BarSto P226 Barrel

[CTBay]

I bought a “conversion” barrel from BarSto. I have one of their barrels in another pistol and its really good. It required a little fitting but it performs really well.

This barrel is supposed to convert a .40 to 9mm with the .40 slide.

Long story short gun shop “gunsmith” said its the wrong barrel. Bar-Sto says they are wrong. Im taking some measurements here and I think the “gunsmith” didn’t want to mess up the feed ramp so he just told me whatever to make me go away.

Its close. Real close. The distance from the top to the lowest point of the feed ramp is .012” greater on the Bar-Sto barrel. I think the feed ramp is what it’s fouling on when I try to put the slide back on without the recoil spring assembly I can pull it back stiff against the foul and determine where it’s hitting.

If I put the factory barrel in without the slide and hold it parallel to the frame there is some distance from the bottom of the barrels feed ramp to the top of the frame feed ramp. It seems there should be a little space there. BUT that space is dictating the angle of barrel tilt as the slide goes back.

Should I take .012 off the feed ramp with some sandpaper Or should I take it to a machine shop and have it done with a milling machine?

The last BarSto barrel I got locked to tight in the top of the slide and I had to clearance it a little with a file. I did, and it worked. That was a cheaper barrel and the filing I did wasn’t as consequential had I screwed it up.

Im a little bit hesitant to take material off the feed ramp. Whos done this before? Ever take any material off a feed ramp to make a barrel work?

 

[Dean C.]

Interesting problem, TBH I would just pony up the cash for a new pistol actually chambered for the cartridge myself.

 

[Twangbanger]

I'm thinking of getting one of these. Could you begin with what actual functional / in-op problem, if any, you are observing? I found it a little hard to follow. Does it not go together? Not function well once together? Or just observing some fit issues that are different from OEM?

 

[CTBay]

I got it! I didn’t want to go to town with sandpaper on a $300 new part. I sucked it up and just did it.

I marked the bottom with Sharpie so I could see the rub. Just a little sliding and it finally went all the way back but was very stiff. I did Sharpie, sand, Sharpie, sand, Sharpie, sand, sanding down where it was rubbing. I went from 60 to 120 and got it as smooth as the factory barrel.

I was making it harder than it needed to be. I got a 9mm magazine and a Wolff 9mm recoil spring. I haven’t shot it yet. Might be able to shoot it tomorrow. Ill let you know if its any good.

Its the same price as buying a whole slide and barrel but this way I get threads and its longer.

 

[CTBay]

It took twenty weeks and three different card authorizations before I finally got it so know that before you buy. Its not fast and its twice as slow as they claim.

 

[700 LTR 223]

I thought of getting a BarSto for my P226 as I have two slides , one that is optic ready and one the original standard slide that came with the pistol. I have the original barrel in the optics slide at the moment. Actually never fired the gun with the non optics slide.

If the pistol would shoot significantly better with the BarSto I would be more inclined to do it. It shoots pretty well with the stock barrel. For precision shooting getting rid of the trigger creep would be great. Curious to hear how the BarSto shoots for you.

 

[CTBay]

Theres a Crimson trace laser grip module. That added $300 to the price of the gun when I bought it. I tried to negotiate it off but the pawn shop wouldn’t do it. Im glad I was forced to buy it. Its dead on. That should take some of my own shortcomings out of the comparison.

I guess the guy that said just buy another one in 9mm doesn’t know it’s discontinued and you can’t get a new one for under $1200 or a used one for less than $900. They pop up for less in the classifieds sometimes but not very often.

That also doesn’t consider this barrel is notably longer and I get threads for a suppressor. So no, just buying another one isn’t the same. Furthermore why do I want two of the same gun? Im only a few years into this hobby. There are so many other cool guns I need before I would consider duplicates.

 

[CTBay]

The .40 was good. This 9 is great! Its just as accurate or better and I can shoot faster. It cycled subsonic, regular, and +P. No feed issues. My last round hold open only works about half the time but it was like that with .40 as well. I would definitely recommend this option over swapping the slide. The slide was fit to the frame to so it’s probably good to maintain the slide thats been wearing with the frame. Best caliber change option in my opinion. I think Ill put the .40 parts back in the case and leave it this way for a while.

 

[Noble Sniper]

The bar sto barrel properly fitted will be way more accurate than the drop in barrel.

 

[CTBay]

P-226 9mm Conversion - Bar-Sto

For this conversion from your 40 S&W firearm you will need a 9mm magazine and depending on ammo you may need a lighter recoil spring. We can supply both if needed.

barsto.com

They are slow and they are assholes. I won’t buy anything else from them. But heres the link if anybody wants to get one. It is a great product when you finally get it.

