22lr rifle building for practice/22lr course.

[speedy169]

Just a little history. My local club does a practice night at our indoor range once a week and an outdoor match once a month. At this indoor range they only allow 22lr rifles. We came up with the idea of havening a 22 rifle night. Basically we setup a normal field coarse like we do every week and run it using 22lr rifles. The majority is ar15's with 22 conversions or dedicated uppers and 10/22 rifles. The cheap red dot seems to be the sight of choice, but some shoot irons. We use a standard target and score it as minor.

My question is if you were to build a 22lr for this type thing what would you build? There are no shots over 25 yards, but I am thinking of mixing in some of the 1/3 size paper targets I have just to step up the difficulty a little and make it more realistic.

Currently I am using a dedicated 16" 22 upper on my 3 gun lower with a Tasco aimpoint clone or my 10/22 with 16" tacsol barrel and hogue stock and same red dot. The AR has a 4 rail handgaurd w/ flashlight and pogo stick on it w/ A2 break. I want to try a different break but I don't think it will really make a difference. I also run 30 rd mags and the course never seem to go over 30 rounds.

I have had a few people say they like doing this allot and have seen other clubs on-line doing this as a side match and calling it an ammo saver type thing. If you do a youtube search for 10/22 IPSC there was a video of this stuff out there.

I am considering switching out the 4 rail for a rifle length free float and a different break. Again not sure if a different break will make a difference. Has anyone found a 22lr break that makes a difference?

Sorry for the long post but this could also apply to building a 22lr practice/training gun.

Thanks for any input.

[Yankee Dog]

If I was building something specifically for this game I would not use an AR platform. The large sight over bore distance on the ARs causes a problem at short distances. for example when the bullet leaves the bore there is around 2.5 inches of difference between the point of impact and the point of aim. Not a big deal on full size targets but if you going to use reduced targets to simulate longer ranges you will have issues at any range other than your zero range.

I would go for something like the 10/22 where you can get the sight very close to the bore. Less variation in point of impact vs. point of aim from the muzzle all the way to the target.

Yankee Dog

[busyhawk]

YD,

Since you are also refering to a "Practice 22" then "my" choice is very easy...the TS AR22 kit. Good practice with almost the same platform as a regular AR and with magazines/10/22 reliability is second to none. Don't forget almost all other aspects are the same. I have almost duplicated my JP weight in the AR22 and really don't see a need for a comp...there is a little (very little) rise but not worth trying to combat...if anything I like a little rise like my JP!

If I were only going to shoot your game, first pick out a platform that will accept a 30 round magazine and develop from there. An AR platform is not the best for the game you are playing but for practice you can't beat it.

Sincerely,

RLTW,

Scott

[Yankee Dog]

I hear what you are saying. Building a 22lr "practice" gun is not the same as building a rifle specifically for the game described by the OP.

YD

[ShooterSteve]

I think Busyhawk has hit the nail on the head. Your first decision is if you want to win the .22 game, or do you want to practice for the AR and big gun games. It seems you may have to pick one or the other. That doesn't mean you can't do good at the 22 game, but I don't think you will be able to do quite as well as if the set up was specifically for that game. It seems like any competition you get into today is so specialized that it is hard to be a regular guy and do good. There will always be someone who really wants to win the 22 matches, and builds a gun for it. Being guys, we can't stand getting beat, so then we build one to be competitive, and then your buddies build and the race is on...meanwhile, don't forget the original purpose of the match! This is why we all end up with a locker full of guns that are more suited for one thing and don't do a lot of things as good.

[ken hebert]

Thruth in the previous post as I sit and think of my locker full of guns. (and dedicated .22's!)

[busyhawk]

You guys are talking crazy talk...like a safe full of guns is a bad thing!:-)

Now if I could just find the rifle or pistol I am looking for in one of my two safes....

[uscbigdawg]

Like Scott (busyhawk) I'd use my Nordic AR22. It's my practice platform for my AR and it's light-ish and it's tough to beat the reliability of 10/22 mags. Optics would be probably the C-More Railway that's sitting on my TS/STI 22 pistol (I have an ACOG on the AR22 now).

Rich

[jobob]

I put a Weaver 1-3x on my AR22 and it rocks! Mines a bit heavy, though, with an Adams and Bennett bull barrel. But it's so accurate I hate to change it just for less weight.

