Air Force converison for AR 15-16 (I think)

[Vernon Morris]

Recently acquired what a friend of mind told me was an early 1960 conversion kit for an AR15 or AR16. A friend told it was an Air Force kit , it consist of a bolt, it has three magazines encased in what appears to be white nylon. Right side of the magazine has slot threw which the magazine spring is visible. The bolt has two serial number stamped on it. Just trying to ascertain a value for the kit since it will not fit my Armalite 180, this I knew when I traded for it. The AR 180 bolt system and colt both are different, but figure it would good trading material. Thanks

Information

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[RCS]

You are talking about the 22 rim fire conversion kit for the Air Force right ?

[Vernon Morris]

You are talking about the 22 rim fire conversion kit for the Air Force right ?

Yes it is a long rifle converison

[Tom in N.J.]

Sarco had the Air Force .22LR conversion units a few year back. I bought one on-line from an individual in the Morristown, NJ, area. My son was in the Air Force and the only ammo he shot in the M16 was .22LR. Here is a XM15E2 Bushmaster, with the unit and magazine. The rifle has a M16 stock, pistol grip and handguards. Twist in this barrel is 1 in 12".

[A square 10]

i put mine in my colt M16A1 retro as well , shoots great ,

[tdeon221]

You probably know already but you can get a barrel that will mate perfectly to your kit made and they shoot very well. Accuracy Speaks in Arizona, great gunsmith. Well is 1/2" at 50 yards all day and 10 ring all day at 100 yards on NRA smallbore target if you do your part (very challenging at 100yards with the 22lr). See if Sarco has any spare parts left and buy some just in case.

Tom

[NavyEngineer]

Recently acquired what a friend of mind told me was an early 1960 conversion kit for an AR15 or AR16. A friend told it was an Air Force kit , it consist of a bolt, it has three magazines encased in what appears to be white nylon. Right side of the magazine has slot threw which the magazine spring is visible. The bolt has two serial number stamped on it. Just trying to ascertain a value for the kit since it will not fit my Armalite 180, this I knew when I traded for it. The AR 180 bolt system and colt both are different, but figure it would good trading material. Thanks

I paid around $200 for mine with three magazines about two years ago. Two nice things about the Air Force kit that the Army M261 conversion lacks are a bolt holdback open device, and you can release the spring tension on the follower to make loading easier. I usually shoot mine through a surplus M16A1 upper (1 in 12 twist, not ideal for .22 lr, but acceptable accuracy at 50 or 75 yards), and enjoy it very much.

[A square 10]

IIRC the 22cal RF stabilizes best at around 1/14 so this is as close as you will get in an AR

[tdeon221]

Unless you get a barrel for it or buy or build a dedicated 22lr upper. The bore is too big .224 vs .221 the lands are too aggressive and twist it too fast, should be 16 twist for 40gr lead round nose 22lr. Some guys are shooting a 1-9 twist for the Aguila ammo with the heavy bullets. It's all how far you want to take it and how much money you want to spend. For a casual plinker it's fine, if you want to punch holes in round targets, it isn't good enough without going the dedicated upper route. A group of us shoot our 22 uppers in 100yard smallbore prone matches at my club, great practice for service rifle shooting and it's fun going head to head against BSA's, Feinwerkbau's, Anschutz's, Win 52's. Do we win, no but the scores are respectable considering the other guys are shooting for X's.

Tom D.