.22 or .45 ACP

[Charleo0192]

So I want to buy a 1911 and looked around online. When I found some I liked I visited my local gun store. He showed me several that I had looked about and put some myths down about certain companies.

He then showed me a gun made by a Chiappa. It's a 1911-22 which fires .22 instead of the usual .45 ACP. It also comes at a much cheaper price. On top of that the ammo is cheaper.

So my question is has anyone had problems with it? I'm considering getting this just because ammo is cheaper. I still plan on getting a nice classic 1911, but this just seems great for me since I don't have tons of money to spend on guns and ammo.

 

[MICHAEL T]

Only problem I heard about is the seem to shoot high Several been sold by my dealer and owners all seem happy with it

 

[Charleo0192]

Thanks, good to know its only shooting high. If it was known to have problems it would have swayed me towards not getting, but only shooting high...seems to me like a great gun to just go shoot for fun.

 

[rcmodel]

No experiance, but keep in mind the slide & frame is made out of cast zinc metal.
Including the internal parts.
The magazine catch, mainspring housing, non-working grip safety, magazine, and magazine mounted ejector are plastic.

I have seen reports of very heavy 10 pound trigger pulls, which will make good off-hand shooting accuracy very difficult to do.

Reports I have read indicate they plan to change to a steel hammer and trigger with a more managable trigger pull, but early guns will not be so blessed.

There is a complete gun test in the May issue of the NRA's American Rifleman magazine.
Hope you got it in the mail!!

rc

 

[birddog2]

Why not get a nice 1911 a .22 conversion kit? There a lot them on the market.

 

[DRYHUMOR]

Getting a dedicated 1911 .22 would be a good start, and something to enjoy cheaply until you can get a .45 1911.

I have a conversion, but keep thinking about a Kimber Rimfire, just to have a dedicated .22.

I haven't heard/read too much bad about them, but have heard/read some bad about the Chiappa/Puma pistols.

 

[Dirty Bob]

Don't forget the Ruger 22/45, which was designed to accomodate 1911 shooters!

Some find the grip too narrow, but it hasn't bothered me at all. The mag release is where a 1911 shooter's thumb will look for it, and the grip angle is very similar to the 1911. I trust the longevity of the Ruger more than I do the Chiappa, and a wealth of add-ons are available for the Ruger. There's also a large community of people who have posted info on do-it-yourself mods, if you are handy with such things and not too worried about your warranty.

All my best,
Dirty Bob

 

[wally]

He then showed me a gun made by a Chiappa. It's a 1911-22 which fires .22

Only problem I heard about is the seem to shoot high

If you read the manual, the shooting high is by design so you can file the front sight to get the sight picture you want, either "combat" or bullseye 6 o'clock hold at the distance you prefer.

I have no problems with this, but mine and others (use the search) are stovepipe city -- two in 60 rounds would be a good day! and the trigger is terrible, heavy and with a reset so long its an embarrassment to claim it would "handle like a 1911".

One other poster here has sent his back, if he reports back with good results, I'll send mine back, but since they make you pay shipping (About $50 ) I don't want to be throwing good money after bad.

While its got impressive Ransom rest group sizes, in real usage its very mediocre since the barrel is fixed to the frame (why its great from a machine rest), but the sights are on the slide and the slide to frame fit is very sloppy.

Unless/until they have figured out how to fix the trigger and stovepipe ejection problems I'd recommend you pass.

Since mine has never failed to feed the next round into the chamber or lock the slide back on the last shot its not "weak ammo". The 2 in 60 failures was with CCI Mini-Mag, .22 ammo that is about half the cheapest 9mm in cost.

 

[Charleo0192]

Why not get a nice 1911 a .22 conversion kit? There a lot them on the market.

I don't own a .45 1911, so to do what you're saying would just cost more. Not to mention I would rather just spend a few hundred on a already made .22 1911. I will eventually get a .45 1911 but I am tight on cash and ammo alone turns me towards the .22 1911. Also, I could get other pistols, but I just have a thing about 1911s that make me want them

 

[rcmodel]

If you read the manual, the shooting high is by design so you can file the front sight to get the sight picture you want

But see, if it shoots too high with the stock front sight?

Filing off the front sight will make it shoot even higher!

You would have to file off the rear sight to make it shoot lower.

rc

 

[JHK94]

Has anyone had any experience with the GSG .22 lr 1911's? They claim to be 80% parts interchangeable with "real" 1911's, and thus sound better than the Chiappa ones...are they the same, similar, etc?

