Colt 1911 22LR kit

[Chickenthief]

Since the Webley "story" was a hit i thought you might find this little oddity interesting.

Well there is 2 interesting things in this thread:
1) It is a Norwegan Kongsberg Colt 1914 and that needs a little info.
The Norwegans tested umpteen different handguns to replace the anemic 7,5mm (.308") Nagant revolver in the early 1900’s and the winner was John Moses Brownings venerable 1911. An interesting titbit is that the Norwegans produced the 1911 from 1914 to 1945 and it + the magazines has a lanyard loop throughout despite the fact that a lanyard was never issued! It was done because it was on the original drawings from Browning and he did it because the US cavalry requested it. Monkey see monkey do?
Something like 32700 was made so they are rare from get go yet cheaper here than a multi million made US model (go figure). Mine was made in 1921.

For those not familiar with the 1911 it has grooves in the slide + barrel that interlocks while the bullet is still in the barrel and thus is not a true blowback action. As you can see the barrel is unlocked when it moves back and lowers on the link.


2) In the 1920’s it was deemed to expensive to let all recruits practise with 45 ACP rounds and a 22 firing kit was requested. A worker on Kongsberg did this model on his own time and got royalties for every kit made. A little over 2000 kits was made so he didnt get fat on that one ;-)
The thing is that the ”cartridges” are loaded with a 22LR and the recoil alone drives the action and because it hass a floppy low power spring it will actually rack the slide and load a new ”cartridge".
Because the action is converted to true blow back the barrel and slide doesnt interlock and the barrel is mounted in the lowered position. The up/down movement of the standard barrel is slightly under 1/10" and just enough so the firing pin will set off a rimfire. That means that the barrel is in an upward position and if bored/rifled through the center will shoot way high. Solved by boring it off center at the muzzle. The bore and "cartrides" are centered at the chamber but the bore droops at the front.
Neat solution right?
The ”cartridges” are made so they do not step down in the case to bullet step wich means that a 45ACP can be chambered but the slide cant go forwards enough for the firing mechanism to work. Again neat solution.

Because i ”know it all” there is probably a lot i have omitted so please feel free to ask questions. Knowledge is no fun if it is’nt shared.

[Edward Tinker]

Outstanding description and pictures

[DonVoigt]

Oddly enough , the Norwegian "Colts" are not rare in the US, and also usually sell for less than their US military counterparts.

Many were imported when surplused by Norway and sold here.

Thanks for the pictures, got to love the off center bore so the centerfire pin could be used un-modified.

[sheepherder]

If I had 50 of those 'sabot' rounds, I'd lose 10 of them each time I fired...

[Sergio Natali]

I enjoyed reading about these 22 lr Kongsberg Colts, thanks for posting.