 November 2011 - 02:35 PM
Had a chance this morning to shoot IDPA at a local range. Used the 40-9 conversion barrel and the cheap Federal 115 gr target ammo. Flawless using 9mm mags. 1 failure to feed using a .40 cal magazine (had to try it out again just to see what it would do under stress). 1 of the Korean 9mm mags has decided not to drop free anymore. I have new mag springs on order since another one won't lock back the slide on empty. Have I said they only get used FOR TARGET PRACTICE ONLY?
I need to practice moving targets. I get one shot and miss the second. OK I need more practice all around too. Had a blast.
Mike

That is my review so far with the Lone Wolf 40-9 conversion barrel.
I have brand new Wolf mag springs in all the Korean mags and a Glock brand floor plate on the one that broke apart. Once Glock gets their 9mm Gen 4 recoil springs worked out (I think they are revision #4) I will get one. I want to see if it solves the problems I have had with the weaker target ammo.
Mike

 

[elkfish]

Thanks for the information I have been looking into one of these for some time now but just was unsure it would work right. Like you I wanted to make it easier for the ladies in my life to shot with me. They can handle the 40 but the 9mm is easier and cheaper to shoot. It is interesting that the 40cal mags work but if you think about it the only diference is most likely the follower in the mag. I wonder if a guy could order them and swap them out on your existing mags for 9mm use. Though I guess the round count windows in the back would not work but you cant have everything.

Elkfish.

 

[mjbskwim]

Elkfish,I have read both sides of this.and some will say the 22 and 23 mags work without a problem for the 9mm.
I though of this before I sold the 40 and was going to try it first before buying the 9mm mags.
I mean all it can do is FTFeed

I looked into the 10mm barrels and they give you about 100fps.That works for me for the price.

 

[biggie24420]

I picked up a threaded 40-9 for my Glock 23 Gen4 a few months ago and I am so glad I did. I shot a lot better with this barrel. All I did was to get factory Glock 9mm mags and I was set. The only ammo that I have had issues with was the Tulammo. The problems I was having with Tulammo was FTE and a few stove pipes. In a way it's nice because I can practice tap and rack. I have cycled some Blazer ammo and that was fine, I ran some Remington through as well and that was just fine. The 115 grain ammo does good except the Tulammo. If I was gonna run the 9mm conversion as a self defense, I would use higher grain, good quality ammo but my .40 caliber is my favorite self defense anyways.
I am running the newest RSA (Recoil Spring Assembly) in my Glock.......... as Glock had a voluntary recall on RSA.

Lonewolf 40-9 - YouTube

 

[bruzer]

Just for the record I don't recommend using the .40 magazines with 9mm. While the followers are different the biggest issue is the mouth of the mag is so much bigger the 9mm rounds just barely stay in there. A good bump and they will pop right out of the mag. I used the .40 mags as an experiment and posted the results but in no way is it a recommendation.
Good luck and stay safe,
Mike

 

[DinhRose]

Just for the record I don't recommend using the .40 magazines with 9mm. While the followers are different the biggest issue is the mouth of the mag is so much bigger the 9mm rounds just barely stay in there. A good bump and they will pop right out of the mag. I used the .40 mags as an experiment and posted the results but in no way is it a recommendation.
Good luck and stay safe,
Mike

No one will fault you for not recomending using the .40 cal mags but I have this kit and for the longest time i used the g22 mags. It works to a certain extent. The bullets are loose and will rattle. FTE will happen but not as much as you think. Maybe once every 2 or 3 mags. If you can't find/use a g17 mag these will suffice but it's not all that reliable.

With this being said, the lw barrel worked great in my 3rd gen g22 with minimal issues. My 4th gen g22 was horrible with this kit. The recoil spring in the 4th gen is dedicated for the .40 cal so the 9mm barely got ejected. Lots of FTE and FTFeed as well.

 

[biggie24420]

I think it might be a good idea to buy the appropriate 9mm RSA for your Glock pistol.... that or try and see if you can get Glock to send you one.

 

[bruzer]

UPDATE: Got the new and improved latest and greatest G17 Gen 4 recoil spring assembly (RSA) stamped 1-2-4. Had the Wife shoot the first few shots and NO FAILURES using 9mm target ammo. It has a much better recoil feel using the target ammo now.

It is my opinion if you use a 40-9 conversion barrel and are having failures using the stock .40 RSA and 9mm target ammo, give the 9mm RSA a try. It cost me $20 for the RSA and I believe my Wife will have a better shooting experience now.
Mike

 

[biggie24420]

I have had some issues with regular 9mm ammo..... I shot some TullAmmo through my converted G23 (Gen4) and I had a lot of FTF and FTE. I had a lot less issues with Federal or Remington ammo... all have been regular 124 grain I believe. I was thinking of running some +P to see if it would run better but I am now thinking of getting a G19 RSA. Glock managed to send me two new RSAs for my G23 and I am thinking of calling them and telling them I have a G19 Gen4 (I don't have a G19) and that it came with a .40 cal. RSA hahahahah so maybe I can hustle them into sending me a free G19 RSA and I can send them the extra .40 cal. RSA I have. l would feel bad if I didn't send them a RSA back in the process of hustling them hahahahahah. I am sorry but it's tough economical times and I just don't want to spend $20 on a RSA when we can just do a swap. That $20 could go towards two boxes of 9mm . Now if anyone has a G19 Gen4 RSA and wants to swap me for my newest version of the .40 cal. RSA... let me know.

 

[Benny503]

I need to practice moving targets. I get one shot and miss the second. I

I remembered couple years ago before my son was born I go to the shooting range every Sunday and spend all day at the Range. I shot action pistol so much that I recieved member card to access Law Enforcement Range to practice my quick draw one time I think (steve) brought in a moving target and I was using exactly the same your setup glock 22 with lonewolf barrel conversion to 9, the only difference was that my glock is 3rd generation. Back to the moving target, I went through one 17 rounds mag and 8 more rounds on second mag till the body side moving target stop didnt even make one hole on the moving target ha ha ha, but I did pretty good with 10" steel plates. I guess I used paper plate as he target way too much