Drop-in .22 LR for ARs

[Sacerdote]

Anyone know anything about these? Evidently you change out onlythe bolt and the magazine into a 5.56 AR and you shoot .22 LR.

[dfariswheel]

They usually work pretty well but accuracy may not be great due to the larger .223/5.56 bore.
These are intended to allow shooting cheap .22 LR ammo as training, not as an accuracy rifle.

Some people have reported possible clogged gas tubes after shooting very large quantities of .22LR ammo.
The "fix" for this is to simply fire a few .223 rounds every so often. The extreme pressure and hot gas passing through the gas tube will blow any fouling out.

NOTE: DON'T try to manually clean the gas tube with any pipe cleaners or put any liquid into a gas tube.
If the super heated and extremely high pressure gas won't blow the tube clean, you simply replace it.
Putting anything into the tube will either get something stuck in the tube, or the liquid will burn into a tar-like substance that will clog it worse.
Tubes either clean themselves, or they're replaced.

There are several brands of these conversion kits around, most based on the same basic design.
Like many .22 firearms, some are picky about the ammo. You may need to experiment to find a brand and type that's accurate, reliable, and less fouling.
The use of cheap .22 ammo is often a mistake since cheap stuff is usually dirtier.

[Sacerdote]

Thanks DeFaris. I was wonderring about the bore size. Makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.