[blkbrd]

Take a look at the Spikes Tactical 22's.

I built one up with a SS fluted barrel and JP hand guard and its sexiest the most fun rifle I own.

[Aristotle]

I helped host a .22 action IPSC match at our club, and this is what I ran...

Ran flawlessly and was plenty accurate. It was the only .22 rifle that ran without a single hiccup. Here's video of the match...

[StealthyBlagga]

A few weeks ago, one our local clubs ran a .22lr carbine match. I used my AR15 7.5" SBR with a Ciener kit and BD mags. It ran well, and bore offset was not that big of a deal... actually, this was good practice for centerfire 3-gun hoser stages. The Cav Arms guys posted a nice video of clips from the match at YouTube (you can see me running my SBR around time=0:56).

My advice is to avoid a muzzle brake, as it will have no impact on muzzle rise and can fill up with lead (at least it did on my SBR). I have cinched two of the BD mags together for next time (though I'll be careful not to monopod off them ). Oh, and this is a fun (and cheap) match to introduce kids to 3-gunning... my son loved shooting this match with his 10/22, and has already tricked it out with a PG stock etc. .

Here is my rifle:

Edited December 24, 2008 by StealthyBlagga

[busyhawk]

Aristotle,

Ok, I guess I need to shoot your match:-) At the Custer match I was the only shooter (and only shooter with a 10/22 version) that had a flawless functioning 22. I would pit my 10/22 against any other AR/practice platform and put some money on it too and we will shoot until failure. Now I don't have any experience with the GSGs and have no doubt that thay are a fine practice rifle but my 10/22 is the bomb!

Great Video!

Don't forget to invite all when you have the next 22 match...looks like fun and is alot closer than Custer by hours.

RLTW,

Scott

[patrickbeijer]

I couple off weeks oga i organized a pratical rifle match for carbine's and .22's

There where only 2 GSG 5's that worked without problems

I spoke too the owners off the working ones and they both went back too the factory to get them running.

GSG 5's also have a lot off problems with cracked barrels/chambers.

Iff you hold one it is more like an airsoft then a rifle ,i do not like them so much ....sorry

They look cool though

[PHolsted]

I couple off weeks oga i organized a pratical rifle match for carbine's and .22's

There where only 2 GSG 5's that worked without problems

I spoke too the owners off the working ones and they both went back too the factory to get them running.

GSG 5's also have a lot off problems with cracked barrels/chambers.

Iff you hold one it is more like an airsoft then a rifle ,i do not like them so much ....sorry

They look cool though

I ordered a spikes 22 Upper and made me a dedicated AR-22. I have never looked back. It has been very reliable and handles just like the my real AR with less noise and kick.

[Bill J]

Has anyone tried the CMMG 22 conversion kit yet?

I'm thinking about buying one and installing it into my JP upper. The reason I'm thinking about going this route is that it's less expensive and all of the other parts on the rifle would be the same but not cost nearly as much as building a dedicated upper with optics.

Is there any downside to this that I'm not considering?

Bill

[Aristotle]

My gun did not run very well when I first got it, I had multiple light strikes and ejection problems. That said, as a competitive shooter you learn to learn what works and get the gun to run. There's a tremendous amount of work a forum on AR15 wrote that talked about the known issues, what to look for and more importantly how to fix them.

I had to file the firing pin a hair, cut a coil or two, dropped the mag drop safety lock tighted a few screws give it some of my magic oil and the gun run's great now. I put 800+ rounds without cleaning the gun without fail. My only issue was the magazine empties too darn fast. :-)

Scott, you'll have to race against Scott Springer as he is now the new owner of the gun. If we can get some more interested shooters that commit and come to the match, we will put one on.

Edited December 27, 2008 by Aristotle

[Ledge]

Has anyone tried the CMMG 22 conversion kit yet?

I'm thinking about buying one and installing it into my JP upper. The reason I'm thinking about going this route is that it's less expensive and all of the other parts on the rifle would be the same but not cost nearly as much as building a dedicated upper with optics.

Is there any downside to this that I'm not considering?

Bill

Mine has run flawlessly. I haven't had a single malfunction with it yet. I've run a pile of rounds through it, and a friend put it in his AR pistol and shot a big pile of ammo through that, and it worked like a charm.

Review I wrote on another web site