AR-15 barrel swap?

[Lightsped]

I currently have a AR-15 chambered for 9mm. I would like to set this gun up to shoot 223 as well. If I bought a 223 barrel and mags would I need anything else?

How difficult is it to simply swap barrels on a AR-15?

Thanks

 

[KW]

AFAIK the chamber, bolt and bolt carrier are different too. Pretty much you need a whole .223 upper.

 

[Joe Demko]

a .223 upper would be a better idea. In addition to the barrel, you'd need a bolt and bolt carrier at least. The 9mm uppers are blowback operated, IIRC. When all is said and done, I think you'd end up spending nearly as much to make the conversion as you would to just buy a second upper.

 

[MuzzleBlast]

You need the whole upper. The 9mm AR's aren't gas operated (are they?), and operates at much lower pressure than 5.56, so the bolt and bolt carrier are different.

 

[Duke of Lawnchair]

Muzzleblast, as far as I know, the Colt 9mm uppers are not gas operated. I'm not sure about the others (ie. RRA, Olympic Arms, etc.).

Lightsped, converting your 9mm upper to a .223 would be more hassle than ordering a dedicated .223 upper.

However, if you were to convert to a .223 here is what you'd need:
1. .223Rem or 5.56Nato barrel assembly
2. Appropriate bolt,carrier & perhaps charging handle
3. MIGHT need to drill the upper receiver so the gas tube can go through and reach the carrier key (I've seen some Colt uppers without the gas tube 'X')
4. Barrel wrench

You're basically replacing everything on that upper except for the receiver itself.

Hope this at least helped a bit,
Jim

 

[Amish_Bill]

Don't forget that you have to remove the 9mm deflector and put on a normal ejection port cover.

Overall you'll be much better served by getting a complete upper half.

You'll also have to remove whatever type of blocks you have in the lower to allow proper .223 mags to fit.

The 9mm uses a different buffer too. I seem to recall that it should run with .223, but don't rely on me for that.

As I recall, the hammer is different, but the 9mm hammer should still work with a .223 upper... I think...

 

[Lightsped]

Well, I do prefer to do things the simple way, so if I do decide to swap over to .223, I'll just buy a complete upper.

Who besides Bushmaster makes uppers? Hopefully something affordable.

 

[Duke of Lawnchair]

Lightsped,

You have a plethora of options as to where to purchase a complete upper assembly.

DPMS
Armalite
Rock River Arms
Bushmaster
Colt (find a colt distributor)
Model 1 Sales
JT Distributing
and the list goes on and on...

Take a gander @ www.ar15.com

Jim

 

[Redlg155]

Yep, your best bet is to just get another complete upper to swap over.

As previously mentioned, you would need every part except the stripped upper reciever itself. If you have a Colt/RRA pattern upper the reciever wouldn't have a shell deflector since most 9mm ARs a seperate one along with 1/2 of a dust cover.

I've owned uppers from JT, Rock River, Bushmaster and Armalite. All were very nice. Either a Rock River or JT upper will do just fine if you are on a budget....heck they do good even if you aren't on a budget!


Good Shooting
Red

 

[BDM]

Buy a new upper complete and dont forget to change the 9mm hammer in the lower receiver.And buffer assembly I assume yours is also a 9mm one.