AR Sponsor
Posted: 7/31/2007 4:35:17 PM EDT
|
Tried to buy a .22 LR upper from Bushmaster and it is a no-go. Seems as if they are having problems with the uppers as well as the mags. They told me they where having mold problems (?????) and everything is on hold . I asked for an ETA and they said from 3-12 weeks. |
|
I called Bushmaster about their 20" upper three months ago and they told me 6 weeks at that time. I checked with my local dealer and when he called, he was told there wasn't an ETA. My dealer did say the carbon version with the 16" barrel was available. While I do have a couple plastic pistols, I couldn't convince myself to buy a plastic rifle, so I bought a ciener kit instead. |
|
No .22 LR uppers from Bushmaster or DPMS, what other options are on the market. Please don't suggest conversion kits as I don't want to deal with adjusting sights every time I change over plus I have seen operating issues with some and some that where not accurate. A lot of people suggest Ciener kits but I have heard of broken parts and bad customer service from them. |
How bout a ciener kit.  In all seriousness I have two ciener kits and truely like them, I have them in .22 dedicated uppers (gas tubes cut and turned over). This said I have now decided to get a TRUE .22 upper but I want it to accept the BDM and Ciener mags. I am convinced that a true .22 upper is the way to go. |
| My dealer happened to have a carbon 15 16" upper. I picked it up and mounted it on my bushmaster lower. It came with two 8 round mags, I haven't been able to find anything higher capacity. I have put probably 700 rounds through it so far, when I first got it, it ran good, then after a couple hundread rounds it started jamming, it wouldn't chamber and there is no forward assist. I took it home and cleaned it. It was still having trouble chambering the rounds, but not as bad. As soon as I shot another hundread rounds again it got really bad. It will work pretty good when it's clean, but as soon as you get a little dust, carbon, dirt, ect. in the action it will jam up and not chamber. Accuracy is not great, I have a red dot and can hit water bottles within 35 yards or so, anything further and it becomes a challange. I have noticed that copper plated ammo works better than plain lead, the lead rounds will get caught on the way into the chamber and will actually shear the bullet from the shell. |
| I have been looking for a 22lr upper for quite some time. I've looked at the BM carbon 15 rifle and it felt really cheap. I've been waiting for the DPMS 22lr upper but who knows when it is going to be back on the market. I finally found what I was looking for at Spike's Tactical. I got the M4 profile 16" 1-16 twist barreled upper and couldn't be happier. I does cost a bit more than the DPMS but uses a modified ciener kit capable of using the BDM 30rnd mags. Check out their website. They could probably build whatever you want. |
| I orderd a .22LR upper back in January, I finally received it in June. The upper looks well made; pretty much what I'd expect from BMaster. I pinned it to a Cavalry Arms lower. With the 16" barrel it makes a sweet little rifle. I got it out to the range... what a dissappointment. Its a JAMB-O-FREAKIN' MATIC! I would say for every round that went downrange I had to clear 5 jams. The problem is with the mags. Where so much thought went into the upper, BMaster fell off the bench when it came to the mag design. Last week I sent some mail to BMaster describing the problem, no answer yet, but I'm thinking I want my money back. Because right now the rifle is worthless, well maby I could use it as a wall-hanger, an expensive one at that. |
|
I had a Ciner kit it was very reliable and the mags were great. The accuracy however was crap. 2 inch groups at 25 yards were the norm with all ammo I tried. It grouped worse that a field grade 22 pistol. Plus there is the issue of lead getting into your gas tube and the extra cleaning you have to do to make your gun work as a .223 again. pat |
|
Well I got some info from BushMaster. The reason you can't get the upper is that BMaster is doing a re-design. From what I was told BM has hired an engineer to look into the jamb-o-matic problem. So BM wants me to return my upper and mags. Only one problem, they told kengrant 3-12 weeks... I was told, they have no idea when the fix/re-design would happen. But when they do figure it out, my upper and mags would be upgraded at no additional $$$ to me. |
|
I had Kurt's Custom Firearms make an 18" light weight (.625 dia) SS 22lr barrel for me and I mounted it on a CMT upper with a JP Rifles free float using a Ciener kit. It will put 10rds of CCI Minimag into 1/2" or better C-C at 25 yds all day long. Once I got the mags "tuned" (both Ciener and BD) it is very reliable. Cost was about $480 not including the Ciener kit. It has been worth every penny not to compromise my other AR's. Generally more accurate also. I know this puts into Keuhl (SP?) territory but I wanted a very light weight rifle, not a pseudo National Match rifle. Just sharing an idea. |
|
