What can i do with my .223 AR Lower?

[Ac1d0v3r1d3]

Ok so i recently bought an Olympic Arms AR in .223, And i've been wondering about weather or not i can slap a different upper on it.
From what i've read i understand that i can get a 6.8 or a 7.62x39 upper and use .223 mags if i play with the feed lips some.
Now i think that .357 or .44 special would be pretty cool, do these exist?
What are my options?
I understand that if i buy something weird that mags wil become an issue. Has anyone delt with this before?

 

[VUPDblue]

You can buy uppers that mate right up with your lower in just about any rifle caliber you want. You can buy pistol caliber uppers in .22lr, 9mm, .40, .45 and I think I even saw one in .38 super. It would be kind of hard to make a .357 or .44 upper because of the rimmed cartridge, but it would be a neat thing to have! You may be interested in looking at the new, big-bore calibers out there developed for the AR platform like the .45 Bushmaster, .458 SOCOM, 500 Phantom and .50 Beowulf. Mags are an issue with pistol calibers because there are so many choices. You can get lowers that accept Glock mags, Sten mags, Uzi mags, Colt mags etc... I like my 9mm colt-clone upper that takes Uzi mags. They are easy to work with and relatively cheap. For lots of the rifle calibers, you can use your standard USGI 30-rnd mags, but depending on the caliber, the mag will not hold 30 rounds. IIRC, the 500 Phantom upper uses standard mags, but you can only get 9 of 'em in there...

 

[MMcfpd]

In addition to what VUPDblue mentioned, there are conversion uppers available for ARs for 7.62 x 39 mm, 6.5 Grendel and 6.8 SPC. And I'll note that the .45 Bushmaster uses a proprietary cartridge different from .45 APC; Olympic makes .45 APC and .45 GAP uppers. As noted, you need to check out magazine oprions and availability before you proceed.

 

[Ac1d0v3r1d3]

Where might i look into magazine options?
I suppose AR-15.com might be a good place to look. It wont let me sign up tho, something about my email address.
I like TFL just fine tho, so i tend to do most of my reading, research and question asking right here.
.30 Carbine sounds like it might be pretty cool. Especially if i can use M1 magazines.
Thanks,
Chris

PS
The 500 Phantom looks really kickass, but sounds a little pricey.

 

[USMCG_HMX1]

I just ordered some 30 round mags from Surplus Ammo and they say these are the same ones Bushmaster has made for them, except they aren't at the Bushmaster list price.


I'll have to wait and see when they ship though, as I'm going out of town this weekend and hope they can make the trip with me.




Kris

 

[VUPDblue]

For a bit of reasearch on magazine options click here. You have to keep in mind that any magazine system that utilizes mags other than the standard AR15 mag will have to have either some type of magwell adapter or a specialized magwell built into the lower. There are exceptions to this, like sten mags. Oly has conceived a modified sten mag that will fit right into a standard magwell. It is a sten mag with a metal tab welded to it to make it the same dimension as a standard AR mag. Only problem (for me) is it is ugly as hell. My Colt system uses a magwell adapter that slips in place from the top of the magwell. It is designed to utilize Uzi mags. They are relatively cheap, and there are versions available from ProMag that work well. I have never heard of a .30 carbine upper, but again, it would be cool. I don't think anyone has a system for converting an AR to accept .30 carbine mags.