Advantage Arms Glock Full-Size .22lr Conversion Review

Call me crazy, but I like shooting Glocks, especially with one of these conversions.

Item reviewed is the L.E. conversion for Glock full-size 9mm/40SW/357SIG/45GAP frames.

How Does It Work?
With the conversion slide installed, the pistol works just like a factory Glock pistol. Unlike some conversions, the slide will lock back after the last round is fired, quite important if you are using the kit to practice reloading, or you are using the pistol in action matches. The conversion slide has a firing pin safety, similar to the Glock firing pin safety, so you still have all 3 safety devices working.

The only thing that bugs me is the magazines not dropping free, which I plan to remedy with a weight screwed to the floorplate. Weighted floorplates for Glock magazines will not work because the AA floorplates are smaller.

As it came, the tang on the firing pin was too long, resulting in a long creepy trigger pull. Rather than sending it back, I opted to measure and stone, and measure and stone, until it matched the Glock firing pin tang protrusion. After that, the trigger pull matched up with the stock Glock slide really well.

Sighting
I’m not a huge fan of the sights, but that’s more Glock’s fault than AA’s. The front sight is too wide for much precision. The sights can be adjusted to match point of impact to point of aim, but I’m not sure that the rear sight will hold a zero, since the insert is held above the body of the sight. A frame mounted red dot scope is great, and I’m thinking about getting the adjustable sight set from Custom Glock Racing for when I’m not using the scope. I’ve not had any problems with the Carver Hunter scope mount with the AA conversion kit that I could directly attribute to the scope mount.

Recoil
There is recoil, but it’s just a small fraction of what you get with even a light-loaded 9mm. It’s not too hard to shoot as fast as you can pull the trigger, and still keep all your shots on an index card at 7 yards. The pistol just shakes a bit, and then the sights settle back down on the target.

Reliability
Things were a little rough at first, even with the MiniMags recommended, but I think it’s broken in now. I’ve gone a few hundred rounds of MiniMag solidpoints without any issues. I’ve only run a hundred Super-X high velocity 40gr. solids through it, but I didn’t have any stoppages. The cheap Federal bulk ammo works, to a point; I’m getting stovepipe jams and duds, but it makes for really cheap practice.

A (Vanek) competition trigger kit doesn’t seem to make any difference in reliability. I did have light strikes using a reduced power striker spring, using MiniMags. I am experimenting with cut down Wolff factory power striker springs.

Accuracy
I’m not a great bullseye shooter, I’d rather plink steel targets or bowling pins. I was hitting the 6x8” plates at 50 yards most of the time from the bench with the Glock adjustable sights and a smooth 5 pound trigger pull.

With the 5MOA dot scope mounted, and the Vanek trigger, I managed to shoot a 1” group at 25 yards with MiniMags. Like I said, I’m not a great bullseye shooter, so this truly shocked me. I even had a guy looking to become a member at the range looking over my shoulder at the time.

I’m very happy with the kit. My Ruger Mk.II has not run as reliably as the AA upper since the grip frame started to come off the receiver. The converted Glock is faster to reload, and there are mag funnels available. A converted Glock would be about perfect for a rimfire action pistol match, since many other conversion uppers don’t lock open when empty, and many dedicated rimfire pistols are slow to reload, and there aren’t many racing parts available for rimfire pistols.

I carry and compete with Glocks, so the inexpensive trigger time is greatly appreciated. I can easily tuck the conversion slide and a couple magazines into my range bag, but stuffing in another full size pistol is not always an option.

JP Enterprises Glock Magazine Funnel Review

It's really more like a bowl with the flat bottom cut out than it is a funnel. It is light, it looks pretty good (matte black), it feels pretty good on the grip, and it fits in the IDPA box. Dawson makes a lightweight funnel that's IDPA ESP class legal too. The lightweight Dawson ICE mag funnel is the better product. I think that even slug plugs work better for getting the mag into the pistol quickly.

