Can I do this with my FNS-40?

[Smerks]

Hello and thanks for approving my account.

I hope this isnt a stupid question but I have an FNS-40 and in an effort to cut my expense down I want to get a conversion barrel from EFK Fire Dragon to 9mm. The cost of .40 ammo is adding up since my wife and I hit the range weekly and this would save a bunch over time.

The problem is I want it sooner rather than later and it is back ordered for 90 days. I see they have the same conversion barrel in stock for the long slide version of it and was wondering if there is any reason I couldnt just buy that one and have the barrel protrude out the same way a threaded barrel would. I think it might be a little further out but will this be a problem?


EDIT: I dont know why I didnt do this before posting here but I called FN and they explained that the barrels are different on the back end where it seats and it would not work properly. So I guess its just going to mean I have to wait and be patient.

[Cosmodragoon]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I've never converted a gun from .40 to 9mm but won't you also need new magazines? There is a point at which I'd say "just buy another gun in 9mm". I don't know if this is your only gun there are advantages to having a second option, especially since there are two of you.

If you are dead set on a conversion barrel, your .40 mags will do just fine with .357 Sig. It'll cost a little more but it sure is fun. Besides, diversity is a good thing. I've seen both national and local runs on ammo, usually when new gun restrictions are looming. As 9mm, .22, and even .45 starts to disappear from shelves, there may still be a box or two of .40 or .357 Sig hanging around.

(That, and your order might shorten my own wait for the same .357 Sig barrel...)

[shaunpain]

I have no particular experience with that pistol line but I can't foresee any reason it would be a problem.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[BOOGIE the oily]

If you're not particularly interested in shooting .40, I'd second Cosmodragoon's suggestion to get another gun, whether you wanna keep your FNS or not.
However, if you actually enjoy shooting .40 S&W, have you thought about reloading your own ammo? You could save a pretty penny doing it (or shoot a helluva lot more), besides having the chance to fine tune your ammo to your exact needs. And it's fun to boot.

[Psychedelic Bang]

I think the cost of .40 S&W will continue to rise. This caliber is in deep trouble. A lot of the new guns are basically 9mm and 45acp. Now that the FBI has gone 9mm, there will be even less demand for the .40

It is a great bullet!! More powerful than the 9, and more capacity than the 45. A perfect bullet, for a perfect world. We don't live in a perfect world.

Why is the gun I recently bought 9mm? Cost. Cost of round was a major factor in my last gun purchase. Along with having a nice, manageable recoil.


Good luck!!

[Targa]

Buy bulk and look for deals https://www.sportsmansguide.com/prod...smansGuide.com. Like already mentioned, re-loading is something you should look at as well.

[Smerks]

Originally Posted by Cosmodragoon

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I've never converted a gun from .40 to 9mm but won't you also need new magazines? There is a point at which I'd say "just buy another gun in 9mm". I don't know if this is your only gun there are advantages to having a second option, especially since there are two of you.

If you are dead set on a conversion barrel, your .40 mags will do just fine with .357 Sig. It'll cost a little more but it sure is fun. Besides, diversity is a good thing. I've seen both national and local runs on ammo, usually when new gun restrictions are looming. As 9mm, .22, and even .45 starts to disappear from shelves, there may still be a box or two of .40 or .357 Sig hanging around.

(That, and your order might shorten my own wait for the same .357 Sig barrel...)

Its not my only gun, I have a Shield 9mm and an XDS .45 and our AR but I just want to get everything to 9mm for cost sake and I figure having the option to switch back to .40 is a plus. Im about as divers as I want to be on semi-autos, if Im going to diversify again itll be a revolver in .357/.38.

Everything I have read says the same magazines will work but I also plan on buying 2 9mm mags for the FNS-9 which will fit. I think .357 sig is a step in the opposite direction from what I want to do, Im trying to cut costs and be able to shoot more.

[Smerks]

Originally Posted by BOOGIE the oily

If you're not particularly interested in shooting .40, I'd second Cosmodragoon's suggestion to get another gun, whether you wanna keep your FNS or not.
However, if you actually enjoy shooting .40 S&W, have you thought about reloading your own ammo? You could save a pretty penny doing it (or shoot a helluva lot more), besides having the chance to fine tune your ammo to your exact needs. And it's fun to boot.

