22LR AR's - which one?
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The Mossberg 715 is not a .22 AR, everything is different. The S&W 15-22 is pretty close. The only difference between it and my DDM4 is the S&W doesn't have a forward assist or a dust cover over the ejection port. I think it is a great training substitute. The biggest disadvantage is that the mags are limited to 10 rounds and it is restricted so limited to range use only. The 10 round limit reduces some of the fun, but since I run 10 rd LAR mags in my DDM4 I have to change mags after the same number of round which enhances training.
Mine needed some higher velocity rounds at first to break it in, but after a few hundred rounds of Remington Yellow Jackets, CCI Stingers and Fed Auto Match plus a good cleaning and lube it is now running very reliably on Fed bulk ammo.
A guy I met at the range had a brick of 500 Yellow Jackets and was nice enough to give me a few 50 round cardboard boxes. The CCI Stingers come in a 100 round plastic box.
The Win M22 were a bust for me. However, .22's are funny beasts and you will see that from ammo recommendations. I installed a third party firing pin on my upper at one point that improved ignition and cut down on "light strikes" You can improve your odds a bit like that. However what works in one gun may not in another.
After a few bad experiences I have given up on all Winchester ammo. All my .22s seem to like Fed Auto Match, luckily I bought two 5,000 round cases when I had the chance. My DAR 22 and GSG 22 do not like Fed Bulk, but the SR22 and CMMG AR-22 both seem to like it.
Minimags, check.
I ordered a bunch of Federal 36 gr HP Champion bulk and a box of Winchester M22. Not holding my breath for the Winchester but still worth a try. Worst case scenario, I will shoot the Winchester M22 with a lever action Henry along with the Winchester 333 garbage I have left over.
CMMG BOHA UPDATE:
I was checking the Questar website a few weeks ago and noticed that they had 1 CMMG BHOA in stock. So I decided to order it along with 2 of the CMMG 2nd gen mags. The package arrived on Tuesday. Tuesday night I tinkered and fiddled and adjusted, but I could not get the BHOA to work on an empty mag. I was so frustrated, I was considering returning the whole lot to Questar. Tonight I tried again, after watching several YouTube vids on installation and adjustment of the BOHA, and success! At least everything seems to work correctly, in my basement. It did require switching the bolt catch spring on the lower, so I hope this will not cause problems with the 5.56 upper. I will take it to the range on the weekend and see for sure. Hopefully the gen 2 mags work better than my previous gen 1 CMMG mags.
FYI ....unfortunately the BOHA does not work with any of my Black Dog mags. (clarification: you can use the BD mags with the BHOA installed, but the bolt slams closed when you remove the empty magazine)
I was checking the Questar website a few weeks ago and noticed that they had 1 CMMG BHOA in stock. So I decided to order it along with 2 of the CMMG 2nd gen mags. The package arrived on Tuesday. Tuesday night I tinkered and fiddled and adjusted, but I could not get the BHOA to work on an empty mag. I was so frustrated, I was considering returning the whole lot to Questar. Tonight I tried again, after watching several YouTube vids on installation and adjustment of the BOHA, and success! At least everything seems to work correctly, in my basement. It did require switching the bolt catch spring on the lower, so I hope this will not cause problems with the 5.56 upper. I will take it to the range on the weekend and see for sure. Hopefully the gen 2 mags work better than my previous gen 1 CMMG mags.
FYI ....unfortunately the BOHA does not work with any of my Black Dog mags. (clarification: you can use the BD mags with the BHOA installed, but the bolt slams closed when you remove the empty magazine)
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I'm not sure what you mean by "second gen mags" but if those are the Evolution series with the steel feed lips, I had mixed results until I got the BHOA adjusted just right. I have the BHOA now with a conversion bolt and it works fine with the older grey magazines. In fact the older style mags work better in general for me. I expect they will wear out faster as the feed lips are plastic but they are cheaper than the Evolution models by a large margin.
These are the mags I got, they have plastic feed lips, and are supposed to be compatible with the BHOA:
25 Round CMMG 25R3 magazine. Compatible with the CMMG Bolt Hold Open Adapter part# 22AFC63
CMMG BOHA Update
The good news: The reduced strength spring for the Bolt catch works fine with my 5.56mm LMT 10.5 upper. I fired approx 100 rounds and had no issues.
The bad news: The new CMMG mag is extremely hard to load after about 10-12 rounds and I experienced multiple failures to feed, stove pipes, etc with the mag and BHOA. Without the BOHA installed the mags still did not feed reliably. I am not impressed, but maybe as things get broken in it will improve. I tried using the BHOA with my BD steel lip 25 round mags and also had multiple failures, although it was better than the CMMG mags. The only reliable setup was BD 25 rnd steel lip mags and no BHOA. I also have 2 of the new 32 round BD mags, they are very easy to load, but are not proving to be reliable at all and I do not recommend them.
The good news: The reduced strength spring for the Bolt catch works fine with my 5.56mm LMT 10.5 upper. I fired approx 100 rounds and had no issues.
The bad news: The new CMMG mag is extremely hard to load after about 10-12 rounds and I experienced multiple failures to feed, stove pipes, etc with the mag and BHOA. Without the BOHA installed the mags still did not feed reliably. I am not impressed, but maybe as things get broken in it will improve. I tried using the BHOA with my BD steel lip 25 round mags and also had multiple failures, although it was better than the CMMG mags. The only reliable setup was BD 25 rnd steel lip mags and no BHOA. I also have 2 of the new 32 round BD mags, they are very easy to load, but are not proving to be reliable at all and I do not recommend them.