I have an early Bushmaster .22lr upper, also on a Cav Arms lower. The jamming is really not so bad - with the right ammo and heavy lube, I get one or two jams every 50 rounds - sometimes less. The magazine situation is horrible, though. I use the old factory mag - which is a remington 597 magazine put in some sort of standard AR-15 mag-sized plastic case. It is made out of terrible plastic - they break and then I send it to Bushmaster, who replaces it. They did also tell me that they are working on a upgrade and that when it is ready they will replace the magazines and replace or repair the upper as necessary. I don't mind the Carbon upper. It goes with the Cav Arms lower nicely, and the accuracy is good. They just need to fix the magazine issue and MAYBE some upper issues and they will have a really hot-selling .22lr upper - it will be the best deal on dedicated uppers out there. Of course, I may buy a dedicated upper from rcsguns or Spike's in the meantime if the magazine issue is not fixed soon. |
I have a 16" flattop dedicated upper from them.. I have not had any problems with the upper and except for an occasionaly flyer, accuracy is very good.. I have picturues in the 'post your 22 upper' post.. RCS is now listed as a dealer on the site FWIW. Brian |
|
I ordered a Bushmaster 20" upper and it took about 6-8weeks. It has the 8rd version mags. When I pinned it to a Bushy lower no problem, however on a Stag lower the bolt dragged a little on the bolt stop. Anyone having problems chambering rounds I'd look there. I see people saying there are problems with the Bushmaster uppers, yet they don't own one, so where is the info coming from? If you do have one is it the 16" carbon version or the 20" on the standard A2, and what types of ammo are you having issues with? have you tried a different brand? Many failures can be ammo related, yet the firearm gets blamed. In a call to Bushmaster I was told any delays were because of a new Magazine, the newer 8rd vs the 10rd. I haven't shot my 22 upper a lot, however so far its been good. The other change I think they made is a switch from a Titanium bolt to Aluminum. If anyone knows of any issues with their 22 uppers in the past lets hear them. |
|
I just canceled my order at 8 weeks and 3 days of waiting. Customer Service explained that it was an engineering issue, there were multiple areas that engineers were dissatisfied with and that it is no ETA, as in we're not certain we can get you what you ordered at all, it might not be something we offer anymore. He said that this was according to some news yesterday so maybe they've officially stopped putting ETAs on it now. |
|
Has anyone tried the Compass Lake Engineering uppers? I spoke with John Holliger of White Oak Precision (they make high quality custom uppers for competition), and John said the ONLY .22LR upper he would recommend for serious practice is the Compass Lake one. Only downside is, they're expensive at $980. But they are supposedly top-shelf and will work great. http://www.compasslake.com/22uppers.htm |
Does Spikes make their own parts? I looked at them briefly and they looked similar to Ciener. |
Spike's has their lowers and uppers made and they use a ciener kit and a .22lr barrel made by another company. |
| my .22lr upper was fashioned out of an old Colt carbine upper. 1 in 14 twist. Ciener kit, now with BDM mags. No complaints. Accuracy is more than acceptable and with ammo experimentation is downright good. Mine likes Winchester bulk pack or Remington Thunderbolts. Accuracy is on par with an out of the box 10/22 but the cool factor is unbeatable. |
|
stay the hell away fom that bushy 22 upper. i bought one not long after they came out. it routinely fired OOB destroying a 25.00 mag each time. Bushy had ZERO interestin fixing the upper and refused to replace the damaged mags. i finally sold it at a BIG loss to guy that wanted to try and get them to fix it. they comepletely blew him off and he finally dumped it at another loss. bushy makes some good stuff but that upper is a POS. i guess they finally took it off the market. |
The Ceiner is a briliant design that usually runs great (break in can be a bit sticky on an occasional unit) The Factory had a rep for being grumpy , just buy the odd fireing pin elsewhere and the main spring can be replaced with one for a marlin model 60 (brownells). I hab=ve never heard of anybody breaking anything else. If you don't want to mess with sights (not a huge deal) get yourself another another upper and dedicate it for Ceiner use only. I myself use an old govt m16 1/12 twist pencil barrel which I bought because I thought the 1/12 would be better but it shoots just the same as my 1/9 bushy uppers. I did fall for the ballance of the leightweight upper. |
| The Compass Lake Engineering .22 upper is top-of-the-line. Never have had any problems with mine and they will "clean" a target and I mean one ragged hole at 50 yards if you do your part. For a real challenge, shoot that .22 at 100 yards, iron sights of course! |
I couldn't afford the price of admission either......so I built one myself.  www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=15&t=343067 |
AR Sponsor