CMMG 16" M4LE WASP .22LR Dedicated AR Upper mini-review & range report

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Since I've seen so many posts here lately about .22LR AR-15s and AR replicas (such as the M&P15-22 and Umarex "Colt" M4-22), I thought I would post an update of my CMMG Sierra.

At this point, I've shot approx 4000 rounds through this set-up (unfortunately, the ammo craze and unavailability of .22LR has certainly put a damper on my shooting).

All the previous praise still applies. In all this time, I've only had 2-3 fails to fire, all of which were certainly ammo issues (the rims showed good firing pin strikes). Most ammo fired to this point has been bulk copper-washed Federal or Federal American Eagle (mostly copper-washed HP, but also some lead round nose). Nothing any pricier than that, and never Mini-Mags (which so many folks seem to need for their semi-auto .22s).

Accuracy is still excellent as well. With bulk ammo, this rifle is every bit as accurate as my accurized 10/22 with bulk ammo (the Green Mountain-barrelled 10/22 can really put up some groups with match ammo though).

There's a lot of talk about steel-lipped versus polymer-lipped Black Dog mags. All I can say is that both have been excellent so far.

Boy, I sure am glad I got this upper when I did. When I purchased it in July 2012, I paid $370, which I thought was high, since I had seen them for under $320 a few months earlier. The last one I saw for sale locally a few weeks ago (the new uppers now seem much more rare than complete rifles) was a whopping $530! That's a $200 price hike in just one year!

Anyway - the obligatory photo. Not much has changed with the exception of a rear MBUS back-up sight, which has seen use thanks to a dead battery in the Vortex StrikeFire. The StrikeFire is a nice red-dot, but the poor power button location (it can easily be turned on when the rifle is stored in a case) makes it a dealbreaker if used in a defensive rifle.

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Alas I sold mine. You resurrected this thread to rub it in just in case I was suffering from seller's remorse, didn't you? :)

Black dog mags are still going cheap for them...with metal feed lips!

I ran countless rounds through mine and never experienced any non-ammo related failures...except for a pesky hammer spring on my lower that caused issues. That was in no way related to the CMMG upper.
 
I'd also like to add that I love the black dog machine 15 round mags. Those give you the profile of the 20 round ar mags. That's handy as well as just plain ol' cool.
 
I'd also like to add that I love the black dog machine 15 round mags. Those give you the profile of the 20 round ar mags. That's handy as well as just plain ol' cool.

I haven't tried the 15-rounders yet, but maybe I'll have to give them a try.
 
I picked up a used one form another member here last year. Ran like a top from the first shot.

The last shot bolt open adapter actually sits on top of the lower and the upper holds it in place. The forward assist part is pretty simple and unneeded.

I have lots of other .22's I like better but kids absolutely love the AR.
 
So I took a similar route. I had an opportunity to purchase a New Frontier polymer complete lower early this year and so placed an order for a CMMG Evo upper (.22LR/left-handed). I came rather quickly so I assembled it all with a SPARC site and an ambi charging handle.
Nice piece of kit. But one weekend day, while perusing the net I saw that New Frontier was recommending a new trigger hammer optimized for .22LR but compatible with everything else. I presume it is trimmer and more focused to hit a small piece of a rimfire cartridge with more psi at the contact point.
I haven't installed it yet, but does anyone have any info on the value of the change? Does it cure any yet unfound ailments?
Thx,
B
 
The last shot bolt open adapter actually sits on top of the lower and the upper holds it in place. The forward assist part is pretty simple and unneeded.

I keep telling myself I'm going to get a BHOA and hold-open followers for my Black Dog mags, but haven't done it yet. I'm not keen on having to potentially cut coils from the hold-open spring in my lower (though I understand this isn't always necessary).
 
The lower on this one is just a BM. 223 lower, nothing special about the springs.
 
I've had good luck with the pair of CMMG uppers I have. The wife got the first one along with a RRA lower from a gun store back in early 2008, I got the 2nd one online directly from CMMG in late 2010, paid $350 if I recall correctly. As others have stated the Black Dog magazines are great, and don't cost much.

I've got just over 17,000 rounds through the two of them. The first upper wasn't all that great initially, but I got a replacement stainless bolt for it, plus a new recoil spring and barrel collar, and it's run great ever since. CMMG seems to have tweaked the bolt design a bit since 2008. I'd say now my 2 uppers average about 1 failure every 1,000 rounds.

I've got irons on the first upper and put a Burris 2-7x on the 2nd one. Took the scoped one to Appleseed in late 2010 and it performed well despite me.

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