Question for Colt Government Model experts

G

gyvel

New member
Does anyone have a source to look up (or know) the approximate number of fixed sight Colt .22 Conversion Kits produced as opposed to the adjustable sight ones?
 
Never say never, but I didn't know there were any fixed sight conversion kits. Do you have any more information? (I assume you mean .22-45 Conversion kits; if not, forget what I wrote above.)

Jim
 
Never say never, but I didn't know there were any fixed sight conversion kits. Do you have any more information? (I assume you mean .22-45 Conversion kits; if not, forget what I wrote above.)
Click to expand...

No information other than the one I purchased in the 80s. I had a hunch that they weren't a common item as the one I bought was the only one I had ever seen, but they were listed in Colt's product inventory. (And the kit was for conversion from .45 to .22.)
 
As I recall there were some but they were not popular and didn't sell very well. Nobody except Colt would know how many were made. Likely not many so probably a collector item by now. Of course, isn't everything from Colt a collectible?
 
When talking about the postwar 45 to 22 conversion units Clawson in his book on the Colt .45, Gov. Models (Commercial Series) mentions that,

"From around 1981 through 1983, about 3,000 were specially made as follows:
Slide serrations -- vertical
rear sight -- fixed"

So at least those were made, but there might have been others also.
 
Thanks, Dakota. Evidently you have a later addition than I do. My edition, Page 74, does not mention those special order units. If they are the only ones, then the figure of 3000 would seem to be the number of fixed sight units made, a very large number for a conversion unit. It must have been a government contract (foreign?) of some sort as I can't imagine a dealer or distributor ordering that many of something that would have had very limited sale.

Does anyone have a picture of a fixed sight .22-45 conversion unit?

Jim
 
No picture of that unit, just the ones with adjustable sights. It is the 2nd Edition of the book by the way. Agree about it must have been some contract for somebody, probably military.
 
"From around 1981 through 1983, about 3,000 were specially made as follows:
Slide serrations -- vertical
rear sight -- fixed"
Click to expand...

Great! Thanks for that info. Like Jim K, I have the older edition of Clawson's book which has no data on it.

Yes. That's exactly the time frame that the store I worked in got one from the distributor. Since I already had one with adjustable sights, I snatched that one up as a companion, and I actually prefer to shoot it over the adj. sight unit.

It might be a "collector's item" (see my thoughts on "collectormania" in other posts), but one thing mine isn't collecting is dust.:D
 
I shot my conversion unit some, but it is a PITA to keep clean and I have two original Ace models that are easier to maintain if I want to go that route. In fact, though, I prefer my Ruger Mk I to any of the .22 caliber versions of the Colt 1911.

Jim
 
I googled "colt conversion fixed sights", and pics came up of units with numbered slides, meaning pre-war, and at least one had the same black box as my circa 1950 conversion, so there could have been some early post-war units, too.

EDIT: Some of units are .45-.22s, so some more sleuthing would be required to determine in how many eras there were fixed-sight .22-.45 units produced.
 
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