Uncle Mike's Belt Holster with Thumb-Snap Review

I'm going to keep this one short, because I've already done a review of the UM paddle holster, and this one is mostly the same.

I ordered this one for large frame Glocks (20, 21, 21SF). It fits all Glocks pretty well, and the Marui Airsoft G17, which is slightly oversized. The G17 and G26 wiggle back and forth a bit in the holster, but it still works.

The thumb-snap is adjustable to a degree, but basically it sucks. The paddle that you'd flip off with your thumb is too small, and hard to hit consistently on the first try. The snap strap is entirely removable. I'm going to work on modifying it to work, or I might just start from scratch with some leather and kydex.

The belt loop itself will fit a 1.75" wide belt. There are slots in the loop for a 1.5" belt. It works well with either size belt. I think it may even work with the really wide military pistol belts, but I haven't tried it yet. The belt loop is pretty wide, and leaves the holster hanging pretty far out from your body. The holster with the belt loop is not really suitable for concealed carry, and will probably not pass as a legal IDPA holster at many ranges.

Some Gun Porn

My second G17. Has these Heinie sights, Seattle Slug Plug, and a polished trigger bar. This is my fall/winter/spring carry pistol, test mule, and iron-sight competition pistol. I used this for the Lone Wolf connector review, and in the last DCFS match. I bought it used for $399.99. It is scratched and has a good bit of holster wear.

My pocket gun, a Kahr PM9. I've been carrying this pretty much all the time. It works well as long as I keep my thumbs clear of that huge slide release lever.

This one is for sale. Dad's Taurus .41Mag. It's a nice revolver, but I like Glocks, in case you didn't notice. Stainless, 2 1/2" barrel, 3 ports on either side of front sight, 5-Shot cylinder, origional box and papers, both keys for built-in lock. I have some .41Mag ammo that I'll sell with it if you buy face-to-face. I have a leather pancake holster for this one somewhere. This pistol is not a bear to shoot, the ports tame some of the muzzle flip, and the rubber "ribber" grips soak up some of the kick. This one is practially new.

Remington Custom Shop 40-XRBR. It is based on a heavy Remington 700 action. I'm not sure what's on it in the pic, but the rifle now has a Sightron 36x mounted on it. The barrel tuner was not on it for the picture for some reason. I can usually shoot 249s or better on a USBR target at 25 yards, 230-243 at 50 yards.

My tack drivin' 10/22. KIDD barrel and trigger. Glass bedded Bell & Carlson stock with bicycle seat post stock extensions. This one shoots just about as well as the bolt action above. Scope is a Simmons 8-32x, made in Japan. I had Kid set the trigger at 6 oz.

My tack drivin' 10/22, and my beater 10/22. The beater is a black 10/22 with the stainless barrel that came with the tack driver. The trigger group in the beater is the one that used to be in the tack driver - Volquartsen trigger with overtravel stop, JB weld mod, Volquartsen Hammer. The trigger pull is pretty crisp and around 3.25 pounds. The beater will get a red dot mounted some day. Magazine is a Butler Creek Hot Lips 25 rounder, and it works really well. I call it the beater, because pretty much all I do with it is run through the 25 round mags as fast as I can while still keeping the shots on target at 7 or 10 yards.

My Glock 17 racegun. I used to have a Tasco PDP2 mounted on top, but no amount of tuning would completely keep brass from bouncing off the scope and back into the ejection port. So now it's got a Burris FastFire, which I can mount far enough forward that it doesn't interfere with ejection. The FastFire is mounted on a plate that I cut from a piece of aluminum, to fit the Carver Hunter Scope Mount. It has a Vanek Production trigger kit, Lone Wolf extended mag catch, KKM drop-in barrel with the leade cut longer for 9mm major loads, SJC 9mm Major Comp, and JP mag funnel. I think the stainless captured guide rod is a Lightning Strike model, but I don't really remember. The slide racker, hanging off the rear of the slide is a Mako unit, which I've taken off, because I don't need it anymore with the FastFire sight.

