.22LR Conversion Kits

Repeated message

I had the Kimber conversion. It was more accurate than I could shoot but not reliable without hot/heavy loads like Velocitors and Vipers. Standard velocity and normal high velocity loads did not eject reliably. I sold the kit and bought a .22 that feeds everything. (YMMV)

I have a Colt Ace conversion kit for my GI and it works great. Although it does like the Hi-velocity CCI ammo but is very accurate and reliable with it. Here are some other options. http://www.22lrconversions.com/1911-pg.htm
http://www.marvelprod.com/beauty.htm
http://www.advantagearms.com/1911conversion_kit.html
http://www.wilsoncombat.com/a_22_conversion.asp

I have the Ciener for the Commander. It works well, but I have to follow the instructions and run high velocity .22LR in it. It does not like standard velocity. If I had to guess. I would tie this to the effort required to cock the hammer on the 1911 design. (This is kind of based on some evidence, in that I have one Commander with a lighter mainspring and another with a stock mainspring. The lighter mainspring will work with standard velocity .22LR, in spite of Ciener's advice.)

Ciener also says to avoid hyper-velocity rounds like Stingers, and I haven't tried this to see if it breaks the adapter. (LOL)

I've had a Ciener unit for several years.



Very fun!!

Joe

It's been my experience that the .22 Marvel Conversion for the 1911 (Commander length is fine) is the most accurate/reliable available.

I bought the Kimber kit and it works fine with high-velocity ammo. Mine has a particular like for Federal Game-Shok 40gr solids.

To make it work with standard-velocity target stuff, do what Kimber does with their factory gun. Put an 18# mainspring in it.

I bought another complete mainspring housing and put a Wolff 18# mainspring in it. I can swap from my .45 spring to the .22 spring and change the slide in less than two minutes.

"To make it work with standard-velocity target stuff, do what Kimber does with their factory gun. Put an 18# mainspring in it."

Do you mean recoil spring instead of mainspring? How does the mainspring affect function with HV or std velocity ammo? The mainspring is in the magwell and powers the hammer impact on firing pin. Changing that quickly can be a challenge.

I shoot a Marvel Unit 1 conversion kit and it is great! It works fine with std velocity .22 LR. The Marvel Unit 2, Wilson, Ciener, etc. kits typically require high velocity ammo because the full slide recoils and .22 std velocity ammo may not have enough power for that. With the Marvel Unit 1, only a small portion of the slide recoils (like S&W M41) and it can thus function with std velocity ammo.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

I use a ciener, I already knew from using a AA Glock kit, just use hot rounds. All .22 kits I have used require a 2-500 rd break-in period to realy start cycling reliably.

I started shooting a Marvel Unit one last year and it is great. My bullseye scores went up dramatically. I still have My Ruger Mk II Slabside but there is no comparison to the accuracy and handling of the Marvel sitting on the top of my Colt Commander.

The lighter mainspring means less effort to cock the hammer which means less force needed to push the slide back over the hammer.

Marvel is the standard by which all the others are judged.

Had Ceiner (a burglar got'em) that worked fine with all the high velocity loads I tried. My current Kimber unit is very ammo sensitive: requires hotter high velocity 40 gr solids. HV hollow points, many HV solids, and all standard velocity loads need not apply.

"The lighter mainspring means less effort to cock the hammer which means less force needed to push the slide back over the hammer."

OK, that makes sense but changing the mainspring or mainspring housing can be a hassle, especially when you use magwells with flat bottom, pin covered grips. I actually went up from a 19# mainspring to a 21# mainspring to eliminate occassional misfires with Win HV and CCI Mag ammo. Do you guys have any misfires with your 18# mainsprings? What brand/s of .22 ammo do you use?

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

Get the Marvel. I broke mine, they replaced it free with a redesigned slide that should eliminate how the first one broke. That is better customer service than may be encountered with some other conversions.

I shoot mine every week, Right now I am in a case of $0.90 a box PMC ammo that is actually quite accurate. The thing isn't too ammo sensitive, it runs all standard velocity stuff, target, and match loads. It doesn't like subsonics, not enough to cycle the slide.

Here's the Wilson Combat .22lr 1911 conversion made by Marvel. It is extremely accurate (tack driver) and 100% reliable with CCI minimag ammo. Magazines are $40 each however...

I have the Kimber conversion. It is one of the newer ones made by Kimber, I believe, not by Ciener. I've hardly fired it at all, I just got it. At first it seemed real picky but I think it just wanted more lubrication. I generally don't run a very wet gun unless I need to. If that is all the Kimber conversion wants then I'm happy to lub it more. On the other hand, if it is unreliable then I won't be so happy.

Time will tell.

Do you guys have any misfires with your 18# mainsprings?

Click to expand...

I swapped out the factory 23# mainspring on my Ciener for an 18#, and tried to get it to run with CCI Standard Velocity ammo. It would work okay, but only for the 1st 3 or 4 magazines. As soon as it started to get dirty, I'd get light hits.

I tried a 19# mainspring and it got a little better, but it would still have problems at the 100 rounds mark.

Last, I installed a 21# mainspring and started having ejection and feeding problems with CCI SV, but it runs fine with just about any High Velocity ammo. That's the combination I've stuck with.

Joe

I have had a Ciener Platinum model for 5 or 6 years now and it worked perfectly on all my 1911's. Nothing negative I can say about it.

OK, that makes sense but changing the mainspring or mainspring housing can be a hassle, especially when you use magwells with flat bottom, pin covered grips. I actually went up from a 19# mainspring to a 21# mainspring to eliminate occassional misfires with Win HV and CCI Mag ammo. Do you guys have any misfires with your 18# mainsprings? What brand/s of .22 ammo do you use?

Click to expand...

That would make it more of a problem to change mainspring housings. With a 23# mainspring, I found the Federal Gameshok 40gr. RN would function 100%. Eley HV would do the same but is much more expensive to shoot.

With the 18# ms, I can shoot the target ammo much better but have to keep the system clean & use a light lube. No limp-wristing, either. I get inconsistent results with Wolf MT and better results with Eley target stuff. No issues with misfires.