AIM had them, but sold out fast: http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=F1ATGSG1911

 

[DukeNukem]

If you want a 1911 style pistol in .22LR, get the GSG 1911 not the Chiappa. It's not that much more $ than the Chiappa and easily worth the extra cost.

I've had mine about two weeks. Here are the reliability totals so far:

About 1800 rounds of value pack Federal 550, Fed Champion, Fed AutoMatch, Fed Game Shok, Remington Golden Bullet, Rem Subsonic(only 50 rounds of that), CCI Mini-Mag

100% except for one dud Golden Bullet. No feeding, extracting, or even stovepiping problems at all with any of those.

50 rounds Winchester Super-X hollowpoint

2 fail to feed

50 rounds Fed Lightning

3 or 4 fail to feed

50 rounds Rem Thunderbolt

3 or 4 fail to feed

All just plinking. Still haven't tried mine for grouping, but some people on rimfirecentral.com and 1911forum.com have. It's plenty accurate enough for my purposes.

 

[KodiakBeer]

The Buckmark is (in my opinion) the best 1911 trainer. The grip angle, controls and general "heft" all mimic the 1911 by design, especially if you get one of the bull barrel models for weight.

Well, let's make that second best since a conversion unit is certainly the best.

 

[Charleo0192]

At first I was solely looking at the Chiappa 1911-22 but now I am looking at the GSG 1911. Can anyone give some input on to which they find better and reasons why (and I see you feel the GSG is better duke, just want some other opinions)

 

[KW]

Just picked up a GSG 1911 the other day. So far I've put 100 rds through it and the only problem it had was the slide hanging up a couple times from me dragging my left thumb against it - I just gave it a cursory cleaning before shooting it and it still had a lot of preservative grease in it.

Having also handled the Chiappa, I can tell you the GSG has a much better trigger - similar to my Kimber. Aside from that they seem fairly similar - the main difference being that the Chiappa is a GI style gun, whereas the GSG has more modern features: better sights, extended ambi-safety, beavertail grip safety. The only thing I don't just love about the GSG is the arched mainspring housing, but it may be possible to swap that out.

 

[wally]

But see, if it shoots too high with the stock front sight?

Filing off the front sight will make it shoot even higher!

Opps you are of course correct, mine shot low and I had to file the front sight, I just wasn't reading the original post carefully enough

Page 13 of the manual and a package insert tell you to adjust the elevation by filing the front sight on the non-adjustable sight model. I guess it never occurred to them that their quality control would be so poor as to have one shoot high out of the box.

If my Chiappa went 1800 rounds of bulk pack without a stovepipe I still wouldn't like the trigger but it would be a fun gun, however, a stovepipe every two or three mags makes it just a pile of frustration.

 

[Vanfanel]

Hi,
I have a Chiappa 1911-22. I would certainly recommend a browning buckmark or any ruger 22 handgun over it. I say this cause mine became more hassle to shoot then was fun because of constant ftf, and stovepipes.
then after about 2k rounds really easy to do in a couple of days with cheaper bulk pack. the magazine catch has worn down to the point the magazines will start to fall out while shoot. this is very unsafe lol. I have to send mine back to chiappa when I get the chance. But I can say my buckmark has well over 4k rounds through it and I think it has had one ftf ever, and no other malfunctions of any kind.

 

[NavyLCDR]

For me, personally, I would want to spend $300-$400 on an accurate gun with a good reputation and many upgrade options rather than something that only resembled in looks to a gun I like. I think unless you want to put the gun above the fireplace mantel and look at it, "Yep - there's my 1911!" I think you would be much happier with the Ruger 22/45.

Or just wait and get a real 1911 and reloading equipment for .45 auto.

 

[BlayGlock]

Get a 1911 and a .22 conversion kit.

 

[Charleo0192]

For me, personally, I would want to spend $300-$400 on an accurate gun with a good reputation and many upgrade options rather than something that only resembled in looks to a gun I like. I think unless you want to put the gun above the fireplace mantel and look at it, "Yep - there's my 1911!" I think you would be much happier with the Ruger 22/45.

Or just wait and get a real 1911 and reloading equipment for .45 auto.

Your advice would be good but I am not sure when I will get around to buying a classic 1911. If I knew I would be buying a .45 1911 a year down the road, I probably would go with another gun, but it may be 5 years before I get one. So in the mean time I want to enjoy something that at least looks like a 1911.