CMMG AR-15 .22LR conversion - reliable?

[socalbeachbum]

How reliable are the CMMG '22LR conversion kits? failures to feed, fire, or eject?

I had some years ago the all black 'alpha' kit in a Stag Arms AR and it wasn't too reliable.

Are the new bravo or echo kits improved, more reliable?

 

[MistWolf]

I've been running a CMMG conversion for sometime and have run a few hundred rounds through it (would have been a few thousand if it hadn't been for this lousy ammo shortage) with Black Dog mags. It's been reliable and accurate and with the exception of needing a good scrubbing to rid it of a build up of lead, has been easy to maintain. There was a significant loss of accuracy when the converter leaded it up- groups opened up to three feet at 50 yards. Once I cleaned it up, they shrank back to clay pigeon size at 100

Get their top of the line converter (what ever it currently is, they are constantly up-grading) and it will serve you best.

 

[68wj]

By design, simple blowback operation, it should be fine. However I got a defective one where the hammer couldn't fully engage the firing pin but CMMG denied it was a problem. The hammer came to rest on the lower receiver. Depending on ammo, reliability was as good as 90% to 20%

 

[wally]

I've had the Black "Alpha" for about five years, works great. I only shoot bulk pack ammo in it. Fewer duds that that same ammo in my pistols. But like most folks, I find the current .22lr ammo situation to make shooting .22lr more trouble than its worth and basically reserve what supply I have for when my wife shoots with me.

 

[socalbeachbum]

I think they show a cautionary note that you should use a hammer of the rounded style, rather than notched. Whatever that means. I think my stock hammer is of the rounded type.

My original alpha version had a bore that looked like it was drilled out by hand, very crude. So after shipping it in to CMMG to see for themselves, they finally replaced it for me.

I'm now looking at the NiBx coated ones from WMD. They might be made by CMMG, they look the same. I figure the NiBx coating could not hurt.

 

[Fishbed77]

I don't know about CMMG's conversion kits, but their dedicated .22LR uppers have been very reliable and accurate in my experience.

 

[gidaeon]

Buy with confidence if you go with a stainless or nickel plated plated model. I've seen rougher finished phosphate models choke however.

I would purchase my cmmg stainless all over again. Cmmg upgraded the extractor on mine to eject unfired rounds. It's fed and fired thousands without a jam. Mine was "Appleseed rifleman" accurate (1" at 25yd with bulk .22) with a 1:9 twist 5.56 barrel.

I now use that conversion bolt with a dedicated taccom .22 upper and am very happy with it.

 

[socalbeachbum]

thanks

 

[Grunt]

Mine has been an excellent performer and quite reliable. I'm not too crazy about the tighter 1:7 or 1:9 twist barrels but the slower 1:12 twist rate of the older A1 barrels isn't too much of a stretch to stabilize the lighter .22LR round. an optimal 1:16 would be better but this was a cheaper option for me.



One is a late 604 M-16 clone. The other is a .22LR late 604 M-16 clone. Can you tell which one is the 5.56mm version and which one is the .22LR model? Look at the magazines.




And this is how we block off the gas tube to prevent gas from blowing back into the receiver and on the barrel. A salvaged gas tube cut down to make a stub preventing the front handguard flange from twisting around and installed upside down to block off the gas port from blowing the gas and carbon onto the barrel

 

[mjsdwash]

more reliable than a 10/22, marlin 60. The cmmg fiberglass mags work very well for me. many thousands of rounds, dont recall any feed jams, occasional short stroke or weak ejection, always a ammo issue. the feedlips on the cmmg mags are showing some wear though, and i think they will be useless before hitting 5000 rounds each. The black dog mags work ok. maybe one feed failure in a few hundred, maybe if i can get some more rounds through them, might start smoothing out. the old cmmg kits would not eject live rounds, due to the extractor not making contact with the case in battery, requiring the case to push itself into the extracter. duds were a issue.
That wont be an issue unless buying used thou. My kit had a weld fail early on, and cmmg replaced it, and payed shipping. replacement is the one i speak about. Mine can hit a soda can at 30 yards easy enough. 16" chrome lined 1 in 9. if your concerned about accuracy. And the bolt hold open adapter may require work to fit the blackdog mags. I gave up on the bolt hold followers, but do use the manual bolt lock.

 

[tuj]

some have had more luck than others. Mine would not work with my Geissele trigger, even using a lightened hammer spring (wouldn't reset). Still had some issues with a mil spec trigger and got the TacSol reliability kit: buffer plug and new FP. Seemed to help.

 

[1KPerDay]

I have had great luck with my first-gen stainless conversion. Runs flawlessly in everything I've tried, including Colts with notched hammers.

Only thing I wish it did was eject dud/dummy/live rounds reliably.

 

[wally]

Only thing I wish it did was eject dud/dummy/live rounds reliably.

Contact them, I think they have an improved extractor to address the issue, or you can buy a TacCon extractor from Dillon or others.

 

[LUCKYDAWG13]

you might want to have a look http://www.taccom3g.com/rimfire-components.html i made a upper from there parts and love it

 

[kimberkid]

I like mine and it runs pretty well ... the FTF or "jamb" near the end was actually due to cracked feed lips on the mag

Video ->->->

 

[mboylan]

If you can't shoot better than your conversion, you suck as a marksman. Expect 2 inch groups plus at 50 yards. The barrel has the wrong rifling diameter and the twist is way too fast. Accuracy falls apart past 25 yards.

 

[jmorris]

My daughter's is a dedicated upper but runs 100%, using blackdog mags.

 

[kimberkid]

some have had more luck than others. Mine would not work with my Geissele trigger, even using a lightened hammer spring (wouldn't reset). Still had some issues with a mil spec trigger and got the TacSol reliability kit: buffer plug and new FP. Seemed to help.

I had the problem with the hammer not resetting too but only in full auto ... Tried lighter springs, different sear trips, CMMG even sent me a new conversion and that didn't work either but Justin said they were developing a new collar ... When they sent me that all my problems disappeared.