FRKN9

I've decided against the 5.56 barrel with a 22lr converter for this. It may work fine however an actual 22lr barrel would work significantly better. I'll either wait out the CMMG 22lr barrel drought or buy once / cry once with a custom 22lr Beyer barrel.

Considering a dedicated 22lr AR upper "pistol blaster" project using the CMMG 22lr conversion kit and a 4.5" 556 barrel. I know there are a whole lot of reasons it would be better to have an actual 22lr barrel, thing is they're hard to get and really expensive compared to 556 barrels. I'm not going for sub MOA precision here however getting around 2" groups at 50 yards and in would be the goal. With the way the CMMG kit fake 556 adapter works for 22lr there's the jump to the bore and that leaves about 2.5" to 3" of actual usable barrel. I'm not sure if this will work well or not. If I get 6" groups at 25 yards that would qualify as failure. I've used the 22lr kit in a 7.5" barrel and had very good results out to 50 yards but with a 3" (40%) shorter barrel I'm just not sure it will work well. If anyone has experience with the CMMG 22lr conversion kit in really short 223/556 barrels I'd appreciate anything you could tell me.

Everyone keeps asking that. I think the fact that's the question that comes up tells me why there are hundreds of compensators for the 9mm round and next to zero flash hiders. I always try to minimize flash in all things l do...it's just a personal preference. I always strive for 3 shot precision and 'flash' causes a split second micro effect on eye sight that adversely effects the ability to stay precise with the 2nd and 3 shot. Most people choose the 'compensator' route in search of follow up precision, l did at first. In my experience over time, simply holding on tighter eliminates the need for compensation. For me, once the grip technique was resolved, that left flash as a potential enemy of precision. With larger calibers l found my precision increased with use high quality flash hiders and l found some information that attributed this to eye reflexes. Whether realized or not, flash effects eye reflexes even in full light. Not a big deal if the 2-3 moa group meets your needs. If the goal is sub moa though, reducing flash helps do that. So in all things l do l try to reduce flash as much as l can short of suppression.

Went ahead with the upper project (16" 9mm barrel). I have a VG6 Precision Epsilon muzzle from an old build l took apart. This muzzle is mostly a brake however it also has some small tines to slightly suppress flash. Tested a few different rounds 115grn FMJ, 124+P JHP, and 147grn JHP in semi-low light. All 3 produced a flash with the 124grn being the most, the 115 a little less, and the 147 being minimal. The flash signatures on the 2 lighter rounds wasn't significant. None of the rounds were NATO rated. I don't know if this is accurate however a friend at the range suggested NATO rated rounds would produce little to no flash. I suppose testing that out is next. Finding quality flash hiders for the 9mm round in a rifle set up is a challenge. Plenty of compensator options with few flash hiders. Would appreciate suggestions if anyone has experience with this.

I'm not a re-loader, at least not yet. I save my brass based on the possibility I may want to get into all that at some point in the future however that's not related to my flash question. My use of 9mm ammo is varied from low grain weights of 55-60 clear on up to to 147-150. The ammo type varies based on application and is sometimes FMJ, TMJ, or JHP. I'm primarily a fan of 9mm for 2 reasons, availability and a wide range of types. When it comes to muzzles in all cases across all firearms, I always do what I can to minimize flash as much as possible short of the suppressor route. I just have a personal preference for as little flash as possible in all situations. I would never consider buying a brake unless that was a secondary function to excellent flash suppression (Surfire Warcomps or SOLGW Nox for examples). I'm not looking for a specific information set about a specific use. With considering a rifle length build or purchase in 9mm there are positives and negatives. In theory I believe one of the general positives is that muzzle flash will be minimal because of the powder likely being burned off by the time the bullet reaches the end of a 16" barrel. Aside from exiting the "will they or won't they" take braces away hoopla, the potential lack of muzzle flash at rifle length for a 9mm is a huge plus for me. The thing about theories and firearms is that sometimes what seems to make sense on paper doesn't actually take place in application. I suppose I was just hoping to find some sort of a 9mm rifle at night video demonstrating muzzle flash with a few different round types to see if there was merit to my theory. Seems, based on what you folks have had to say, that yes indeed muzzle flash is generally minimal in a 16" 9mm. I was just hoping someone would say......here's a video link for exactly what your looking for. Seems though that testing flash lux on 9mm rifles is too low of a priority for anyone to actually do it and post a video.

