Riomouse911
Contributing Member
Hey all,
A year or two back I was pining for a CZ Kadet .22 conversion kit for a CZ -75, but those are discontinued, not common and really pricy. I put that on the back burner, then pretty much forgot about it.
Instead, I picked up an almost unused Jonathan Arthur Ceiner Platinum Cup 1911 .22 LR conversion kit the other day for just under $300. (They were last selling for $349 on the Ceiner site.)
Gloss black finished, it came with the slide-barrel-recoil spring, one 10-round magazine, the instruction manual and a nice blue plastic case. I know Mr. Ceiner has retired from making his kits so at some point if something breaks I might have an expensive paperweight, but until that happens I hope to shoot it and have some fun.
Not thinking, I first intended to put the conversion onto a stainless/alloy 4.25” .45 ACP Ruger SR1911 frame that has a 4 lb Cylinder & Slide hammer-sear-spring kit installed. I quickly learned that the commander-sized SR1911 has an ejector shape that is incompatible with this 5” slide kit, as the ejector hits the rear of the slide so it will not go on. DOH!
Fortunately I have a 5” Springfield Loaded 1911 .45. This one is bone stock, has an OK 4.5 lb pull and has an ejector shape that did work. The slide-barrel-spring assembly slid right on with no fit issues at all.
The sights are pretty nice, with a squared off, fully adjustable rear featuring a serrated blade and a Patridge-style front. The sight picture is much crisper than the fixed, 3-dot sights that came on the original SA .45 slide, which my 57 year old eyes appreciate.
The original style magazine availability issue is always going to be an issue. The originals are well made, metal bodied ones with some heft. Since JAC is no longer making the magazines I checked some 1911 forums for suggestions. A few posters said Kimber makes .22 LR magazines for their kits that work with the JAC versions, so I bought 2 two-pack sets of Kimber magazines off eBay.
Besides being all-polymer, the follower is really tall on the Kimber mags (Kimber is at right) and the front edge has a pronounced angle to it. I noticed this height difference between the seated magazines immediately, and thought the Kimber magazine and follower would drag on the slide a lot.
I also read the Ceiner magazine will not hold open the slide on the last shot while the Kimber allegedly will. Annnd sure enough, the Kimber magazines dragged on the bottom of the slide, slowing the slide to the point it would not move without help.
Original magazine:
Kimber magazine:
I filed a bit of material away from the top edge of the magazine catch notch to let it sit a little deeper, took out the follower and reshaped it on a sanding wheel, and removed a bit of the top of the magazine lips with a file and 600 grit sandpaper. Now the magazines sit lower and the slide glides forward and backwards without any drag from the slide contacting the magazines. The bullets all fit fine into the modified magazines, and won’t “volcano” when tapped on the table with 10 inside.
I took the kit out today and shot it with high velocity .22’s from Winchester and Remington. The first twenty shots (10 Win in the Ceiner mag and 10 Rem in a Kimber) produced an ok group at 10 yds, with shots hitting POA height and mostly going through one ragged hole (with a few slightly low or right, all on me).
A few times with the Kimber magazines the slide stopped short of fully closing. This required my thumb to push the slide forward and into place. But after each Kimber magazine fired roughly 20 to 30 shots each, these issues somehow cleared up and the gun ran very nicely with all 5 magazines and both types of ammo.
I had it well lubed, and it shot consistently. I did adjust the rear sight to move POI to the left a bit, so now it shoots with bullets landing a bit more centered than it first shot in the above picture. (My overall shooting with this gun/ammo combo was nothing much to write home about
.)
The kit is a pretty nice bit of engineering. JAC listed Hi Power, Beretta and Glock kits in the past, along with three sizes of 1911 conversion kit slides, but now only Officer sized 1911 kits and magazines remain. I will try to call JAC next week to confirm they still have some parts available, if so I will buy spares to have on hand to keep this thing going for a while.
Maybe now that I see how neat they are, I think I’ll look a bit harder for a Kadet kit.
Anyone else have a .22 LR conversion kit for their standard pistol? If so, how does it work for you?
