22lr conversion for 1911

[smle-man]

Thanks all. I see some Cierner ones for sale on eBay but they are pricey and of course used. Do you guys feel they're good enough you would buy one used over a newer one from Marvel ? The price would not be much different

Ciener still sells parts for his 1911 kits except for magazines, I've not had to replace anything on mine. That said, a current production kit might be a better choice for customer support if there is a problem.

[Litespeeds]

I have a Marvel Wilson Combat conversion kit. Looks great but haven’t tried it out yet.

[Robert1234]

Just finished building a gun on a Sig/GSG conversion kit I bought on sale four years ago ($150.00).

Seems to work ok, no issues. Accurate enough (as accurate as most out of the box 1911s). For the price, not bad at all.

Magazines are affordable, and if you're out of state, a $3.00 follower gets you 14 rounds in a magazine.

[SLO1911Fan]

I've owned a bunch of them.

Kimber
Advantage Arms
Marvel type 1 and 2
Tactical Solutions
A couple others that I can't think of at the moment.

The only one I still own is the railed TacSol.

The kimber is great for fitting in regular holsters. It ran great with decent ammo. The mags aren't pricey.

The Marvel Unit 1 was by far the most accurate but a little finicky and their mags are expensive.

The TacSol was the best combination of the two. It will use cheap AA or Kimber mags, or you can run expensive TacSol mags. You can slap an optic on it, or run it with iron sights. And it's dead on accurate.



Now with a gun that age, I'd be tempted to invest in a colt ace. Just to pair it up with something closer to the correct era.

[Milsurp Collector]

I have a GI issue 1911 not A1 dating from 1918

A 1918 Colt M1911 deserves the original Colt conversion.




It has a special "floating chamber" that increases recoil to simulate the .45ACP round recoil.

http://www.thedailytop.com/look-floating-chamber-recoil-booster-colt-ace-fascinating/

.

[Excitable Boy]

CCI Mini Mags and mine works great.

[DaveInOroValley]

I've seen many people that have Advantage Arms kits.

http://www.advantagearms.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=1911

[M76]

[tacticalcity]

I wonder if it might be easier to find a GSG 1911 or something instead? Yes you have the burden of going through an FFL, but now you have a dedicated 22lr 1911.

I was given one for Christmas. It has been great. It runs flawlessly. Before and after mods. Since this picture I added a magwell.

GSG 1911 22LR PISTOL by Tactical City, on Flickr

[Ruber]

I wonder if it might be easier to find a GSG 1911 or something instead? Yes you have the burden of going through an FFL, but now you have a dedicated 22lr 1911.

I was given one for Christmas. It has been great. It runs flawlessly. Before and after mods. Since this picture I added a magwell.

[Henpeckd]

I have a GSG 1911 22. It's decent but like all my .22 pistols, fussy at times. It seems to do well with inexpensive ammo for about 200 rounds, then it won't load, usually will not eject .I clean it after each use. I have a Buckmark but it seems to be very fussy. Sometimes I can get minimags to work for awhile but not always and I'm kinda low on them now. I have a CZ75B I bought used with a functioning Kadet 22 top and that is the cat's hindquarters. Always seems to work with whatever I have available. I was hoping to duplicate the same with the 1911. As for the original Colt kit, I would love to do it but they are collector's items and fetching over $1000 on gunbroker ( admittedly not the lowest price place to look ) and I can see the look on my wife's face when she sees the bill. I would have a better explanation with a $400 marvel kit. Could you see explaining a $1000 Colt kit that may not even work vs a new cheaper one to a wife who does not share my enthusiasm for the range ? I also want to be able to use my 1911 since I did not stock up on 45 acp and I'm down to about 100 rnds now.

[Citadelgrad87]

I ran a head to head series of videos between a GSG conversion and a Nelson Custom unit, which is essentially a Marvel unit.

[tacticalcity]

I assumed as much. But didn't want to say so and be wrong.

[tacticalcity]

I have a GSG 1911 22. It's decent but like all my .22 pistols, fussy at times. It seems to do well with inexpensive ammo for about 200 rounds, then it won't load, usually will not eject .I clean it after each use. I have a Buckmark but it seems to be very fussy. Sometimes I can get minimags to work for awhile but not always and I'm kinda low on them now. I have a CZ75B I bought used with a functioning Kadet 22 top and that is the cat's hindquarters. Always seems to work with whatever I have available. I was hoping to duplicate the same with the 1911. As for the original Colt kit, I would love to do it but they are collector's items and fetching over $1000 on gunbroker ( admittedly not the lowest price place to look ) and I can see the look on my wife's face when she sees the bill. I would have a better explanation with a $400 marvel kit. Could you see explaining a $1000 Colt kit that may not even work vs a new cheaper one to a wife who does not share my enthusiasm for the range ? I also want to be able to use my 1911 since I did not stock up on 45 acp and I'm down to about 100 rnds now.

I know people's experiences are different. I haven't had any issues at all. Then again maybe "cheap" ammo is relative? I am using decent stuff I think. When my father closed down his gunshop/shooting school and moved to AZ I inherited a MASSIVE ammount of factory 22lr ammo. So I don't know the price of it. A few different brands. So maybe I am spoiling my gun.

Went through the 9mm and 45acp he gave me in like a month. That was fun. Shoot a lot more when the ammo is free.

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

The Kimber mags do not lift the slide stop. The Kimber conversion slide will hold open on the last round if you use mags that lift the slide stop (I use GSG mags).

Holding the slide open after the last round will begin to wear on the notch in the slide. This is mostly cosmetic, but Kimber likes their guns to be pretty.

For cheap kits, the Kimber kit works well. It is roughly finished out of the box and needs more break in than the nicer kits. I got mine at one of the Turners sales which made it a little more worthwhile.

You are correct. However, when using the GSG or similar mags, eventually the steel slide stop will wear the aluminum slide notch and it won't hold open any more. That's why the Kimber is designed not to lock back on an empty mag. I've tried it and it does work, I suppose it's a matter of how long you want that feature to work. Mine sits in the case since I picked up a GSG pistol.