I swapped the 9mm ejector for a .40S&W ejector, back when I had the Tasco on it. It helped kick out the brass better. I could switch back to the 9mm ejector now, but it's working fine as is, so I'm not going to mess with it.

Someday, I will replace the JP mag funnel with a Dawson ICE funnel. The JP funnel kinda sucks. The barrel will be reamed for longer 9mm Major rounds shorty. Besides cutting the scope mounting plate down flush with the mount, ICE funnel, and maybe a GlockWorx adjustable trigger, it's about finished.

Crossbreed Super-Tuck Part 2

My Super-Tuck IWB holster (brief review of it here) cracked, so I sent it back a couple weeks ago. Today I received a brand new holster with the new SnapLok belt clips, a little bit more of a front sight channel, and Tee-Nuts rather than the aluminum Chicago screw posts. I'll keep you posted on the new version as I get to use it a bit more.

I had been using a horsehide Galco Ultimate Second Amendment (see a brief review here) holster while the Super-Tuck was back at the shop. It wasn't quite as comfortable, but it did work pretty decently.

UPDATE, 9/12/2010:  New one cracked a couple months ago. The crack doesn't seem to be spreading, so I haven't done anything with it yet. I'll make my own with thicker Kydex someday.

UPDATE, 8/18/2012:  The kydex holster body finally broke in two on Monday.
Crossbreed Super-Tuck Part 4

NEW - Reviews Now Listed on the Right

I've added a list of my reviews to the blog. You will find the list on the right side of the page under the purpose statement. I imagine that's what gets people here, and I figured that I should make them easier to find.

Some day I will probably have enough that I'll need to break them down into categories.

I've also made the text in the Streamlight review a legible size.

Last Action Pistol Match of '07 at DCFS

Just shot the last action pistol match of the year at Delaware County Field & Stream. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, considering that I was using iron sights and a 5 pound trigger. Took me 10 shots to take down the stupid bowling pins, no surprise there. Shot mostly A's on the IPSC targets, 2 C's and a Mike on either the swinger or the one half covered by the hostage. I think I might make the top 5.

The MPearcex mag pouches and Uncle Mike's kydex belt holster worked well enough. I need to make a couple more belt keepers though.

I've got vacation days to burn, so I'll probably be hitting the steel and IDPA matches at Classic Pistol through the end of the year.

EDIT: Didn't do nearly as well as I thought. I came in around 10th. I think I need to work on shooting faster and okay, over sorta fast and good. . . and practice shooting pins.

Streamlight TLR-1 Weapons Light Review

I wrote this for the Midway site a few months ago. I've shot a few hundred more rounds of 9mm, and a few hundred 22s, with it on the G17. The thumbscrew mounting makes it more cumbersome to remove and put back on if your home defense pistol is also a concealed carry pistol. Somebody posted that powder fouling had stained the lens of their TLR, but I don't have that problem with mine.

I'm not totally thrilled with the rotating switch. It's a little hard to remember which way to turn the switch for momentary-on and constant-on, expecially since up is constant-on on one side, and momentary-on on the other side. The switch does feel pretty sturdy though.

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Fits nicely on my Glock 21, and snaps onto a Picatinny rail on my AR-15 without an adapter or changing anything. I have fired a few hundred rounds of .45 with the light mounted, including a 50 round box of HOT Federal HST +P. The light is not as quick to mount/dismount as some lights, but if you tighten the screw with a coin, it will be on there for the long haul. With the screw finger tight, the light got loose after a box or two of ammo, but did not fall off. I have not tried driving nails with it, or anything crazy like that, but it seems like a very durable light. The LED is similar in brightness to my incandescent Surefire E2E, but the bright white TLR spot makes the Surefire spot look yellow in comparison.