by There were a handful of 1911’s at the NRA Annual Meeting in .22 LR. The one that was getting a lot of attention was the Browning 1911-22. It was the one pistol that everyone had to handle when they went to the Browning booth from what I saw.
It is supposed to be a 7/8’s version of the standard 1991 pistol. I’m not sure I’d agree with that. It felt smaller when you handled it. It almost had “cute” status. If I planned to get a 1911 in .22 for training purposes this wouldn’t be the one to get. The MSRP on the Browning 1911-22 is $600 which makes it bit expensive just for plinking.
The other 1911 in .22 LR that caught my eye was the one put out by Sig Sauer. Their 1911-22 is a full-size Government model pistol. I think it does have great potential for training as it is a full-size pistol. You have a pistol that fits your existing .45 ACP 1911’s holster, has roughly the same weight and operating controls, yet shoots ammo that costs about 2 cents a round instead of 35-40 cents a round. To top it off, the Sig Sauer 1911-22 has a MSRP of only $400. If it were me, I’d go with a dedicated pistol like this than with a conversion kit. As it is, this pistol is on my “to-buy” list.
Looking at the pictures, you can get a good size comparison because both pistols are held by the Complementary Spouse. You will notice that the Sig Sauer 1911-22 is much larger than her hand while the Browning 1911-22 fits almost in the palm of her hand.