After wanting a good .22 AR upper for some time, I ordered the Nordic Components NC22 16" .750" barrel upper while they were on sale. ( http://shop.nordiccomp.com/NC22-Upper-Receiver-Assemblies_c21.htm ) I read a post on here about uppers and the guys were really happy with the quality of the NC22, so I figured I'd give one a try. These tend to be hard to come by, so when the opportunity came to pick one up for $50 off normal price, I jumped.
It arrived yesterday too late to take out since it gets dark at 5PM now. It gave me time to clean her up and get packed up for today's trip to the range.
I have the NC22 upper mounted on my standard Bushmaster lower with an Magpul ACS stock. The trigger is a factory that was modded by Bill Springfield (www.triggerwork.net) to get to a crisp 4lbs.
<span style="font-weight: bold">The Upper Details:</span>
The upper comes with this cool plastic thing on the bottom that bolts to the action with plastic reciever pins to keep the bolt group clean and in place while transporting (remove before putting on your lower). It comes with instructions and 1 10rd Black Dog mag. I grabbed two 26 rounders to boot.
The profile is .920. under most of the handguard and .750 the rest of the way to the muzzle. With my red dot it was just as heavy as my M4 upper. So it's a plus if you want to train with something similar in weight to your centerfire, but could be a negative if you want something super light for critter getting all day in the woods.
The handguards are free-floated, modular and sturdy. You can add rails as you needs mandate (NC sells them extra). They feel good in the hand.. not overly big but not too thin as well. I have decent sized hands and I was happy with the feel. Other than that.. nothing special about the handguards.
The bolt is more like a 10/22 bolt than an AR bolt. See pics for more detials. But it does slide in the upper just like an AR bolt with the changing handle. It stays open on an empty mag, but when you pull the mag out the bolt closes. I was able to get the bolt to stay open partially by pressing the bottom of my bolt close button in. Opperation is normal AR style... slap in a mag, pull changing handle to rear and let fly. Remove saftey and press when on target.
<span style="font-weight: bold">To the range!:</span>
Headed for the range and it was 45 degrees out, raining, perfect day to have the range all to myself. I was under time constraints so I was rushing to get my red dot sighted in at 25yds before moving to 50yds. Man I forgot how hard it was to see .22 holes on paper plates in the rain from 25yds w/o magnified optics. Once I got zeroed I headed to 50yds. I brought 7 types of the crappiest .22 ammo I had at the house. Here is the list (In order from right to left.. sorry I'm backwards):
Winchester T22 Target - 40gr Lead RN Standard Velocity
Winchester Wildcat - 40gr Lead RN High Velocity
Winchester SuperX - 40gr Plated HP High Velocity
Federal American Eagle - 40gr Plated HP High Velocity
Remington Golden Bullet Bulk Pack - 36gr Plated High Velocity
Remington Hunters Pack - 36gr Lead RN High Velocity
Winchester Bulk White Box - 40gr Plated HP Standard Velocity
With my time constraints and just a dot sight, I shot 25rds of each (100 of the Winchester bulk). I was not doing any accuracy testing other than that I could hit a paper plate at 50 yards each shot. I know this isn't extensive and will do more testing with each but it's all I had time for today.
Results out of 250 rds fired (no cleaning):
Failure to feed: 0
Failure to ignite: 1 (Remington Hunters Pack - 36gr Lead RN High Velocity)
Failure to eject: 0
I was really happy after hearing horror stories of guys using anything but CCI Mini Mags in the AR 22's. This thing ate EVERYTHING! The one failure to ignite could just be the ammo.. I've had that happen with that lot in my 10/22 as well. I reloaed that round, bent tip and all, and it stripped it off the clip and fired it.
All in all I'm stoked! It was more fun than I've had at the range in a long time. Best part.. I don't have to come home, clean brass, sort, deprime, resize, powder, seat 250 rounds of 5.56 tonight. Can't wait to get back out this weekend with the guys!
<span style="font-weight: bold">Cost savings:</span>
I can reload 5.56 for about $.20/round with good components.. maybe $.17 with cheaper bulk stuff. CCI Mini Mags are about .06 per round with bulk stuff around $.04
So for 1000 rds of each:
5.56 = $170 - $200
.22 = $40 - $60 ---> 3.33x cheaper!!!
Or you get 3333rds of .22 (sometimes 5000rds in bulk) for the same price as 1000 rounds of 5.56. You can shoot more than 3-5x as much.
