[Keith]

A few years ago I bought a Ciener "platinum" .22 conversion for a 1911. Used it, loved it, never had a problem with it.

...Until about a year ago when it suddenly became unreliable. It started failing to extract or more commonly, it would fail to pick up the new round from the magazine. It would have 1 or 2 failures per magazine load - damned annoying! I've got multiple mags and the problem was evident in all of them. I stuck it on a different 1911 frame and it still jammed.

Oh well thinks I, it's only for practice... so I just lived with it. On Saturday I was cleaning it and noticed a recoil buffer on the spring - hmmm, thinks I, could the buffer be shortening the slide travel enough to cause the type of failures I'm having? And why a recoil buffer on a .22? It didn't seem to make sense so I pulled it off, finished cleaning and went shooting.

And 500 rounds later I hadn't had a single failure! It was working like new again.

So, thinking back, I realized that about the time it started having problems I had lent it to an acquaintance of mine. This guy is a 1911 freak (like myself) and had wanted to try out a conversion. He had it for a week or two and returned it clean and I hadn't thought any more about it.

Now I'm wondering if he had put the recoil buffer in just to be a nice guy, or if the buffer had come with conversion unit in the first place. I don't remember...
If he had put it in, I certainly would not make an issue of it since he had done it with the best of intentions. I'd just tell him what happened - thinking back, it seems like he didn't care for it and maybe the reason was that his adding the buffer (if he did) caused it to be unreliable.

Anyway... does anyone have a Ciener and did it come with a recoil buffer?

Keith

[BigG]

There is a little grommet that looks all the world like a black rubber washer. If that's what you're mentioning, yep, it done come with it. Otherwise, prolly added by your thoughtful friend. :)

[Keith]

Yup, that little black grommet was what I was talking about.

The conversion works flawlessly without it, and badly with it... It doesn't appear worn in any way, so I don't know why the problem started.

Does it have any purpose other than to make the gun unreliable? If it's a recoil buffer it seems... odd, on a .22. How much can a .22 batter a slide?

Keith

[Keith]

I just called Ciener and was unable to talk to anyone that knew anything - just some gal who didn't even seem to know what a recoil buffer was.

I guess I'll just leave it out. Recoil buffers are debatable even with a .45, and I can't see what harm it could do to leave it out of a .22.

Keith

[BigG]

I think it keeps the aluminium slide from crashing into the steel frame, but what do I know... :uhoh:

[bompa]

To start I must admit that I own two of these conversion units.. One is about 12 years old and the other is about a year old.. There is a difference in the slides but both have what looks just like a faucet washer on the recoil spring..
I could never get the first one to work right,it would let the hammer follow the slide and not pick up a fresh round..Drove me crazy almost..Would drag it out every now and again and try the darn thing .. No go..
Saw one at a gun show recently and noted some changes in the slide so I buys one..Well it workes a bit better then the old one but not so great..
After spending a lot of time trying this and that finely realised that to much
tension on the disconnector,middle leg of sear spring,was slowing down the slide and not letting it travel full length as it should...That explains the hammer follow through and not feeding..
Fixed that and everything works great..
Can't say that your problem is the same but you might check it out.. I believe you will batter the slide enough to cause other problems if you don't use the buffer..
Sorry about being long winded but it took a long time to figure out also...

Now I have two that work..

[10-Ring]

VEry interesting. I've got a shooting buddy w/ a custom 1911 22lr...it's a dedicated Caspian frame w/ a Ceiner top. When it was new, it was awesome. Now, it is the picture of unreliability you described. Next time I talk to him I'm gonna mention the recoil buffer...Thanks for the heads up! ;)

[Keith]

Well, guess who called me back? Mr. Ciener had heard about my problem from the gal on the phone and called me back.
We had a very nice conversation and he was quite frank about two issues that come up with his conversion units.

#1 was that since the specs vary widely on different 1911 frames, you sometimes come across one that binds up the unit, or slows down the slide travel enough to cause problems.

- that's not my problem, since the unit worked very well when for the first year or two I owned it. It's an old Remington 1911 (not a1), and he agreed that this frame was an excellent choice since it was "original specs".

#2 is ammo choices. If the unit doesn't work with a particular frame, change the ammo until you find a combination that works. Higher velocity and cleaner ammo is always better.

- I confessed that I've been sticking with the ammo I've always used (and that worked so well originally); Blazer.
He suggested I put the recoil buffer back in and start experimenting with different ammo. He thought it was a bad idea to use the unit without the buffer since after all, the slide IS aluminum...

Further thoughts: perhaps the buffer had been mashed down enough that the edges were binding somewhere?
That doesn't appear to be the case - the binder appears to be as new. But, if changing the ammo doesn't work I'll trim the edges down or simply replace the buffer.

So, I put the buffer back in and I'm going to buy some different ammo's and see if that makes the difference. I'll report back on what I find.

Keith

[BigG]

Mine always worked without issues on a Series 80 Goldcup frame. I used Winchester hispeed or Remington without malfunction but the Winchester really brought out the gilt-edged accuracy. I have the fixed sighted version. Hope your set gets well soon, Keith! :)

[bompa]

As I stated earlier check the tension on the disconnector,reduce if it causes slide slowdown,and consider a lighter main spring..I am using a 15lb just for the 22conversiun unit..Federal bulk ammo works good but Blaser seems to have a bit more power and consistency,just costs more too..
I also have an Optima mounted on the slide and that works great,much better than the fixed sights for my old and tired eyes..