This summer I picked up a couple JP Rifles gift certificates from precision rifle match prize tables. I decided to use them for a JP 22lr upper for an AR-15. The upper and Black Dog mags arrived earlier in the week, and I shot the JP today.



The upper seems well made and solid. It’s a little lighter than a comparable AR-15 upper, mainly because of a much lighter BCG. The upper fits very tightly to my existing AR-15 lowers. The bolt locks back on an empty mag after firing rounds, however there’s no bolt lock back when there’s no mag in the magwell.

The NF 2.5-10x scope that’s temporarily on the upper isn’t the best choice for a 22lr. It’s an older scope with fixed parallax of 125 yards. Precision shooting at the 50 yard zero was a bit of a challenge, so I backed off the power to about 8x to improve the target image.

Between parallax and wind (6-10 mph from my 3-4 o’clock, gusting to 13-15 mph), my 50 yard targets weren’t the best. The JP seems to like the following:
RWS Special Match – best 5-round groups of .38” and .60”
Geco Match - .55” and .67”
Eley Match (black) - .48” and .66”
Eley Tenex (red) - .56” and .66”
Eley/Remy Match (black) - .53” and .67”

Wolf Match Extra and Lapua Center X were both a little less accurate, but very consistent.

Inconsistent results came from Eley Club (orange), RWS R100, RWS Rifle Match, Wolf Match Target, CCI Standard, Federal 711B, and Federal 719.

I shot Geco Match at longer distances to see how it bucked the wind and held vertical. At 150 yards it held about 2” of vertical, at 173 yards about 2-1/4” of vertical, and at 203 yards about 2-1/2” of vertical. IMO these are decent numbers for a semi auto, with mid-level ammo, in funky winds.

I didn’t feel like dinking around with the MagnetoSpeed to measure muzzle velocity, however the JP’s MV is noticeably lower than my Kimber bolt action. JBM matches drop at 1,150 fps for Geco Match in the Kimber. JBM puts the JP at closer to 1,000 fps with Geco Match.

I put 250 rounds down range today. Towards the end I was getting a few light primer strikes and the BCG sometimes cycled noticeably slower. I suspect the JP was getting a little dry and a bit dirty. And it’s still new. The Black Dog 10 and 15 round magazines functioned flawlessly.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with the JP 22lr upper. It should provide a good low-cost AR training option.

Looks good.

I love JP's products.

Their full mass BCGs make me weak in the knees.

I'd love to own a large frame side charging complete rifle some day.