Jim at The Shooting Wire has a go around with Colt’s new M4 style rimfire carbine. I’ve seen a couple of these in the wild now, and they look pretty neat, but Jim identifies the main reason why I wouldn’t buy one:
While the rifle is a very close approximation of the Colt M4, it is not an exact replica. The major difference you’ll notice at first blush is the safety. The M4 is a short throw safety- the .22 version needs to be rotated 180 degrees to move either from safe to fire. It’s not a huge thing, but it’s definitely different.
The main reason I’d buy one of these would be to use it as a lower cost training platform for my “real” AR, my Daniel Defense DDXV. The safety should have the exact same throw on a training rifle as it does on the real thing, so that relegates the Colt to “nice plinking rifle”. I’m not down on it, and I’m not knocking its prowress as a gun, but as a training platform the safety switch is a big issue.
Doesn’t the S&W M&P 15-22 (their AR-styled .22) get the safety right?
I went about it by buying a separate upper and a .22 conversion kit. Yes, it was more expensive, but I have a spare AR whenever one goes down.
From what I have heard, yes.
I think it gets the mag release and charging handle right, too. (Looked for one at a gun show this past weekend to confirm, but no joy.) I’m stoked about the 15-22 for those reasons.