[DougCarden]

While taking a break during Turkey hunting I was able to put about 500rds (fed 550 box) and 50rds CCI minimags through my buddy's Kimber .22 upper unit.
The damn thing ran just fine as long as I kept my thumb off the slide. Not much recoil spring there, so dont bump the slide......I am not impressed with the mags at all. The dirtier it got the more the round wouldnt feed up.
I cant talk about the accuracy of it past 20yds, but at speed it hit the 10in plates just fine!
Use a thin oil and boresnake it every 200rd and get some Metalform ACE mags and you should have a great .22 unit.
It is a damn sight better unit than the Ciener unit I bought 10yrs ago.......

I am thinking the Swenson thumbshield safety would be perfect with this unit and some Minimags.......hint hint.....
(not giving up my Marvel, but the unit is nice....)

see ya,
DougC

[prreed10]

I got one for christmas last year - picked up an exxex fame and made it a dedicated 1911 .22 for our steel matches. Mine runs good so far. The barrel fit is still a little tight though. When I get my tools unpacked, I will get it up and running 100%.

[skip62]

prreed10, on Apr 16 2008, 03:45 PM, said:

I got one for christmas last year - picked up an exxex fame and made it a dedicated 1911 .22 for our steel matches. Mine runs good so far. The barrel fit is still a little tight though. When I get my tools unpacked, I will get it up and running 100%.

Great report, I've been interested in getting one. Can you tell me if they will work on a frame cut for a ramped barrel?

Thanks,
Skip

[CDRODA396]

I've had one that I've used for Steel Matches ontop of a Kimber Gold Match, for about two years now, runs awesome with MiniMags, totally reliable and plenty accurate. I agree the mags arent the best, and if you have a S&A magwell, they require some dremeling to get them to seat all the way.

I finally broke down and picked up some of these from brownells...15 rounds and no dremeling to work properly,

http://www.brownells...UTO%20MAGAZINES

although when I picked mine up they werent quite as much$!

[prreed10]

skip62, on Apr 16 2008, 08:49 PM, said:

Great report, I've been interested in getting one. Can you tell me if they will work on a frame cut for a ramped barrel?

Thanks,
Skip

IRRC, the Kimber kits don't work with frames cut for a ramped barrel.

[skip62]

prreed10, on Apr 17 2008, 08:44 AM, said:

skip62, on Apr 16 2008, 08:49 PM, said:

Great report, I've been interested in getting one. Can you tell me if they will work on a frame cut for a ramped barrel?

Thanks,
Skip

IRRC, the Kimber kits don't work with frames cut for a ramped barrel.

That's what I thought, but do you have any idea why? The barrel is supported at the slide stop, and it has its own ramp. I just can't figure it out, but I don't want to spend the money to find out...

Thanks for the help,
Skip

[fomeister]

what ammo do you guys use in your Kimber unit?

[prreed10]

I don't know why the no ramped barrel frame.

As far as ammo, I use the Federal Bulk pack from Wal-Mart. It runs good so far.

[DougCarden]

Minimags ran 100%, but I had a few dud hits with the 550 pk. When the gun/mags got dirty the mag wouldnt feed up a round, the slide would cycle, but the round didnt get chambered. I gave the spring some more tension and it seemed to help. That was at 10rds, 9 or less seemed fine with the weaker ammo. The minimags ran and cycled fine, so I can theorize that you need high velocity ammo to run the upper well. Another option to run the lower powered ammo would be to "tune" the recoil spring, but I wouldnt do that until you order a couple new ones as backups should you go too far...... A 19lb mainspring seems to work well on getting good hits with the firing pin.
The only thing I didnt like was the cheezy plastic mag.....
The feedramp is integral with the barrel, so you should be OK with the ramped frame....but I couldnt try it, so I dont know for sure either.
One thing I do know.......the cheapest .22 ammo is not going to run 100% in these kits, or any .22 pistol or rifle either.....

Good luck,
DougC

[skip62]

DougCarden, on Apr 18 2008, 04:36 AM, said:

Minimags ran 100%, but I had a few dud hits with the 550 pk. When the gun/mags got dirty the mag wouldnt feed up a round, the slide would cycle, but the round didnt get chambered. I gave the spring some more tension and it seemed to help. That was at 10rds, 9 or less seemed fine with the weaker ammo. The minimags ran and cycled fine, so I can theorize that you need high velocity ammo to run the upper well. Another option to run the lower powered ammo would be to "tune" the recoil spring, but I wouldnt do that until you order a couple new ones as backups should you go too far...... A 19lb mainspring seems to work well on getting good hits with the firing pin.
The only thing I didnt like was the cheezy plastic mag.....
The feedramp is integral with the barrel, so you should be OK with the ramped frame....but I couldnt try it, so I dont know for sure either.
One thing I do know.......the cheapest .22 ammo is not going to run 100% in these kits, or any .22 pistol or rifle either.....

Good luck,
DougC

Thanks for the replies, I may have to bite the bullet and find out if it'll run on my frame, if nothing else, I'll buy another frame for it...lol

[buddy_fuentes]

I bought two of the Kimber conversions, one for me and one for my son. Mine is not very accurate no matter what frame I use. My son's is pretty darn accurate, nothing near some of the others brands I have shot. They are good enough for plinking and practice.

I have found that high velocity ammo is the only thing reliable and I use Stingers. The cheaper ammo won't feed reliably. Doug is right about thumb drag...there is just not enough ump to overcome the thumb.

If you aren't shooting bullseye or some precision game, the Kimber should do fine.

Buddy

[Chris_Andersen]

I also have had the 550 pack duds (about 1 in 20) but the winchester super x and mini mags function flawlessly in my rimfire.

[JeffWard]

It's not the gun... The Walmart 550 pack produces 1 in 20-30 duds in my Buckmark. All the CCI ammo, mild-to-wild, runs fine in it.

You get what you pay for in 22LR

[TM262]

JeffWard, on Jun 28 2009, 08:40 AM, said:

It's not the gun... The Walmart 550 pack produces 1 in 20-30 duds in my Buckmark. All the CCI ammo, mild-to-wild, runs fine in it.

You get what you pay for in 22LR

I have had the same experience in my 22/45 and 10/22. The bulk packs will have a few duds, but the CCI ammo works without fail.

[prreed10]

When I shoot it in a steel match, I use CCI MiniMags - they have been 100% so far.

[wkj4567]

I use CCI Minimags in both a Kimber .22 conversion and the STI .22 conversion I bought at Shooters Connection. They always work in both.

[Mistral404]

Use a higher mainspring and you reduce the number of misfires with the cheaper ammo.