I'm taking my 13 year old, ballerina daughter to Front Sight for Spring Break. She's strong but only as big around as a twig. I want her to get as much from the class as she can and not worrying about being beat up by the gun. I'm thinking of having her shoot my 23 with an Advantage Arms 22 conversion for the class. Do any of you have experience putting lots of rounds through one? Are they picky about ammo? Any other advise?
AA .22 conversion experience Drex I had one of the AA conversions for a G17 last year. I probably put three to four hundred rounds of the CCI copper plated "mini mags" through it. AA recommends the CCI mini mags and one other brand, but that brand escapes me. (maybe remington golden sabre? if that's even a brand?) Even with the CCI mini mags I still had failure to feeds with both magazines (I bought an extra) at least three times in each 100 round box. It was still a blast to play with, and I know four hundred rounds is probably just breaking it in. It's worth the dough, and I'm kicking myself for ever letting it go. I'm a poet and didn't know it. I would definately buy another if the situation ever presented itself. That's just my two cents.
I had two on backorder a couple years ago, the manager at my FFL gave up trying to get them after about 18 months. If you've got a line on them, snap them up quick, but if I were you, I'd make alternate plans for her gun.
Advantage Arms was only shipping through one distributor, and to the best of my knowledge, that distributor was only working with FFL dealers. Also to the best of my knowledge, there was no legal requirement that they do it that way, they just chose to. Apparently, AA wasn't producing the kits very fast, couldn't keep up with demand. This was a couple-three years ago now, all I know is the gun shop sat on my money for a long time, the manager gave up and offered me cash or store credit, which I dumped on ammunition that same day. I figure if AA wants to make it that difficult for me to give them money, they don't want it badly enough, and I'll go buy a dedicated .22 pistol from someone who does want it.
Yeah, for the price you could just a dedicated .22 pinker. S&W22A (my plinker) is like $250 retail (probably find a better deal online), better to have a dedicated .22 for emergency purposes... Don't want to have to scramble to replace the slide and find the proper mag to put real lead down.
I have been looking for one made by Advantage Arms lately (I can't find any dealer who has it or online) for target practice but I was told it was not a good idea to practice with it because I won't get used to the recoil of my Glock pistols. I think it made sense -- I've only owned my G26 for 2 years and my G17 for 2 months.
That's what I ended up getting after awhile. I wouldn't want to use that particular gun for a class like the one the OP is talking about, though.
Apparently, you didn't read the opening post. He's talking about taking his 13-year-old daughter to a handgun class, and was specifically looking for an option to allow her to shoot .22lr so she wouldn't get "beaten up" by the recoil from a service caliber. A large-frame target pistol like the S&W 22A, like you and I own, would probably not be a good option for his intended use. drexotic, how do you think she would handle a 9mm conversion and some light target rounds in that 23?
I purchased an Advantage Arms conversion for my G21. I use it for warm up and drills at the range instead of the 45. The lower receiver is the same so I have the same muscle memory and trigger control. The weight is much lighter, and of course the recoil is less. After I have put 100 or so rounds down range, off comes the .22 and on goes the 45. I can then put some down range with the same form, trigger control and sight picture as before.
She may do well with a 9 mm (and I can get a conversion or rent a 17 at the class for her) but I am concerned that 8 hours a day will be too much even in 9 mm. She has shot 40 S&W for an hour at a time but not at the rate she will at Front Sight. I thought about borrowing a Ruger 22/45 or similar 22LR semi-auto with the hopes that they may be more reliable, however, I'd like her to be familiar with the guns in our home that would be used for home defense and able to run them, and those guns are Glocks.
I had no problem finding one on GunBroker (I found local dealers (the Glock Store is here in San Diego) with other models but none with the 19/23). I paid a $50 premium to get it NOW.
The Advantage Arms conversions are all 22LR made for a 40 grain load (Remington Golden Bullets or Mini-mags).
The basic skills carry over pretty well from pistol to pistol; I think the recoil issue would probably be more important than the type of gun. I think if I were in your situation, I'd start her off at Front Sight with a 9mm Glock, and if she starts having issues with the recoil, swap in the Ruger to finish out the day. But yeah, if you can get the Advantage Arms kit, go for it. Worst case, you've got a new toy to play with.
