dedicated .22LR upper ?

[Silverfish]

Not that it really answers you question but I was split on going dedicated 22lr or not. I ended up sorta in the middle. I went with a 1/12 twist lightweight 16" CMMG 5.56 upper and a 22lr conversion. This way I was closer to the 1/15 -1/16 twist of a dedicated 22lr but I still had the option to shoot 5.56 if need be. I realy like how it turned out. You'll have tons of fun on the cheap either way.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Mssr. Eleganté]

What about the barrel length? Does it have to be min 16??

Yes, the minimum barrel length is still 16 inches, even on rimfire rifles.

However, with a dedicated .22LR upper you can have a 16 inch barrel that looks like it is 14.5 inches. That's because a dedicated .22LR barrel needs to sit 1.5 inches further back in the upper in order to work.

[Dragon]

Caliber markings don't mean anything. A cop might bust you for that but it should be easy to argue that you can only chamber 22lr rounds in it.

Some people prefer to have uppers that are marked 22 or "multi" but it is unnecessary.

Who else makes a stamped 22lr lower other than spikes,and are they the same quality as the spikes?

[Mssr. Eleganté]

Who else makes a stamped 22lr lower other than spikes,and are they the same quality as the spikes?

Before Spike's had the 22LR marked lowers I got a couple of 22LR marked lowers from Lauer Custom Weaponry. They make a lower with no caliber markings and they also do custom engraving, so I had them engrave .22LR on one side and "RIMFIRE RIFLE" on the other. The custom engraving added $65 to the cost of each lower.

The stamped .22LR markings on my Spike's lowers look much nicer than the engraved markings on my Lauers and the Spike's were $50 less per lower.

[slick_711]

I'm seeing lots of good reviews on the Spikes dedicated .22LR upper and am going to pick up a few of them. I have one question that I haven't seen answered on the Spikes website though (or here yet).

Being that it's a .22 bolt system, is there any needed difference in the recoil spring/buffer? I would like to buy a handful of these and use them interchangeably with my .223 rifles for the sake of saving money on ammo.

Is the bolt & it's cycling self contained or would I need to seal/change the .223 recoil spring assemblies when shooting .22?

[BroncoBob]

They don't use recoil buffer springs.

[Mssr. Eleganté]

Yes, the Spike's bolt's cycling is self contained. You can leave your lower set up the same as when you use a centerfire upper. I just left the buffer and buffer springs out of my builds, since the lowers are only used with the rimfire uppers. But it will also work with a regular buffer and spring still in the stock.

[slick_711]

Awesome. I figured that was the case, but had yet to actually handle one. Thank you both for the pictures and quick replies.