I've been thinking about getting a 22lr upper to use on my Bushmaster AR lower receiver.  Based on some of the past threads here, people seem to like the DPMS and CMMG 22 complete uppers.  I tried to find out about which 22 magazines to use/work best and the company "Black Dog Machine" appears a lot.  After checking out their website, I noticed they have many generations of magazines.  Are these due to improvements within the mags themselves?  If not,  why so many generations? Gen 4 seems to be the highest generation.  Some indicate steel feed lips, others mention nylon feed lips.  Help me wrap my brain around this.

I have a few BDM 22 mags. Have had zero issues with the mags. (25 rounders) The Cmmg mags are a little easier on the fingers.

I shoot a home brew upper with CMMG conversion and dedicated CMMG .22lr barrel... I shoot in a modified 3 gun and run and gun carbine match, and was not satisfied with either the CMMG magazines or Black Dog... switching to SW15-22 mags has greatly increased reliability... now have a Boonie Packer bolt hold open, that better holds the SW magazines...

I have some BD magazines originally with plastic followers,  then I bought some BD's with metal lips.





Be gentle when inserting the metal lipped magazines, too much force and you'll bend the lips.





ymmv.

 

to get more of the functionally of the AR....

Get the better mag adapter and use the 15/22 mags.

And they are easier to load.

You can thank me later...

Red

Thanks folks.  What is the "better mag adaptor"?  I assume 15/22 means a 22 mag that holds 15 rounds.

the better mag adapter is produced by Boonie Packer and allows the magazines from the Smith and Wesson 15-22 (their dedicated polymer AR looking .22) to work the bolt hold open of an AR with an Atchison style conversion unit... the 15-22 magazines by themselves will work in a standard AR mag well, but due to their shape (the SW15-22 receiver is designed to not take a standard AR 5.56 magazine) they have some forward and aft play... the addition of the better mag adapter allows both the bolt hold open to work, and reduces the fore and aft movement....

The 15-22 does not mean they hold only 15 rounds. They are 25 rounders. They do make ten rounders also though, for those in Enemy States and maybe Bench Shooter too.

The SW 15-22 mags are great. Even better with the better mag adapter. They are 100% reliable, easy to load. And cheap if you shop the right places.

Blackdog  and CMMG really needs to up their game as far as .22 Mags, to compete with the SW mags. Sorry but the SW s are just superior mags.Not even a contest.



EDIT: I do love the Black Dog 50 round drums. They are the best in that area.  Just wish the Drums had the capability for a Last Shot Hold Open though.

Do yourself a favor. Get the Boonie Packer adapter and S & W 15/22 mags.
However, I don't think it will work with the DPMS upper.

Great, reliable set up.

Dave N

Greetings,

What Dave wrote below is correct (re: the DPMS upper). So, if you're going to use the BDMs, here is some experience I've had. I guess I have about a 12 to 18 BDMs, all 15 round capacity. They were purchased over some time and I believe I have examples of the 3 earlier versions (all have some type of plastic/nylon followers, no steel lips). The main differences are between those with Red followers and those with Grey/Black. The Red are just a bit more difficult to load, as the follower isn't quite as tight. The grey and black load no problem. Functionally, they seem the same; both types work essentially 100%, the occasional FTFeed usually due to a bent or overly waxy .22LR or clump of carbon on the feed ramp. Rather than cycle through all the mags (I have tested them all though), I have one pair out and have shot thousands (probably around 10K actually) of rounds between just those two as a long term test. I had planned to purchase some of the newer type with the steel feed lips, but just never got around to it.

Just an aside: I recently caught a sale and ordered two 25 round CMMG mags, that caused far too many FTFeed to even be remotely useful. I don't know if this is compatibility problem with the DPMS upper or a mag issue and haven't really had time to investigate yet.

So, in my experience, all of the early generations of BDMs have worked out fine with my DPMS upper. I've never had need for any factory support, but have heard BD to be very good to deal with as far as sending replacement parts, etc.. BTW, no affiliation, just a satisfied customer.  Good luck!

Regards, Jim

I'm a little confused now.   Shadowcop (Dave), you said to get the BP adaptor and the 15/22 mags.  Then you said you didn't think it that set up works with DPMS but that it is a good reliable set up.  Please help me understand all this.  Remember, the goal is to find a reliable functioning mag to work with a DPMS upper.  

In a nut shell:  What is the best 22 magazine to use with the DPMS upper receiver?  I have no allegiances to any company and will use any damn mag as long as it works!

Since you asked originally about DPMS and CMMG, Shadowcop gave you the correct answer. The adaptor works with CMMG, but not DPMS. The Boonie Packer site also states it won't work with the DPMS. I don't have a DPMS upper, but use CMMG & TacSol uppers with BDM X Form mags.  My mags have nylon feed lips and reliability has been 100%.

Got it! Thanks for breaking it down.

I've got a few of the earlier BDM mags on clearance for use with a CMMG conversion. No problems at all. I like them better than the S&W mags. The last few rounds are just tough to load.

I have a dedicated upper with a cmmg bolt and barrel, but I only use BDM's. I've never had an issue that wasn't ammo related. I'm not worried about my fingers because I use a lightning loader, which makes loading them so much easier. I bought the mags with the nylon feed lips, and after thousands of 22 rounds, I still don't have a problem with them. They are the gen 2 x-form mags. I don't care about the LRBHO, so I dont have an opinion regarding that.

Never had an issue with my BDMs.  Excellent customer service, too.  I bought one from one of the folks here (ar15.com), and it came wit busted feed lips (not packaged very well for shipping I guess).  Bruce at BDM took care of me.  Perfect.