In advance, I truly appreciate the feedback I'm getting here with regards to my questions on the UZI

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I'm searching for the availability of the conversion kits, .45ACP and .22LR, or the Uzi SMG. I'm scouring gunbroker and other sites for parts/pieces and they seem to be few, far between, or out of stock. Any suggestion would be appreciated. Thank you.

If you have a registered bolt conversion gun, you won't be able to use either the 45 or 22 conversions.

For a factory gun, or unblocked registered receiver, the 45 kit is just a bolt and barrel swap, but the mags are rare like Hen's teeth and super expensive. Maybe some other company has made or will make some magazines for it to change that. I have a 45 bolt and barrel for my Uzis, but only two factory 45 magazines.

Couple different 22 kits have come out for it, but I don't have one, so don't have a whole lot of information to share. Someone else should be along shortly to flesh out the 22 kit information.

I've got a registered receiver. I'm assuming like the 9mm bolts I'll need a full auto .45ACP bolt or are they one in the same for that caliber? Check on the magazines. I have found a few but they are indeed expensive.

Yes, the 45 bolt needs to be full auto if you want it to rock and roll in your RR. I happened to get my 45 bolt, barrel and magazines in a package with the Uzi itself (along with standard 9mm setup), so didn't have to find them piecemeal.

If you haven't looked there already, there is a lot of good info over at Uzitalk.

.22LR conversions are available through Subgun Ordnance.

.45 conversions are a little harder to come by. Green Mountain has barrels. They are reportedly hit or miss. Mine works well. The bolts are the difficult part to find, and generally expensive when you do (I saw one go over $1100 on gunbroker a few years ago).

I wouldn't consider mags "rare as hens teeth". They are out there and not too difficult to find. But they typically run $100 to $150. Also, 16 rounds in full-auto is almost a let-down. Fortunately, ProMag makes a 22-round Uzi .45 mag, which actually works well.

The best option IMO, is a grease gun mag grip housing. Then you can use relatively inexpensive, high quality 30-round mags. Unfortunately, I don't know that anyone is currently making these either. So keep an eye out while scouring the used market for a bolt.

A year or so ago, Subgun Ordnance made mention they might do a run of bolts and barrels, but I haven't heard anything since. It might be worth an email to them.

You might also keep an eye out for a .40 conversion from BarrelXchange . They put out some neat stuff, but it's a small operation that only does small runs of things. Also obviously not a website designer. But it has contact info.

FWIW, I've got conversions for my Uzi in .22LR, .40, .357 Sig, and .45 (semi-auto only bolt). And I still shoot the gun 99% of the time in 9mm.

Regarding the 45 kits the are also conversions which allow use of M3 magazines. Besides the bolt and barrel you'll need the grip assembly.

Chris Humphreys built the one for my gun and it looks great and works fantastically. Not sure if he still does this as I bought mine about 10 yrs ago.

Edit- didn't see garretts post above.

I am a recreational, not competitor shooter.  I'd suggest that if you can, try both .45 ACP and .22 LR conversions before you buy them.  I have both, but am not too fond of either.  While the 45 unit worked flawlessly for day one, the .22 unit took some adjustments and modifications to some mags to work.  Uzitalk has a pinned thread of 'how tos'.  To me, .45 ACP is "chuggy", not smooth shooting like the 9 mm is.  Although the IMI mags only hold 16 (or 10) rounds, most shooters have had enough by the time the mag is empty.  I would guess the competitive shooter would want the M3 magwell grip unit.  I usually only use the .22 conversion for women and child shooters.  Unfortunately, with their smaller hand size the Uzi grip safety makes the trigger pull overly long and difficult.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to pursue.

I have bought a few conversion kits over the years and I will never even think of doing it again.

They're expensive, they never work good and the payoff is marginal.

Having an UZI fart out fifteen 22 rounds at 1200 rpm and then jam will not enhance the quality of your life that much.

As far as saving money goes, it'll be a while before you break even, those kits are expensive and 22 ammo is 6 cents a round.