I like .40 so its not really that, plus it was the 1st caliber I ever fired and my 1st ever gun was an SW40V way back when the Simth and Wesson Sigmas were fairly new. I figure a new gun would cost me at bare minimum $300-$400 and thats low balling a bit where a new barrel is 175 ($155 if I can be patient) and a couple of mags still keeps me at under 250 and I still get to keep firing a quality gun like an FN instead of some cheaper gun.

I would love to reload but I live in an apartment and as much as my wife loves shooting I do not see her letting me take over our kitchen as a work area lol.

[Smerks]

Originally Posted by Targa

Buy bulk and look for deals https://www.sportsmansguide.com/prod...smansGuide.com. Like already mentioned, re-loading is something you should look at as well.

I already have an Ammo Prime membership with www.targetsportsusa.com and really cant find any place that beats them on price with the free shipping I get on everything. One day Ill be able to reload but itll be at least a year away when we run out our lease and can rent someplace with more space to have an area for it.

[Smerks]

Originally Posted by Psychedelic Bang

I think the cost of .40 S&W will continue to rise. This caliber is in deep trouble. A lot of the new guns are basically 9mm and 45acp. Now that the FBI has gone 9mm, there will be even less demand for the .40

It is a great bullet!! More powerful than the 9, and more capacity than the 45. A perfect bullet, for a perfect world. We don't live in a perfect world.

Why is the gun I recently bought 9mm? Cost. Cost of round was a major factor in my last gun purchase. Along with having a nice, manageable recoil.


Good luck!!

I like the .40 a bunch way back when I bought my 1st gun ever I researched like a madman and went with .40 but that was back in 1999 and things have changed making 9mm as effective so I figure why pay $60 more a case of ammo. We shoot weekly and I really would like to keep that pace up, it keeps me sane to be honest, I walk out of the range relaxed and refreshed.

[T. O'Heir]

I believe it requires a different slide as the .40's case head diameter is 30 bigger than the 9mm. However, FNUSA will sell you a 5" 9mm barrel for $165. It will require fitting by a smithy. Barrels are not drop in parts. $409.00 for a long 9mm slide.
https://fnestore.com/handgun-accessories
9mm ammo isn't getting any cheaper either. Reloading is your friend.

[Smerks]

Originally Posted by T. O'Heir

I believe it requires a different slide as the .40's case head diameter is 30 bigger than the 9mm. However, FNUSA will sell you a 5" 9mm barrel for $165. It will require fitting by a smithy. Barrels are not drop in parts. $409.00 for a long 9mm slide.
https://fnestore.com/handgun-accessories
9mm ammo isn't getting any cheaper either. Reloading is your friend.

Im not looking for an extended barrel I want the conversion and the barrel I am talking about is a conversion barrel which is made with this in mind, and is drop in according to the many different posts from people buying it. I actually called my gun smith and he said unless it needed polishing for some weird reason theres just no reason he needs to install it.

These are what Im talking about to be clear.

http://www.efkfiredragon.com/fnp-and-five-seven.html

edit: what I wanted to know was will putting in a longer barrel affect anything like slide cycling, etc.

[jmhyer]

Other issues aside, the longer barrel should work just fine.

[Smerks]

Originally Posted by jmhyer

Other issues aside, the longer barrel should work just fine.

Thanks, I came to find out that the parts on the rear of the longslide barrel vs the normal barrel are different so it wouldnt work to use it for that reason not length I guess its a 90 day wait for me.

[FNS-40]

Sell it and buy a fns9 or start reloading. FWIW i just bought my 3rd 40cal yesterday. Jericho 941.

[rburch]

Sell it and buy a fns9 or start reloading. FWIW i just bought my 3rd 40cal yesterday. Jericho 941.

Or if you like the FNS, just buy FN's 9mm conversion kit.

They sell the whole slide, barrel, and recoil spring to swap calibers.

[tallball]

I probably own a couple of dozen military surplus or police turn-in pistols that cost less than $300 apiece OTD. That is probably a lot cheaper than any kind of conversion. There are some nice Stars for sale right now, as well as S&W and many others.

