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SturmSoldaten
21 November 2008, 09:03
ok we all know .22lr is WAY cheaper than 5.56 and in these hard economic times we still want to shoot are weapons but on the cheap. i was thinking of getting a dedicated .22lr but was wondering if a .22lr kit would be better. in my 1/7 carbine 5.56 upper would shooting .22lr hurt my barrel any more than stadard 5.56? now getting dirty and what not is no problem. i have no problem with cleaning my gear but will shooting .22lr instead of 5.56 on occasion wear down my barrel the same as 5.56? because $220 for a .22 conversion is way cheaper than $580 for a dedicated upper. what will accuracy be like with a 1/7 and 1/9 barrel?

Stickman
22 November 2008, 08:26
Occasional shooting of .22 isn't going to do much of anything to your 5.56 upper, just make sure you use a good lead remover. I wouldn't do it on a regular basis for brick after brick, but intermittent use shouldn't be an issue.


My plan is to get a dedicated upper for myself, I just haven't figured out which one.

SturmSoldaten
22 November 2008, 19:57
who makes a dedicated upper other than spikes tactical? also my main .22 ammo of choice is remington golden bullet, is lead remover needed with copper jacketed bullets?

103m 95g
23 November 2008, 11:27
who makes a dedicated upper other than spikes tactical?

There are several,
Olympic
CMMG
Dillon precision advertized a CZ .22 upper for awhile.

ar far as lead buildup, I use only copperjacketed .22 with a M261/OLY rimfire adapter. also Black dog machine has some very nice .22 magazines for rimfire uppers/adapters

Custom-X_Sponjah
23 November 2008, 14:07
I've been running a Spikes Tactical dedicated .22 upper for more than a year now..
Its been very reliable with Federal Bulk Pack from walmart, it doesnt like Remington Bricks..
One thing I must recommend is that you run the Upper really wet..
I have since changed the Flat Top A3 upper out for an A2 and changed the M4 handguards for Cav-Arms CAR handguards..

Here it is in its latest configuration set up for my girlfriend...

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/topher63/AshPink2.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/topher63/AshPink1.jpg

Here's a shitty video I made about it last September...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0B2r-fY7Cc

CXS

jvg04
23 November 2008, 16:23
I have 2 Tactical Solutions M4 dedicated uppers.
They are Awesome.
Using BDM full size mags. they are perfect for low cost training and plinking. To date, (knock on wood) I've had zero malfunctions with 40 grn Rem Thunderbolt & Fed Bulk / Champion.
jvg04

SturmSoldaten
24 November 2008, 18:58
I've been running a Spikes Tactical
One thing I must recommend is that you run the Upper really wet..


? i dont know what that means. do u mean oiled up very well?

Custom-X_Sponjah
24 November 2008, 19:52
? i dont know what that means. do u mean oiled up very well?

Yep, Its does ok with some minor lube, But is a sewing machine when dripping.. :P

CXS

austin12gauge
6 December 2008, 06:29
I recently went through the process of deciding between a conversion kit and dedicated upper, and decided on the conversion as the increased accuracy of the 1:16 barrel was not important to me.

My decision was influenced mainly by 2 factors - price, as the kit was about $350 less than a Spike's or Tactical Solutions upper. And I wanted to shoot the exact same set up as my carbine without duplicating everything on another upper. I guess that gets back to price again. And I can always get a dedicated upper later. I am sure it will be no problem to sell the conversion.

I have had my CMMG kit for a week and am shooting it in a 1:7 barrel. My carbine is zeroed at 50 yards with 5.56 with both the irons and a Micro. At 25 yards, I find the 5.56 shooting about 1" low. With 22LR, it shots about 2 more inches low, or a total of 3" low. I shoot mainly reactive targets at this distance and it is easy for me to put the RD a few inches above my target and still get consistant hits. Will it shoot sub MOA groups at 100 yards? No, but that isn't why I got it and I didn't expect it to. If that was my goal I would be shooting a different rifle altogether.

The first time out I didn't even bother to clean it first. And I was using Remington Goldens, which, as we know, are pretty dirty and have a waxy coating. It would feed but I had lots of failutes to fully chamber. I blamed that on both not not cleaning it (bolt not running smooth) and the waxy coating of the goldens jamming up the chamber.

Fast forward to to my second outing a few days later. Before I took it out the second time, I took the bolt and chamber assemblies off the rails and cleaned everything really well. I did not take the bolt apart.

I lubed the contact areas on the rails and the bolt with a thin coating of Brian Enos Slide Glide and everything else got a very, very thin coat of gun oil. Now the bolt moved very easily and smoothly on the rails.

And I picked up a couple of bulk packs of Federal Load #750 at WalMart for $13.50 each. The Federals felt dry and clean, much different than the waxy Goldens.

Then to the test - I put a whole bulk pack (550 rounds) thru it without so much as a hiccup - no failures to feed, fire or eject at all. And I didn't have to put any additional lube of any kind on the conversion bolt to keep it running. The kit was pretty dirty and dry afterwards, but the bolt continued to move as smooth as silk on the rails - love that Slide Glide. I first started using it on my M&P9FS a year or so ago.

I was loading up my 4 BDM mags to about 25 each and basically doing mag dumps one right after the other, busting up clay targets I had set on the backstop berm of the range, moving the RD from one to another as fast as I could.

The only rest the gun got was when I was loading the mags. A friend came by with his own BDM mags and ran about another 100 or so thru it, again with no failures of any kind.

Between my first and second outings I have put 700 rounds of my own ammo thru it. Using 35 cents per round for 5.56, that was the equvilant of $245 worth of 5.56. So I have already "paid" for the conversion since the 700 rounds of 22LR only cost $17.18.

Also, using the Federal I didn't find my 5.56 upper and barrel to be all that dirty, not much different than shooting say 20 to 40 rounds of 5.56.

I am a happy camper and highly endorse the CMMG conversion kit.