AR Sponsor
Posted: 2/20/2010 6:45:43 PM EDT
| I'm looking to get some type of .22 AR setup and was orginally going to get a dedicated upper, but now I'm thinking about getting a 5.56 upper and just putting a conversion in it, so if I wanted another 5.56 rifle down the road I could just remove the conversion and put the 5.56 bcg back in. My question is, if I run the 5.56 upper as a dedicated .22 then decide to switch back after a few thousand rounds, how bad will the gas system be plugged up ? |
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I just pull the conversion out when I'm done shooting .22, put my 5.56 bolt/carrier in, and shoot 5 rounds of 5.56. It blows the crap out of the gas tube. If for some reason you don't want to do that you can plug the gas tube. When you are ready to convert back to 5.56, replace the gas tube. It's just so much easier to run a few rounds of 5.56 after a .22 session.
I also run a bore snake through the barrel while it's warm before I shoot the 5.56. I run copper wash ammo. Much cleaner and leaves less lead. |
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Depends on how well you keep things clean while only shooting 22's.
You can check the gas system to see if it's clear at intervals (500 rounds). If it's not clear, time to shoot some centerfire or disassemble and clean. That point should be thousands of rounds in the future. Copper Washed 22 Bullets like Federal or CCI will help things stay clear longer. Soft lead or waxed bullets will trash things up quicker. One of the rifles that I've only fired 22's in has made 15,000 rounds with one cleaning at 10,000 rounds. It will fire .223 / 5.56mm right now. This was a test rifle just for the purpose of seeing what care was needed when shooting 22's. Your rifle may vary from my results. They're all just a little different. The conversion will have paid for several Rifles in that much time. Think of things that way. Spec |
| I have an Air Force conversion kit, with last shot bolt hold open. It is a blowback design, so I simply removed the gas tube from the 1/14 twist upper (old, authentic) that I am using. If I ever decide to return it to 5.56 firing configuration, I will just scrape out the gas tube port with the proper sized drill bit, replace the tube and go. On a RRA lower with NM trigger, it is a lot of fun to shoot, and great accuracy for a tactical AR training substitute. |
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We've shot thousands of rounds of .22lr through our rifles and experienced no problems with the gas system.
We recommend that you shoot 5 or 6 rounds of .223 through the rifle after every 300 to 500 rounds (depending on the ammo). Spec Ops is on target with our experience. Check out our website for more information. We have a special going that includes a free mag loader with every kit purchased. Also register to win a free .22lr conversion kit. We're giving one away every month! www.AR15conversions.com |
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I have on several occasions shot at least 1000 rounds of rimfire with no issues to the gas system.
You can go with the" blow it out with centerfire" method if you choose but when you do the math of compareing the cost of 5.56 ammo against the cost of a possible replacement gas tube ($9.00-$12.00) the smart bet is to just shoot the rimfire and deal with the gas tube if you have to. My experience with the conversion has been with semi auto use non silienced ar's , YMMV |
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