Browning Hi-power 22lr conversion kit?

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candlejackstraw

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So I seem a little late to the game in trying to find a conversion kit for my browning Hi-power and FEG clones.

Does anyone still produce/sell 22lr conversion kits for these? Google searches seem to result in outdated ads and articles.

If you have one and find they aren't worth it, please let me know.
 
Ceiner is one of the companies where "Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances" Customer service is non existent. At least that was my experience a few years back, may be ok now.
 
Yea, I found the ciener on some of the more popular supply websites but they did not have an order option and it had said "discontinued." may just mean the websites no longer stock them I guess.
 
I bought a Ciener conversion for my 1911 from Midway USA a few years ago. Afterwards, Midway put the Ciener products on closeout.

There are several manufacturers of rimfire conversions for 1911 but the Ciener is the only one I have seen for the BHP.

I've been pleased with the performance of my Ciener conversion. I especially like the 15 round aluminum magazines.
 
Have a BHP kit, excellent quality and function. Got it directly from Ciener before his legal problems. Haven't found a forum anywhere that gave him high marks for customer service. Great product.....strange guy.

BHP-3_zpsb170fb75.jpg
 
Agreed. Both Brownells and Midway used to carry Ciener conversions, and both companies dropped him. This was before he was arrested and charged with mail fraud for taking payments and not shipping product, but even before his arrest he was notoriously difficult (or impossible) to deal with.

That said, I have two Ciener conversions for 1911s and they are both quality products, very well made, and function perfectly.

The only other conversion I have seen for the Hi-Power is one formerly made in Argentina for the FM Hi-Power. It's long-since discontinued, as far as I know. A few years ago Sarco was selling them through their ads in Shotgun News. I happened to see the ad while they still had some, and I snapped one up. I've never gotten around to shooting it; I was more interested in having it for the novelty, although I'll probably try it one of these days.
 
Aguila Blanca, the other BHP conversion kit you may be thinking about was the German designed Peter Stahls unit. I think they were marketed through Pachmyer and some other names. Here is a comparison photo of the Ciener and Peter Stahls version. Peter Stahls unit is 100% steel where Ciener is aluminum.

BHP%2022%20slides_zpsgivwh4e3.jpg
 
Most searches will give you similar stories of a pretty decent product, but terrible customer service. I have never dealt with him or his company. I've heard others that they will only buy second hand, possibly at a gun show, ebay, gun broker, or some other venue.

I've read the reports of his arrest and all that but have never heard if he served time or is still in or anything. I'm not even sure you can order anything, although the web site is up and from what I can see it was updated January of this year.

If your not in a huge hurry I would maybe watch places on the net and scrounge the gun shows in your area. Good Luck!
 
The Argentine made conversions still show up on eBay once in a while.

The ones I have are totally reliable, but are a bit rough on the insides where you can't see. (They are all steel.)

The only (very minor) gripe I have is that they don't duplicate the looks of the original Hi-Power, but make the gun look more like a SIG.
 
My Ciener one works better with the 32 lb mainspring than a 26lb one.

Also, I was running into issues with the kit not firing the gun. I tried [what I thought was] everything.

I now think that the rod that moves up from the trigger [trigger lever? Lifter?] to push up on the front of the sear bar [causing back to push on the sear] was a bit too wide and was sitting partially on the center rail of the Ceiner slide and partially on the sear bar.

I only came to this conclusion when I got a BHP .40 and put the kit on it. The kit worked more reliably there. I got to thinking and realized that the .40 trigger lever was about 1/2 as wide at the upper tip: maybe that was causing the interference on my 9mm framed BHP?


The Argentinian one is a MACS conversion kit.

I had it and got a used Ceiner kit to replace it with.

The MACS has a habit of allowing the sear pivot pin to bounce to the left, which prevents the slide from moving properly and makes take-down difficult.

The MACS has a threaded barrel for a tensioning nut that also adjusts the way it sits on the frame. I like this design, but live in California, where a threaded barrel on a semi-auto handgun is technically illegal.

The MACS kit I had didn't feed as reliably as the Ceiner, but it fired more reliably.

The Ceiner began to fire as reliably when I fixed the deformed firing pin [who would have thought a firing pin mushrooming might make inconsistent firing].

Ceiner is a pain to work with, but spare parts and magazines are accessible. If you are in a non-regulated to heck state, you can get higher capacity magazines too [14 rounds?], while California and others can only get 10 rounders.

If you are buying Ceiner, get the Ceiner with the adjustable sights. I want to replace my rear one with an adjustable, but haven't gotten around to it.

If you are buying Ceiner, it will be a trip down memory row to the days where you saw something for sale in a magazine. You mailed in your check/Money Order with the coupon from the magazine and a description of what you wanted. The parts arrived 2-6 weeks later. There was no contact in between. That is what working with Ceiner is like.

I ordered over $120 in parts from him, sent a check, and the parts arrived 3 weeks after the check cleared my bank: which matches his listed shipping/sales policies.

Whatever you do: enjoy.
 
I recently tried Ciener for a .22 conversion for my officer's 1911. I went directly to their website and ordered the Platinum model (top-of-the-line). Since I wanted it for an officer's frame, I contacted them directly to make sure I got the right conversion as well as the correct mags since they are shorter than the standard mags. I also wanted an additional (3rd) mag at the same time.

I ordered this even though I heard about the past horror stories about the CS but I figured that if the quality was there I could live with some rude dude with an attitude. I don't know if the old man is still involved but I was treated right, all my questions were answered professionally and they let me know (at my request) when they received my payment (Pay Pal), reverified that is was for an officer's 1911 and then when it was shipped.

Everything went off without a hitch. I was very happy with the service and quality. I am also very happy with the function. I did my usual fluff and buff on the slide and barrel and oiled it up well. It seems to like being run wet.
Initially I had a few failures to feed but I polished the ramp and the mag springs seemed to loosen up after a few cycles and now everything works great. I am very happy with the CS and the product. It was worth it for my gamble. Ciener has always made a good product but it's owner seemed to get in the way too much.



link to Ciener's BHP conversion:
http://www.22lrconversions.com/hpk-pg.htm
 
We''ve had two of them in the family over the years. Both were for 1911's and are now 10 -15 years old. Both are very accurate (sub-2" gps at 25 yds from a rest) and reliable. I do find that you have to keep the barrels clean: face of the breech block, and chamber especially. Too, you may have to experiment with lubrication for best reliability. I use Break Free on the rails and get 99% reliability with CCI's Mini-Mag solids. The HP's of any make tend to hang up on chambering.

Over all, they're good units, well built and reliable.

Rod
 
The charges were dismissed.
His terrible CS and policies did not reach criminal levels.
My understanding is every time someone contacted him about an order they were sent to the bottom of the list. Possibly due, in part, to the mechanics of the paper/manual order tracking system. Some impatient people basically never made it to the top.
I do think everyone ended up receiving their ordered product or a full refund and that someone else now handles orders and customer contact.
 
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I own two BHPs and now am considering purchasing a conversion kit to augment using(with current ammo costs) them. Probably going to go with Ceiner?
Steve
 
I own two Ciener conversions for 1911s and they are excellent products.

Since this thread has been revived after having lain moribund for five years, I'm going to close it/ If there are new, current questions about Hi-Power conversions, please start a new discussion.
 
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