Been out three times with my new 15-22, and have had my share of FTF issues. I've got 8 magazines for this rifle and 7 seem to do pretty well when using CCI 36gr hollow points. The 40gr round nose don't feed as well. Remington Golden Bullets are being saved for my Diamondback and my wife's Buck Mark, where they won't cause any problems. Yesterday, I shot 200 rds of CCI 36gr. Loading the mags with 20 rds each, I had 10 FTFs, where the ammo was pinched. I lock back the bolt, drop the mag, remove the offending bullet and put the mag back in and continue. Sometimes I get to fire an entire mag with no FTF issues - about 30% of the time. So, we started looking more closely at magazine loading techniques, and I believe this can help reduce this problem. My little carbine has about 450-500 rounds through it now. I believe it will do better as more ammo is run through it. BUT - I'm wondering if these S&W mags can be improved to reduce this problem. Seems that if the bullet is slightly nose up as the bolt comes forward that things are a lot better. I'm loading ammo one at a time, paying attention to the "cross-stacking" of the bullets, and cycling the loading assist to make sure that all rounds are positioned well (I only loading 20 rounds). I love this gun, it's accurate and an absolute joy to shoot! Thanks to all of you here on the forum for your contributions on this subject!
Bill