[Smerks]

Originally Posted by rburch

Or if you like the FNS, just buy FN's 9mm conversion kit.

They sell the whole slide, barrel, and recoil spring to swap calibers.

Its somewhere around $400 Ive been told so I can buy a new gun for less than that.

[Smerks]

Originally Posted by tallball

I probably own a couple of dozen military surplus or police turn-in pistols that cost less than $300 apiece OTD. That is probably a lot cheaper than any kind of conversion. There are some nice Stars for sale right now, as well as S&W and many others.

I think Im going to look into that next time around, I see some great deals on former service pistols on buds from time to time.

[Walt Sherrill]

I have both an FNS-40 and an FNS-40L. I also have an EFK Firedragon conversion barrel for the FNS-40.

• Conversion barrels are adjusted so that the headspace is correct, and the extractor works as it should. The difference in rim size is typically not an issue. (I've owned a bunch of conversion barrels that let me move from .40 to 9 or .357 to 9. I recently picked up a .40 conversion barrel that I can run in my Glock 37 (which is .45 GAP) -- it works perfectly, and that's a big difference!
  
  
• The only obvious difference between the FNS-40 barrel and the FNS-40L barrel is the length of the barrels. While I've not fired the gun with the long-slide barrel installed in the FNS-40 slide, it chambers and ejects round just like the 40 barrel and it did not seem to bind. The COMPACT FNS-9c and FNS-40C barrels use a totally different design than the larger versions and that is probably where the misinformation about 40 and 40L barrels being quite different came from. You won't gain anything of significance from that longer barrel except a little extra velocity -- and it'll just look strange.
  
  
• You can use the .40 mags when shooting 9mm if you don't want to shoot hollow-point. I found that the open mouth of most hollow-point rounds tend to catch on the feed ramp when using the .40 mags. I shot using the .40 mags for a while and just bought two 9mm mags.
  
  
• I did not change recoil springs.
  
  
• The barrel openings on the front of the slides are, of course, different. The 9mm conversion barrel is modified to fit like a .40 barrel in the FNS-40. The opening at the front of the FNS-40L slide is larger than the one on the FNS-40, because the barrel must tilt at a different angle. I don't know if this will cause barrel or slide "wear" issues, over time if the longer barrel is used in a shorter slide.
  
  
• Most barrels bought for service pistols from gun makers ARE drop-ins. (That seems to be the case with Glock, FNH, S&W, etc.) That is certainly the case with the EFK Firedragon barrel. My EFK barrel was drop-in and it's at least as accurate as the factory barrel. If you buy a barrel from Bar-Sto, one of the best after-market barrel makers, the barrel, dropped in, will typically shoot at least as well as a factory barrel without gunsmith fitting, but if fitted will likely shoot better. (People often let Bar-Sto do the fitting.)

I would have bought a conversion barrel for my Long Slide when I ordered the barrel for the FNS-40, but they weren't available, then. They are now. If you can't wait, go ahead and order the long-slide barrel and use it. You could also have a local gunsmith cut it back to the proper length and put a target crown on it. (You might ask EFK Firedragon about this -- they will talk with you...)

Another option is that I'll swap my FNS-40>9 conversion barrel with you for the Long-Slide version. (Mine has maybe 100 rounds through it -- its like new.) I'll even pay the small difference in price. That might speed things up a bit.

All that said, I think you're better off just being patient and getting on the EFK Firedragon waiting list. They're a good company to work with. (I got one of their barrels for my Browning Hi Power and it's a great barrel, too.)

[Smerks]

Originally Posted by Walt Sherrill

I have both an FNS-40 and an FNS-40L. I also have an EFK Firedragon conversion barrel for the FNS-40.

• Conversion barrels are adjusted so that the headspace is correct, and the extractor works as it should. The difference in rim size is typically not an issue. (I've owned a bunch of conversion barrels that let me move from .40 to 9 or .357 to 9. I recently picked up a .40 conversion barrel that I can run in my Glock 37 (which is .45 GAP) -- it works perfectly, and that's a big difference!
  
