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AR-15 Rimfire conversion for NRL22?

obx22

Troubleshooter
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 28, 2020
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I shoot NRL22 events at a local club. This is my YEET cannon/mall ninja build, I hope to turn this TacSol .22LR upper into a match capable winner. It’s more reliable than any autoloader I’ve ever fired, but accuracy is severely lacking. Thoughts on a winning barrel/chamber choice?
 
It’s not a question of ammo quality, but to answer your question:
GECO bolt rifle
GECO semi auto
CMP Eley bulk
CCI SV target
Wolf MT (NAMMO made)
Federal AutoMatch
Federal 711,714,719,510,AE5022,790
Fiocchi 22FHPSUB, 22HVCRN
Aguila SV
Winchester Dynapoints, 333
Lapua Center-X, Sk Jagd Standard Plus
My custom build 10/22 clone is about 1.25” @ 100m with some of the above, but I feel the potential is better with the AR design. To date zero function issues with any ammo, the accuracy just isn’t there.
 
You could throw some JP parts in your gun.



A member did a similar build a couple years ago it looks like and documented some of it in a thread


There are also some reviews online of the JP-22 uppers and all in all the consensus was positive.
 
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FWIW, this is a target using the above JP-22 Barrel and Bolt Kit. 50 Yards, 15 Rounds of SK Yellow Box, Bipod and rear bag.
 

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I priced a complete JP 22 rimfire build, a couple of years ago, and the price came to $3,400.00.
Sure was a beauty though, I wanted to order it and almost did. :cool:
 
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I didn't have great luck with the JP build kit, and I've read about others with less than stellar accuracy as well and some that shoot lights out. To JP's credit they were awesome to deal with. They listened to what I had done to try and get it to shoot better, didn't have any suggestions I had not already tried, so they had me send it back, evaluated it, changed the bolt and rebuilt it into a new upper and it tested pretty well with Eley Tenex and it ran about 0.4" at 50yds and around 0.8" with some old RWS Moderator. I will say I never had a malfunction and that was one of the things JP stressed that they wanted something sewing machine reliable and likely gave up some accuracy to maintain that by not having a crazy tight chamber.

That said if it needs $20/box Tenex to yield 1/2" groups at 50, I likely won't keep it. Not when my Volquartsen will beat that with $5 a box Wolf Match. It's a fun upper, but not enough fun to have to look at > 1" groups at 50 :)

This was the original test target (right target) I sent JP, (left is wolf match groups from my Volquartsen which I included in my correspondence to JP just so there was no question it's the monkey) It was odd the JP would frequently put 2-3 rounds together and then have huge flyers even on shots that felt great when they broke. Originally I built it on a Mega smooth side billet upper/lower with Seekins handguard, Trigger tech trigger, and used a proven optic/mount, so anything but cheap parts. I had JP rebuild it on their upper and handguard while it was in for eval, but have not had a chance to test it since it was returned. So it might very well shoot amazing once they worked their magic on it.

IMG_0929.jpeg


If I were doing it over, I'd have one of the well known rimfire upper builders do a full upper build with a custom barrel. Compass Lake, Keystone, etc. By the time you do a JP kit with a quality upper and handguard it approaches the same price anyway. JP however definitely went the extra mile and was great to work with, nothing but praise for them.
 
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You make me glad I didn't order that JP, Todd.
Glad I went with my Chacon custom 10/22 clone as it shoots great and probably better than a JP would have.
 
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Hmmm, here I am expecting Volquartsen/Kidd accuracy out of this thing.....
 
Hmmm, here I am expecting Volquartsen/Kidd accuracy out of this thing.....

It's a shame it doesn't for a $3,400 JP but I guess that style action doesn't lend itself to reliability and accuracy combined using a match chamber.
Most 10/22 actions with match chambers are not reliable with all 22 ammo either so it wouldn't bother me if JP used a match chamber as long as it would run and shoot well with SK as my Chacon does.
Would not be using it for self-defense anyway.
 
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To be fair JP doesn't really market it as a tack driver. The instructions that come with the JP Supermatch 22 barrel kit state: "From most high‐velocity ammunition, you can expect 2‐3 MOA and 1.5‐2 MOA out of less expensive target‐ or match‐grade loads at 50 yards. However, the higher quality match loads may deliver MOA performance at 50 yards." So they seem to prepare the end user that the only way you might expect 1/2" 50yd groups is with top end match ammo. Which echo's what JP got when they tested it, their groups with PMC Moderator ($8 a box) were around 0.8" and Eley Tenex ($20 a box) were just under 0.5".

