Opinions on Kimber .22LR top end for 1911

[Charles L. Cotton]

I need a .22 Long Rifle top end to use on one of my under used Colt 1911 frames. It would be primarily for training and it needs to be reliable. Does anyone have experience with the Kimber top end on anything other than a Kimber frame?

Chas.

[ghostrider]

I haven't used it much, but I have one on a Colt frame and so far it works great. Should have bought one a long time ago. Not cheap, but appear to be well made. They (like many rimfires) are supposedly fussy about ammo, but I haven't done enough testing to comment on that yet.

[AFJailor]

My friend has one that we shoot often, it is the same as my Mosquito, it will ONLY function well with Federal rounds. Everything else I have ever shot through it has failed horribly.. With federal rounds however it functions and shoots great, not one single failure.

For what its worth my Mosquito is one of my favorite to shoot...if only the mags werent so darn expensive...

[Keith B]

I have an older one that is branded Kimber, but was really is a Ciener conversion kit. It and my buddies newer Kimber one have functioned flawlessly on my Springfield and his Kimber frames.

As some have said, some conversion combinations can be finicky with ammo, but I have always used the Remington bulk packs from Wal-Mart and never had failure to feed with it. I do like the Ciener conversion for the fact the mags will hold 15 rounds instead of the 10 from Kimber.

The biggest difference I see is the newer Kimber slides break down more like a 1911, where the Ciener slides are a little different to break down.

Midway USA has both models http://www.midwayusa.com/Search/Default ... -4_8-16-32" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.midwayusa.com/Search/Default ... -4_8-16-32" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edit to add: The Ciener kits are a little less expensive also ($250 for the adjustable sight model vs. Kimber at $300.)

[Charles L. Cotton]

Midway has the stainless Kimber conversion kit on sale for $272 so I ordered one. The reviews seem good with some people having kits that eat anything you feed them, while others have to use CCI or Federal.

Chas.

[The Marshal]

Charles,

I bought the Kimber .22 upper to go on my Kimber Warrior.
2 words: Laser Pistol.

Very similar in weight to the normal configuration, plus the trigger doesn't change.
The 'gotcha' is that it is touchy about what ammo I shoot out of it.

I can't imagine that you will not be pleased!

~Bill

[Charles L. Cotton]

Charles,

I bought the Kimber .22 upper to go on my Kimber Warrior.
2 words: Laser Pistol.

Very similar in weight to the normal configuration, plus the trigger doesn't change.
The 'gotcha' is that it is touchy about what ammo I shoot out of it.

I can't imagine that you will not be pleased!

~Bill

What ammo does yours like?

Chas.

[flechero]

I also have a Kimber .22 top end. They suggested CCI ammo with it so that's what I run. It's more expensive than other .22 ammo, but so much cheaper than .45 that I don't mind buying the "premium" stuff.

Runs great and is very accurate. I've only had 2 ftf but not until I was at 300-350 rounds in a single session. It was probably just dirty but I can't guarantee that the rounds weren't bent from trying to load the mags in a hurry, with tired fingers!

My only complaint is the sights- they are matte black front and rear so on a (dark) indoor range the front blade tends to disappear. Easy to fix with a touch of paint though.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Thanks for the input folks. It should be here on Friday to I'll test drive it at the range this weekend.

Chas.

[Charles L. Cotton]

The Kimber conversion unit came in today and I had a chance to take it to the range. I put the conversion unit on the frame from a Springfield Loaded. I can't recall what main spring weight I have in that gun, but I'm pretty sure it's 23lbs. (factory standard).

I'll start with the good. It's accurate. That's the good, now for the bad. I only fired 30 rds (3 10 rd mags). The mags are Kimbers and even with the beveled bases, they won't seat in the frame because of the S&A mag well. Holding pressure on the magazine let me shoot although it was no surprise that this technique resulted in about 10 failure-to-feed problems.

What surprised me was the other two problems. At least 50% of the rounds failed to extract and about 25% of the time the slide did not fully cycle and the hammer was not cocked. I was using 40gr. Federal 510's.

I guess I'll have to order the Ciener mags, but I want to be sure they have a standard mag base. I'll add my own extended mag base. Can anyone confirm the Ciener mags are a standard configuration? If anyone can use the Kimber mags, I'll sell two for $10 each (retail $20) and I'll throw in the 3rd mag I tried to sand down to make it work.

When I get the new mags in, I'll put 200 or 300 rds through it to see if the cycling improves. I still think I'm going to like this gun, if/when I can get it working.

Chas.