What benefits .22 upper VS .22 conversion kit?

[Bill92869]

The rising price of ammo, not wanting to reload and being able to shoot at local indoor ranges with a rimfire have me looking at .22 for my AR. What benefits does one have over the other? Does having a "dedicated" .22 receiver offer any legal benefits like high cap mag, features, ? Does using a conversion kit in my 5.56 center fire cause problems like leading? Are .22 conversion kits available?

[saxman]

You'll get better accuracy out of a .22 upper due to a more appropriate twist rate and a proper chamber for the .22 round. Some people have issues with some leading in in the standard uppers, but this seems to be more common with the faster twist rate barrels. Some people have no problems.



I just bought the ciener conversion yesterday. http://mactec-militaryarms.com/ciener_ar15_kit.html has them in stock, but don't expect them to stay in stock for long.

[DedEye]

Less crap to clean as well. With a .22 upper there's no gas tube to worry about clogging if that sort of thing concerns you, plus you can have a totally different/neat and unique look to your upper.

[ar15barrels]

Dedicated barrel is the way to go.
Due to the proper chamber and barrel dimensions, they are much more accurate.

The first dedicated barrel I ever did was shooting 5/8" 10 shot groups at 50yds with federal bulk ammo.

[Samuel Jurado]

Does having a "dedicated" .22 receiver offer any legal benefits like high cap mag, features?

If you've owned magazines that hold over 10 rounds prior to the California ban, you should be good to go; if you did not, then 10 rounders are it - legally. As far as features, you have a lot more leeway since it is a rimfire, but it must be a minimum of 26" in length overall.

[Toolbox X]

The main benefit of a dedicated .22 upper is better accuracy because of the better twist rate and the bullet doesn't go through 2 inches of smooth-bore before it hits the rifling.

The .22LR barrels extend into the upper receiver 1.5" which means a 16" barrel only extends 14.5" out of the receiver, giving the rifle the look of a shorter barrel, if that means anything to you.

You can keep the dedicated .22LR upper as well as the lower configured with all the evil features you want, without worrying about accidentally creating an illegal AW by swapping the .22 BCG with the 5.56 BCG.

Lastly, once you zero the .22 upper, you are done. If you swap the 5.56 upper between .22LR and 5.56 you will constantly have to re-sight the irons or optics.

The main drawback of the dedicated upper is the price is very high compared to just the conversion kit.

The cool thing is you can start cheap by getting the conversion kit and some BDM mags, and find out if you really enjoy it. You can easily upgrade from there and use the same mags, and selling the conversion kit is never a problem.

[Bimmer2]

I'm tempted to order a Ciener kit from Mactec, though I don't even have my first AR yet (and won't 'til July). I've heard horror stories about Ciener's customer service, and Mactec's $159 price seems great only until I add 3% for using credit card and then $10.50 for shipping...

I guess I'll wait to see if Spike's or somebody else is really going to come up with a kit.

Ben

[saxman]

and Mactec's $159 price seems great only until I add 3% for using credit card and then $10.50 for shipping...

if you don't want to pay the 3% credit card service charge, you're welcome to head over to the only other place that seems to have them in stock right now, cheaperthandirt.com, and pay $199 for the same conversion kit, and still have to pay shipping

[Bimmer2]

if you don't want to pay the 3% credit card service charge, you're welcome to head over to the only other place that seems to have them in stock right now, cheaperthandirt.com, and pay $199 for the same conversion kit, and still have to pay shipping

Yeah, I know, I know... $175 out the door isn't a bad price. This is why I'm so tempted by Mactec.

I'm going to fight off the BRD and wait several months, though, and hopefully somebody else will come out with a kit (readily available, inexpensive, and with customer support) and/or Ciener will start shipping more kits.

Ben

[Bill92869]

Great feedback, thanks! The arguments for accuracy, not having to re sight-in and reliability all favor of the dedicated upper. Has anyone experience with this one, a polymer upper?

[Scarecrow Repair]

There's one additional benefit to the kit. You can put it in any of your AR-15s if you have more than one -- you basically double the number of guns you have. But then all those "extra" guns do have the drawbacks -- zeroing, wrong twist, extra dirt, etc. But if you aren't shooting for accuracy but just for fun, it might be a good deal for you.

[recshooter]

Forgive me if this is a foolish question :

Why are there no uppers in 22mag? It seems that you would get some additional power, while still having the rimfire benefit W/R/T evil features.

Does it just boil down to the cost issue (since the magnums are a bit more spendy)?

Appreciate the knowledge as usual guys.

[Bimmer2]

Why are there no uppers in 22mag? It seems that you would get some additional power, while still having the rimfire benefit W/R/T evil features.

Does it just boil down to the cost issue (since the magnums are a bit more spendy)?

I'm guessing here...

1. Maybe the .22 mag cartridge is too long. The .22lr cycles through just the upper receiver. A blow-back set-up for .22. mag might be longer than would fit in a regular upper?

2. I bet it's cost, but not cost of ammo, it's the cost of designing and tooling up to produce another kit.

Now what I really want is a .32ACP kit for my M1A!

Ben

PS: For what it's worth, I want a conversion kit, not a complete .22lr upper.

A complete upper is basically a >$400 semi-auto .22, which doesn't make any sense to me when Ruger 10/22s sell for <$200.

What's the problem with the sights? I thought I'd read that POI was about the same for .22lr and 5.56 out to 50 or 100 yards?

Is lead in the bore really an issue? What about using copper jacketed bullets?

[ar15barrels]

Why are there no uppers in 22mag?

There are no commercially available magazines to feed it.
If there were mags, we could figure out the rest.

[saxman]

I'd like to see a conversion kit in .17hmr... I know someone made one at some point.

Something about the .17 being like a little rifle round that amuses me.