1911 rimfire conversion unit

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Dunross

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I'd like to get some more practice time in with my 1911 without the wife annoying expense of going through so much .45acp ammo. So, I've read various places about rimfire drop-in conversion units that can be used to shoot cheap rimfire ammo in one's 1911 which seems to be just the ticket.

Anyone have a particular unit to suggest?

Also, any tips or tricks to make the things feed and shoot smoothly?

Thanks!
 
1911 rimfire conversion unit ... Also, any tips or tricks to make the things feed and shoot smoothly?
Get a 1911 22LR pistol instead for less money and you won't have to worry about feeding issue. ;)

I recently looked at doing the same with my Sig 1911 but after some research, decided to buy GSG 1911 22LR (Same as Sig 1911 22LR) instead for less than the price of a conversion kit for these reasons.
There must be good reasons why Sig chose GSG 1911 to be their 1911 22LR (Yes, they are the same). So far for me, my GSG 1911 has fed and extracted reliably various cheap 22LR ammunition (even Federal Walmart red box) and consistently produces one ragged hole targets and popular with many shooters.

Here's my GSG 1911 22LR below railed Sig 1911 45ACP

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I had the same idea some years back and ordered a Ciener conversion from Midway USA. Midway no longer carries these but they can be ordered direct. I liked the aluminum 15 round magazine.

Mine functions well. You do have the advantage of practicing with the same controls and trigger pull of the “host” pistol. Being a blowback .22, though, it does not have the same recoil impulse as the .45. If you live in a jurisdiction where you need a permit to buy a pistol or you are limited in the number of handguns you can own, a conversion kit is a plus.

That said, the aluminum slide on a steel framed 1911 makes for an unusual feel. I eventually found a GSG 1911-22 on sale for less than I paid for the conversion. The trigger is not the same as my .45 but the GSG has a more balanced feel.
 
Forgot to add, my wife gave me an iTarget with a .45 ACP “cartridge”. It’s a good dry fire tool that I can use at home with an ammo cost of zero.
 
I'd like to get some more practice time in with my 1911 without the wife annoying expense of going through so much .45acp ammo.


The correct answer= Dillon, Lee, RCBS, Hornaday, etc..

Choose one and get to work.
 
I have an Advatage Arms conversion and it works quite well,,only 1 malfunction in at least 2000 rounds. The kit will fit a 10 mm 1911 as well. Ciener was in trouble at one point where he took your money but never sent out the kit,the company is back but I don't know if it's run by the original owner.
 
The right answer depends on what you want to do with the 22. I have owned Colt, GSG, Kimber, and Nelson 1911 22 pistols/conversions. The Nelson is head and shoulders above the others in accuracy and reliability, although the most expensive.
If you just want a fairly accurate plinker, go for the GSG/SIG.
 
Advantage arms makes good stuff. Very reliable, and locks the slide back empty with a steel slide stop insert.

The colt conversion unit is very cool and replicates the heft of a steel 1911, and the recoil is closer with the floating chamber. However mags are expensive and fiddly and accuracy is not superb.

For the price I'd probably go with a full sig/gsg pistol. Once you have the conversion upper you're probably going to want a dedicated lower to go with it. At least I do.
 
Casting my own bullets and reloading gets my cost of .45 ACP under $6/100.

I used to shoot a lot of .22LR, I'm sitting on close to 50k of the stuff. I've shot maybe 500 rounds in the past three years.
 
Not looking to win shooting matches, just something with reasonable accuracy using the 1911 I already have keeping it as close to the actual performance of a .45 as I reasonably can. I believe I do want the last round hold open for that reason.
 
The Nelson is head and shoulders above the others in accuracy and reliability, although the most expensive.
Another vote for the Nelson. Excellent kit. The people are great to deal with, too -- very helpful with special requests, etc.

I use mine on a Springfield Range Officer. I had to do some juggling of spring weights, etc., when I changed out my mainspring and housing, but that will be the case with any 1911 kit.
 
Not looking to win shooting matches, just something with reasonable accuracy ... I believe I do want the last round hold open for that reason.
More the reason to get the GSG 1911.

One thing is GSG 1911 does have magazine safety but you can disable it by installing a mag well. ;)
 
I was eyeing a Nelson, but got a very good deal on a used Marvel conversion.

Things I like are: its very accurate, 100% reliable, and has an integral rail so it came ready to mount a red dot. It has irons too. Its mounted on a Springfield Milspec frame.

Things I don't like: Slide doesn't hold open after last shot, and its largely aluminum so its a bit lighter than a 1911 slide and has a slightly different feel.
 
Dunross

I had an old Essex 1911 frame that I put together some years ago. Had a Springfield Armory .38 Super slide on it for awhile til I gave it to a friend of mine. So I decided to make the frame into a dedicated .22 conversion and liked what I saw about the Marvel Precision and the Advantage Arms assemblies. Only problem was they were always out of stock on the model that I wanted. Then one day I was looking through one of the online retailers and came across a TacSol 2211 conversion so I ordered one. Really liked how well built it was and how easily it was to get it to fit to the frame. Sights are great and accuracy is first rate with Wolf Match Target and CCI Standard Velocity ammo.

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