First time AR buyer .22 lr upper vs .22 rifle

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twofourthree73

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I'm a new AR buyer. After lots of research here I've purchased a CMMG lower. I will be ordering a CMMG upper in the next day or two.

The question is this: Is it worth it to get a dedicated .22 lr upper for my AR vs just getting a Ruger 10/22 for fun plinking. I already have several .22 rifles a Remington 572 pump and an old Remington bolt. Both are excellent guns and I've had them since I first started shooting when I was a kid. Both have setimental value. The Remington 572 was given to me by my dad and I'd hate to see it go. The Bolt was my grandma's that I had made a new stock for in highschool.

The 10/22 would be less that a .22 lr AR-15 upper, but I'd like to be able to use the AR-15 for fun without worrying about expensive ammo.

I've contemplated selling the 572 to offset some of the cost of the AR .22 upper.

I've read the ceiner kits aren't the best for accuracy and will foul up a standard .223 upper so I'm not sure that is the route I'd want to go, however it is a lot cheaper.

Is it worth it to be able to shoot .22 in your AR and have it your dedicated .22 lr platform for training and plinking vs 10/22 or other .22 rifle?
 
i was thinking the same thing once before.

i decided to leave my ar alone and shoot my 1022.

the reasoning being, the ar is a 1000 dollar rifle, and 22lr normally shoots very dirty and i didnt want to crud up my baby.
 
Another advantage, its a lot easier to drop a conversion kit in your range bag and go shooting than haul another entire gun to the range.
 
Is it worth it to get a dedicated .22 lr upper for my AR vs just getting a Ruger 10/22 for fun plinking.
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YES
YES
YES
YES
YES!!!!!

Is it worth it to be able to shoot .22 in your AR and have it your dedicated .22 lr platform for training and plinking vs 10/22 or other .22 rifle?
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Yes. It's a FUN gun. Lots more fun than a 10/22 for plinking. It's not just a "trainer".

I sold my 10/22 without regrets; I wouldn't sell my .22LR AR upper unless I really needed the money to buy food.

Would I sell the old Remington? Probably not. Those are some of the great .22's of all time. In a little while, you'll miss the gun more than the money.

I do own other .22's, including a scoped Marlin 60, a couple different types of Marlin 39 lever guns, and an ancient Mossberg I got for Christmas when I was a kid. IMO the 60 is a better gun for a scope than the regular 10/22, since the Marlin has a stock that fits much better with a scope, and it's more accurate even though it's cheaper.

For fun shooting, the AR goes to the range most often, followed by a lever gun. The AR magazine has very light spring tension, so it's easy to load. It's not a PITA like a Ruger magazine, it can be cleaned and reassembled much more easily (built like a miniature AR mag), and it's a good deal more reliable in my experience.

The bottom line, to answer your question, is that the .22 LR AR upper is a GREAT plinker. It also shoots at least 2 bricks between cleaning, no sweat, no failures. Most .22 semiauto rifles won't get close to that. Mine is from Model 1 Sales. They have a big variety, and you can order them with 30-rounders. (I can't, in California, but you can.:) )
 
Yes. It's a FUN gun. More fun than a 10/22. I sold my 10/22 without regrets; I wouldn't sell my .22LR AR upper unless I really needed the money to buy food.
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Yeah, I could deffinately see me having fun with it, more than a 10/22 at least. I probably won't get much selling the remington. I would probably regret it later.

Who makes good reliable .22 lr uppers? I've heard of the spike ones, but the lead time is like 6 months. Any others?
 
http://www.model1sales.com

Great upper, at $475 complete, it was less expensive than Spike's, they have a huge variety of barrel options, and mine showed up on the doorstep in a couple of weeks.

What I like about the .22LR upper vs. other .22 semiautos...

It goes longer between cleanings. A drop or two of CLP on the bolt after each brick and it goes even longer.

You don't need so much as a screwdriver to strip and clean it. A rag, a boresnake and some CLP will do a complete cleaning, wherever you are.

Bolt, guides and springs stay together as a unit. It just comes out the back of the AR, like an AR bolt does. You spray it with CLP, wipe it off, and it's clean. Then you just put it back. There's no fumbling or wrestling with springs like with a 10/22 or Marlin 60.

As I said above, the magazine is very easy to load. There's no heavy spring tension and rounds just slip right in. Ordinarily, I much prefer tube feed where you just drop in the cartridges. But the Ciener magazine isn't any harder to load than a tube feed.
 
The Ceiner kit made the most for what I desired. The kit lives in the outside pocket of my AR's bag, and both of them go with me every week to the range. It's more fun to shoot than my son's 10/22. As for fouling and the dirtiness of the .22 in the .223 upper... doesn't bother me in the slightest.

A) I clean my range guns ever two weeks, if not every week. This cleans up any dirt the .22 leaves behind.

B) I always pop off a couple of rounds of .223 before packing up the AR, to clean out the barrel and the gas tube.

The Ceiner kit cost me $150 vs. 3-4X that for a dedicated upper. Plus, the dedicated upper is a lot bigger and heavier to carry to range than my Ceiner kit is.
 
The Ceiner kit cost me $150 vs. 3-4X that for a dedicated upper. Plus, the dedicated upper is a lot bigger and heavier to carry to range than my Ceiner kit is.
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How'd the Ceiner for accuracy? I would like to be able to shoot at least 1 inch groups at 50 yards. I've heard the accuracy isn't that great with the larger barrel and low twist rate.
 
