Best budget .22lr AR-15?

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CoyoteSix

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Just gathering knowledge on whats the "cheapest" way to get a .22lr AR-15. I've already got a couple of traditional .22 rifles (Ruger, Marlins) something new would be pretty awesome.

It'd be cool if it'd run garbage like Remington Golden Bullet.

When I say cheap I don't mean for the least amount of money possible. I mean quality with nessecary sacrifices to keep the price tag low. Most important thing to me is if it cycles garbage ammo.

So what do you think THR?

CMMG conversion with a cheap rifle (I don't own a AR-15 of any kind)?

Build it?

Dedicated .22lr rifle? (S&W M&P 15-22)

Details on budget AR-.22 builds and pics to go with them would be great!
 
My buddy has the M&P15-22 and I have had the Colt M4 Tactical .22lr for two years. Both are good rifles but both hate (FTF) Remington Golden Bullet and love Federal and Winchester value pack. I still have a lot of GB but fortunately my Ruger Mark II pistol handles it all right.

Anyway I prefer the dedicated .22s.
 
I'd be tempted to suggest a relatively inexpensive AR-15 and a .22lr conversion upper/kit. It is slightly more expensive than a dedicated .22lr AR, but for under $1000 you basically get two rifles.

Failing that, you could also get a CMMG .22lr upper and a standard lower. That way you can get a .223 AR upper down the road if you want.
 
Conversion kit is the cheapest, but i don't like how dirty they make my guns. The gas tube get filthy. If you get a kit, get the CMMG all stainless. The black kits are garbage.

S&W 15-22 is the best 22 i've owned. I wasted my time trying the other AR 22 types. The 15-22 is GTG.

Dedicated upper's are ok. More realistic weight for training. I still like the 15-22 better.
 
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S&W 15-22. Mine chews through anything and spits it out. Even the Rem GB. Mine like to run clean with a dry lube. Simple enough for me. The "BCG" comes out and into the ultrasonic cleaner. Wipe down the chamber area and good to go for another 500-1000.
 
I steered away from "cheapest" and decided owning something that worked would be a lot more fun than something that didn't. Even if I had to pay more for it.

I got a S&W 15-22 and I couldn't be more pleased with it.
 
Ditto on the S&W. I ran Mini-Mags for the first 1k, then switched over to CCI Blazer.

THE S&W does have recommended for and against ammo, so it is not an avid consumer of "junk ammo". :)
 
It'd be cool if it'd run garbage like Remington Golden Bullet.
Click to expand...

I don't have any guns that will run with this stuff.

They all run fine with the Federal bulk pack, ignoring the occasional dud.

The cheapest are the purpose build look alikes S&W M22-15, Urmax Colt or SIG 522, but a real AR lower and a dedicated .22lr upper is IMHO best, but the CMMG conversion kit is a reasonable compromise if you already have a 5.56 AR.

My favorite is the CMMG .22lr AR pistol that I made into a SBR, it still was fun as a pistol while waiting for the stamp.
 
I suggest you view this from the magazine out.

There are three or four different types of magazines used in these things, not counting guns like the SR-22 (which is really a 10/22 and uses 10/22 magazines). Some are more available than others. Some are more cost effective than others. Some may swap with your shooting buddies or other guns you have/will own.



I have a 22lr upper. Technically I actually have a full carbine since it came with a .22lr marked lower but I swap it onto my "good" lower which has a nicer trigger. There is nothing innately .22lr about the lower. I like that configuration. Unfortunately, it doesn't use the most common .22lr AR magazines.
 
If you get a kit, get the CMMG all stainless. The black kits are garbage.
Click to expand...

Mine is not, just got one than had been back ordered from Midway for about five months. Your post made me a bit concerned, as I'd ordered the "black" kit with three magazines, so thought I bring back this thread.

Ran 300+ rounds of Federal bulk pack through it today in my 7.5' 5.56 SBR upper. No issues other than a couple of dud rounds. The three gray mags it came with worked great as did the Black Dog mags I brought along so I could shoot instead of re-stuff magazines.

