soloban
Member
I've been looking for a .22LR autoloader that both the wife and I could shoot. She didn't like the Ruger MKIII for God knows why. I've shot the Walther P22 and wasn't impressed. Anyhow, MidwayUSA had the Kimber Rimfire on sale for $289. Since I already had a 5" Springfield Loaded 1911A1 I figured the Kimber conversion would be the best of both worlds.
FIT
The Kimber slide mated to the Springfield frame like it was made for it. There were only two minor fit issues. The first is that the hole for the slide release pin is just a hair tight and takes just a hair more force to push in the slide release than the Springfield Frame. The second was that the safety was very hard to engage. After closely examining the Kimber slide I determined that the Springfield safety lever was rubbing against the front of the cut out for safety notch on the Kimber slide. I took a knife sharpening stone and ran it back and forth to open the notch and smooth up the Aluminum ever so slightly. After a few minutes with the stone the interference was gone and the safety clicked into place just like the Springfield slide.
The magazine snaps into and out of place just fine but does not drop free due to being made of light plastic and has just enough friction to hold in place when the mag release is pressed.
SHOOTING
We had a chance to go to the range today and was rather pleased with the accuracy. We shot 100 rounds of CCI Mini Mags and 100 rounds CCI Velocitors and had only three or so failure to feed or failure to return to battery when my wife shot it. I'm chalking this up to being a new "gun". The Mini Mags had a nice "pop" to it when shooting and felt like shooting a MKIII. The Velocitors had a more of a solid "bang". Both rounds cycled the action just fine. Accuracy wise it shot just as well as the Springfield .45 slide if not better. The rear sights are easily adjusted for elevation and windage with a small screwdriver.
DISASSEMBLY AND CLEANING
Dissassembly and cleaning was identical to a standard 1911A1 if not slightly easier due to the lighter spring.
Overall, if you are looking for a autoloading rimfire and have a 5" or 4" 1911 the Kimber Rimfire conversion might be a good choice.
FIT
The Kimber slide mated to the Springfield frame like it was made for it. There were only two minor fit issues. The first is that the hole for the slide release pin is just a hair tight and takes just a hair more force to push in the slide release than the Springfield Frame. The second was that the safety was very hard to engage. After closely examining the Kimber slide I determined that the Springfield safety lever was rubbing against the front of the cut out for safety notch on the Kimber slide. I took a knife sharpening stone and ran it back and forth to open the notch and smooth up the Aluminum ever so slightly. After a few minutes with the stone the interference was gone and the safety clicked into place just like the Springfield slide.
The magazine snaps into and out of place just fine but does not drop free due to being made of light plastic and has just enough friction to hold in place when the mag release is pressed.
SHOOTING
We had a chance to go to the range today and was rather pleased with the accuracy. We shot 100 rounds of CCI Mini Mags and 100 rounds CCI Velocitors and had only three or so failure to feed or failure to return to battery when my wife shot it. I'm chalking this up to being a new "gun". The Mini Mags had a nice "pop" to it when shooting and felt like shooting a MKIII. The Velocitors had a more of a solid "bang". Both rounds cycled the action just fine. Accuracy wise it shot just as well as the Springfield .45 slide if not better. The rear sights are easily adjusted for elevation and windage with a small screwdriver.
DISASSEMBLY AND CLEANING
Dissassembly and cleaning was identical to a standard 1911A1 if not slightly easier due to the lighter spring.
Overall, if you are looking for a autoloading rimfire and have a 5" or 4" 1911 the Kimber Rimfire conversion might be a good choice.
