P99 Bar-Sto barrels!?

[155JHP]

Recently (mid-December 05) Bar-Sto stopped producing their entire line of walther barrels- 9mm, 40, and most depressing: the 357 sig. They are no more.
Does anyone know where i could find one of these .357 barrels? Now that they are out of production, i'm under the impression that they are fairly rare...
Any info is useful.

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155JHP

[mambro]

That's bad news on the Bar-Sto front, but it appears that Jarvis is still listing their P99 barrels, but NOT in 357sig either:

http://www.jarvis-custom.com/Products/tabid/53/ctl/ProductDetail/productId/21/mid/388/Default.aspx

[155JHP]

yeah thanks. i knew that jarvis produced them still, but only in 9mm and .40s&w, like you said. i had heard that they used to make a 357 sig barrel for the P99.
thanks alot for your input mambro.

[mambro]

It might be worth the email or call to Jarvis to see if they will do a 357sig for you. It appears that Bill Jarvis still does custom work, so maybe it will come down to time and money. ;)

Another long shot would be to ask some of the nice folks at "www.waltherforums.com" if they have any leads, or a "WTB" in the "Trading Post / Parts Bin" area of their forum.

[Rockets]

Crap, I just got one of my two P99 40's back and was going to 357 it. This sucks.

Rockets Out.....

[155JHP]

yeah, tell me about it...this was the reason I got a .40 P99!!

I was probably the last person to order one! It was cancelled, just barely to late. I ordered the on the 12th of December, and they went out of production 15-16ish!!
I recieved a letter apolgizing for the inconvience. They said they had too many maching/fitting problems with the barrel and slide.

-Also asssuming that I would be getting this barrel, I bought some ammo. Now I have a box of Winchester 125gr. FMJ's just sitting around rotting. (instead of simply selling the box, I'd much rather spend $200+ for a barrel to "properly" dispose of them) ;)

happy shooting 155JHP

[Rockets]

Just called Jarvis, they have some in stock blued and drop in BUT I was told they, because of the P99 mags without bottleneck support recommended only target shooting with them as they have feeding problems once in awhile.

Rockets Out....

(Shame as most 357 sig drop in's change the point of aim a bit high or low and with the P99 with a bunch of different front sight heights standard in the box you would be good to go)

[155JHP]

so Jarvis has 357 sig barrels? cool. i wonder if newer or different generation P99 mag would make a difference in that feeding issue...probably not.

But, if its the magazines, did that mean that Bar-sto barrels had feeding issues too? hmmmmm. makes me think ;P

well anyways, thats great news. did they say how many were left? and also how much apiece? So do you think you'll consider this option>?
you can PM, E-mail me or just reply again.

thanks alot for that info Rockets!!!
-155JHP

[Rockets]

The Jarvis was $190.00 each which is very reasonable for a blued one. He had more than one. I just called Bar-Sto and offered an extra $100.00 for one and it was a no. The reason why I tried Bar-Sto is a post I started where someone who had one said the Bar-Sto was reliable, See…

http://www.gothammarketing.com/bb/waltherforum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=1;t=2864

I don’t think the Gen would make a difference as the change seems cosmetic to me, but sometimes those little changes do make a difference for some reason but the man I talked to on the phone at Jarvis specifically said it was a mag problem since there was no taper for the bottleneck in the mag. I do have both Gen’s in 40 and one was bought just to do a 357 conversion since the extra sights are in the case and ready to go.

I’m tempted but malfunctions after a break in period drive me nuts. I’m thinking hard, I should have bought one when I put up the link above. At least I have two to drop it into to see if there is a difference but I am not convinced yet. I am debating between the idea of waiting for the H&K P3000 in 357. See….

http://glocktalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=482655

If it is the mag Bar-Sto should have had jams also but the first link does not reflect that though it is just one report.

I could put up with a very rare jam but it would have to be very rare as CC was a secondary use.

So, Anyone have a Jarvis 357 Sig drop in for their P99, reliability report please if you do. I think we would both really appreciate some info since it appears two of us had a plan that just went half way out the window.


