I received a new Advantage Arms 17-22 Law Enforcement .22LR Conversion Kit for my Glock last night. I took it to the range this morning and put it on my Glock 34 frame. Here are my initial thoughts.
I had a small amount of trouble getting the slide mounted. I eventually figured out that the recoil spring assembly was blocking the slide. The barrel lug has a very, very small notch for the recoil spring guide. You have to make sure that the guide is exactly in the notch or it will drop down and block the slide from going back on the frame.
Once I got it assembled, I loaded the magazine. The magazines are nice, but could (and should) hold greater than 10 rounds. The magazine has plastic feed lips, which I’m not sure I like, but which seem to work for now. The relatively tall feed lips made it a little harder for me to load the little .22LR rounds in the magazine with my fat fingers, at first. I used the magazine loader and eventually found a way to load rounds by hand. It takes some practice.
Actually shooting the gun was the best part of the trip. After reading other comments online, I decided to use CCI Mini-mags to break in the new slide. I fired 100 rounds without a single problem. Out of the box, the gun fired slightly left of point of aim. With the adjustable rear sight, I was able to dial it in quickly. (FYI: on the Glock adjustable rear sight, the rear screw adjusts elevation and the front screw adjusts windage.) The gun has very little recoil, despite the light weight of the polymer frame. It’s very controllable and I would not hesitate to take a new shooter out with this slide.
After the 100 rounds, I switched to Remington Golden Bullets, which most people recommended for use after breaking in with CCI Mini-mags. I started to run into some problems. I had 1 failure to extract that caused a double-feed. The slide was able to come forward enough to strip the next round off the top of the magazine and drive it up the feed ramp. The pressure of the second round trying to enter the chamber wedged the case into the chamber. It would not come out with repeated attempts to rack the slide. After removing the magazine and locking the slide back, I was able to use the included cleaning rod to knock the shell casing out of the chamber. I also had 1 failure to feed with the Golden Bullets.
The jams could have been caused by a number of factors, not the least of which is that I had already fired 100+ rounds before the jam occurred. I will use Golden Bullets exclusively next time to see if the culprit is bad ammo. I will also try shooting more than 100 rounds of Mini-mags, too.
After shooting with the .22 slide, I switched back to my 9mm slide. I found that my shooting was more consistent. I was definitely more aware of my fundamentals after practicing with the lower-recoiling .22LR.
So far, I am very glad that I purchased the Advantage Arms slide. I really like that it keeps the regular Glock controls, including locking the slide back on the last round. The mag catch and slide stop levers work as expected and the trigger pull was almost exactly the same as with the 9mm slide. It is a lot cheaper to shoot and allows me to focus on my shooting fundamentals. (As an additional benefit, it is a lot harder to see .22 caliber holes in the target. That means I am less prone to “search for the hole” and can focus on keeping my focus on my front sight.)
Bottom Line: I highly recommend the Advantage Arms Conversion Kit for Glock.
I had a small amount of trouble getting the slide mounted. I eventually figured out that the recoil spring assembly was blocking the slide. The barrel lug has a very, very small notch for the recoil spring guide. You have to make sure that the guide is exactly in the notch or it will drop down and block the slide from going back on the frame.
Once I got it assembled, I loaded the magazine. The magazines are nice, but could (and should) hold greater than 10 rounds. The magazine has plastic feed lips, which I’m not sure I like, but which seem to work for now. The relatively tall feed lips made it a little harder for me to load the little .22LR rounds in the magazine with my fat fingers, at first. I used the magazine loader and eventually found a way to load rounds by hand. It takes some practice.
Actually shooting the gun was the best part of the trip. After reading other comments online, I decided to use CCI Mini-mags to break in the new slide. I fired 100 rounds without a single problem. Out of the box, the gun fired slightly left of point of aim. With the adjustable rear sight, I was able to dial it in quickly. (FYI: on the Glock adjustable rear sight, the rear screw adjusts elevation and the front screw adjusts windage.) The gun has very little recoil, despite the light weight of the polymer frame. It’s very controllable and I would not hesitate to take a new shooter out with this slide.
After the 100 rounds, I switched to Remington Golden Bullets, which most people recommended for use after breaking in with CCI Mini-mags. I started to run into some problems. I had 1 failure to extract that caused a double-feed. The slide was able to come forward enough to strip the next round off the top of the magazine and drive it up the feed ramp. The pressure of the second round trying to enter the chamber wedged the case into the chamber. It would not come out with repeated attempts to rack the slide. After removing the magazine and locking the slide back, I was able to use the included cleaning rod to knock the shell casing out of the chamber. I also had 1 failure to feed with the Golden Bullets.
The jams could have been caused by a number of factors, not the least of which is that I had already fired 100+ rounds before the jam occurred. I will use Golden Bullets exclusively next time to see if the culprit is bad ammo. I will also try shooting more than 100 rounds of Mini-mags, too.
After shooting with the .22 slide, I switched back to my 9mm slide. I found that my shooting was more consistent. I was definitely more aware of my fundamentals after practicing with the lower-recoiling .22LR.
So far, I am very glad that I purchased the Advantage Arms slide. I really like that it keeps the regular Glock controls, including locking the slide back on the last round. The mag catch and slide stop levers work as expected and the trigger pull was almost exactly the same as with the 9mm slide. It is a lot cheaper to shoot and allows me to focus on my shooting fundamentals. (As an additional benefit, it is a lot harder to see .22 caliber holes in the target. That means I am less prone to “search for the hole” and can focus on keeping my focus on my front sight.)
Bottom Line: I highly recommend the Advantage Arms Conversion Kit for Glock.