Posted this in technical then figured this might be a better spot..... I've been looking for information about the amount of muzzle flash from 9mm in barrel lengths measuring in the 11"-16" range. Have tried looking it up on youtube and searching it on-line and there's little to no information. Mostly what comes back is offers to buy flash cans or fake suppressors. It seems to me flash (measured in lux I believe) out of 9mm barrels in this length range would be minimal to non-existent due to the powder burn off. That said, I can't seem to find anything that supports or refutes this hypothesis. I'd appreciate feed back or a point in the right direction if anyone has information on this.

I've been looking for information about the amount of muzzle flash from 9mm in barrel lengths measuring in the 11"-16" range. Have tried looking it up on youtube and searching it on-line and there's little to no information. Mostly what comes back is offers to buy flash cans or fake suppressors. It seems to me flash (measured in lux I believe) out of 9mm barrels in this length range would be minimal to non-existent due to the powder burned off. That said, I can't seem to find anything that supports or refutes this hypothesis. I'd appreciate feed back or a point in the right direction if anyone has information on this.

Chillywig in WV...went to school in SW PA and had some fun in WV playing club rugby many years ago. I like the engineering part of it all almost as much as using the products. I like the sense of accomplishment from taking a bunch of parts no one else would consider putting together and then making it work reliably. My AR9 has parts from 15 different manufacturers. The variety wasn't on purpose, it was just the direction it went as I gathered info and bugged tech departments. The tech people at mean arms, cmmg, and ballistic advantage were a big help, that said I'm sure they're glad I'm done calling. My attention span even with things that work is short and I figure the greatest number of options you can give yourself for reliable multi-purposing is worth looking into. To me one lower you can swap a few basic parts on and have options for 22, 223/556, and 9 seems more practical than lugging around 3 firearms. I haven't done any competitions but a twist on the 3 gun where reconfiguration for 3 calibers on 1 lower is part of it could be interesting. Texasdawg, you mentioned to smaller and the bigger stuff and I'll looked at the Berrys site. I don't have reloading know how or equipment but I bought a brass catcher, a de-primer, and a big bottle of white vinegar a while back and using the poor man's cleaning method I'm developing a nice collection of cleaned once fired casings. I know one thing for sure, real tired of store hopping and standing out front of sporting goods stores waiting for them to open.

Yes on the .380, with both of them having the same diameter it seems, at least in theory, to be possible. With the 9mm casing and overall length being longer maybe that distance makes it a non-starter. After looking into it further I think the ability to do it is more of a mute point that I originally thought. If it even were possible you'd spend more money to have an alternate conversion type system that would allow you to use smaller less powerful ammo that for the most part is less abundant and more expensive that regular 9mm ammo.....in 2021 that's not a very good option. I've started looking into fringe 9mm ammo options at both extremes of grain weight from as low as 50-55grn to as high as 185-190grn. My thinking is these are really better options for having a varied use and outcome as opposed to .380 which has the obvious feed question. If anyone has experience with low or high 9mm grain weights out of a 10"-16" 9mm barrel I be interested to hear what you have to say.

Did my first build a little while back using budget receivers and a bunch of other brand parts to complete my AR 9. It's built on a 556 platform and I took the Endomag route. I either got incredibly lucky or was given a lot of really good advice from tech departments, probably a little of both. At well over 1000 rounds it's worked flawlessly without a single misfire or jam using 9mm ammo from 100 to 150 grains. It's set up to have the option of using a magazine adapter and Glock or Colt mags however I haven't tried it. Maybe I should count myself lucky and leave it alone however with the similarity between the 9 and 38 rounds, I'm wondering if there's a way I could have a simple reliable option to use one or more of the 38 rounds. If anyone has any information or input I'd be glad to hear it.

Hello. I'm always interested in what can be done and what's new. May have guessed, or not,...anyways my screen name is short for Franken9, my AR9. My first ever build, completed on an AR15 platform using Endomags, and it's made up of parts pieces from about 15 or so different manufacturers hence the name. I bugged a lot of tech people from a lot of companies with a lot of questions to get it done and it works better than I hoped it would. I use the CMMG 22lr converter in an AR15 and it got me thinking, as similar as 9 and 38 ammo is, could I figure out an easy way to also use some of the 38 ammo reliably. If anyone has info, thoughts, or advice I'm all ears....even if it's just to point me in some direction or tell me it's been tried and failed. I've looked around for info on the topic and haven't found much, so coming to a PCC forum seemed like then next best step. Thanks, N9