.22 kimber conversion

[arkieron]

I am thinking about purchasing a .22 kimber conversion kit for my Custom II tactica .45l. Does anyone have experience using one of these units on a Kimber alloy frame. Kimber says it works fine. I do not want to damage frame. I am shooting 1911s in 9mm as well as .45 and thought adding .22 would be inexpensive practice for the larger formats. I would appreciate anyone sharing experiences on this conversion. arkieron

 

[Engineman1960]

My Kimber Tactical Custom II has a extended magwell, the present plastic Kimber conversion magazines have a extended base; plastic on the sides of the magazine will stop the magazine from going all the way up the mag chute(it catches on the magwell). I have used Ciener Mags with some success; I have heard of some people removing the side plastic of the conversion magazine with a file. If you have a two piece magwell maybe you could remove the bottom part? I have a Colt Commander that I used the kit on; it works great. I ended up buying a used Kimber Rimfire 1911 in .17Mach2 (not in the Kimber catalog anymore) and used the lower on it. I Love shooting it. I found the Kimber Conversion used on Ebay (awhile ago when you could buy; stuff like that on Ebay). If I remember correctly I bought the Kimber Magazines thru MidwayUSA for around $22. I let a friend use the kit on his base model Springfield Armory and when I was out at the range; I let the guy in the next lane mount the kit on his S&W 1911 and it worked fine on all of them. I believe the first Kimber conversions were made by Ciener; the kit today is made by Kimber.

 

[okie98]

I love my Kimber 22 kit. I always enjoy shooting the 1911 frame so the conversion is a natural for me. My kit is probably one of the early ones because I have no mag problems with my S&A magwell. I have used the kit on both steel and alloy frames with no apparent damage.

 

[Traxxis]

The .22 conversion will be much less battery than the .45. I'd recommend going with the Marvel over the Kimber unit though. It's not much more expensive, and it's much higher quality.

 

[TonyT]

I believe the kimber unit is manufactured by Ciener. The Marvel unit is much higher quality. The Marvel #1 is the only unit with bullseye level accuracy and mine has been totally reliablle with SV ammo - it requiures a heavier recoil spring for use with HV ammo.

 

[Traxxis]

You're right, the Kimbers were built by Ciener, but they have since started making their own.

I have the unit 2 marvel, and I love it.