Thoughts on 22LR conversion kits vs buying a second handgun in 22LR

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dumbFAQ

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Looking for opinions on the conversion kits (general questions)

- how long does it take you to swap out to 22LR?
- is it as reliable as the stock setup?
- cost compared to buying a standalone handgun?

Obviously there are advantages to both setups so I'm just looking for experiences that people might have had with the conversions.
 
I have found that, for the cost of a decent conversion kit ($400), you can get a nice, gently used .22 pistol. The conversion kits strike me, as a lot of money to pay, for a barrel, slide and mag. If, for some reason, you want/need to practice with a particular centre fire pistol - then a conversion kit may be worth the coin.
The time it takes to do the swap is negligible - less than a minute.
 
/\ Agree. There's no point in spending almost the price of a good used and complete 22 pistol, for a conversion kit. Better to have a useable and complete 22 pistol without hassle of swapping calibers.

I know there are some good conversion out there, but the Peter Stahl I had for my 1911 wasnt all that great. I used to think that 22 versions of center fire pistols was a great idea. But came to the conclusion that there was no point to it.

So I sold my Buckmark and traded off my 17-3 revolver. If ammo cost savings was the motivation for a 22 version or conversion, just reload. Or dryfire for free.

Now if you simply want to shoot for cheap without reloading, or plink away, then by all means, yeah.

But serious practice with a sub-caliber version...naah, its a waste of time and money. The lack of recoil will not improve your double tap or speed.
Trigger and flinch control are better practiced by dry firing. IMHO... YMMV


dumbFAQ said:
Looking for opinions on the conversion kits (general questions)

- how long does it take you to swap out to 22LR?
- is it as reliable as the stock setup?
- cost compared to buying a standalone handgun?

Obviously there are advantages to both setups so I'm just looking for experiences that people might have had with the conversions.
Click to expand...
 
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Love .22 pistols ...not really a fan of caliber exchange uppers...as stated before..they are almost the cost of a complete pistol...get that....enjoy the search..
 
I had a .22 conversion for my 9mm CZ Shadow. It worked great, very accurate and took less then a minute to swap over. The conversion new cost me 400.00 from Epps back in 2008. They have climbed to around 700.00 now.
 
I put together a GSG .22 top end (slide, barrel, guide rod & recoil spring all together & it came with two mags) with a Norc 1911 .45. Swapped out the hammer spring for a lighter one, and left it in. Gun worked fine with both .45s and .22s. Change over was as simple as swapping out the top end and of course, the mag. Both were pretty inexpensive.

In any case, new, used, dedicated or parts-swapping, .22s can be had for very little money, are fun to shoot and cheap to feed. :)
 
Conversion kits are nice training aid.
- Same trigger/grip/configuration as the CF pistol.
- Allows you to build muscle memory while saving some $$ on ammo

But if you want the best bang for your buck, a 22lr pistol can often be had for cheaper.

Personally, my Advantage Arms and Colt kit are keepers.
 
A couple of years ago I picked up a used 226 in .40, which include 9mm and .22 conversion kits for the price of a new 226. The only complaint I had was the 22 mags didn't lock open after your last round so people can more easily dry fire. That can be fixed either with a mag insert, snap cap as the bottom round, or counting.

Swapping the barrel takes next to no time. Lock slide open, flip lever down, release slide, remove. Slide new one on, lock slide open, flip lever closed, ready to rack.

All that said... if I had to buy the conversion kit new on its own, I likely would have just bought another pistol.
 
I have a couple of GSG 1911 .22s and find them quite fun to shoot. I also have conversion kits for my Sig P226 and CZ Sp01 which I l really like to shoot as I love the way they fit in my hand and they are easy on my arthritic wrists. My current issue with the GSG 1911s are that they are made out of soft metal and they seem to be wearing on the slide stop notch. This upsets me as even though they are a cheap alternative to an expensive conversion kit, if the slide wears out and you have to buy a new one, you are better off going with a better quality conversion kit.
 
I have other way around. I got 226 in 22lr first, then get a 9 mm kit.

It cost me about same as p226 with night sight and good grip.
 
I love my P220 conversation kit. Works great with Remington Thunderbolts. No last round hold open, and the mags are plastic, but over all great product. It's also a great way to warm up new shooters before breaking out the .45
 
I also bought a conversion kit for the CZ SP-01 Shadow. Cost was around $600 a year ago. I had some initial pains with stove piping and through an exhaustive and fun trial, attributed it to the brand of ammo. I even searched but only found a few references to similar issues. I was pretty close to selling it until my semi-scientific research. I kept a log of each brand I used, magazine capacity, and order of the jams. It seemingly only would function free of stove piping with Sellier&Bellot or Blazer 22LR. A farther 3rd place was CCI. I think I tried a dozen brands. I'm sure I could've spent more and expanded that but was happy to find a few inexpensive ones to work.

Change out is less than a minute.

Biggest factor over a dedicated pistol to me was that most dedicated 22 LR non-revolvers seemed to be polymer based frames and or slides, such as GSG. The Kadet2 adapter for my CZ is all steel.

I can't speak for others such as Sig but in my search I talked to some of my fellow pistol people at work and they said it was better to have a dedicated 22 pistol over an adapter.

I do think my troubles were because it was meant for the CZ 75B but without the guilty pleasure of another pistol, I can't be certain.
 
I had a CZ Kadet kit for my Shadow but found it finicky (I know most people have no issues with them) I also read far more about people having issues with .22 versions of guns originally built for centre fire than guns designed from the start for .22.

My feeling is if you want to shoot .22 buy a .22. My $399 Browning Buck Mark Camper has been flawless over 1,000's of rounds, as have my .22 revolvers.
 
BUy a 22, most conversion kits are waaaay too fussy. CZ is the only one I'd recommend and its now nearly unobtainum. I have used many including a conversion kit for a sig p210. Get a ruger or browning and don't look back
 
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