.22 Conversions

[Guest db99wj]

In the best .22 handgun thread, Rabbi mentioned this,

...

An option for people with Glocks and 1911s is a .22 conversion. SOme of these work well and you get the same feel (OK similar) as your carry weapon.

That got me thinking, good idea but I have an XD. Went over to XDTalk and found a thread about Advantage Arms, they have the conversions for Glocks and 1911's, but they also showed a prototype of an XD at a Shot Show, I am assuming at the beginning of 2007, and said that they would have one by the end of 2007, well they don't.

I emailed Advantage Arms and asked them the status of this project. I will post up if I get a reply.

So with that said, who here has used a conversion kit, thoughts? Reviews?

Seems to be a good idea. Use your carry gun to practice with and do it inexpensively.

[DWARREN123]

I have one for my G23, it works well in that I have the same grip and trigger feel but the light slide on the plastic frame makes it extremly light, about like a toy. Works well but not infallible, there are some failures to eject.

[Guest atomemphis]

I have the Marvel Unit 2 (The Practical) .22lr conversion, gov't length, for my Kimber 1911.

The slide is aluminum, so it combined with the aluminum Kimber frame makes the gun very light.

I have one plastic magazine, and one metal magazine. The plastic magazine has had 100% perfect feeding. The metal one sucks at loading bulk Remington hi velocity ammo. Works well with CCI Minimags.

I shoot VERY well with the CCI Minimags.

One must use high velocity ammo.

My only regret is that I did not order it with a fiber optic front sight, and its not THAT big of a deal to me.

Customer service was great, and the product is great. Wait time was a little long (5.5 weeks) but within reason. Others have had 9 or more week waits, and I couldn't handle that.

Fits my holster correctly, and fires exactly like the .45, but with less kick. Louder than the 10/22 firing the same rounds, thanks to the shorter barrel. Great for practice since 45 costs a fortune, the trigger pull is identical, and the lack of kick is a bit tattle-tale (sp?) for flinching.

Highly recommended.

[Guest tokarev]

I've thought very strongly about getting a conversion kit for my 1911A1 clone and also one for my AR M4gery would be cheaper than buying a completely new upper.

It's been almost a year since I installed a .22 conversion onto my Bulgarian Makarov and except for shooting about an inch low(fixed sights), I'm happy with it.

I find myself shooting .22's much more lately with the high price of ammo these days. Infact, I'm concidering adding .45 acp and .223 to the rounds I reload just so that I can afford to shoot them more. Untill then though, I'll be popping out the .22's.

Has anyone heard anything bad about the Ciener kits?

[Guest atomemphis]

M1911.org has a whole section devoted to conversion kits and they have several reviews of the ciener kits.

My Marvel kit costs right at $300. Heard the Kimber unit is also good, like the look and reviews of the Marvel better for me.

[Guest EasilyObsessed]

Has anyone heard anything bad about the Ciener kits?

The ciener kits (for the ar15) arent bad. They can fire out of battery. Mine was terrible the first time I took it out. I couldnt get more than two or three rounds to fire without a FTE and the last round before it came out of the gun that day was a round firing out of battery. Flew the bottom of the 22lr case out but didnt damage anything else. I took apart the kit and polished all the moving parts and from that point on it worked perfectly. Accurracy was mediocre, in large part because I was using a 1:9 twist barrel. The 22lr is supposed to be more accurate with a 1:16 twist barrel or the older Vietnam era M16 barrels (1:14?). I probably would have kept the kit, but I have a 10/22 that takes care of all my semi-auto 22lr rifle needs.

I have read several reports about Ciener having TERRIBLE customer service. IIRC, someone on THR had to end up suing them to get a refund on a kit he ordered.

[BryanP]

I have read several reports about Ciener having TERRIBLE customer service.

I've always been advised that if you want a Ciener kit you should buy it through a 3rd party vendor such as Midway. Let them deal with the customer service headaches. This has been a limitation for me as I've been looking for a Ciener kit for my Hi Power. I finally found someone who carries the HP Ciener kit, and as soon as they get it back in stock I plan to order one.

[Guest bigbuck_tn]

I have an Advantage Arms for a Glock. I got it when they first came out and I had a little trouble with the magazine. The AA bunch was great. They sent me 2 new magazine and a newly designed loader (at the time) as well as listened to some of my design ideas.

Excellent guys to work with. It now works most of the time, even with the cheap Remington bulk plinking ammo. There is an occasional failure to feed when I didn't load it right and a rim gets behind the next round in the magazine and it jam. A quick TRB and it's back in motion.

I don't have any personal experience with Ceiner but I have heard too many dealers say they refuse to stock them anymore because he is such an a$$ to deal with.

[strickj]

I am in the market for a good plinker and thought about getting a conversion kit for my 1911,however one for the XD would be awesome!

As far as 1911's go would anyone be interested in doing a group buy?

[Guest FroggyOne2]

When it comes to 1911's.. Marvel is the only way to go! I have a secret about them.. if you want to know.. PM me.. but I am not going to say it publicly..

http://www.marvelprecision.com/