Model 261 Conversion

[kraigWY]

Through out history, the Army has developed gallery loads for service rifles to reduce the cost of ammo and allow many National Guard units who didnt have access to out door ranges to practice marksmanship. I have several on military manuals and older reloading manuals dealing with the subject.

In addition the Army has procured over the years a varity of 22 Trainer Rifles for the same purpose. Thomas D. Batha's book "U.S. Martial .22 RF Rifles" is a good source on these rifles.

One of the latest, along with the H&R Model 12 (5200) which came about during the same period was the "M261 Adapter for the M16 series rifles.

Several adapters for the M16/AR15 were developed but the Army chose the M261 from SACO Defense, purchasing 160,052 of these devices.

The M261 replaced the bolt carrier group of the M16, allowing it to work in the semi auto. A ten round adapter was inserted in the M16's 20 or 30 round magazine. The M261 differed from many other 22 adapters as it allowed for bolt hold opening after the last shot.

50 ft reduced combat targets were produced simulating shooting at 100, 200, 300, and 400 yards. Qualification on these targets was 100 yard10 shots standing, SF, 10 shots RF in setting and prone for the 200 & 300 Yard stages, and 20 shots SF prone on the 400 yard stage.

The National Guard was big on using this device. Esp. the Alaska National Guard where few of the outlying units had ranges and most of the units only trained in winter where outdoor qualification was near impossible.

The NGB MTU conducted the CNGB Postal Competitions where unit teams would compete against each other, and the winning team would be sent to Nashville to compete with other states.

When I was the CO of A Co. 1/297 Inf ( a native unit on St Lawrense Island) I set up a 50 yard range in the Armory on Gambell, using C-Rat boxes as a back stop. I set up a practice regiment that allowed us to beat all other units in the state. We were sent from Gambell, via Nome, Anchorage, to Nashville TN. put up for two nights in a hotel, shot 50 rounds of 22, and flew back to Gambell.

I somehow ended up with one of the M261s. I didn thave 50 feed, but did have 30 feet in my house, I use to spend hours in the winter shooting from my living room into the back stop in the garage. If kept me in shape for the high power season.

I still have it, still shoot it, but not as much as I shoot.

I was going to recommend Batha's book (mentioned above) to those intersested in the Military's 22 RF rifles, but I went to Amazon for the link. I think its a misprint on the price, I got mine in new condition at a gun show for $750.

https://www.amazon.com/Martial-22RF...3474&sr=1-1&keywords=us+martial+.22+rf+rifles.

 

[sandwarrior]

I remember doing intensive training with these three times. Summers of '82, '83 and '84. The summer of '82 was for a scoot & shoot. We had several stations and we had minimal time to move to each one. Anywhere from 2.5 to 5 klicks. Object being to get you winded and tired, then see how you shoot.

The​​​​ summers of '83 and '84 were for EIB training. I forget what, but I blew it in '83. It was impressed upon me that I better make it happen in '84.

Little did I know at the time, but the EIB was a method the Army used to grade infantry units. I had just got back from SF Scuba school and didn't really care like I should have. Not meeting any standard set forth in a Ranger BN just doesn't sit well. Anyhow, I go-maxed it in '84.

Incidentally, AIT, and the EIB training was the only times I shot a .50 Cal.

 

[Mister Ridge]

Kraig, what do you think of the Compass Lake units? I'm working on getting one to replace my 40X as an accurate plinker.

 

[Gary/CO]

Conversions are interesting and useful. That said, I'd rather have a dedicated 22 LR upper. Blake Stevens discusses the 22 LR conversions and wrote that the 5.56 mm bore is .224, way oversized for the 22 LR bullet. Prolonged use results in heavy leading. Hence it is better to have a dedicated 22 LR upper.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

I never use my conversion kits for exactly the reason Gary points out. It really fills the throat and the bore up with lead and nastiness. You can clean it, but the barrel I used for my .22 ended up on the scrap heap, ultimately, because it simply became unreliable. Bad extracting, stuck cases. As much as you try and clean it, after a while the .22 leftovers do number on the chamber and throat area. I didn't try lead solvent (or Mercury). A new barrel was just cheaper.

There are a ton of good .22 'AR-syle' rifles on the market. No military cachet. But Smith and Wesson makes a great trainer .22 AR in lots of configurations.

They are good to shoot with. Very good.

Cheers,

Sirhr

P.S. Nice Pix, as always, Kraig!

 

[kraigWY]

Mr. Ridge, sorry i dont know anything about that system. I've only used the M261.

Actually the M261 didnt gum up the throat. Looking at the device you can see the part that fills the chamber which helps eliminate that problem.

Yes the bore difference (222 vs 224) does create a accuracy problem as we know lead bullets need to be a bit over size, I size my 223 cast bullets to .227 for best accuracy.

However, the rules for the CNGB matches required the 22s be fired in the units M16a1s, meaning at the same disadvantage. The rifle/M261 was useless shooting ISU targets, but the reduced C targets have larger scoring rings and in Prone and Setting it wasnt that difficult to clean the targets. The trick was getting the front sight adjusted properly for each stage.

After spending the winter indoors with the '261 helped my Combat Match scores shooting 100, 200, 300 & 400 yards with the M16A1. Which I guess that's what the thing was designed for.

But for now its just another useless gadget, in my collection of other useless gadgets.

 

[sinister]

We've got a number of them here and I'm using them to train Cadets, both for Basic Rifle Marksmanship and to shoot Adjutants General, CMP, All-Navy, and All-Army matches.

Sadly the Army has declared them obsolete and parts are tougher to find.

I'm not sure if the newer magazines fit and work with the GI conversion kits.

 

[Mister Ridge]

Mr. Ridge, sorry i dont know anything about that system. I've only used the M261.

.

The Compass Lake setup uses a similar bolt mechanism, and the same magazines, as the M261 paired with a dedicated .22 barrel. Expensive but supposedly very nice.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

IIRC, when you bought a Colt AR in the late 1980's, it either came with a conversion kit... or you could get one free by mailing in to Colt. That's how I got my first conversion. I have one more, now, not sure where I got it.

Now if you want to start talking about the Colt Ace.... there's a whole different ball of wax! What an amazing bit of gear.

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[sandwarrior]

I can't remember the exact range we shot at with these, but it was SHORT! Like 25m, maybe??

And, yeah IIRC, accuracy wasn't shit with these.

 

[kraigWY]

In the CNGB Matches we shot those targets at 50 Ft. They represented the D combat targets at 100, 200, 300, & 400 yards. These targets fired with the M261 sub cal devices were used in Qualification for guard units in the winter or those not having access to ranges.

As I mentioned before most of our training was in the winter. When I was in the 1st BN 297t (Native Unit on the Bering Sea) we used the 50 ft targets for qualification w/M193.ball, on the ice. The natives liked using the ball ammo because I always drew extra that would walk off for their hunting rifles. The thing about shooting on the ice is brass was un-recoverable so not turning it in, I didnt have to account for the extra.

I wasnt a very good officer when it came to accountability when it came to my Eskimos.

 

[NukeMMC]

Kraig, what do you think of the Compass Lake units? I'm working on getting one to replace my 40X as an accurate plinker.

About 15 years ago I had Frank build me a NM A2 dedicated upper in trade for about a dozen or so conversion units and a similar number of magazine inserts I had. That dedicated upper, combined with the lower I had with Holliger-tuned RRA NM trigger would shoot 1-hole groups at 50ft. It preferred CCI Green Tag, Eley Club and Wolf Match. I am thinking of having Frank build me another with an SPR profiled barrel.