Ruger 10/22 vs AR .22 upper vs AR .22 clone opinions

[Rate_of_Twist]

Like the title says, Looking for opinions. Looking into getting set up with one of the following. A Ruger 10/22, a .22 upper for my AR , a AR .22lr clone ( ie ruger or smith and wesson ) or one of those .22lr BCG for my Stag upper. What's your opinion and why.

drb


edit: sorry, I realized some sort of criteria is needed. I'm looking for a "eats anything" .22lr that I can improve my semi auto rifle handling skills with.

 

[mac1911]

for what it is worth
Do you have a AR already? If so: I was able to check out the spikes upper and the Tactical Solutions upper side by side. I did not see any standout features that made one better than the other.
I went with a Tactical Solutions purchased from gunkings.com and the mags from black dog machine.
WHY I DID NOT CHOOSE THE OTHERS
Colt- have their own mags and they do not submit handguns for mass. So FT
S&W has their own mags and at the time I was thinking about it , extra mags where not available. plus the bad reports where comeing in on AR15 with the free state models
Ruger was just to much a little AR alittle AK with the mag release.
ruger 10/22 Have had enough ofthose over the years. Good thing there are many many extra goodies for the 10/22 platform.
SPIKES at the time it was a order and wait for ever.......plus they where about 125.00 more for the base model of TacSol unit. They also did not give @ least one mag with their unit......
Lakeside just to much $$$$
There are a handful of other AR 22lr upper makers out there.

Im just a little surprised that S&W did not jump on the 22lr AR upper market? There is also model 1 sales, I was turned off by the staffer on the phone who with no better words was a dick on the phone. So they got the no.
Consider I was looking into the 22lr uppers @ the peak of demand for all things AR.

In short my Tacsol upper runs great. only jams I had where with CCI mini mags. I just stop useing them.

 

[BossHarley]

If you are looking to improve you handling of an AR then that should dictate your decision. There are 3 options to do that.
1) dedicated 22 AR (SW, Ruger etc), the advantage here is that there is no 'conversion' etc.
2) a 22 lr upper for your AR lower. This has the advantage of using the same lower (trigger pull, length pull etc). If you get the same style upper - forearm, etc, then it is essentially the same gun in a different caliber. Tactical solutions makes a great upper.
3) a 10/22, but handling will be quite different. There is a Nordic components receiver set for the 10/22, that can convert it into an AR - with the addition of furniture etc. I would recommend one of the first 2 for a couple reasons. 1) mag changes are the same as with your AR. 2)

If you get the dedicated 22 AR from S&W mag changes are almost the same as with the 223, (as are they with the tactical solutions upper).
The 10/22 mag changes will be different - due to use of the rotary 10/22 mag.
Options 1 & 3 and you have a complete firearm, 2 is just a conversion.

 

[TonyDedo]

Like mac1911, I'm still not sold on the AR clones - I don't like the lack of compatibility, and I'd like to get more feedback on reliability and durability before I consider one.

The 10/22 is a good option, but no matter how close you get it to looking like an AR, it's still not going to feel like an AR. Even the Nordic receiver doesn't quite get the weight and balance down, and for $200 (plus you still need to buy a stock, grip and forend, not to mention the rifle), it's hardly cost effective.

The benefits of a dedicated upper (over the 'conversion kit' BCG) is that you don't have to worry about .22LR fouling in your .223 barrel, you don't have to re-adjust your zero every time you switch from .223 to .22LR, and a dedicated upper is going to be inherently more accurate because the twist is designed for a .22LR round moving at .22LR speeds.

I REALLY like my Spike Tactical upper. It's virtually identical to a standard M4 upper (I've had friends who didn't even know they were shooting a .22 until they pulled the trigger). It's utterly reliable (I'm still waiting for my first FTF, and I've nearly put 3,000 rounds through it, mostly Federal value pack). The Black Dog mags are fantastic, and they're now making shorter mags for shooting prone (which was my only complaint). And when I'm shooting the .22 upper, I'm shooting MY AR: it's the exact same trigger pull, exact same grip and stock, exact same everything. It's the ideal training tool.

 

[Rate_of_Twist]

Like mac1911, I'm still not sold on the AR clones - I don't like the lack of compatibility, and I'd like to get more feedback on reliability and durability before I consider one.

The 10/22 is a good option, but no matter how close you get it to looking like an AR, it's still not going to feel like an AR. Even the Nordic receiver doesn't quite get the weight and balance down, and for $200 (plus you still need to buy a stock, grip and forend, not to mention the rifle), it's hardly cost effective.

The benefits of a dedicated upper (over the 'conversion kit' BCG) is that you don't have to worry about .22LR fouling in your .223 barrel, you don't have to re-adjust your zero every time you switch from .223 to .22LR, and a dedicated upper is going to be inherently more accurate because the twist is designed for a .22LR round moving at .22LR speeds.

I REALLY like my Spike Tactical upper. It's virtually identical to a standard M4 upper (I've had friends who didn't even know they were shooting a .22 until they pulled the trigger). It's utterly reliable (I'm still waiting for my first FTF, and I've nearly put 3,000 rounds through it, mostly Federal value pack). The Black Dog mags are fantastic, and they're now making shorter mags for shooting prone (which was my only complaint). And when I'm shooting the .22 upper, I'm shooting MY AR: it's the exact same trigger pull, exact same grip and stock, exact same everything. It's the ideal training tool.

Yah, ive been looking around and the dedicated upper seems to be kinda the way im leaning. The only problem is I know if I get another upper, it will shortly be folllowed by another lower setup ( which I could have got one of those lowers in the most recient group buy, maybe Ill get lucky and someone will back out )

by the way, hows the REM 700 and press?

 

[buickgn72]

i was looking at all the aboved. then went to the gun shop this weekend and bought a spikes st-22 the deal was to good to past up cam with a mag and a free float hand guards it went on my anvil arms lower it was fun to shoot also

 

[Gammon]

Another point to consider is that 22 rimfire classes are starting to appear at the practical rifle matches. This makes sense to me because some of the matches are run on relatively short ranges so why waste expensive .223? At least one club has restricted this class to .22 rimfire ARs only.

 

[TonyDedo]

Yah, ive been looking around and the dedicated upper seems to be kinda the way im leaning. The only problem is I know if I get another upper, it will shortly be folllowed by another lower setup ( which I could have got one of those lowers in the most recient group buy, maybe Ill get lucky and someone will back out )

by the way, hows the REM 700 and press?

I like the "one upper, multiple lowers" approach. Ultimately I want to have my one lower and 2-3 uppers all in a fitted case, and that will be my AR package. But I understand the urge to grow the collection.

The 700 is awesome, BTW. Still haven't upgraded anything on it, but it's been fun to shoot. The press is serving me well also.

 

[Bad13Luck]

I just recently build a .22 AR. I build a stag lower with a Magpul MOE stock. I all so picked a Spikes ST 22 Dedicated upper with an YHM hand guard for a great price. I’m running an Eotech 5.11 on it. The set up of this AR is very similar to my 556 versions. This allows me to train with the rifle and not feel much difference when I move up to her big brothers. It all so gives me a spare lower in a jam. I have found my self shooting it more and more. It is one of my favorites.


Bad13Luck

P.S. I will try and get some pics up later.