.22lr conversion kits

[Louchia]

I have seen these advertised. Has anyone used one of these kits to change a 9mm to use 22lr. Sounds like a worth while idea to save money shooting the same gun to shoot less expensive ammo.
The kit seems to cost about 1/2 the price of a gun. Does it actually work well?

 

[Rule3]

I myself do not care for them. For a good gun like say a CZ, Sig or similar the conversion is pretty expensive. For about the same price you could buy a whole gun,

I had the conversion bolt for an AR 15 . It worked well but accuracy of a 22lr out of a 1:9 twist barrel was OK but not excellent. Again I would rather shoot a 10/22 rifle.

 

[Art Doc]

Had one for the 1911 and bought a lower to make a complete pistol out of it.

Have one for the AR15 but only tried it twice. OK, 99% reliable, but would really prefer having a complete AR22.

 

[bountyhunter]

The gripe is they don't cycle reliably. The ones for 1911's are problematic. The bottom line is the .22 cartridge barely has enough power to cycle so if anything is flaky, it jams.

 

[iouri]

I used to have one for Sig220 (traded both since then). The problem was that I've had it at "great 22 drought" times, so I could actually shoot my 45 reloads at the same price as 22s so it kind of negated whole point of having conversion

 

[rockquarry]

I received some good advice from an old, very knowledgeable shooter a number of years ago regarding .22 conversion units: "If you want a .22, buy a .22." I still have a Colt 1911 conversion unit mounted on a dedicated frame, but the advice remains sound.

 

[Big Cholla]

Well contrarty to most of the afore opinions, I have had great success with 22 LR conversions on M 1911 frames. I have used Ciener, Fusion and Sprinfield (which I believe might have been made by Ciener). A couple dropped right on and went to shooting reliably and accurately. A couple took some hand fitting to the frame/slide fit. All eventually worked and worked well. I keep a LW Commander frame equipped with a Ciener full time. It was my favorite 22 LR semi-auto until my SW 22 Victory came along.

The one conversion that was never satisfactory was a customer's Colt Conversion Kit that he obtained way back when from the predecessor to the Civilian Marksmanship Program. I never could get it to be reliable on the customer's WW II surplus Remington frame. We both gave up on it and he sold it to the next sucker. ...........

 

[Walter Rego]

I have one of the CZ Kadet adapter kits on my CZ75. It works very well, is accurate and fun to shoot. However I will add that I bought it back when the kits were on sale for $199 and you could buy a brick of .22 for $11 to $13. As someone else mentioned, with 9mm available for $10 or $12 for 50 and .22 prices all over the map, you need to do the math to see if it's worth it.

 

[Lee's Landing Billy]

Have had great success with Ciener for BHP and with Advantage Arms for Glocks.

 

[rockquarry]

I haven't shot it in a while, but My Colt conversion unit functions very well. I don't recall benchresting it, but it's reasonably accurate with standard velocity CCI, perhaps a few others as well. Gets pretty dirty after a box or two.

 

[orbruce]

I have a 22 conversion kit form my Sig 226, it works fine. As I remember the kit cost about $250.00 when I got it. It is fun to shoot, if I could fine 22 ammo.

B. Mower

 

[Grayfox]

I picked up a Ciener Platinum Cup 1911 unit many years ago. I liked it so much that I built up a frame to mount it on permanently. Shoots great and I've never had a bit of trouble out of it.

 

[pharmer]

I have one of the CZ Kadet adapter kits on my CZ75. It works very well, is accurate and fun to shoot. However I will add that I bought it back when the kits were on sale for $199 and you could buy a brick of .22 for $11 to $13. As someone else mentioned, with 9mm available for $10 or $12 for 50 and .22 prices all over the map, you need to do the math to see if it's worth it.

Exact same story here. Joe

 

[YogiBear]

Beretta 22 Kit

Aloha,

Beretta has a 22 Kit for their 92 & 96 semi autos.

Just remove and replace the entire slide, barrel and recoil system.

It is currently retailing for over $400 complete.

Beretta just had a Father's Day Sale on it thru their e store, 25% off.

I just bought one for a friend on another island.