Stay safe.
A year or two back I was pining for a CZ Kadet .22 conversion kit for a CZ -75, but those are discontinued, not common and really pricy. I put that on the back burner, then pretty much forgot about it.
Instead, I picked up an almost unused Jonathan Arthur Ceiner Platinum Cup 1911 .22 LR conversion kit the other day for just under $300. (They were last selling for $349 on the Ceiner site.)
Gloss black finished, it came with the slide-barrel-recoil spring, one 10-round magazine, the instruction manual and a nice blue plastic case. I know Mr. Ceiner has retired from making his kits so at some point if something breaks I might have an expensive paperweight, but until that happens I hope to shoot it and have some fun.
Not thinking, I first intended to put the conversion onto a stainless/alloy 4.25” .45 ACP Ruger SR1911 frame that has a 4 lb Cylinder & Slide hammer-sear-spring kit installed. I quickly learned that the commander-sized SR1911 has an ejector shape that is incompatible with this 5” slide kit, as the ejector hits the rear of the slide so it will not go on. DOH!
Fortunately I have a 5” Springfield Loaded 1911 .45. This one is bone stock, has an OK 4.5 lb pull and has an ejector shape that did work. The slide-barrel-spring assembly slid right on with no fit issues at all.
The sights are pretty nice, with a squared off, fully adjustable rear featuring a serrated blade and a Patridge-style front. The sight picture is much crisper than the fixed, 3-dot sights that came on the original SA .45 slide, which my 57 year old eyes appreciate.
The original style magazine availability issue is always going to be an issue. The originals are well made, metal bodied ones with some heft. Since JAC is no longer making the magazines I checked some 1911 forums for suggestions. A few posters said Kimber makes .22 LR magazines for their kits that work with the JAC versions, so I bought 2 two-pack sets of Kimber magazines off eBay.
Besides being all-polymer, the follower is really tall on the Kimber mags (Kimber is at right) and the front edge has a pronounced angle to it. I noticed this height difference between the seated magazines immediately, and thought the Kimber magazine and follower would drag on the slide a lot.
I also read the Ceiner magazine will not hold open the slide on the last shot while the Kimber allegedly will. Annnd sure enough, the Kimber magazines dragged on the bottom of the slide, slowing the slide to the point it would not move without help.
Original magazine:
Kimber magazine:
I filed a bit of material away from the top edge of the magazine catch notch to let it sit a little deeper, took out the follower and reshaped it on a sanding wheel, and removed a bit of the top of the magazine lips with a file and 600 grit sandpaper. Now the magazines sit lower and the slide glides forward and backwards without any drag from the slide contacting the magazines. The bullets all fit fine into the modified magazines, and won’t “volcano” when tapped on the table with 10 inside.
I took the kit out today and shot it with high velocity .22’s from Winchester and Remington. The first twenty shots (10 Win in the Ceiner mag and 10 Rem in a Kimber) produced an ok group at 10 yds, with shots hitting POA height and mostly going through one ragged hole (with a few slightly low or right, all on me).
A few times with the Kimber magazines the slide stopped short of fully closing. This required my thumb to push the slide forward and into place. But after each Kimber magazine fired roughly 20 to 30 shots each, these issues somehow cleared up and the gun ran very nicely with all 5 magazines and both types of ammo.
I had it well lubed, and it shot consistently. I did adjust the rear sight to move POI to the left a bit, so now it shoots with bullets landing a bit more centered than it first shot in the above picture. (My overall shooting with this gun/ammo combo was nothing much to write home about
.)The kit is a pretty nice bit of engineering. JAC listed Hi Power, Beretta and Glock kits in the past, along with three sizes of 1911 conversion kit slides, but now only Officer sized 1911 kits and magazines remain. I will try to call JAC next week to confirm they still have some parts available, if so I will buy spares to have on hand to keep this thing going for a while.
Maybe now that I see how neat they are, I think I’ll look a bit harder for a Kadet kit.
Anyone else have a .22 LR conversion kit for their standard pistol? If so, how does it work for you?
Stay safe.
.)
