Help On Making Mine A SBR

[RedNeck Jim]

I have decided to go ahead & SBR my 15-22. I already have a 22Sparrow suppressor, so why not? Really... why not? If someone has done this & wished they hadn't, I'd like to know.

Since the Form 1 requires the length, what lengths have y'all cut the barrel to & what have you done with your rails. What impact in accuracy have you seen with your given barrel length? Also, does a shorter barrel cause any failures when using subsonic ammo? Right now that is all I use & have many thousands of rounds. Since a shorter barrel reduces bullet velocity, I'm curious if that impacts cycling when firing? Doesn't seem like it should, but would like to be certain.

I purchased my suppressor thru our closely held family owned corporation & will do so with the SBR. Have I read where you can file this online now & save time? Those that have done so, please let me know how that went.

Once I get the stamp, I assume I'll use Adco to do the cutting. I have used them to thread & crown a couple of my barrels and was very pleased.

Jim

 

[timeighty5]

I SBR'ed my 15-22 by using a 15-22P upper. The overall length with the stock collapsed is 21.5". This is, IMO, the best way to SBR a 15-22. Albeit, a 15-22P can be expensive to get ahold of.

I have a gemtech outback IID suppressor and my goal was to have a very short 15-22 that runs quiet on standard velocity ammo.

When I shoot my M&P22 (stock m&p pistol that has a 4" barrel), standard velocity 22 rounds don't build up the speed needed to break the sound barrier before they reach the can. As a result, this gun is very, very quiet while shooting suppressed.

My 15-22 SBR has a 6" barrel. With this firearm, standard velocity 22 rounds do reach the sound barrier before getting to the can and are much louder than the M&P22.

I said all that to say this, if you want your SBR to run quiet on standard velocity ammo, cut the barrel pretty short. I, unlike you, do not have a surplus of subsonic ammo so this was my only feasible option.

I have had virtually no problems with my SBR 15-22. A few times I have gotten a double feed but I attribute that to the lower quality ammo I was using.

As for accuracy, my SBR 15-22 is insanely accurate. While I haven't tested the accuracy with subsonic ammo, I can hold a 1" group at 75 yards with good quality ammo. When I am able to acquire a variety of ammo, I will take it out to the range to do thorough accuracy testing.

I eFiled my Form 1 paperwork myself..and you can do it to -- it's very easy to do. There are help guides online to walk you through the steps or I can help if you need. My paperwork (using a trust) took 5 months to be approved. Submitted: 11/21/2013 -- Approved: 4/24/2014

My SBR 15-22 is by far my favorite gun. I don't regret the expense at all. I also like that I can still "disassemble" this SBR into a standard 15-22 and a 15-22P if I'd like to, but I don't see myself doing that very often.

 

[telero]

If someone has done this & wished they hadn't, I'd like to know.

I love my 15-22 SBR.

Since the Form 1 requires the length, what lengths have y'all cut the barrel to & what have you done with your rails.

I used a 15-22P as a base for the build, so it has a 6.5" threaded barrel. I used a Tacticool22 rail adapter and got a 10" free float rail. Silencer sticks out the end a couple inches. The rail extends past the end of the barrel, so I got a fake silencer to install when the Sparrow isn't installed. Otherwise the end of the barrel sits back a few inches inside the rail, and I didn't want to put my hand so far forward on the rail that it would be past the end of the barrel if nothing was installed.

What impact in accuracy have you seen with your given barrel length? Also, does a shorter barrel cause any failures when using subsonic ammo? Right now that is all I use & have many thousands of rounds.

No real change in accuracy that I've noticed, but I mostly just shoot at reactive targets with this. I pretty much only use CCI standard velocity and it works flawlessly for me.

Since a shorter barrel reduces bullet velocity, I'm curious if that impacts cycling when firing? Doesn't seem like it should, but would like to be certain.

