Spikes Tactical .22 conversion

[smokeyandthebandit05]

I searched a few different ways here and found nothingbut I figure there is and Im sorry if this has been discussed to death.

Im thinking up picking up a Spikes .22 conversion for my AR but I have also looked at the CMMG and Ciener. Ive heard good things about all three but what would you guys go with for quality? Im just using this for plinking/ground hogs and such.

Is a conversion kit really less accurate than a dedicated .22 rifle cause .22 is a hair smaller than the .223 barrel?

My second option is to pick up a S&W M&P 15-22. The Spikes is around $200 and comes with 2 15 round mags (I hate NJ). The 15-22 is around $500 I believe.

 

[R. Deckard]

22 conversion

From what I have heard is that the rate of twist in a 223 barrel does not make the 22 bullet as accurate. I don't know who made my dedicated upper because I purchased it used but it has a converted Ruger 10/22 barrel on it and is very accurate.

This quote is from a customize your 10/22 book

" The rate of spin necessary to stabilize a bullet depends on the weight and diameter of the bullet and the velocity at which it is traveling. It requires a relatively slow rate of rotation to stabilize a thrown frisbee, but it would require a rapid rate of rotation to stabilize a pencil spinning on its point. A long, heavy bullet must rotate faster to be stabilized than does a short, stubby one. For example, the 40 grain bullet used in 22 LR cartridges is optimally stabilized by a 1 in 16 twist.
It is very unlikely that a 22 LR barrel with a 1 in 8 twist would deliver outstanding accuracy."

So what is the twist rate of your 223 upper barrel?

Deckard

 

[Rollis R. Karvellis]

Can't commint on the others but I am happy with my S&W for the 300 rounds I, have throgh so far.At first the mag was tuchy with more then 20 rnds but it cleared up after the 1st 150 or so.

 

[smokeyandthebandit05]

Im really interested in the M&P 15-22. For $200 more I can have another dedicated .22 rifle that would be more accurate.

Are there other manufacturers that make mags that are accepted by the 15-22?

 

[Ifishsum]

A friend of mine bought 4 of the Spike's .22LR conversion kits. They seem to be very well made and nicely finished. In our testing, only one of the four functioned with decent reliability out of the package, most of the problems being a failure to eject completely. So far I have polished the chamber and feed ramp of one of those and it has improved a lot but still doesn't like certain ammo (and that is pretty common among .22LR chambered guns). Accuracy and reliability was far and away the best with CCI Mini Mag ammo, which is fairly expensive as .22 ammo goes. Haven't done any real serious accuracy testing yet, but as far as I can tell so far it's not too bad.

Another friend has a Ceiner conversion and he also had to do some tweaking as well to get it running well. So from my experience I would expect to do a little fine tuning (and ammo experimentation) with a conversion. If you're really serious about it and can swing it I would probably opt for the dedicated upper.

 

[1832]

I run a Spike's unit in my 1 in 9 AR. Accuracy with regular 22Lr ammo is marginal, however, when I tried the 60gr Aguila 22LRs my accuracy really improved.

 

[steven58]

I run a Ciener that I switch back and forth between a POF with 1/9 twist and a BCM with 1/7. Using Walmart or Federal PLATED bargain bulk ammo I get 1" groups about 2" low at 25 yds from a bench. For me that's acceptable accuracy as I am using the converter to increase trigger time on my ARs shooting at full sizes silhouettes / photo type targets. This way I get to train my exact rifle and optics system, not one "kind of almost like it" as I would if using a designated .22 rimfire.

If I want an accurate .22 I pull out my Anshutz 1415 or Shillen barreled 10.22. They will put ammo they like into a .23-.25" 5 round hole under the same conditions.

For what its worth, my conversion kit has run flawlessly through at least 5K rounds of various ammo. I polished all of the contact surfaces and made sure all engagement areas were clean of burrs when I first got it. I run it wet with Mobil 1 V Twin 20-50.

If I were buying today I'd get the Spikes for the finish, O rings and better customer service than JAC-a** offers.

Also, use the Black Dog magazines as they have a last round bolt hold open feature built into the follower. I believe this helps extend the life of the firing system by preventing dropping the hammer on an empty chamber after the last round has fired. I run a Bore-snake down the bbl after rimfire and then shoot a 2-3 rounds of 5.56 to blow out the gas system before putting it away. Never had any problems.