Good evening Fella's,
I'm considering buying a conversion kit for my AR-15's (automatic rifle-15 LOL, Wino Bill, get it?). I have heard some say, it may be good to have a upper just to shoot .22 LR. Thoughts? Pro's? Con's? I do have a Norinco 20" 1-12 upper, I was going to use for a build, but under the current climate, I was going to sell off any extra AR-15 kit. So what I am saying, I could keep it just for shooting .22 . 1-12 would be excellent for .22LR no? Although, if no real adverse affects on a barrel rifling excreta, I have no problems shooting threw the regular 1-7 / 1-9 uppers.
Thanks, I no someone will have some practical guidance.
3-charlie
The big thing is that you want a system that is >99% reliable, otherwise its just a pain in the ass.
That said there are two ways to do this:
- .22 CMMG bolt kit.
I have one and it runs 100% reliable with all ammo (it does not need mini mags to cycle, must NOT shoot stingers).
It is super convenient, just pull the bolt out and plop it in in 5 seconds. It is reasonably accurate but the twist rate of the 5.56 barrel is wrong for .22 so it loses a lot of accuracy. there are people on YouTube getting pretty good accuracy though.
Other pros is that you can use your AR furniture, incl optics. Bad is that point of aim is different and mine is not just low its also a bit left. So before I use it I have to dial my scope a few clicks and then back which is a bit of a PITA. I also suspect that 5.56 and .22 have differently deep rifling that isnt great for .22 lead bullets but I only suspect that and dont know for sure. CMMG says you need to clean the barrel every 200-300 or so round (would have to look it up) which is ridiculous but probably needed to prevent leading and fouling.
Some people just fire a few 5.56 rounds through to "clean" it... if you do have lead buildup then that might not be the best of ideas but have not heard of issues.
There are also people saying it will clog your gas tube, which is possible and probably fixed by shooting 5.56 every so often. I dont know for sure.
Over all I love my CMMG bolt set. its cheap and works well. You can shoot the AR without going deaf.
- .22 Upper
there are several companies who offer those, CMMG for example and again get one that runs 99% reliable or else its just a painful waste of money. I bought a used .22 CMMG upper and it did not work at all, which is strange and probably an exception. On the interwebz people have good things to say about them. But like everything, good luck finding them in Canada.
Those things will solve all issues with leading, fouling, twist rate and point of impact but you will need its own optic for it.
Cons for all of those things is that your AR will likely be confiscated and those .22 things wont do any good for you.
Personally, since I like shooting my AR but cant stand the noise from 5.56 I would get a CMMG .22 upper but I wont because the fascists will likely take the ARs. if thats not a concern to you then get a .22 upper