The short barrel only reduces velocity in the sense that it doesn't allow the bullet to reach it's maximum velocity (since it's not contained in the barrel as long). It doesn't really reduce the energy generated by the round acting on the action. A silencer may actually give a little extra backpressure that would help as well.

I purchased my suppressor thru our closely held family owned corporation & will do so with the SBR. Have I read where you can file this online now & save time? Those that have done so, please let me know how that went.

Jim

Right now Form 1 on efile is still down. It's supposed to be back "soon" (that was said April 17th). All eforms except 6 are still down, so it's not just the one that you would use. Forms 1 and 2 should be back next I believe, then 3 and 4 later. They have actually added staff for processing forms, so wait times in general should be getting better. Wait times for eforms were fast at the beginning, but paper and eform times started converging a bit as they took the eform system down. The real savings in eforms is that you don't have to wait for someone to enter the information from you paper form into the computer. That backlog has been a couple months. The problem with eforms is that if you make a mistake, all the time waiting is lost, there is no chance to make a correction. With a paper form a mistake can be corrected.

 

[RedNeck Jim]

Since I have plenty of subsonic, the primary purpose for me in going SBR is just getting the gun shorter. A standard length barrel with suppressor is just pretty danged long. I'm not interested in making a tiny gun & might even be happy just removing 5" or so, which is the length of the suppressor. Curious how much you can cut off the barrel & still use the existing handguard/rails? Most certainly don't want to impact the accuracy of the gun much.

 

[telero]

You can cut off any amount of barrel and still use the factory handguard, as long as the silencer fits within the open area of the handguard (I believe the Sparrow should). The end of the bare muzzle would probably be at or just behind the handguard though. With a flash hider or other muzzle device, it might stick out the end.

Since you're cutting down a factory barrel, the accuracy will mostly be determined by the quality of the cut and crown job.

 

[BigWaylon]

My Form 1 was approved yesterday. Barrel was sent off to ADCO to get it cut down to 4.5" and threaded to SiCo's o-ring engagement specs. Probably be back within a week. I'm cutting my factory rail down so that my Spectre II sticks out about 1.5". May go to a different handguard at some point, but for now this is the free way to do it.

4.5" is the most commonly accepted length to keep bulk pack ammo subsonic, so that's why I'm going that route. Can't report on the performance, yet.

 

[RedNeck Jim]

Anyone have a pic of a 6" barrel with suppressor attached, using the stock handguard? I'm thinking I would want the suppressor to stick out some, so as to ease removal for cleaning.

If I understand correctly, the 15-22 comes with a 16" barrel. If I cut it to 6" & add the 5" suppressor, then the combined would be 5" shorter than the standard barrel. When I get home, I'll have to see what that would look like on the stock handguard.

 

[telero]

Don't have a picture of the factory handguard with a 6" barrel, but how long is the factory handguard? Here is a 10" handguard on a free float adapter, 6.5" barrel, Sparrow:

 

[BigWaylon]

My factory barrel measured 16.5".

 

[fshnfvr]

I don't have any picutures handy at work but I cut mine down to ~10.5" so I could still use the factory handguard with no suppressor. I love mine and think it looks great with or without my supressor. I shoot bulk ammo most of the time unsupressed and CCI standard when shooting supressed all with no issues. The gun is still just as accurate and in my opinion feels much better. I have pictures in the picture thread.

 

[Arik]

Another option if you don't want to spend the extra $200 stamp and wait a year. Buy a pistol version (if there is one) put the Sig brace on it and be done. The ATF has ruled that that's ok as long as the brace is not modified in any way. Not pinned in place or anything in the part that goes around your arm

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[telero]

Another option if you don't want to spend the extra $200 stamp and wait a year. Buy a pistol version (if there is one) put the Sig brace on it and be done. The ATF has ruled that that's ok as long as the brace is not modified in any way. Not pinned in place or anything in the part that goes around your arm

The cost of a 15-22P (the pistol version) is still around $600. They didn't make many and they are now expensive. The cost of the 15-22P, a stock adapter, buffer tube, and brace...those would probably outweigh the cost of even a new 15-22, stamp, and barrel work.

