What AR style 22lr to buy???

[Powerman620]

I am looking into buying my son a 22lr for Christmas. I have looked at three different guns and can't decided on which on. The first one is a S&W M&P 15-22 mp15, the reviews on it have been mixed but seems ok after a few fixes for ejection problems. The second is a Remington VTR 597, it has a Target-style, free-floating 16" barrel that I think would be a plus. The reviews on it are all good from what I can see but it is not as good looking gun in my opnion (don't like the side plate). The third is the Colt / Umarex M4 Carbine .22 Tactical Rimfire AR-15. The reviews on it are good also, but don't know anything about the Umarex quality? The prices are $375 for VRT, $400 for S&W and $449 for colt, not really much to speak of. Any input or any own one or something I may be missing? Other brands?

 

[mavrick]

I would go with the Smith. I personally did not care for the Colt.

Dustin

 

[ez bake]

Both the Colt and Smith apparently have some pretty bad issues with lots of failures to feed/eject. I've been looking into this exact same thing for a friend who wanted one for his son and just told him that he could build a real AR for just a few bucks more than one of the .22lr/toy versions.

MAS can get complete uppers for very cheap - get yourself a basic lower and sell the BCG and just buy a .22lr Spikes or CMMG kit from MAS or one of the other dealers on this site and have just a $100 or so more in it than one of the .22lr's and then you could upgrade it to the real deal with just a BCG upgrade and a magazine.

$500 is a lot to pay for something that just looks cool and fails to do what its supposed to do. If you're set on just a .22 - check out the Ruger SR522 - its basically a 10/22 in a fancy stock, but at least it would be as reliable as a 10/22.

 

[mmchambers06]

When you run a conversion kit, how bad does the barrel / gas system foul?

 

[Powerman620]

Both the Colt and Smith apparently have some pretty bad issues with lots of failures to feed/eject. I've been looking into this exact same thing for a friend who wanted one for his son and just told him that he could build a real AR for just a few bucks more than one of the .22lr/toy versions.

MAS can get complete uppers for very cheap - get yourself a basic lower and sell the BCG and just buy a .22lr Spikes or CMMG kit from MAS or one of the other dealers on this site and have just a $100 or so more in it than one of the .22lr's and then you could upgrade it to the real deal with just a BCG upgrade and a magazine.

$500 is a lot to pay for something that just looks cool and fails to do what its supposed to do. If you're set on just a .22 - check out the Ruger SR522 - its basically a 10/22 in a fancy stock, but at least it would be as reliable as a 10/22.

I thought about that and he could have two guns for just a little bit more money. I will check into cost going that way also.

 

[mmchambers06]

Here's a $265 upper that you could drop a conversion into:

http://www.dsarms.com/DSA-ZM4-A3-Up...--M4---DSZM4CBUPARK/productinfo/DSZM4CBUPARK/

Later pick up a quality BCG from BCM or similar and it would be a decent rig.

 

[ez bake]

When you run a conversion kit, how bad does the barrel / gas system foul?

I've run 400rds through it without cleaning or running a .223 round through it before I got a failure. I did that basically just to see how long it would go before fouling the gas system completely - I found it.

Running a .223 round through it every now and then will clean it out well enough - if you don't have a .223 bolt, then a reasonable cleaning every 300-400rds or so should be fine (especially if you're not using it for self-defense gun and depending on it to function under duress).

 

[Beercules]

When you run a conversion kit, how bad does the barrel / gas system foul?

It is has been unnoticeable in my experience with an 11.5" SBR and a 20" rifle with the kits.

My vote is for an AR with a conversion kit. You may lose some of the accuracy of a dedicated 1/16 .22 barrel, but you gain the versatility that goes with centerfire ARs.

 

[mmchambers06]

Interesting.

I've just always been hesitant because I don't want a bunch of buildup in my Sabre/DD barrels. If you say it's GTG, I might give it a try.

Does POA/POI vary between .22LR/.223 within say, 50 yards?

 

[Glocktogo]

Definitely either go for the Ruger which will be reliable, or a conversion for a regular AR. Lots of problems with the Colt & Smith both. Give them a couple of years to work out the bugs and they might be better.