Anyway, check them out if looking for a .22 upper for your AR. I'll report back with more ammo and accuracy testing down the road.
Time to go have the wife work the cramp out of my hand from loading all them damn .22s so fast.
Cheers,
John
It arrived yesterday too late to take out since it gets dark at 5PM now. It gave me time to clean her up and get packed up for today's trip to the range.
I have the NC22 upper mounted on my standard Bushmaster lower with an Magpul ACS stock. The trigger is a factory that was modded by Bill Springfield (www.triggerwork.net) to get to a crisp 4lbs.
<span style="font-weight: bold">The Upper Details:</span>
The upper comes with this cool plastic thing on the bottom that bolts to the action with plastic reciever pins to keep the bolt group clean and in place while transporting (remove before putting on your lower). It comes with instructions and 1 10rd Black Dog mag. I grabbed two 26 rounders to boot.
The profile is .920. under most of the handguard and .750 the rest of the way to the muzzle. With my red dot it was just as heavy as my M4 upper. So it's a plus if you want to train with something similar in weight to your centerfire, but could be a negative if you want something super light for critter getting all day in the woods.
The handguards are free-floated, modular and sturdy. You can add rails as you needs mandate (NC sells them extra). They feel good in the hand.. not overly big but not too thin as well. I have decent sized hands and I was happy with the feel. Other than that.. nothing special about the handguards.
The bolt is more like a 10/22 bolt than an AR bolt. See pics for more detials. But it does slide in the upper just like an AR bolt with the changing handle. It stays open on an empty mag, but when you pull the mag out the bolt closes. I was able to get the bolt to stay open partially by pressing the bottom of my bolt close button in. Opperation is normal AR style... slap in a mag, pull changing handle to rear and let fly. Remove saftey and press when on target.
<span style="font-weight: bold">To the range!:</span>
Headed for the range and it was 45 degrees out, raining, perfect day to have the range all to myself. I was under time constraints so I was rushing to get my red dot sighted in at 25yds before moving to 50yds. Man I forgot how hard it was to see .22 holes on paper plates in the rain from 25yds w/o magnified optics. Once I got zeroed I headed to 50yds. I brought 7 types of the crappiest .22 ammo I had at the house. Here is the list (In order from right to left.. sorry I'm backwards):
Winchester T22 Target - 40gr Lead RN Standard Velocity
Winchester Wildcat - 40gr Lead RN High Velocity
Winchester SuperX - 40gr Plated HP High Velocity
Federal American Eagle - 40gr Plated HP High Velocity
Remington Golden Bullet Bulk Pack - 36gr Plated High Velocity
Remington Hunters Pack - 36gr Lead RN High Velocity
Winchester Bulk White Box - 40gr Plated HP Standard Velocity
With my time constraints and just a dot sight, I shot 25rds of each (100 of the Winchester bulk). I was not doing any accuracy testing other than that I could hit a paper plate at 50 yards each shot. I know this isn't extensive and will do more testing with each but it's all I had time for today.
Results out of 250 rds fired (no cleaning):
Failure to feed: 0
Failure to ignite: 1 (Remington Hunters Pack - 36gr Lead RN High Velocity)
Failure to eject: 0
I was really happy after hearing horror stories of guys using anything but CCI Mini Mags in the AR 22's. This thing ate EVERYTHING! The one failure to ignite could just be the ammo.. I've had that happen with that lot in my 10/22 as well. I reloaed that round, bent tip and all, and it stripped it off the clip and fired it.
All in all I'm stoked! It was more fun than I've had at the range in a long time. Best part.. I don't have to come home, clean brass, sort, deprime, resize, powder, seat 250 rounds of 5.56 tonight. Can't wait to get back out this weekend with the guys!
<span style="font-weight: bold">Cost savings:</span>
I can reload 5.56 for about $.20/round with good components.. maybe $.17 with cheaper bulk stuff. CCI Mini Mags are about .06 per round with bulk stuff around $.04
So for 1000 rds of each:
5.56 = $170 - $200
.22 = $40 - $60 ---> 3.33x cheaper!!!
Or you get 3333rds of .22 (sometimes 5000rds in bulk) for the same price as 1000 rounds of 5.56. You can shoot more than 3-5x as much.
Anyway, check them out if looking for a .22 upper for your AR. I'll report back with more ammo and accuracy testing down the road.
Time to go have the wife work the cramp out of my hand from loading all them damn .22s so fast.
Cheers,
John
