You can buy a third party conversion barrel from Top Gun Supply and with 9mm mags you are fine. If you want to change the recoil spring, you can pickup a P229 9mm recoil spring at Top Gun as well. Many have done it and it works. As for added wear, any time you shoot a pistol it adds wear to it. You might see some added wear characteristics on the slide where it mates with the various barrels. Nothing to be concerned about, IMO.

Originally Posted by DRebel027

I know the gun is specifically beefed up for the .40 round so is it not recommended to fire 9mm through it?

I believe you misspoke here. The 9mm variant is NOT capable nor is it recommended to modify it to fire anything other than 9mm, EVER.

Originally Posted by DRebel027

Does the switching back and forth from all three of these calibers effect the gun in any way?

As stated, a firearm is affected every time it is fired. However, what I think you meant was "is it affected adversely?" and the answer would be NO. It was designed for 40/.357 and will tolerate 9mm easily with no adverse effects. TopGunSupply is an excellent vendor, but you can get the parts needed to convert safely from other vendors as well. Depending on what ammo/loads you shoot in 9mm, you may as mentioned consider swapping the recoil spring as well, as the 40/.357 recoil spring is stiffer and a lightly loaded 9mm MAY not function completely flawlessly with the stiffer spring in place.

BTW, welcome aboard.

Thanks for the welcome, this is my first pistol ever. Living in NY, as you know, makes it near impossible to acquire a permit not to mention a "Full Carry". So my brand new p229 Elite is sitting in the local gun shop awaiting my permit in the mail. It seems to be taking forever! In the mean time I have been reading up, buying accessories (tac-light, Holster, Barrels) and basically doing everything I can to make the arrival of the new firearm as complete as possible. the more I read, the more impressed I am with the choice I made.

I may go ahead and convert to 9mm just to save money on ammunition and to see how the recoil feels.

I have the P229 DAK 40 S&W and I bought a Barsto 9mm drop in conversion barrel and some 9mm magazines and it works fine. I'm thinking of doing the same for my P239 also.