Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles AR conversion availability

I was searching the net looking at AR's in 308 and stumbled across the Colt LE901-16S and saw that it comes with a conversion kit to 5.56. My question is this, are there other makers that offer this with their AR's?

I like the idea of being able to convert from 308 to 5.56, taking it from a hunting rig to a tactical rig.

The swap concept sounds neat, but I'd be leary of how well an AR 10/15 will feed 5.56's with the mag well adapter.

Lowers really aren't that expensive which is why I'd say just get a dedicated AR 10 and an AR 15.

You can build a lower for $200 or less. I'd also just recommend having two complete rifle as well.

I don't think anyone else offers a conversion setup like Colt does.

I had the chance to handle one, and it's a decent product for a Colt rifle...if you think you need one.

The biggest limitation that I saw was with the mag-well adapter in place, the standard AR-15 upper can not be opened more than about 3 inches from the back pin.

Just enough to to get the BCG out, and that's it.

The adapter also really limits the free-float tube options, as the pins and the block require a bit of forward clearance, and only a few AR-15 tubes will work. We tried a couple of Ar-15 uppers with standard (Troy, YHM) float tubes, none worked with what we had.

The circled area requires clearance to pin the AR-15 upper on, the square area needs to be clear so that upper lug can reach the pin.



This is a bit better view of the AR-15 upper pinned on, the angle of opening, and the clearance needed to pin the upper onto the adapater.



I don't know if the owner has fired the rifle, was supposed to a couple weeks ago, but haven't seen him to ask.

Unlike most Colts I've owned/handled/shot, this one did not have much play in the upper and lower, a nice change from my experience with Colt ARs. Seemed to point well, a bit heavy as a .308 rifle, but not horrible. Definately a bit heavier with the AR-15 upper than most, but more material in the lower, to be expected.

The price point would have to change a bit before I grabbed one, but the demand seems to be there for now. They are not stayed in the LGS, and sell regularly from what I've seen.

Thanks for the info, I'm new to the AR game so I don't know a lot about the pieces and parts. I just thought it was a cool idea to offer the conversion and it would save on having to buy 2 rifles.

Currently looking at the DPMS GII Recon, anyone know anything about them or own one?

Look for the review in the past posts by "jimmyp", he's having issues with his.

The jury is still out here, it seems, but first reports haven't been a vote of confidence.

Jimmyp and I have both been shooting M&P-10s for about a year, we seem to be stuck at 1-2 inches at 100 yards for accuracy. Everything else on the rifle has been decent, but we replaced the triggers.

Thanks AH64guy.

It's a neat idea, but in the end, you have a heavy .308, and a really, really heavy .223.