1911 22. Conversion units

I just posed this question to a friend/mentor of mine yesterday.
He said he has a Kimber unit and is very happy with it. He advised buying a second magazine (just more convenient to load two at once) and trying the unit on your frame to ensure good fit before buying.
I'm leaning towards the Marvel unit myself and look forward to reading the other responses to your thread.
Regards,
Greg

+1+ on the kimber. first 5 rounds were a 50-3x. i was shooting casually & wish i could do that with my s&w 41. trouble now is when buying, ciener made a production run for kimber, with the kimber name on them.....they you dont want. usually stores are honest & price them at $200, kimber kimber is 300. it goes on my classisc stainless gold match. functions on my defender pretty well also. 3 mags is best, heck, more mags the better.

I've had a Ciener kit mounted on a dedicated alloy frame for several years(15+).



I easily got my $200 purchase price worth of fun out of it the first year. It's quite accurate and reliable, as long as you clean it every 200 rounds or so.

Good Luck...

Joe

I have he Ciener Platinum unit on a SA Black Stainless frame. 5 15 round magazines. It was not working well in the cold the other day. Had the lube from the warmer weather. It works very well in the warm weather. One of my friends said I might need CCI ammo. I'm going to try a very light lube like Essox.

My daughter competed with it this last summe in speed steel and did very well.

I like to shoot 300-400 rounds through it every range session so was disappointed last week.

Marvel's are a bit more pricey, but they are "hyper accurate"!!!

I only have one conversion kit. It's an original Colt kit, and I've been very happy with it.

Marvel's are a bit more pricey, but they are "hyper accurate"!!!

Click to expand...

That would depend on whether you buy a Unit 1 or Unit 2. I bought the Unit 2 because it was the lower cost option. It is not nearly as accurate as the Browning Challenger that I sold but is OK for practice for steel plate shooting, I guess. From what I've read, the Unit 1 is the one to buy for accuracy. That isn't stated plainly on their web site.

I did have a few problems with the Unit 2 feeding and Marvel customer service isn't the best, IMO. I think the slide fit is just tight on my Springfield SS 5". I sent the unit back to Marvel, they had it two months and sent it back and said it was OK. Well, it works better after I worked on it, at least.

Cloudpeak

I would already own an advantage arms kit if I could find them in stock somewhere when I had money. Used one, one time, and really liked it.

I may break down and go with a Ciener, but I know once I do I'll find an AA kit that I wont have money for since I got the ciener.

My kimber is dead on balls accurate, however it's been ammo specific so far, and unfortunately expensive ammo, CCI stingers. Accuracy is top notch though, makes me realize just how bad the trigger is!!

Claude Clay ---

Isn't the Kimber on the Defender a hoot? Weighs about as much as a Kel-Tec.

Weisse: I have a ciener like new in the box that worked
great on my Norinco. I think it only used it once or twice. I just don't shoot 22's much.
If interested, PM me.

.22 Conversion Unit

I own a KART .22 Conversion Unit, it´s excellent. As far as I know KART has stopped the production of these units some years ago. Probably You will get
only a second hand one.

Santa brought me a Ciener for Christmas. It fit only one of my BHPs and that was OK. Took it to the range and it worked flawlessly for 250 rounds using the ammo they recommend. Home to clean it and discovered that "metal flakes" came out of the barrel while cleaning. Inside of barrel appears to be flaking. Interesting.

Wrote to Ciener and asked for their guidance for a return. That was 3 weeks ago. They don't answer the phone and so far, no response to my letter.

I am not a happy camper right now.

Dave

Indeed, Ciener has a terrible reputation for customer service. I'm also in the market for a .22 kit for my 1911 and Ciener was deleted from the list very early.

Buy the Marvel Unit 1. The fixed barrel is a big key to the accuracy. The sights are screwed to the barrel, do not reciprocate with the slide. Marvel's customer service is good, albeit slow. I had to follow up with them but I got replies. The issue was I had an early one and cracked the slide at about 35K rounds. They replaced my unit and it had a redesigned slide. I just happened to send mine in at the beginning of hunting/holiday season. Marvel is a small operation. Excellent product, I wish I could afford two.

May I ask which .22s you already own?

Unless you really specifically want a .22 caliber 1911, IMO it's always better to buy a dedicated .22 handgun than a "Frankenstein Kit." Marvels are good but finicky and they blow crap into your face through the ejector slot. Tactical Solutions are good but they're $450+. Ceiners function but are cheap. Compared to the $400 you'll spend on a Marvel, you could buy a $250 bull-barreled Ruger and a host of Volquartsen parts that would make it a top-notch pistol. And you wouldn't have to swap uppers to change calibers.

I bought a Kimber conversion for my Kimber 1911, my only disappointment is when the mag is empty the slide doesn't lock open. Other than that it's been good but as it has been mentioned here before you could by a decent .22 for the $300 this conversion costs .... however, I do enjoy shooting it so I guess it works for me.

I would not buy a Ciener. I have one that misfires regularly. I tried Ciener's website, called, emailed. Basic story is they are too busy to bother with anyone who bought one of their units. Not what I would call "customer service."

I recently got a Kimber conversion unit for one of my Kimber pistols...I've only fired around 60 rds thru it for sight adjustment and a little fun shooting, but I really like it. The instructions recommend Remington and Winchester Super X high velocity ammo and they worked great, as did CCI. I tried some "cheap" Aguila and it wouldn't even chamber.

Does Wilson Combat still make one? Is it thiers, or a re-stamped Ciener or Marvel?

I'd really hate for JAC to get any of my money, and my 'smith told me he'd have my frame done in a week or two, and I hate to have a dedicated frame with no conversion to put on it.

I'm looking at buying the Advantage Arms kit, $350. It's main advantage over the others is that it has a last round lock back.

Does anyone have any experience with it?

I have an ACE conversion unit and it runs like a charm. About the only think I could complain about is that original magazines are hard to find and very expensive and after market mags are really are hit and miss.

I recently bought a Ciener kit. I was excited and bought a box of 550 rounds of federal 22lr high velocity rounds and went to the range! Every other round was a failure to feed. The guy at the range told me to try some cci minimags, so I had 200 rounds on my next trip. This time ,however, I oiled the heck out of the gun and tried the cheap ammo again. I shot up all 500 rounds of federal without a hitch. It has been very accurate as well. I've already taken it to the range six times in 2 weeks and I'm getting much better with my 45 as well. This is the best investment I could have made. I got the platinum model from midway for $249 and a cheap daly to mount it on.