multi caliber AR

[MikeA57]

I had a friend tell me this weekend about an AR rifle that comes chambered in 5.56/.223 but you can purchase a separate bolt that changes that to .22lr. I'm very interested in this. I don't own an AR now but am looking to get one and would like to have the ability to plink with .22 but then varmint hunt with the 5.56/.223. What manufacturers and models have this capability and which ones are recommended?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[kingcheese]

Its a drop in bcg, just about any ar with the normal charging handle should accept them, but it builds up lead in the barrel fast

 

[mljdeckard]

Yes. There are a couple of howevers.

The kit I ran was a Ciener, and Ciener is.....currently not in production. (Ciener's products are great, but you would rather cut off a finger than have to deal with them directly.)

I have had mixed luck running just the replacement bolts. Sometimes they run fine, sometimes they don't, depending on what gun. The barrel is not actually the right caliber or rate of twist for .22lr. 5.56/.223 actually shoots bullets that are 224/1000". .22lr is .221. They will run, but they won't be super accurate.

The option I went with was to get a dedicated upper made for .22. My CMMG is cost me $360, and it is FANTASTIC.

 

[hq]

Back in the old days a drop-in .22 kit was the only way to do it. The kit is pretty much universal, it works in just about all AR15:s, but while it works as advertised, it isn't a very good solution. 1:9 rifling isn't really suitable for .22lr, the bullet is unsupported while traveling through the front part of the chamber, reliability can be questionable and magazines are fairly expensive. Mine's been gathering dust for about 25 years now.

A dedicated .22lr upper makes much more sense.

 

[tyeo098]

I have a 22 drop in Ceiner bolt.
Work great, bought it off a guy locally, came with 5 mags for 180$

Have a couple FTFeed and FTE but nothing a tap rack bang cant fix in <.5 seconds.

Only problem with mine is that sometimes the extractor claw doesn't catch the rim, so pulling the bolt back on a loaded chamber will result in a double feed. I drop the mag whenever I have to clear the chamber.

 

[MikeA57]

I wondered about that. I knew the diameters were different but this just seemed to be the perfect solution. (heavy sigh) I guess nothing can be that easy...

 

[mljdeckard]

Don't get us wrong, it's still not terrible, for close-ish range fun and training. It's just, you won't be shooting 1" groups @100 yards with it.

 

[Fishbed77]

The option I went with was to get a dedicated upper made for .22. My CMMG is cost me $360, and it is FANTASTIC.

I second this. A CMMG dedicated upper is the way to go.

 

[Sky]

I had two CMMG drop in bolts that worked just fine in half a dozen ARs. Great cheap shooting but as others have said due to chamber and twist rate they are not the most accurate.

We started doing some small varmint hunting and switched to the dedicated CMMG uppers and have not used the drop in .22 bolts for at least 2 years.

Drop in .22 could hit most things out to 30 yards but it was a hassle unless using irons due to flight characteristics of the .22 being quite a bit different than the 5.56...I never tried the Aquila 1740fps .22 stuff in the drop in bolted .22 ARs but assume the optics would still have to be re-zeroed with the type ammo used.

If you are going to just have one AR and no extra uppers laying around then it is an option depending on what the bolt can be purchased for from CMMG. Like others have said the dedicated upper is the way to go if there will be any accurate varminting done IMO.

P.S. Or buy a regular .22 rifle for about the same price.