Plus the, brace isn't nearly as good as an actual stock.

 

[RedNeck Jim]

Thanks, but not interested in getting the pistol version.

Biggest decision that I need to make right now is barrel length, as that is needed on the Form 1. I am leaning to a 6" barrel but if that would mean that high velocity ammo would still go supersonic, then I might reconsider that length. Even though I have a lot of subsonic ammo, for the long term, shooting "normal" ammo quietly would be nice.

So question is, what is the longest barrel that would keep all "normal" ammo subsonic? By normal, I mean ones like mini-mags or M-22 that runs around 1250 fps.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

In my 4.5in Ruger HV shoots subsonic. In my 5.5in Ruger HV shoots supersonic.

I believe Strobro32 and xxspudxx chopped their 1522s down to 4.5 and shoot suppressed. Hopefully they will chime in here.

 

[RedNeck Jim]

In my 4.5in Ruger HV shoots subsonic. In my 5.5in Ruger HV shoots supersonic.

Thanks. Did you ever do a SBR? I thought I read where you were considering it.

Guess I would be stupid to do a 6". Any pics with a 4.5" barrel would be nice. I would like the flexibility of shooting pretty much any ammo but don't want to look like a mall ninja either. The other rednecks around here can be brutal sometimes.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Thanks. Did you ever do a SBR? I thought I read where you were considering it.

Guess I would be stupid to do a 6". Any pics with a 4.5" barrel would be nice. I would like the flexibility of shooting pretty much any ammo but don't want to look like a mall ninja either. The other rednecks around here can be brutal sometimes.

No I haven't yet, but when I do it will be 4.5. The economics of shooting cheap HV subsonic would be my deciding factor. Otherwise, I really liked the looks of the first 1522 ad campaign. SW showed the 1522 with a can and just a small, maybe half inch, gap between the handguard end cap and the can. I guess that it was a 10-11in bbl. Looked sharp.

Hopefully Strobro32 and xxspudxx will provide pics for 4.5

 

[RedNeck Jim]

No I haven't yet, but when I do it will be 4.5. The economics of shooting cheap HV subsonic would be my deciding factor.

Yep... I agree. Just hope going that short doesn't impact accuracy too much. I don't use this gun for target shooting or hunting but also don't want my targets to look like I was shooting a 12 ga.

 

[RedNeck Jim]

You can cut off any amount of barrel and still use the factory handguard, as long as the silencer fits within the open area of the handguard (I believe the Sparrow should). The end of the bare muzzle would probably be at or just behind the handguard though. With a flash hider or other muzzle device, it might stick out the end.

Seems to me, using the factory handguard is not a good option when doing a SBR. Since the barrel would now be completely inside the handguard, with no barrel sticking out, there would be no way to use barrel vise jaws. With the factory handguard, removal requires removing the barrel nut and I would be hesitant to do so without using a vise.

So if I understand this correctly, if I use Tacticool's handguard converter then it would just be a matter of unscrewing the new handguard... no barrel vise needed.

 

[BigWaylon]

If you're going to cut the barrel, cut the handguard. Here's an example of that being done.

That's what I'm doing in the next week or so.

I didn't use a barrel vise. Since I was cutting the end of the barrel off anyway, was just going grip it with vise grips. It actually came loose with very little effort when I twisted with just the Tacticool barrel but wrench.

 

[RedNeck Jim]

Cutting the factory handguard was my first thought, however upon further thought, doing so with a SBR means you could never use a barrel vise. That concerns me greatly. If I go with Tacticool's accessory, then I simply unscrew the handguard then can use the vise... if needed.

Yes, maybe most of the time you wouldn't need a vise, but what if you did?