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Posted: 7/12/2012 12:25:12 PM EDT
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I have an AA 5.45 upper I currently run with my PSA lower with the heavy wolf spring
I currently am interested in a M&P or similar .22lr upper for my AR. A guy at the gun shop recently told me that it is better just to buy the whole rifle rather than use the same lower for your 5.45 and .22lr, because the .22lr will get everything so damn dirty. My main concern is the heavy wolf spring, would this have any effect on a .22lr in a negative manner? Thanks! |
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Regarding dirty....
Just to a degree. The rimfire ammo you select will have an impact on the dirt in the lower, but it is also trivial to deal with it if you understand how to clean your trigger group. The majority of the debris is going to be roughly at the back wall of the magazine and some will go over to the trigger/hammer area. It takes lots of it to become an issue and a few seconds to blow it out and relubricate the trigger group. For the savings, it is more than worth the trouble. If you select better ammo, you will also go a lot farther without cleaning too. Either way, it is worth a dedicated lower, but also trivial if you want to use the same one. |
| I believe the 22lr ammo is cheap enough that it allows us to be a bit more picky about what we feed it. Personally I only use CCI mini-mags; they are as accurate as a rimfire can be, relatively clean, and cheap enough to buy by bricks. I have my own CNNG upper which is interchangeable with any of my lowers. It is my understanding that the M&P upper won't work with a conventional lower and viceversa, but the price for the complete M&P Rifle is so manageable it only make sense to have a fully designated 22lr rifle. I like the CNNG upper I have because it is the same weight and feel of my conventional uppers in bigger calibers, so training is both economical and (with the exception of the recoil) realistic. However, if you have children they will love the M&P since it is considerable lighter than the CNNG upper. |
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A friend of mine has a M&P 22 pistol. The M&P upper will NOT fit a standard lower and the M&P lower will not fit a standard upper. I do not know if 16" M&P weapons are incompatible as well ... just thought I'd mention it. I would check compatibility before slapping down any money.
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Local gun shop guy doesn't know what he's talking about. I don't think I've noticed much more gunk in my lowers by shooting a .22 conversion upper. As far as the Spring is concerned a .22 conversion upper does not utilize the buffer spring on the lower. It only uses the spring built into the conversion unit within the .22 BCG(guess it's not really a carrier) itself. You do not need a whole new rifle to shoot .22 rimfire. A upper is perfect. I will say however a dedicated .22 barrel will probably slightly more accurate vs the standard 223 barrel due to twist rates.
There is a rimfire forum which is where you might find better answers. |
| i use a cmmg conversion on a regular basis thru my ar15, i love it! i have the version with just the BCG and mag, at first i was having issues with the empty casing getting jammed in the charging handle, and they now have an upgraded charging handle that wont " grab" the shell, but maybe coincidence, but it hasnt happened to me once since i quit jamming every shell i could into the mag....... ive probably got 1000 rounds thru the conversion kit now, absolutely love it~ plus its a "real" rifle vs. the sw mp |
| If you shoot a lot of rounds you will see more crap in your lower with the 22lr. Its easy enough to buy a cheap lower to go with your 22lr upper. I use a New Frontier Armory LW-15 polymer lower with their blowback hammer for my 22lr upper. The complete lower is under $100 shipped and the blowback hammer is $11 extra. You can also file down the stock polymer hammer if you don't want to spend the $11. This keeps the 22lr crud out of my M&P lower. I would go with a CMMG complete upper unless you like to tinker with them. If you are ok with messing with them, you can save a few bucks and get the Chiappa (thats what I have). |
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