22 conversion vs dedicated 22 upper

[fortibus85]

As a follow-up for those interested, I am posting a short debrief.

First of all, thank you to all who provided input and advice.

I ended up going with a conversion, for the following reasons:
- Cost
- Wanted exact same weight and operation/feel. I am teaching myself, two kids and perhaps my wife how to use this and wanted to simplify the training aspect. Heck, I had never even cleaned or stripped an AR-15 before.
- I do not own any optics, so there were no "old" or "passdown" optics to use on a dedicated 22. No passdown BUIS either!
- Target shooting/accuracy is not an issue for my family. We are wanting to shoot a lot of rounds and learn basic rifle handling and familiarity.

After checking to see what other conversion kits were available, and reading the reviews I could find, I went with a Target Master .22 conversion kit. It was about $75-$100 cheaper than CMMG.

We have put a little over 1,200 rounds through it, with only one (maybe two) jams. I am very pleasantly surprised.

Thanks again to everyone!

[G-lock]

Not to rain on your parade, but how can you have the same feel/operation without the ability to lock the bolt back or a last shot BHO?

It was for these reasons I chose the M&P 15 22, now if I could get a BAD lever I'd be styling...

[usmcvet]

The 15-22 is great for what it is but it feels like a toy in my hands. I like the weight/feel of the CMMG upper I have. The bolt hold open is worth it for me. Neither has the same length of pull on the charging handle either. I almost Rip the thing off when I pull on it.

[fortibus85]

Anyone got an umbrella?

When I bought it I didn't realize it would actually operate differently, even if only slightly. I haven't put many .556 rounds through it, less than 100 or so, and wasn't familiar with how the AR is supposed to operate at all. Sooo..., I did eventually notice that the bolt holdback is different.

Nevertheless, buying a $125 Target Master makes it that much easier for me to get a quality optic. Jumping in to this world with only a Glock 19 and four people to teach (including myself) is a high learning curve, and high dollars.

[HeavyDuty]

Disregard, misread a post...

[G-lock]

Understood. The kits can work well, I sold my Ciener kit and mags for about half wat the 15-22 cost. Good luck! Jeff

[Red Rezin]

Really enjoying my M&P 15-22. Bit pricey, sadly you could get a full Spike's AR for a little more.

[ryr8828]

Really enjoying my M&P 15-22. Bit pricey, sadly you could get a full Spike's AR for a little more.

I only paid $400 for my sw mp15- .22, they must have went up.

[usmcvet]

Yeah my sons 15-22 was expensive but it was a tricked out one. The second I bought was $400.

[zimm17]

I still vote for the M&P 15-22 (for anyone else researching this topic). It's an awesome gun. Plus you get 2 AR's out of it so you and your son can both shoot at the range without swapping uppers.