Which Ar style Ar in 22?

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OK, I'm getting over whelmed with makers of these new AR platform 22 Semi Auto rifles. I now see Ruger has one out now as well as Sig, Colt, S&W etc.

Due to the cost of ammo lately I want to buy one of these soon. I need to know which one is the best of the best. I don't care about the cost so much as I need to know the best. Performance, accuracy, cleaning, handling etc. are some of my concerns.

Please advise me as to which carbine in 22 is the best.

Thanks for the time!

Dave in Montana.
 
Out of all of them I would get the S&W 15/22. It has the most accurate controlls to the its bigger brother. For example the bolt locks back after the last round. Not sure that the other brands do this. Also I believe extra mags for the S&W are little cheaper. The only con to that rifle is its weight. It weighs quite a bit less than my 5.56 Bushy since it is completely composite.
 
My son has .223 M4gery and bought a Colt .22lr M4 as a companion piece. After a few initial misgivings, after it was broken with about 500 rounds, he has grown to love it. It was at first a lot pickier about which ammo it would run with. Above all, read the manual.
 
Why not a Spike's Tactical or CMMG .22 kit for existing AR (assuming you have one)? The controls are identical* to your 5.56 gun, because it is your 5.56 gun.

Mike

* the BHO works slightly differently, as it relies on the mag follower to hold the bolt back, and the CH only goes about 3"
 
The only problem with conversion kits is that the 5.56 barrel is not made for 22LR bullets. Diameter and twist are all wrong. Of the currents .22 ARs on the market I prefer the S&W. The Colt isn't really a colt and is crap.
 
The Colt is not made by Colt and the Ruger is just a spiffed up 10/22. I would go with the S&W, but maybe that because I want one to match my M&P15T. I even see them for sale at Big5 pretty often.
 
How about a GSG-5 (MP5 lookalike) or the new remington 597 VTR? Both will run you under $500.00. You can get 597 hi-cap mags. all day long for $20.00 each.
 
How about a GSG-5 (MP5 lookalike) or the new remington 597 VTR? Both will run you under $500.00. You can get 597 hi-cap mags. all day long for $20.00 each.
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Because neither are AR style as posted in the original post...

Do you want a total new rifle? If not take a look at the Tactical Solutions uppers. A great friend of mine runs a TS upper on one of his ARs for Steel Challenge. He loves it and did not have to buy a whole new rifle.
 
Avoid the 597 VTR. I don't know what Remington was thinking when they made this gun. The barrel gives a whole new meaning to "Free Float". It can be moved left and right relative to the receiver enough to actually touch the sides of the FF tube.
 
ThePunisher'sArmory said:
Out of all of them I would get the S&W 15/22. It has the most accurate controlls to the its bigger brother. For example the bolt locks back after the last round. Not sure that the other brands do this. Also I believe extra mags for the S&W are little cheaper. The only con to that rifle is its weight. It weighs quite a bit less than my 5.56 Bushy since it is completely composite.
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I agree with this, apart from the bit about the light weight of the 15-22, which I do not see as a con at all - a bonus if anything.

My 15-22 has a couple of thousand rounds through it - the thing is highly accurate, flawlesly reliable and functions exactly like my AR (which happens to be a S&W M&P15-T). The other bonus is they are decently priced if you shop around. I'm not at all bothered about the proprietary mags - they are only 17 dollars apiece (if you shop, 44Mag on the net has them), and are very well built. They also fit perfectly in my bladetech AR15 kydex mag pouches.

I believe S&W did have some initial teething troubles with extractors when they first came out, but they have since ironed these out, they have also added the flash eliminator, which really finishes off the rifle. I really recommend one.
 
The Smith seems to be the one selling best, the Colts are good enough but its difficult in some ways to see what the extra cost gets you.

There were some Smiths with slam fire issues but none of the new stock should have that issue and their warranty folks took care of the ones that did quickly.

I will be buying one soon once we get a supply of suppressors in to thread and use with those for testing :)
 
Spikes Upper or Tactical Solutions Upper. Then just slap it on your AR lower, and you're good to go.

Or build a dedicated .22 with one of those uppers. They feel much more "real" than the Colt or Smith.

This is the one I built for my daughter. She picked the color and I did all the duracoat work.

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Because neither are AR style as posted in the original post.
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To be fair the sig mentioned in the original post isn't AR style either it is sig 55X style so there was reason to believe that other similar (i.e. tacticool 22) choices were under consideration.

I'm yet to be convinced that any of them (the ARs) are well made enough to spend money on. The ruger might be but my purpose would be a trainer and the ruger doesn't fit that role at all. A spikes upper seems to be much better quality but also much more expensive. I might, however, just go ahead and roll the dice on the S&W. I can pick one up for a bit over $300. Part of me thinks that spending another 300 to get the spikes upper and another $250 or so for a dedicated lower might leave me happier in the long though.
 
Another vote for Spike's Tactical, without a second thought. Iv'e had a chance to shoot a friends and it was very nice. With the LW barrel, it would shoot 1/2" at 50 yards no problem. Very solid and well built rifle. I don't think you could even compare it to a Ruger or S&W, and definitely not the Colt(Umarex).
 
I considered everything, from simply adding a conversion to getting a dedicated upper for my "real" AR. In the end, I just got the Smith 15/22. The whole rifle was cheaper than just a dedicated upper. At first, I didn't like the "plastic" feel of the rifle, but it is built well and to be honest, I'm starting to like all of that plastic. Humping this thing around in the woods and stuff, you almost forget that you have it with you.

The only problem that I have with it is that it's been a little sensitive with regard to cheap ammo. Every other semi auto that I have runs well on Federal Bulk pack ammo. The 15/22 hates them. The 15/22 loves Winchester Expert though. At least mine does. In any case, it runs very reliably on good ammunition.
 
You probably meant to say that your 15-22 hates it.

Mine runs very well on Walmart Federal Bulk ammo. The folks that I have talked with said they had no issues with it either.

That being said.....not all 22 rimfires work well with all brands of ammo. Some have a preference, others don't. I've tried over a half dozen brands, cheap and expensive, in my 15-22. It has reliably fed them all. I guess mine falls into the no preference category.
 
I chose to go with a Spikes conversion in mine instead of a .22lr carbine/upper. I use the conversion in an M16 A1 upper. It has a chrome lined 1:12 bore and it shoots .22lr great. It also has all the A1 plastic with the slab side receiver for a really cool retro look.
 
Just to add to my post earlier - I have exclusively shot Winchester Super-X 40gr HV through my 15-22, as I had 10000 rounds of it sitting around. Been flawless - couple of ftf's in the early days which could have been either the rifle or the ammo, but since then, no trouble at all in 5k rounds or so.
 
I asked a friend, who it turned out has had at least one of every one of these type of .22's, and he said the Sig 522 was the best, in his opinion. I'm really getting close to buying one myself.
 
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