I've been reading around rimfirecentral and have become interested in a 22 AR. I looked at the M&P 15-22 but I just cant get over the plastic. I've heard of Spikes and CMMG, but what others are there and which one do y'all think is the best? Thanks. Also what is a good lower thats not very expensive that I can use with it?

There are a few, but CMMG tops them all. Get one with a stainless bolt and you will be good to go.

can you tell me what model number the version with the stainless bolt is?

Just look here:

CMMG .22 uppers

Now, let me be perfectly frank and honest. Some of us have put a LOT of rounds through these uppers. While I am not king of the hill on that, I have put MANY thousands of rounds through them. The Stainless Steel is my first choice but I have to be perfectly honest and say that the "Parkerized steel" one has never given me a moment of trouble. The SS is a bit easier to clean but I have not been able to wear out either one of them. Truth is the only failure I ever had with one was a SS one that broke. They fixed it free however.

You can buy them cheaper from other people than CMMG. CMMG holds to list prices rather than undercut dealers. That is standard practice in any industry. If you shop around you can find good deals at times.

If you really want one, its not the SS one but it is in stock,  JUMP on this:

In stock CMMG

does the cmmg upper use black dog mags?

Yep theg work great!

i have another question. can you recommend a complete lower to me under $400? thanks.

Here is one I just put together yesterday



Go here, scroll down a bit,  and see how it shoots:

Budget build .22 AR

Any lower will work, some 22 uppers don't like notched hammers some it doesn't matter.  It basically all the variation intolerances, a few thousandths here and  there can stack to cause an issue with notched hammers.  I've used DPMS and RRA lower parts  kits without issue.  I have used Palmetto State Armory, RRA, Double Star, DPMS, CMMG and Colt lowers with with 22 uppers and never had a problem.  Basically any AR-15 lower will work, even te polymer lowers like Calvary Arms, New Frontier Arms or ATI Omni.  It is pretty easy to assemble a lower or you can buy a complete rifle in 22 LR from CMMG.

I wouldn't buy a complete 22 LR AR-15 from American Tactical Imports (ATI) because I don't care for their uppers.  If I were going to buy a new 22 LR AR-15 upper I'd probably buy a CMMG, TAACOM, Tactical Solutions or DPMS depending on which had the features and price I liked.  I've read good reports on the Core 15 but Inave never seen one in person, nor have I seen a Nordic.

The complete ATI .22 rifle is NOT a good choice at all. I picked up one of their lowers "on sale" and it has been OK. I like the NFA better other than the plastic trigger parts. I run one of my .22 uppers on a Cav Arms lower. I like those. I have run .22, 9mm, 5.56mm and .300 BLK on the Cav Arms and all worked great. My Cav lower is going strong and shows no sights of wear.

Tac Sol uppers are nicely made. Their first ones were even nicer with beautifully made parts. To me their only weakness is how they glue on the barrel collar adapter with Loc Tite. There were some issue with the early LT models where the barrels came loose. I have always wonder just how long they would last. Only time will answer that one. Also, Tac Sol service is OK, but if there are any problems they don't send you parts. You send in your upper or entire rifle for them to fix. CMMG is wonderful about parts. As for DPMS uppers, I don't know how they are to deal with. Word on the street is that CMMG is the place to go if you consider service and parts availability.

TACCOM is GTG. The owner is one of the great minds in our sport. He is an engineer and a long time precision competition shooter who knows what is going on> You can't go wrong with his products.

http://www.impactguns.com/rock-river-arms-complete-lower-half-standard-trigger-6-position-tactical-car-stock-ar0901c.aspx

Does this look like a good lower?

Rock River lowers are GTG but you should know that one has a notched hammer. The notched hammer may (or may not) cause issues with .22 rifles. The other thing you MIGHT find with Rock River is they sometimes fit tight on some uppers. This is NOT a big issue but there are rare occurrences of it happening.  BTW I use Rock River lowers and are quite happy with them. I even run one .22 AR upper on one with a notched hammer and it works OK, but once in awhile people run into issues with them.

Here is a Double Star lower. They are quite good as this company makes and supplies parts for many others. I have used lots of their stuff and its very good. They too may use a notched hammer but you can replace the hammer if need be for a few buck. $100 less than the RR and every bit as good.

Complete lower for $229

I'm very happy with my CMMG upper.  I've run about 1,400 rounds through it in the couple of times I've taken it out.

I'm using Black Dog mags I picked up from PSA.  Note: I just looked at their web site and while it says the sale ended yesterday, the web site still shows the sale price of $11.99 for the 25 round mags with steel feed lips.

so i should stay away from notched hammers? what is a good lower on the cheap without a notched hammer?
does cmmg make good lowers?

CMMG lowers are great. Not the cheapest, not the most $$ either.

I get great service out of the Double Star lowers. Double Star is a company that supplied  parts to others for many years and finally started putting their own rifles together. I used a lot of their parts over the years and all were GTG.

I have one .22 AR on a DPMS style rounded hammer and one on a Double Star notched hammer.....and both work fine...with my uppers (CMMG). That does not mean you will not have problems with a notched hammer however.  Its a crap game. Nice thing is, you can replace just the hammer for $25 or less. That $229 Double Star lower looks like a bargain to me. But they are made here, I know the folks that own the company, and I have used their stuff for some years and have 100% faith in them.

I have a Spikes and a Nordic Components .22lr uppers.

Both work fine with the nod going to the NC.

Also DPMS has similar uppers to the NC ones and they all use Black Dog mags.

You will not go wrong with the CMMG uppers. We have two, both with stainless bolts. One has the original CMMG barrel. Other has a Taccom ULW barrel. Very nice barrel. It is more accurrate than the standard CMMG one by a bit.

The one with a rifle length aluminum free float hand gaurd, magpul stock and the taccom ULW barrel weighs right at 5.5 pounds.

Both function perfectly and have no plastic upper or lower reciever..Goodluck with you search..

http://www.cmmginc.com/product_p/38ca332.htm

Does this lower have a notched hammer? Can you tell from the picture of the lower?

I have 2 of the CMMG dedicated .22lr uppers with multi thousands of rounds through them. They are AWESOME!
I've had chiappa, Ciener conversions and they do not compare to the quality of CMMG.

Looking at the photo in the link you gave us the hammer is not notched. Now comes
the "however" part of the answer: makers these days are scrambling for resources to assemble their
products and it is not uncommon to find variations in production. There is no guarantee what you
order will be exactly as you see in the photo.

Best bet is to try to speak with someone who can put eyes on the actual item you want.

Ted