Who Is Running A .22 L.R. Conversion On Their AR-15?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Mar 30, 2015
Messages
11,766
Location
Lake Havasu City, Arizona
I've been thinking about getting this one from Cabela's. It's got a pretty good customer rating. From what I can gather, the CMMG units are among the best, and very reliable. Also, extra magazines are readily obtainable. Are any of you guys running one? If so how do you like them? How is the reliability and accuracy? Are they picky about ammo? (CMMG recommends copper plated ammo only). And can you switch back and forth to .223 / 5.56 MM without cleaning? Thanks in advance.

https://www.cabelas.com/product/CMMG-LR-AR-Conversion-Kit/753246.uts?slotId=17#tabsCollection
 
accuracy usually suffers i have found when shooting my conversion. Also , when putting it back into 5.56 , the first few shots act strange . its seems to be clearing the gas hole or something . i found they work best with round nose long loaded 22 LR
 
I have a CMMG unit for my Colt AR15 SP1. The 1in 12 twist of my rifle is much more ideal than the faster twist of today's tacticool carbines.

You NEED TO clean your barrel well before going back to centerfire ammo.

Expect 4" groups at 50 yards as your best goal. Plinking accuracy at best. The military was happy with short range
Familiarization use on these kits.
 
I have one I don't remember if it was CMMG or something else. The only mags I have ever had were Blackdog machine and the first ones I had were all plastic. The bolt ended up breaking the rear of the feed lips, I think it had to do with the last round hold open. They have them with metal lips now, I think the broken ones have a lifetime warranty but I never tried to get them replaced. I bought a Chiappa dedicated upper for around $150 from Buds gun shop about 5 years ago too.

The only problem I remember having with the conversion was spent cases getting caught between the charging handle and the bolt. I believe that a dedicated .22 charging handle prevents that from happening. My dedicated upper has been reliable, but the rounds feed at too steep of an angle and it can bend the projectile when it slams it into the top of the receiver. It still chambers the rounds but if you eject a live round it will have a spot shaved off from the top of the chamber.
 
Buy a dedicated 22 LR upper I have had a Sierra CMMG upper for about 5 years and It works pretty good . Some parts have failed. A call To CMMG and like magic the new upgraded parts arrive in 2 or 3 days. The 22lr upper is lots of fun and I haven't shot the center fire upper since purchasing the 22 LR upper. It is a fun toy.
 
Originally Posted By: ammolab
I have a CMMG unit for my Colt AR15 SP1. The 1 in 12 twist of my rifle is much more ideal than the faster twist of today's tacticool carbines.


That is what was concerning me. Most of the newer Colt AR's, along with several others have 1 in 7" twist barrels. Standard rifling for the .22 L.R. is, I believe 1 in 16" twist. That's over double the twist rate. Even a 1 in 9" twist is quite excessive. If the barrel was just slightly oversize it could cause problems with the bullet stripping in the rifling and leading badly. Especially with high velocity loads that are required for proper functioning.

I'm weighing the possibility of this, or else a dedicated .22 L.R. upper with the proper twist, like others have suggested.
 
I've got the CMMG kit from Cabelas. It works great and I am happy with it. Every 200 rds of 22lr or so, convert the rifle back to 5.56 and fire about 5 rounds. It blows out the buildup of lead in the gas hole in the barrel. Other than that, they work great. Accuracy is about 4 inches at 50 yards which is only a little worse than my Ruger 10/22 anyways, so who cares? I also recommend you shoot high velocity, plated ammo only.
 
Originally Posted By: AMC
I've got the CMMG kit from Cabelas. It works great and I am happy with it. Every 200 rds of 22lr or so, convert the rifle back to 5.56 and fire about 5 rounds. It blows out the buildup of lead in the gas hole in the barrel. Other than that, they work great. Accuracy is about 4 inches at 50 yards which is only a little worse than my Ruger 10/22 anyways, so who cares? I also recommend you shoot high velocity, plated ammo only.


I read somewhere else that was required to keep leading to a minimum. Did you notice any more additional dirt or carbon buildup in the gas tube, after you were done for the day and cleaned the weapon?
 
Here is a video on the CMMG conversion. He tests 6 different types of ammo by shooting 5 shot groups at 50 yards. Accuracy with some brands of ammo was quite impressive. Like most .22 L.R. rifles, it will take some shooting with different brands of ammo to find which one runs the most accurately. The gun functioned flawlessly with all of them.
 
I have a Ciener conversion kit. It runs great. Of course it's not Anschutz accurate in an AR with the wrong size bore and fast twist but it's fine for what I do with it.
 
Buy a Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22 .22LR rifle. They are like $300.

Or a complete .22LR upper. The 1 in 7 twist of modern rifles is not ideal for .22LR.
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
Originally Posted By: AMC
I've got the CMMG kit from Cabelas. It works great and I am happy with it. Every 200 rds of 22lr or so, convert the rifle back to 5.56 and fire about 5 rounds. It blows out the buildup of lead in the gas hole in the barrel. Other than that, they work great. Accuracy is about 4 inches at 50 yards which is only a little worse than my Ruger 10/22 anyways, so who cares? I also recommend you shoot high velocity, plated ammo only.


I read somewhere else that was required to keep leading to a minimum. Did you notice any more additional dirt or carbon buildup in the gas tube, after you were done for the day and cleaned the weapon?


Sorry for the late reply. No I never noticed any additional fouling of any sort after shooting the 22lr conversion kit. Being that the 22lr is such low pressure compared to the 223/5.56, the 22lr fouling is a piece of cake to clean up after.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top