Anyone have experience with the use of .22LR adapters in AR 's?
Someone lit a fire under one of my admin types about the use of these as a cost saving measure for patrol rifle training and they’re trying to ram them down my throat. I have little hands-on experience with these units, but I’m not really a fan of them in the training of officers. Seems like they’d give trigger time, but not good for dynamic training where rapid clearance drills and mag changes should be imprinted.
Any issues of jacking up gas tubes/ports with either lead or powder fouling in semiauto guns? I ask this because US mil. SOP is (was?) to clear out the gun by firing a full mag of 5.56 full-auto (4-5 rd. bursts) following use of .22LR ammo.
Accuracy with their use in 1/7, 1/9 and 1/12 barrels? (We have some of each)
Trajectory comparisons when firing at 100 yds. and less?
Mag change similarities/differences?
Malfunction drill similarities/differences?
Any real world info at all - pro or con - would be helpful in formulating my response.
Contact Harv as he’s been running a Ciener with the BDM mags. I had one I sold as it was too finicky for my tastes, but lots of people have figured out what should be done to get them working better out of the box. Lots of polishing helps.
They are finicky, but could possibly be an alternative if you’re looking for CQB trigger time. In this day and age of ammo expenses we’re all looking for ways to still make it work. If it was reliable and still used magazines that allowed me manual of arms simialr to the duty weapon I’d look at it pretty seriously.
I used to use my .22 kit with a 1/7 barrel and I got a lot of keyholed rounds, so I went to a purpose-built .22LR upper with the proper twist barrel. I realize that’s not really an option for you as you’d want to stay with your duty gun. The 1/12 barrels will probably work best; I believe most .22LR rifles are around 1/14.
No bolt hold-open, except on the most recent BDM mags with hold-open followers and even then the bolt will close when you remove the magazine.
When actuated, the charging handle doesn’t cycle nearly as far rearward, compared to when cycling a 5.56mm setup.
I just ordered a Spike’s Tactical dedicated .22 upper. 1.5" extra of chamber translates to a real M4 “look” without a permanent FH. I have 3 BDM mags coming with it.
They supposedly run flawless even on FA.
I can’t wait to get mine and throw a G5 mount on it to really save myself some money.
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