I'd bet in my target above if you averaged all those groups they'd be around 2MOA, Eley Match and Midas shot probably closer to 1.5 MOA, and the cheaper wolf match and RWS were a bit over 2 MOA. I wish I'd have had a crono with that day because one thing I noticed was that the rim strikes looked a bit weak on some of the brass, and most of the big flyers are all low. The vertical spread appears much worse than the horizontal. There definitely was some left to right breeze that day, you can see some left/right stringing in the Volquartsen groups as well and our range uses conveyor belt for a target attachment so it sways a bit in the breeze.

 
So I have a 18” JP CTR02 build in 223 wylde, I got the CMMG 22LR kit for it, very fun, but dirty, though I only shot copper plated rounds from it.

It does group quite well for shooting 22lr out of a 223, but for NRL22 seems a CZ 4XX or Tikka would be a better option
 
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I shoot NRL22 events at a local club. This is my YEET cannon/mall ninja build, I hope to turn this TacSol .22LR upper into a match capable winner. It’s more reliable than any autoloader I’ve ever fired, but accuracy is severely lacking. Thoughts on a winning barrel/chamber choice?

Are you wanting to re-barrel your Tactical Solutions AR-22? They are out of the AR22 game so I'm not sure how you're going to do that. Someone would have to reverse-engineer their barrel breech/collar setup. Their bolt is awesome and I love that they don't use the collar but I'm afraid a re-barrel may be out of the question. Maybe Keystone Accuracy can make a new barrel to match up to the Tacsol bolt. It's very similar to the CMMG bolt face.

Otherwise, the JP or even the RRA 22 uppers look to be very promising for that type of event.
 
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eric72
I plan to rebarrel using the TacSol factory barrel collar/feed ramp.
It is a very easy pattern to copy, thus I’ll likely be doing that part myself.
So far no answers on the barrel/chamber question.
 
ob - I've thought this barrel could could be a good blank to start with: https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/884540
I'm not sure which chamber will best suit your needs. At the risk of stating the obvious, I think the Bentz chamber is considered a "match" chamber for semi-auto rifles. Maybe someone else will chime in. I think it's cool as hell you are able to copy the TS barrel. The collar is removable. Are you able to reuse that?
I actually purchased a tactical solutions barrel about a year ago without a bolt. I was thinking I could find a bolt but since no luck. I have one TS upper complete and wanted a second. So I can swap the bolt I have between the two but I'd sure like to have another bolt. Any ideas?
 
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ob - I've thought this barrel could could be a good blank to start with: https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/884540
I'm not sure which chamber will best suit your needs. At the risk of stating the obvious, I think the Bentz chamber is considered a "match" chamber for semi-auto rifles. Maybe someone else will chime in. I think it's cool as hell you are able to copy the TS barrel. The collar is removable. Are you able to reuse that?
I actually purchased a tactical solutions barrel about a year ago without a bolt. I was thinking I could find a bolt but since no luck. I have one TS upper complete and wanted a second. So I can swap the bolt I have between the two but I'd sure like to have another bolt. Any ideas?
eric72
That barrel looks interesting, I may check one out. As for the bolt, it bears a strong resemblance to the CMMG offering, but I’ve never compared side by side.
I have a Bentz reamer, and was pondering repurposing another barrel anyway.....
 
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The one on the right is the TS bolt. You're right! The bolt face is nearly identical but I placed the CMMG bolt up to the TS barrel and the ejector is oh so slightly clocked a little higher. You can see in the pic that the left that the ejector on the CMMG bolt, call it 9 o'clock; the ejector on the TS bolt is just a little higher. The TS bolt is built extremely well. I wish I had another. I was thinking about opening up the extractor cut on the TS collar so I could use a CMMG bolt; I'd just have to figure out how to keep the bolt from flying off the end of the guide rails.

I have a Keystone Accuracy build and he just cut the end of the rails off a CMMG bolt assembly leaving only enough to engage a relief cut in the barrel but the bolt can come right off the end. He drilled and tapped a hole in the side of the receiver which corresponds to a notch in the rail so it's retained upon disassembly. But if you were to take the bolt out and reassemble, you need three hands to wrestle it all back in the receiver (pic below) It's very clever and simple but I still think there's a good way to capture the bolt with the spring guide rod somehow. I remove the retaining screw to shoot it. It's only installed to disassemble.

IMG_1567.jpg
 
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I emailed keystone and asked if they were making the 22 uppers again, johns says “I am not”
 
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