  
• The only obvious difference between the FNS-40 barrel and the FNS-40L barrel is the length of the barrels. While I've not fired the gun with the long-slide barrel installed in the FNS-40 slide, it chambers and ejects round just like the 40 barrel and it did not seem to bind. The COMPACT FNS-9c and FNS-40C barrels use a totally different design than the larger versions and that is probably where the misinformation about 40 and 40L barrels being quite different came from. You won't gain anything of significance from that longer barrel except a little extra velocity -- and it'll just look strange.
  
  
• You can use the .40 mags when shooting 9mm if you don't want to shoot hollow-point. I found that the open mouth of most hollow-point rounds tend to catch on the feed ramp when using the .40 mags. I shot using the .40 mags for a while and just bought two 9mm mags.
  
  
• I did not change recoil springs.
  
  
• The barrel openings on the front of the slides are, of course, different. The 9mm conversion barrel is modified to fit like a .40 barrel in the FNS-40. The opening of the FNS-40L barrel opening is larger than the FNS-40, because the barrel must tilt at a sharper angle. I don't know if this will cause barrel or slide "wear" issues, over time.
  
  
• Most barrels bought for service pistols from gun makers ARE drop-ins. (That seems to be the case with Glock, FNH, S&W, etc.) That is certainly the case with the EFK Firedragon barrel. My EFK barrel was drop-in and it's at least as accurate as the factory barrel. If you buy a barrel from Bar-Sto, one of the best after-market barrel makers, the barrel, dropped in, will typically shoot at least as well as a factory barrel without gunsmith fitting, but if fitted will likely shoot better. (People often let Bar-Sto do the fitting.)

I would have bought a conversion barrel for my Long Slide when I ordered the barrel for the FNS-40, but they weren't available, then. They are now. If you can't wait, go ahead and order the long-slide barrel and use it. You could also have a local gunsmith cut it back to the proper length and put a target crown on it. (You might ask EFK Firedragon about this -- they will talk with you...)

Another option is that I'll swap my FNS-40>9 conversion barrel with you for the Long-Slide version. (Mine has maybe 100 rounds through it -- its like new.) I'll even pay the small difference in price. That might speed things up a bit.

All that said, I think you're better off just being patient and getting on the EFK Firedragon waiting list. They're a good company to work with. (I got one of their barrels for my Browning Hi Power and it's a great barrel, too.)

Thank you a million times for this response, I appreciate the time you took to give me the exact information I needed.

[Walt Sherrill]

Another thing to consider: Apex Tactical is in the final stages of development for a trigger system for the FNS and FN-509 semi-autos, and I'll probably be getting one of those, when they're finally available.

One of owners of the company discussed the development process on the FN Forum and why it is such a lengthy process. (The new FN-509 is a later evolution of the FNS design, similar, but different. The FN-509 was developed for the US Modular Handgun System competition that SIG recently won. I have a SIG P320 and its pretty nice, but with modest improvements to the FNS [or FN-509] Trigger, I think I'd prefer the FN guns by a good margin.

My FNS-40L (traded for, used) had trigger work done by a gunsmith in Colorado before I got it (from a guy who travels a lot), and it's a pretty good trigger. Then, too, there are videos on YouTube showing how to improve the FNS trigger with a modest amount of effort.

You might want to visit the FN Forum, too. Here's a link: http://fnforum.net/forums/fn-handguns-forum/ Not a lot of FNS or FN-509 handgun experts there -- we're all learning -- but there are some pretty knowledgeable folks participating in the Hi-Power and FNX areas -- and others in the long guns.

[rodfac]

I'd stay with the .40 (and no, it's not in any danger of obsolescence). Instead, get into reloading your own ammunition for it. Loading your own, will save you a bunch after the initial investment, and is a fun part of shooting all on its own.

You can fine tune your loads for target, carry, hunting, whatever...accuracy, blasting, as you see fit. Lead vs. jacketed; hp's vs. FMJ's. It's all there for you...and it's easy to learn, with all the help of the internet crowd and a good manual...Lyman's, for instance, you've got good sources for everything you need to know.

HTH's Rod

[doofus47]

Keep the 40. Does FN make a 22 caliber conversion kit or a 22lr version of the pistol?
then you could train for cheap on a similar platform.

[Walt Sherrill]

Don't know of any .22 conversion kits, and wouldn't expect one for quite a while. FNH needs to build its customer base a bit before they can justify building one, or before after-market vendors will develop something.