I don't know about the reliability of the conversion kit. However, my dedicated upper uses the Ciener bolt assembly and magazine, with a barrel that has a .22LR chamber, no gas port, and the proper bore and 1:12 rifling for a .22LR.

It has shown truly excellent reliability, as in, I am really shocked if I have to clear it. When I do, I inevitably find an unfired round with an indented rim, i.e. the round was a dud. Once I broke it in a bit, then cleaned and oiled it, I can't remember having to clear it for any other reason.

Question for the Ciener conversion shooters: where is the POI vs. .223?

One reason I went with a dedicated upper was so I could sight it in and leave it alone. The other reason is that all rimfires are exempt from California's "assault weapon" restrictions, so it has specific legal advantages.
 
I don't know about the reliability of the conversion kit. However, my dedicated upper uses the Ciener bolt assembly and magazine, with a barrel that has a .22LR chamber, no gas port, and the proper bore and 1:12 rifling for a .22LR.

It has shown truly excellent reliability, as in, I am really shocked if I have to clear it. When I do, I inevitably find an unfired round with an indented rim, i.e. the round was a dud. Once I broke it in a bit, then cleaned and oiled it, I can't remember having to clear it for any other reason.

Question for the Ciener conversion shooters: where is the POI vs. .223?

One reason I went with a dedicated upper was so I could sight it in and leave it alone. The other reason is that all rimfires are exempt from California's "assault weapon" restrictions, so it has specific legal advantages.
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I think I'd put more rounds through .22 upper more than a .223 upper at this point with the cost of ammo. I think I'm going to go ahead and get a .22 upper. Thanks for the info.
 
I put more rounds through the .22 upper in the first week than the .223 has had through it all year.:)

Another reason I like it: there's a small indoor pistol range right down the street from my house. A membership fee covers unlimited shooting all year, and it's open 'til 9PM, 10PM on weekends. They just don't allow centerfire rifle rounds.

So any evening that I need to clear my head, I can go shoot a few hundred rounds of bulk Federals.:) And the nearest real rifle range costs me close to 15 bucks round trip, in gas alone.:(
 
If you do it, get the dedicated upper. I wouldn't go with the Ciener kit. My buddy did on his AR and it screwed him up when he shot .223. He had all sorts of jams and misfeeds. Now that he's stopped using the conversion, he has no problems. You wouldn't have the same issues if you used a dedicated upper.

Regardless, shooting 22 is fun, and cheap! Go for the upper and get a suppressor for it.
 
I was curious about the model 1 uppers even though I don't have an AR yet. They sell the modified ciener kits, and dedicated .22 barrels. Would it be cheaper to buy the ciener kit and a .22 barrel and build you own upper on a stripped upper receiver? Are there other sources of barrels? How is the ciener kit modified?
 
Welcome to THR!

Definitely go with the .22 upper. Everything will be the same, handling-wise, when going from .22 to .223 (and vice-versa). That's a big plus, since familiarization with your defense weapons is absolutely paramount.
 
Welcome to THR!

Definitely go with the .22 upper. Everything will be the same, handling-wise, when going from .22 to .223 (and vice-versa). That's a big plus, since familiarization with your defense weapons is absolutely paramount.
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Thanks, I've decided to "pull the trigger" on a dedicated upper. I suspect it will pay for itself in ammo savings, familiarize myself with the weapon, and provide so good fun in the process.

There's still nothing like shooting the big centerfire cartridges though. To bad I'm not a millionaire.
 
I just got a complete ST22 from Spikes....Love it! I'm keeping my 10/22s, but I'll be shooting the ST a lot more....
 
How'd the Ceiner for accuracy?

How about reliability?
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Can't comment on Ceiner, but my M261 is dead on at 100 yards and with federal bulk I haven't had a problem since the first 200 or so rounds...That was many thousand rounds ago.
 
If you shoot Service Rifle HP with the AR platform, getting a 22LR upper, specifically the Compass Lake 22LR upper, is a good option. You can practice shooting the AR, but with 22 rimfire ammo. Thus, you will be able to practice while still using the same exact ergonomics of the AR, as opposed to a different rifle.

But if you just want a rimfire gun for plinking, then a 10/22 is a simpler option.
 
How'd the Ceiner for accuracy/reliability?
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The only issue I've had with it has been an occassional stovepipe. But I'm used to my son's 10/22 that has a stock extractor, and stovepipes every 20 rounds or so. The Ceiner probably stovepipes every 100 rounds or so. Not bad, considering it's not broken in yet.

As for the poster who advised against it because the gun would jam with regular .223, sounds like you friend needs to clean his rifle properly. This kit wouldn't mess up his rifle... just the dirt from shooting the .22 ammo would.

I bought this kit used, otherwise I doubt I would have purchased it. Ceiner is a world class prick, and it's too bad he's the main source out there.
 
I suspect it will pay for itself in ammo savings,
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Quality brass cased ammo is running around $350/1000 for the cheap stuff these days.

You can get 1000 rounds of Federal bulk pack for about $25/1000.

Yeah, I think you can save some money. It should pay for itself after 2k rounds. ;)
 
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