Do you have a spare AR15 bolt carrier group or an AR15 .22LR conversion kit and need a protective case for storage and transport?
CMMG brand .22LR conversion kits for the AR-15 brand of rifles are shipped in a cheap plastic tube. It’s very important to store your conversion kit in the tube when not in use so that it doesn’t get bent or damaged in storage or transport. I also keep the rifle’s expensive regular bolt carrier assembly in the tube while employing the conversion kit in the rifle so that it doesn’t get damaged should it be accidentally dropped on the ground. Unfortunately the clear plastic tubes that come with the conversion kits are fragile and will eventually become brittle and crack (as seen in the photo above).
I made a replacement storage tube using a piece of 1 1/4″ diameter PVC pipe and two end caps (as seen in the photo above on the right). I cut the pipe so that the conversion kits fits with little play. I glued one cap onto the tube. The other cap will fit on the tube snugly and not come off unless it is pulled off with a small amount of force. I labeled the tube so that no one would mistake it for a Terminator style pipe bomb.
If I were making another one I would glue a small piece of soft foam in the insides of each end cap so that the conversion kit or bolt carrier assembly would fit nice and snug without any slop.
The total cost of the new storage tube was about $7 US.
Using either a dedicated .22LR upper receiver or a .22LR conversion kit is a great way to teach a new AR shooter the fundamentals of shooting the rifle without the intimidating loud noise of the full size battle ammunition, and for the experienced shooter to maintain proficiency at a fraction of the cost of shooting full size .223/5.56 ammunition.
To shoot .22LR ammunition out of an AR platform, you basically have two options. You can buy a dedicated upper receiver/barrel set, or buy a .22LR conversion kit that simply replaces your bolt carrier and fires the .22LR bullets through your AR barrel. The dedicated upper’s barrel will usually be a 1 in 12″ twist (as opposed to your AR’s 1 in 7″ or 1 in 9″ twist). The 1 in 12″ twist will result in a better stabilized .22LR bullet in flight which may result in slightly better accuracy. .22LR rounds fired from a conversion kit and through your AR’s barrel may or may not be as accurate as those fired out of a dedicated upper, but I have been very satisfied with the results using the simple and less expensive conversion kit. I can easily hit coke cans at 50 yards, and a full size paper plate at 100 yards. This is good enough for training purposes.
I live and swear by my CMMG brand .22LR conversion kit. When properly maintained, it is both reliable and accurate. They are around $160 and usually come with a 25 round magazine.
If you don’t have the patience for a detailed explanation, then you will still be well served by the information above. If you want to know more, keep reading.
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The Savannah Arsenal Project 