By shooting 22, you're saving 22 cents - 6 cents = 16 cents a round.   That means 3000 rounds of 22 ammo just to break even and that means clearing at least 200 jams.  Blechhh.

The UZI is sized perfectly to shoot 9mm, and 9mm is a superb cartridge.  A caliber change is going to be a downgrade.


The UZI accessories worth getting are a red dot sight and mount and the solid wood buttstock for comfort.

I wouldn't even bother getting a suppressor.  The suppressor turns the gun from being "enormously loud" to "still pretty fucking loud".  

Get a LULA loader.

What can have you been using?  You sure you're not confusing the Uzi with a MAC?  With its heavy bolt, the Uzi has suppressed very well with pretty much any can I've ever used on it.

Are you only shooting your 22¢ supersonic ammo. Try some subs sometime.  Makes a world of difference.

subgun ordnance 22 kits work well but will likely require tweaking like all 22lr kits. BWE makes good mags for 22lr conversions and has a nice description of how to tune your 22 kit on uzitalk.  I love full auto 22lr. Yes, it can frustrate a little but it is a blast!

I find my UZI is very quiet with subsonic ammo and a suppressor. It is a worthwhile addition to your UZI kit.

I have never pursued a 45 cal conversion. Ammo is pricey, conversions are pricey and it does little more than 9 mm does already.

A microphone on a camera won't record how loud a gunshot is and a pc speaker wouldn't play it back that loud anyway.  Even a 12 ga sounds quiet on youtube.


I'm certainly not confusing my UZI with any other gun.  I have a 9mm bowers with the updated baffle stack.  Most people are happy with the sound suppression from that combination.

Most suppressed guns meter out to around 130 db, that's as loud as a police siren.  unsuppressed guns are around 160 db

Since your ear was not designed for loud sounds like that, the noise is perceived as quieter than it is. There is a difference in sound volume vs perceived loudness that has been studied in detail.

The drop in noise from 160+ db to 130 db due to the suppression is a huge difference but I always end up wearing hearing protection.  Maybe I'm sensitive to sound?

I don't like the way the UZI handles with a suppressor on it.  It seems clunky to me.

You guys got me thinking about this, so today I shot my UZI and used factory 147 grain ammo for the first time.

WOW what a difference.  Very quiet!

Previously I had been shooting my 147 gr. handloads and apparently my handloads were breaking the sound barrier.   The factory loads I shot today were an order of magnitude quieter.

I'm going to have to get a chronograph and see what kind of velocities my handloads were running at.

A chrono is a must when trying to formulate loads that are reliably subsonic.  I forget how much noise the sonic crack adds but it substantial.

I believe faster burning powders for subsonic loads can also get you more quiet.  It's probably not much, but you'll want all the combustion in the barrel.

I'm of the opinion that an SMG works best with a nice stiff recoil spring and full power ammo.  

I always use Unique because it's supposed to be "the" 9mm powder.

I never exceed max loads as listed in the manuals.  The alliant manual shows my charge weight at 950 fps but the BBTI website shows 1060 fps out of a 10" barrel.  

I'm right at sea level where the speed of sound is 1100 fps.  Maybe the suppressor was boosting them to supersonic.  Or maybe the loads were slightly hot due to low moisture content in the powder.

Theoretically, I was only around 50 fps lower than the speed of sound out of the 10" barrel. That's only around 4% lower.

So obviously I was getting supersonic crackle.

I'm glad I finally tried the speer ammo, I was blaming my suppressor for the noisy suppression I got from my handloads.

I have both caliber conversions . The 22 took a little work and is a hoot to shoot , The .45 is fun but needs bigger mags . I rarely use it . I have grabbed some GG mags and an extra magwell but it is down the project list

+1, I also have both for my own Uzi

I have both kits and a grease-gun lower.

For those that like the 45 better than the 9mm, you need to get a set of buffers and try the 9 again.

Something I learned on UziTalk not long ago was that TACCOM sells an Uzi mag coupler ($30, IRRC).  To add more .45 capacity, I've thought about getting the coupler and using a .45 mag on top and a 32 round 9 mm mag on the bottom.  Should be good for about 35 or so rounds.