They totally could have sanded or milled off that .012” and had it fit straight away. I don’t think thats some kind necessary fitment to the pistol. I think that bit was left on as a cash grab for the fitting service. They want me to spend $100 mailing the gun back and fourth and $25 on their “fitment service.” Then they can touch it on a belt sander for 20 seconds and get more money. Don’t fall for that.

 

[88E30M50]

I hit the easy button and just run a factory 9mm barrel in my .40 P226. The P226 is one of the few guns that can run a 9mm barrel in a. 40 slide with no loss in reliability. I haven't seen any loss in accuracy either but have only shot steel with it in this configuration.

 

[700 LTR 223]

They are slow and they are assholes. I won’t buy anything else from them. But heres the link if anybody wants to get one. It is a great product when you finally get it.

LOL! Maybe I won't consider buying one of their barrels! What was the time frame you were quoted to begin with? My P226 shoots well with the factory barrel , possibly the most accurate 9mm I have ever owned. My P220 Carry in 45 has not as well (yet) but I have a few more loads to try. I see BarSto lists a barrel for the P220 Carry as well.

 

[CTBay]

LOL! Maybe I won't consider buying one of their barrels! What was the time frame you were quoted to begin with? My P226 shoots well with the factory barrel , possibly the most accurate 9mm I have ever owned. My P220 Carry in 45 has not as well (yet) but I have a few more loads to try. I see BarSto lists a barrel for the P220 Carry as well.

The site said 14 weeks and I thought that was a long time. They charged me. I don’t mind to pay for special order things that take while. Charge me. Keep it. Take your time because I want a good one. Making a good barrel from a hunk of metal is an art that takes talent and skill. I understand its not fast. I don’t mind to wait.

Here I am like 16 or 19 weeks later and she (receptionist I guess) calls to charge me again. I thought I already paid. I paid with a credit card I don’t pay to much attention to the balance of. The first charge was apparently just an authorization that fell off. Why!? Charge me all the way! Please. I want the thing. So I give her the info again.

The next day they called and said they forgot to thread it. The “extended” version is .5 longer or something like that. The “threaded for a suppressor” version is slightly longer than that. .7 or something. Don’t remember actual dims just that the suppressor threaded version was slightly longer than the just extended version. So “you forgot to thread it”!? Did you also forget the extra length? That doesn’t make any sense. Probably a lie and I recognized it immediately. What can I do? Nothing. Wait longer. I could make it an argument but what would that solve? So whatever.

Still waiting. Second authorization falls off. More than twenty weeks now. She has lied to me twice. Pushing double the stated time frame. Feeding me excuses I know are BS. So when she called for the third authorization I ignored them. They themselves don’t seem to know what I ordered so I’m afraid I won’t get the right barrel.

She never got that last authorization from me. She just charged my card with previous information. It was totally an unauthorized charged. Twenty some weeks after I ordered it.

They say it needs fitting by a gunsmith. Im thinking there are several dims left long to be ground to fit the slide perfect. That isn’t the case. One dim is left stupid long just to sell fitment service. I didn’t know that so I took it to a gunsmith for fitment. He told me it was the wrong barrel all together. He isn’t a very good gunsmith. He was wrong. He could have got $100 or better out of me for a few seconds of sanding. I mean I did it and I haven’t done anything other than build ARs following directions and replace glock parts.

I am convinced its the wrong barrel because a “gunsmith” told me so. The fact that the woman charging my card three times with a mile of excuses that didn’t make sense wasn’t helping either. I was convinced it was the wrong barrel. I was assuming and you know what they say about assuming.

In the box was a paper that explained a mile of different “restocking” fees. Trying to return it nice was going to result in a partial refund. So I skipped that and just brute force returned it. I mailed it back with signature confirmation and back-charged the card. No fees for me. They should stop putting that fee paper in the box. That caused me skip being reasonable with them because they basically put a letter in the box that said they’re unreasonable.

They refused it. Tracking shows refusal. That worked! I cannot believe refusing it worked. Refuse a return with third party proof of your refusal means you loose, or it should, but apparently doesn’t. My card put it back on my balance.

I told the card and BarSto that I am more than happy to send it back a second time. Im not going to buy endless $15 shipping labels but if they confirm they won’t refuse it I will send it back again. I dispute it with the card a second time. I lose a second time.

I want return protection on my card. If I rightly give a business back its product I should get a full refund. A business that wants to take credit cards cannot refuse returns. They think they can, but really they can’t. The processor told them when they signed the merchant account agreement that no returns isn’t acceptable. Thats why back-charging usually works. You have to prove you gave the product back but usually you get your money back. That didn’t work here. I paid the balance off that card and haven’t used it since. I would close it but don’t want to disrupt my credit. Im pushing 800.

So stuck with the barrel I finally tried to gunsmith it myself. It worked. If you want something done right you gotta just do it yourself.

 

[Dog1]

I thought those 40 to 9 mm conversion barrels were drop in