This is for the Advantage Arms 22Lr conversion for a Glock19/23 (small compact frame). They run $350 from the manufacturer but pretty much every dealer is selling them for $250. Right now (Dec 2009) they are next to impossible to get anywhere. It was only thanks to a fellow Rubi that I ended up with this at all!
The math is easy 9mm decent plink stuff is $20 for 100 if you can find the value packs (ya reloading is cheaper but lets keep this all retail, reloaders can make their own decisions). 40cal is $15 for 50 or $26 for 100 value packs IF you can find em. 22Lr (in the brands they "require") is $20 for 550 around here. Using these numbers in 10,000 shots you will spend about $2000 in 9mm or $2600 in 40cal or $370 in 22Lr so the $300 that you spend in the conversion pays for itself in less than 5000 rounds. You also get the added benefit of being able to shoot 22Lr from your Glock of choice.
Now onto the meat and taters.
I've got almost 2000 rounds through it in the past couple days (half mine). Between me and a few friends we shot up the better part of 4 boxes of Remington Golden.
I cleaned it at the end of the days shooting so probably around 1000 rounds without cleaning. I did lube it lightly, before use, as recommended in the "destructions" (I used Kroil to lube it and to clean it). I didnt do anything to the frame during the whole process.
Here are some shots of the kit.
closed with the papers that come with it:
Opened:
The kit itself came with some special requirements in ammo and lubrication. Heres a shot of the front and back of the "Orange card"
Here is the "Ammo reqs":
Here is the lubrication and other do's and dont's:
The slide is pretty much exactly as you would expect to see. It came with standard front and rear "white sights". They were plenty close to dead on to allow me to get my trigger squeeze issue with the Glock DA trigger under control (my personal bugaboo).
Here are a few shots of the slide as seen from behind:
Here is the actual rear sight mount from above (its just like a standard slide and can be switched with night sights if you want to add that to your training):
The slide appears a lot like a standard slide its a little lighter and the weight isnt distributed in quite the same way, it feels a little more front heavy while being overall about half the weight of a regular one:
There are some slight differences in the way the slide disassembles shown here.
This shot shows the slight difference in the buffer spring rod (note the "capt hat" shaped piece on the front) that goes into the front of the slide:
Also note the added "hook and tongue" that slide together in the slide (have to make sure they mate up or it doesnt assemble correctly). That hook slides in and out easily by hand so lining up the slot isnt all that hard, just something else that requires awareness. This is part of the ejector mechanism. Which is only marginally explained in the documentation:
The Magazine is all plastic and I dont know if it can be modified to take more than 10 rounds but that is the one major drawback of this kit (Made in Cali so no larger capacity mags).
They are also $25 a piece and Im pretty sure they are the weak link in the whole kit.
Here is a couple shots of the single mag that comes with it:
I hope to post another review after I have 10,000 rounds through it, and I hope its still going strong. Im also hoping to aquire at least 5 more mags and hopefully a slide for my large frame G20.