Ciener .22 Conversion for M16

[Seacowboys]

I picked up a Ciener .22 conversion for an M16 at the Knob Creek Fall shoot. I decided to try it with a 7.5 inch Bushy flat-top upper that never ran well with 5.56 (probably because of too short gas tube) with a Trijicon dot-site. Installation is as simple as removing the bolt carrier (leave the charging handle) and dropping the Ciener in. There are two small pieces that attach to the upper and lower side of the Ciener conversion that trip the auto-sear but the directions for installing them are clear and simple.
I was using Blackdog Machine 30 round magazines loaded with Remington high velocity .22 LR. These magazines have the same profile as a standard 30 round AR magazine and don't look nearly as cheesy as the metal one that comes with the kit. The lower we used was an NFA registered Colt A2.
I first loaded a single round and test fired to insure proper cycling would occur. Then I chambered two rounds and fired both on semi-automatic. Since the Ciener works on recoil, the gas-tube length is not an issue. Three rounds on Semi followed and everything seemed to be working ok so far. I inserted a full magazine and fired several rounds with the selector set for semi-auto and had two miss-fires. I switched to automatic and fired several short bursts with occasional malfunctions, usually a miss-fire that only required manually cycling the charging handle. Switching back to semi-automatic fire resulted in short automatic bursts twice but I believe this was caused by the newness of the conversion unit. After we cycled several magazines through the little weapon, it began functioning flawlessly and didn't hiccup when we added a suppressor. It ran like a Singer sewing machine (sounded like one too!) and the added bonus was that even after seven or eight magazines ran on automatic, the suppressor was still not glowing red ( try that with a 5.56). With ammunition costs being what they are, even the folks at Knob Creek are cutting way back on the amount of lead thrown down range and the little .22 conversion is one way to enjoy your machinegun without having to sacrifice the wife's new shoes.

[bigfelipe]

That's too cool, man. I'd love to have a .22 machine gun. Wish it was more affordable.