Title says it all. My brother has a WW2 Remington Rand 1911 and I want to get him a good .22 upper for it. By good I mean "goes bang 99.99% of the time in my actual shooting experience (or something similar but ammo sensitive)", not an upper capable of making one hole at 50 yards and not a Ruger Mark 4 22/45 because that is so much better.

What says the Forum? Please and thank you for your time.

:-)

Advantage Arms in my experience. Very reliable, inexpensive mags, slide locks open when empty. If you use the recommended ammo it's nearly 100% IME.

you want a marvel. but I've no serious issues with my Kimber, AA or tacsol with ammunition they like.

I don't know about "best", but the Marvel unit I had was accurate and reliable.

I have a Cierner made Kimber 22 conversion that runs like a clock.

My Nelson - based on Marvel design - shoots very well.

I've owned two Ciener .22 conversions for my 1911's over the years. No bobbles, reasonable price.

Friend had one also. Ciener's been around for decades.

I've used Marvel and Nelson. Nelson is my preference.

quote:

Originally posted by mlazarus:
Nelson is my preference.

Another vote for Nelson. For a little extra $, they custom-milled the upper to mount my Burris Fastfire 2 red dot sight.

Cierner closed pre Covid. 40 year run--then retired.

My Marvel runs great and is accurate enough, that I used to use it in bullseye competitions. It was supposed to lock the slide back after the last round was fired, but that feature was never reliable for me.

A friend has a Colt conversion kit with the floating chamber. It is awesome until the chamber freezes due to lead build up. Then it’s not awesome. I love that it’s original, but it’s a lot of work to keep running.

^^^ Yeah, I owned one several decades ago. Got rid of it for that reason. My understanding was that the leading issues were near random. Some had it, some didn't. Mine had it.

My conversion unit runs great. I wouldn’t pick it however due to expensive and fiddly magazines.

Remington Rand--leave it as is--lot of value in that pistol. Leave it as is.

I liked my tacsol better than the kimber I had. But I don’t think tacsol does .22 conversions for 1911’s anymore.

I have three Marvels, but it sounds like an Advantage Arms would would suit you for about $200 less.

quote:

Originally posted by SgtGold:
I have three Marvels, but it sounds like an Advantage Arms would would suit you for about $200 less.

Thanks. This was in my head because all he needs is a cheap plinker he can use.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGfourme:
Remington Rand--leave it as is--lot of value in that pistol. Leave it as is.

It's not in original shape, my father "bullseyed" it back in the day putting a new front sight and bomar sights on the end. Plus the thought was to use the upper to not mess it up any more. The upper just comes off and on like the "original (see above)" slide without the PITA of getting a new gun in CA.

Thanks everyone, I think Advantage is the way to go. Appreciate this!