For the past 5 or 6 months, it seems the only time I shoot my competition gun is at the match itself.  And let me tell you, it shows.  My performance on the first stage of each match has been on the verge of embarrassing.  The subsequent stages all show increasing improvement as the day progresses, usually ending in respectable showing in my class, and occasion taking the class.  But I’m not growing.  I’m not progressing.  My skills aren’t getting better.  On a good day, I’m maintaining the status quo.  On a bad day, I’m losing ground.

The bottom line, I need more practice.  A lot more practice.  I do dry fire drills, and they are truly invaluable.  But nothing can replace true trigger time on the range.  However, for me to put in the necessary amount live fire practice, I’d have to get a second job just to pay for the ammo.  That’s doubly true now that I want to jump from the production class (minor power factor) to the single stack class (major power factor), where the ammo will cost me 1.5 to 2 times as much.  That’s why I’ve decided to go with a .22lr conversion kit for the new SR1911.

A lot of people will tell you that training with a .22lr conversion is a waste of time, and counter productive, because you don’t have the same recoil, the same weight, along with a whole host of other reasons.  That reasoning could easily also apply to dry fire practice.   Why waste your time pulling the trigger if it’s not the real thing.  The truth of the matter is dry fire practice is extremely beneficial.  It lets you focus of the fundamentals of grip, stance, sight picture and trigger control without the distraction of recoil and report.  It lets you get hundreds of repititions of a specific movement burned into your brain so that it becomes second nature, for free.  You will not find one successful competitive shooter that will tell you dry fire practice is a waste of time.   So why are there so many people that discount training with a .22lr?   Mainly because they don’t understand it’s role in your training.   Training with a .22lr conversion kit on a 1911 cannot replace practice with your actual competition loads.  You need to practice at some point with the full recoil of the loads you will be shooting in competition.  You have to learn, and maintain recoil control.  You have to learn how to require your sight picture after every shot with your competition loads.  So in a way, the naysayers are partly right.  Practice with a rimfire is a lot like dry fire practice.  It can be very beneficial if done properly.  It’s sort of an in-between step for developing a skill.  Start by practicing the mechanics of a skill in dry fire practice.  Move to the rimfire and drill that skill in until its perfected.  You can run hundreds of repetitions before you even hit the cost of a box of .45 ACP ball ammo.  Then, once you have the skill pounded into your brain so that it is natural and automatic, move up to the full caliber load.  It will only take you a relatively few repetitions with your competition loads to incorporate the proper recoil management into the skill you are trying to learn.  Instead of going through $300 of ammo in one training session, your in for $30 – $50 with similar end results if not better.

Which reminds me, I recently let my brother-in-law try out the Glock 17 with the Tactical Solutions .22lr conversion (expect another article on that soon).  Afterwards, he said “I finally get it!”.   He like many others had believed the .22lr conversions were “gimmicky”, and that the money would be better spend on a Ruger 22/45,  Browing Buckmark, or the similar.  But after the converted glock, he’s itching to find a conversion for his Springfield XDM.  Now if someone would actually make one…..

On to the Kimber .22lr conversion kit.  There are quite a few conversion kits for 1911′s to chose from.  My personal requirements were that the conversion kit have a standard 1911 form factor and operate reliably.  The converted gun must be able to use the same holster and mag pouches.  Magazines must be readily available to purchase either online or at my local gun store.  My last requirement was that I can handle the kit in person prior to purchasing.  The only kit that I could find that met all these requirements was the Kimber .22lr conversion kit.  One of my local dealers had one in stock, on sale for a little less than $300, and plenty of spare mags available for purchase.  Sold.  They had one in a stainless looking finish, and one finished in black.  Both are some sort of paint finish.  I ended up picking up the black one because it closely matched the look of the slide on my Talo edition Ruger SR1911.

The Kimber .22lr conversion kit comes with the slide assembly, and one 10 round magazine.

The slide assembly consists of the slide with adjustable target sights, barrel, barrel bushing, and the recoil spring assembly.  The ejector is incorporated into the barrel.

The magazines are polymer, hold 10 rounds in a single stack configuration.  The one limitation of this kit is that it does not lock the slide back after the last round.  So it will be a little hard to practice slide lock reloads.  But on the plus side, it’ll do a pretty good job of making me practice my malfunction drills.