I bought one years ago for the Wife.

She liked it enough that she gave me the OK to make a Dedicated full size

22 for her.

Yes, for $400+, you could buy a complete 22.

The Beretta 22 Kit is Not a tack driver,

it is a great plinker on your regular 9mm or 40SW.

That way you can get cheaper practice time on your regular gun

by just changing top halves.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I have a 22 conversion for M-16's so I assume it will work on my AR-15. They are notorious for less accuracy as 22 ammo is .222" and the rifle bore is .224" but my armorer kept them around for small game hunting and that seemed reasonable. You can buy a very nice 22 rifle for what a 22 RF upper will cost you! (Magazines are OFTEN an issue too!)

I also have a Knight MK85 50 cal muzzle loader with their 22 RF adapter, at 200 feet it would do 1/4 to 1/2 inch groups with Federal bulk pack ammo, that is almost as good as some of my target rifles with the same ammo!

Shiloh Sharps make a 22 adapter for the 1874 Sharps, Kind of expensive, but allows you to practice when 45-70 is out of the question.

None of these are handgun conversions, but it lets you know some of what else is out there.

Ivan

 

[ColbyBruce]

Years ago, I had a Ciener 1911 kit on a Essex frame. It worked perfectly. It is long gone.

Four or five years ago I bought a Advantage Arms kit for my two Glock 26 pistols. It would not run reliably on either gun, or my son's Glock 33. It ran fine on a neighbor's Glock 27. I sold it, with full disclosure.

Back in January, I bought a Glock 29 from a co-worker. A few weeks later I saw a AA kit for the Glock 29/30 models for sale on a Sig pistol forum. I bought that kit, and it ran just fine on my Glock 29. I liked it so much that I bought a Glock 29/30 SF frame and now have a dedicated .22 pistol.

 

[Ray]

My Colt conversion unit works quite well, tough not so accurate as my Woodsman Match Target.But hey, there is fun in swapping between .45 and .22 calibres in the field, don´t you think ?

Regards, Ray

 

[bigwheelzip]

While the current price of the CZ Kadet kit is about $400, it is excellent quality, and can be used on a wide variety of CZ's. So if you have multiple guns with trigger jobs, you keep those benefits when swapping in the conversion. It also reliably feeds every ammo.

A side benefit for those living in area's that restrict ownership, is that the conversion is not serialized, and does not count as a gun by itself.

 

[BB57]

.22 conversion units have their place - but it's limited.

I have used a .22 LR conversion unit with this 16" carbine:

It's 5.6 pounds unloaded when set up for .223 and a bit lighter in .22LR. A Ceiner .22 LR conversion unit and a couple magazines doesn't add much extra weight.

I carry it broken down in short case that takes up little room in a baggage compartment in a PA-18 and will even fit in the very small baggage compartment in a PA-12. With a 1-12 twist barrel it's accurate with .22LR.

The advantage is that you can carry a magazine of .223 for larger game, and then also carry a couple hundred rounds of .22LR and the conversion kit for smaller game. .223 Rem is not only overkill for small game, it's also obnoxiously loud where a standard velocity .22 LR isn't.

The Kimber .22LR conversion is pretty popular and readily available. They are however not always a drop in fit on a 1911 and you may need to get another slide release lever to fit to the conversion unit.

I'm also in general agreement that if you want a .22LR pistol, just buy a .22 LR pistol. However, if you've got a spare 1911 frame sitting around, it's not a bad way to go.

This one is set up as a dedicated .22 LR on a JPE frame that I used to use with a slide and barrel in .400 Corbon. Properly fitted, it is very reliable and has decent accuracy.

Arguably the best .22 LR conversion kit around is the Cadet conversion for the CZ 75. It works on both the full size and compact frames.

It's relentlessly reliable and very accurate:

It's not something that will beat a S&W 41 in a bullseye match, but it's up there with a 22/45, and like the Kimber conversions, it offers the advantage of having the same controls and trigger as the centerfire version of the pistol.

 

[epj]

I have a couple of the Kimber units mounted on E series S&W lowers. Both function just fine and seem pretty accurate.