Rockets Out...

[155JHP]

hmm thats odd...

hey again Rockets,
I was kinda curious about the magazine issue that Jarvis was telling you about. So I took an old box of 357s and loaded my P99 Walther's ten shot clip with 357s. I have a .40s&w barrel (obviously) so seeing how the .40 and .357 have the same lower case diameter i thought this would be sufficient for simulating a 357 barrel(at least to prove the magazines reliablity/function). After removing the striker (for safety) I put in the full clip, and hit the mag release. Not only did this work, closing like a charm, i then hand cycled the full ten round clip completly 10 separate times, without a jam! (i would pull it back all the way to eject it, and then i would let the slide go, letting the spring do its work- which is essentially what would happen when firing!)
That Jarvis fellow you talked to placed the blame on the mag. but it cycled great, despite the lack of tapers for this bottleneck cartridge. They really dont have that much space to move around. I mean what? like 1 mm (10mm versus 9mm) to 'bounce' around in there?
I really dont see WHY it wouldnt work!
so thats just some food for thought-
Got any 357 ammo? try it yourself ;f

Do you think this hand cycling proves as a reliable test?
what is the difference between this and a firing gun?
would you actually have to fire the gun to see if it jammed?
whats your thoughts/opinion on the matter?

i'm just curious/bored
thanks again for being so informative.
-155JHP

[Rockets]

I get ya, handcycling often does not create the jams that firing does due mostly to timing. When that slide kicks back and forth with a live shot it’s way faster than handcycling. The round in the mag has to pop up in the mag very quickly then get rammed into the pipe by the slide. When you handcycle the round has a ton of time to pop up in the mag before the slide comes flying back forward. I have had a few guns and went down the same path trying to figure out why they were jamming. They always worked if I handcycled them. If fired it’s the fraction of a second that counts, if the cartridge catches even slightly on something, is just a bit slow to rise, or is not aimed straight down the feed ramp when the slides forward momentum catches it is jam time.

It’s the play back and forth in the mag that I think is the problem. Even if you seat the shells back with a tap on the back or the mag, the slide stripping them into the chamber will drag some forward that are underneath the first round, if you try to put a shim into the front inside end of the mag you are going to have to do some work on the follower and since the shells come up and as they get close to the top of the stack start to angle it seems to me if one could even pull this off one would have a five gallon bucket of screwed up P99 mags before one got the thickness of the shim and other things right.

If you read the first link that guy had to get his Bar-Sto hand fitted to his slide even though it’s a drop in. A used Bar-Sto is a bit problematic then with out the original host gun, On the Jarvis the guy that told me this knew his stuff and was hammering in the background. He had the chance to sell me a barrel but was honest and killed his sale (for now) I have allot of respect for him for the honesty, he really had no reason to tell me this if it was extremely rare for a jam as all he accomplished was to lose money. I had my credit card out and said “Let’s do this”, he had the sale but then asked if I was going to use it for carry and I said that was likely and he talked me out of buying it.

I think we need to start a new thread, Jarvis drop in 357 sig reliability and see if we can find any actual owners to chime in. I want a carry gun to be 100% but if what we are talking is one failure in 1000 I can live with that. (Flame suit on, be nice to me folks).

Here is another thought I am having. I know many people that take a different brand mag and make it work in a gun that it was not designed for. In the class three world it is done all the time for old machine guns where the original mags are hard to find. Normally it’s just a matter of machining a mag lock slot in the mag in the right spot and then sometime messing with the feed lips to get them to the same angle as the 40 would be. But first you have to find a mag that will fit about the same as the factory mag.

So a second post, for all you with a 357 sig of any brand and a P99, does you non-Walther/Megar 357 sig mag fit in the P99 without any real slop but not so tight it will not drop free?

I’m spinning my gears as hard as you buddy as I can tell you want to do this as bad as I. As you can see from my post in the link I had this planned in October of last year. The only bar for me is the solution has got to be somewhat simple and can’t cost more than a decent other brand. If I can find another brand of 357 sig mag that will fit well in a P99 I may machine it a bit, buy the barrel and give it a try. If I have to waste a five gallon bucket full of P99 mags trying to shim them and buy a $200.00 barrel it would be cheaper and smarter for me to buy a Sig 226 or HK P3000 in 357 sig.