One of the nice design features of this kit is how the top of the magazine sit’s just barely below the chamber.  This provides for very smooth feeding of the rounds into the chamber.

Here you can see the ejector that is incorporated into the barrel and the extractor.

The barrel features a recessed target crown.

It looks pretty nice on the SR911 frame.

The one thing I wish I would like to change are the sights.  They are nice target sights, but they don’t replicate the sights I will be using in competition.  The sights are dovetail mounted, but the slide is cut for the adjustable target sights.

So how did it run?  Flawless so far.  I have a little over 1000 rounds of CCI MiniMags (40 gr solid) through it so far, and not the slightest sign of feeding or extraction issues.  If you’ve never run a 1911 with a rimfire conversion kit on it, your missing out.  How accurate is it?  I’ve been having so much fun with it, I’ve neglected to shoot for groups.  Most of the time I have on it so far has been shooting at a rimfire dueling tree and my Caldwell Shootin’ Gallery and have had no issue hitting the 2″ round plates from 10 yards.   So at this point, I’m willing to say, it’s adequate for my needs.  When I get a chance to shoot for groups, I’ll update with my results.

For $300 you can just about buy a dedicated .22lr pistol.  But in just the first 1000 rounds of .22lr, the conversion kit has almost paid for itself in ammo costs.

But then I saw the GSG-5 hanging on the wall.  I’ve been looking for one of these little gems for about six months with no luck, so I just couldn’t resist.  I gave up the idea of stocking up on more lower receivers and ended up getting the little GSG-5 instead.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with the GSG-5 it is a.22LR clone of the H&k MP-5.  It’s made by German Sports Guns who primarily makes airsoft guns, and it’s imported by American Tactical Imports.   The version that I purchased has the standard fixed stock, and a 16.25″ bbl with a fake suppressor that covers the portion of the barrel past the front sight post.  There is also a short barrel pistol version available also GSG-5P.

Here are the technical specs: GSG-5 Flyer in PDF

 Caliber: .22 LR
Action: Semi-Auto
Weight: 6.6 lbs
Length: 33.5″
Barrel Length: 16.25″
Magazine Capacity: 22

 One of the neat things about this gun is the availability of accessories.  German Sports Guns has already released a line of upgrade parts. 

The tactical handguard, vertical foregrip, dual magazine clamp, scope mount and the red dot sight seen above are justa few of the accessories available for the GSG-5.  Other official GSG accessories include a folding stock, colapsable stock, laser mount,  4×8 scope with weaver mounts and of course spare magazines in 22, 10 and 2 round configurations.  But that’s not the end of it.  Because the GSG-5 design is similar to GSG’s airsoft offering, there are tons of other accessories already available that can be installed with little to no modifications.

 How does it shoot?  This gun is pure fun.  I took it to the range to get everything dialed in and ended up putting about 600 rounds downrange.   At one point, I put six magazines through it at as fast as the range rules would tolerate (about 2 rounds per second) and ended up with a 1-3/4″ hole punched in the middle of the target at 50 yards.  That may not seem like a tight group, but putting132 consecutive rounds into a in an area less than 2″ at 50 yards rapid fire with iron sights is nothing to be ashamed of.  Add the fact that it was cheap federal bulk pack ammo, and it just brings a smile to my face.  Sure, it’s no tack driver, but it was never designed to be one.   By the way, I did not have one singe failure to fire or failure to feed.  It just ran and ran.

 I’m hoping to pick up one of the new Caldwell Shooting Galleries soon and this gun would be perfect in that application.  In fact, from what I’ve heard, they have become very popular at steel challenge matches.

I haven’t decided if I want to do any serious customizations yet, but I definately want to get a UMP style folding stock, a scope mount, and a red dot scope of some variety.

The only real problem I have with this gun was the price.  At $499 (MSRP) it isn’t cheap.  In my opinion it should be about $100 cheaper.  But demand is still outpacing supply, so dealers can get the full suggested retail price.  At the same time, I don’t regret paying full MSRP.

 And if MP5 isn’t your style, GSG has tentatively scheduled to release an .22LR AK Q1 of 2009.