I suspect I won't like how dirty it made things (going to clean it after lunch), but it was the cheapest way to get my wife and I both on the firing line shooting .22lr SBRs (we already have a 6.5" CMMG AR pistol converted to an SBR and my wife doesn't want to be anywhere near me when shooting the 7.5" 5.56 so I might as well shoot .22lr out of it when she is there :)

Was also very happy that the POA/POI was insignificant at 20 yards shooting 3.5" steel plates, and was only about 2" low at 50 yards compared to the 5.56 zero I'd set for this red dot.

Re: the magazine issues, I'd strongly suggest something that uses the Black Dog .22 AR mags, they fit standard unmodified AR magwells and work great. I've had a few cracked feed lips, but Black Dog replaced them for free, or $5 each to upgrade to the "metal" lips version. I'm only buying the metal lips versions from now on and will update any of the remaining ones that break. These also appear to be the same mags supplied with different "plastic" for the SIG 522 (lighter, translucent brown) and the CMMG .22lr guns and conversions (heavier plastic, gray or black). As far as I know the "Colt" mags only work with the Colt AR-22 and the S&W AR22 mags only work with it. I don't see major price differences, but the Black Dog seemed more available before the craziness set in.


Edit:
Cleaning wasn't too bad, although 500 rounds in a session would be a more normal usage for us. What probably surprised me the most was how much carbon and lead caked on the gaps of the flash hider. Its not an A2, its a Gemtech HVT mount as initially I thought I'd use my .308 can on it (5.56 cans are generally rated for ~11" barrels or longer, but its really too front heavy to enjoy using it this way. I haven't noticed this on the A2 that is on the 6.5" CMMG pistol we converted to an SBR.
 
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I highly recommend the S&W M&P 15-22.

That's what I did...extremely satisfied.

As for ammo recommended by S&W...basically bulk Remington sucks. But we already knew that. Anything CCI is excellent, as always. Federal Bulk runs great in mine as well. And Wolf M/T. And some of the Aguila comes highly recommended. It isn't picky about ammo.
 
If you get a kit, get the CMMG all stainless. The black kits are garbage.
Click to expand...

Mine isn't garbage ether. It also ain’t what I would call cheep. Mine is pretty much a standard AR with a Cmmg 22 Lr
bolt and barrel. It shoots everything I have tried so far. It does shoot 40 grain bullets better than the 36 grain rounds.
I shoot this thing more than pretty much everything else combined. Its a lot of fun to shoot.

The black dog magazines with the metal feed lips are great.
 
Bolt and barrel? do you have a CMMG upper? If you have a dedicated 22 barrel and a 22 bolt, that is a different setup than i was talking about.

I was talking about the CMMG parkerized conversion kit used in a .223 or nato chambered AR. The stainless conversion kit is reliable. I will never get another parkerized 22 conv kit.

I know of a lot of CMMG owners that love them. I have not had that experience with CMMG.

On the otherhand, the S&W has worked since day one with not one single issue. It feeds and fires all ammo. I have not shot remington in it, because i dont shoot any rem 22lr.
 
I've heard people say that the newer DPMS .22s (believe it or not) are the best .22lr ARs. I've never seen one, so I can't say.
 
Check out the ATI Omni 16" 22LR Polymer M4 Rifle OMNI22.

So far mine has been decent. I can shoot about 200-300rds of Rem Golden's through it before I start getting FTFs. Now that ive worked through a box of it. Ill try some other brands I have.

The blackdog 22 mags work great in it.
 
gotigers
Bolt and barrel? do you have a CMMG upper?
Click to expand...

Mine is made from a leftover A2 upper I wasn't using for anything else. Somehow it ended up a dedicated 22. But as far as I know the bolts are the same. They have a
different adapter on the front that mates to their barrel. In my case a 20”. I setup mine to be a clone of my cmp service rifle. I has helped my scores a lot, and is fun to shoot.
What more could you want.
 
My15-22 eats everything including the ammo S&W suggests not to use . Could not be happier .
 
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