Keep the thoughts coming. I bought the second P99 40 solely to 357 sig it and I have not given up yet.


Rockets Out…..

[155JHP]

yeah, i was just rambling on. thanks for the clarification!
whats the price on that HK P3000? - i cant affod it, jut curious:cool:
hey, im all over theat idea about our own thread! lets do it!

-155JHP

[Rockets]

I have no idea on the P3000, it's not out yet but it seems very P99 in its own way. I'll try to start a Drop In thread in a few days. On the same lines the full size USP does not come in a 357 Sig I am told because it takes non-metal lined platic mags (why they can't make a metal lined one with a metal mag catch is anyones guess) but you can get a 357 Sig USP compact as the USP compact mags are metal tubes.

Rockets Out....

[Rockets]

More info and another person that wants one, maybe we can get a custom bulk order here?


http://www.venom600.org/guns/P99/357sig-range_report.php

http://www.gothammarketing.com/bb/waltherforum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=1;t=3176;st=0;r=1;&#entry20004


Rockets Out....

[155JHP]

yes i've seen Venom's page before. he's one of the guys, who convinced me that I needed to buy one in the first place.

But yeah, a bulk order is definetly worth a try;f Not to mention worthwhlie for Bar-Sto, beacause running that lathe one last time, for several barrels couldnt cost them over $500!
So lets make a little petition, or request a cusom order, like you said, for us REAL desperate guys!!;)
you think they'd go for it? ;Q

-155JHP

[Rockets]

I called Jarvis again asking about failure rates. The man on the phone said every mag or so though he said S&W bought one from him that was flawless. He said that it had alot to do with the mag and how it went in and more or less lined up, a bit off here or there which would not be noticeable or normally matter and the bullet nose dives into the feed ramp, taping on the back of the mag just before using he said helped, underloading to about 7 helped or Wolf extra power mag springs helped the USP full size 40 conversions.

This guy is honest as all get out or he would not have told me he had problems with his own, with S&W's at 100% and the fact the problem is a nose dive makes me think that sniper350 at this link could have solved the problem.

http://www.gothammarketing.com/bb/waltherforum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=1;t=3176

Rockets Out…

[155JHP]

hey thanks again, Rockets
so i guess its an option after all!

lemme see if i understand what your saying: more tension would essentially help, if not fix this feding problem?
you wouldnt recommend stretching your P99 mag's spring;f

So does Wolf make the "extra power" spring for the P99's magazine?
or could you substitute another brand's mag spring for the walther?

one more thing: Do you know if that underloading he did, was with a standard 10rd or a 12rd LE magazine?

just curious

thanks
-155JHP

[Rockets]

Yea, Stretching the spring would weaken it. I don't know if Wolf makes a P99 spring but some other double stack spring, especially if for a longer mag could be made to work though one might have to clip off coils on at a time. Don't know what mags but I'm shooting for 12. The guy on the other board got his Bar-Sto to 100% by reshaping the feed ramp. That is what I may try.

After I think about a bulk purchase it may be hard to pull off. One person collects the money, who's going to trust the guy enough, what if some jam like the guy on the other board and it's a special run, Bar-Sto has been through that and I don't think they want to fit and work on these anymore. I'm thinking Jarvis, since S&W had one that worked 100 percent I have two 40's to try if one fails and if not I asked the guy on the other board if he would do the feed ramp work he did on his.

Still thinking if I want to be the guinea pig on this one, if it fails I'm out $250-$300 with feed ramp work. Getting close to a preowned Sig 226 but I sure am thinking about it. if the guy will do feed ramp work and it does not cost much I am real tempted.

Rockets out...

[ShipWreck]

I checked the Wolf Spring website last week to see about mag springs - they do not have any for the P99 or SW99. Sorry.

[Rockets]

Thanks, I bet some other mag spring works but it is going to be trial and error time.

Rockets Out....