I have the Ciener version. They say to stay away from it becuase the guy is an a hole and customer service is non existant. I haven't had a problem with my kit and it's 100% on federal bulk packs from wal mart. It doesn't like remington stuff tho.
My brother bought the spikes tactical version and it's only about 60-70% reliable. We've tried everything spikes recommended to fix it but it really hasn't helped. He gave up on it and shoots .223 now.
I would get the cmmg version. They've made improvements to the case and really listen to customers input and problems and will fix any issues. No first hand experience but a bunch of stuff I've read and heard say they have good customer service.
Some may say just yo get a dedicated upper but I don't. Unless you're expecting outstanding accuracy and relibility, but most .22lr aren't necesarrily reliable anyways. If your wanting something for practice within 50yards, the drop in conversion is perfect. I bought the drop in over the dedicated upper and bought 5500 rounds of ammo and still had money left over.
I wouldn't get a complete .22lr rifle. Waste of money IMO. If you want the accuracy, get the dedicated upper and you'll still have a good lower for .223 or other calibers. The conversion takes all but about 9 seconds to take the .223 bolt out and drop the .22lr bolt in. It is dirtier and some say to shoot .223 every 500 rounds of .22lr. I do it but not on purpose. The .22lr gets kinda boring so I shoot some .223 to remember what it feels like.
Jmo, ymmv, ect.
My brother bought the spikes tactical version and it's only about 60-70% reliable. We've tried everything spikes recommended to fix it but it really hasn't helped. He gave up on it and shoots .223 now.
I would get the cmmg version. They've made improvements to the case and really listen to customers input and problems and will fix any issues. No first hand experience but a bunch of stuff I've read and heard say they have good customer service.
Some may say just yo get a dedicated upper but I don't. Unless you're expecting outstanding accuracy and relibility, but most .22lr aren't necesarrily reliable anyways. If your wanting something for practice within 50yards, the drop in conversion is perfect. I bought the drop in over the dedicated upper and bought 5500 rounds of ammo and still had money left over.
I wouldn't get a complete .22lr rifle. Waste of money IMO. If you want the accuracy, get the dedicated upper and you'll still have a good lower for .223 or other calibers. The conversion takes all but about 9 seconds to take the .223 bolt out and drop the .22lr bolt in. It is dirtier and some say to shoot .223 every 500 rounds of .22lr. I do it but not on purpose. The .22lr gets kinda boring so I shoot some .223 to remember what it feels like.
Jmo, ymmv, ect.
Another thing to consider. Some have "dedicated" .22 uppers for their rifles. It's been said that shooting .22LR through an AR barrel may cause lead build up that may block the gas port. Once the gas port is blocked, you may have to remove the front sight to get it cleared again.
Never experienced that after thousands of rounds of .22lr. It may happen but spending that much on a dedicated upper seems useless to me.
There are problems with shooting .22lr out of a .223 rifle. It wasn't designed to do that. But for the money I think the drop in conversion is the way to go.
This is my second AR and lead build up was one of my concerns. If I could build another upper for a good price it may be worth it to me in the long run. My current setup is the flat-top with removeable handle and standard front sight. I would like to remove the front sight and get it set up for a red dot for plinking/22lr steel challenge type shooting.
Some run well some don't. I have seen the Ceiner units break firing pins, and as mentioned they are hard to get from Arthur, but they are good units if you get one that runs well. The up side to the Ciener units is they will run on a full auto lower, as will the CMMG. If you are using ANY of these type of drop in units I really recommend Black Dog Machine magazines. they are the best out there.
As for dedicated uppers there really is only one worth having in my opinion and that is the new Upper From Nordic Components, The aren't quit out on the market yet, but will be in the next month or so. It is the only unit that I have seen that has the reliability of a 10-22. I have been one of the testers on this program and know both of the other beta testers on this project and all 3 units in the field have run over 10,000 rounds now with less than 100 jams and only cleaned every 2000 rounds. Kevin at Black Dog Machine just got one and already has 3000 rounds through his with no cleaning and it is running perfectly. So far they will run just about anything except it has a little trouble with the Remington bulk packed golden bullets.
It has the exact weight and balance as an M-4 and MSRP will be around $500 which means you will probably find them a bit cheaper.
As for dedicated uppers there really is only one worth having in my opinion and that is the new Upper From Nordic Components, The aren't quit out on the market yet, but will be in the next month or so. It is the only unit that I have seen that has the reliability of a 10-22. I have been one of the testers on this program and know both of the other beta testers on this project and all 3 units in the field have run over 10,000 rounds now with less than 100 jams and only cleaned every 2000 rounds. Kevin at Black Dog Machine just got one and already has 3000 rounds through his with no cleaning and it is running perfectly. So far they will run just about anything except it has a little trouble with the Remington bulk packed golden bullets.
It has the exact weight and balance as an M-4 and MSRP will be around $500 which means you will probably find them a bit cheaper.
I have been told that using copper coated bullets causes less problems than the typical all lead bullet and that after you are finished shooting the .22LR ammo, you need to fire a couple rounds of .223 to clear the gas tube.
Now, how much truth there is to it I don't know.
My brother-in-law has a drop in conversion for his AR. Not sure what brand, but he's had no problems with it as far as I know. Even a dummy like me who knows nothing at all about ARs can do the conversion in a few seconds.
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I have an entire actual AR15 dedicated to a Ceiner-Atchisson kit. I even sold the 5.56x45 BCG that goes with it. It's "just a .22" now, even thought I could in theory go back to 5.56x45 with it at any time. As a result, I'm not worried about lead blocking up the port.
KurtM, does the Nordic unit have a 1 in 9" twist? It it doesn't then I'd have to modify your statement to "none of them are worth having, period", IMO. If I wanted a semi-auto .22 with a 1 in 16" twist, I could run with a Marlin 60 and have a much lower line of sight. The only reason (to me) for having an AR styled rifle is to get the 1 in 9 twist and shoot the Aguila SSS 60 grain subsonic rounds, and at present that can only be done with a conversion kit and 5.56x45 unit with 1 in 9 .224 barrel. A 1 in 16" dedicated .22 upper is more useless than teats on a boar hog (to me). YMMV.
Of course, there would be NO downside to making a 1 in 9 or 1 in 10 dedicated upper, as these will ALSO shoot standard .22lr ammo just fine. Surely Nordic did this, if they are purporting to offer the "ultimate" dedicated upper, no?
Incidentally, where can one get a folding AR15 stock for a dedicated .22lr conversion AR? Don't need this buffer tube, but the only folding stocks I've found so far ar sold for airsoft units - I suppose they may work, but I'm concerned about their quality.
KurtM, does the Nordic unit have a 1 in 9" twist? It it doesn't then I'd have to modify your statement to "none of them are worth having, period", IMO. If I wanted a semi-auto .22 with a 1 in 16" twist, I could run with a Marlin 60 and have a much lower line of sight. The only reason (to me) for having an AR styled rifle is to get the 1 in 9 twist and shoot the Aguila SSS 60 grain subsonic rounds, and at present that can only be done with a conversion kit and 5.56x45 unit with 1 in 9 .224 barrel. A 1 in 16" dedicated .22 upper is more useless than teats on a boar hog (to me). YMMV.
Of course, there would be NO downside to making a 1 in 9 or 1 in 10 dedicated upper, as these will ALSO shoot standard .22lr ammo just fine. Surely Nordic did this, if they are purporting to offer the "ultimate" dedicated upper, no?
Incidentally, where can one get a folding AR15 stock for a dedicated .22lr conversion AR? Don't need this buffer tube, but the only folding stocks I've found so far ar sold for airsoft units - I suppose they may work, but I'm concerned about their quality.
