Hi,

Just thought i would say hi from the UK as i am the proud owner of a new M&P 15-22 after defecting from the Ruger 1022 side

Have not had a chance to get to the range yet, but i have a couple of questions which hopefully can be answered ?

1. The serial number starts DUU3***, should this have been manufactured with the corrections / updated parts to cure the FTE issues on earlier models ?

2. In the manual it states "do not dry fire". I have read various comments on it is OK, Do Not etc..... However, if you should not dry fire, is there a manual way of de-cocking OR does everybody leave the hammer cocked and switch set to safe when storing / not in use ? I only ask as i was taught it was bad practice to leave springs compressed, best left relaxed ?

Just got to wait until Thursday evening when i can get to the range to have a play

Your help appreciated

Dave

To decock, I use a simple plastic snap cap,
load it in mag,
load it into the chamber,
POINT IN SAFE DIRECTION (for me this is staight down or straight up) and pull the trigger.

Snap caps
http://www.google.com/products/catal...=1345&bih=583#

Use the charging handle to pull the bolt back a quarter inch or so and squeeze the trigger.

I have had as I am sure others have also lots ( actally all ) my rifles ( rimfire and centerfire ) with spring pressure on the firing pin for over 30 years and they all still function perfectly. The same debate goes on over keeping your magazine loaded all the time also. Most think it has no effect on either application. IMHO.

Dry firing is not bad. There are a lot of opinions/schools of thought around here, but feel free to drop the hammer as long as you have the weapon assembled (unloaded of course). Do not drop the hammer with the upper receiver removed, allowing the hammer to slam into the bolt catch/receiver wall--it can weaken the integrity of the receiver wall at the mag well and this rifle is plastic, not aluminum. You can drop it against the palm of your hand to slow it down if disassembled. You can dry fire it assembled for practice and to get familiar with the trigger pull/drop.

Spring "wear out" is a product of "use". The more a spring is compressed and decompressed it tends to weaken in strength. Compressing a spring and keeping it that way is not all that bad for it. I kept a 5.56 Magpul PMAG loaded with 28 rounds for three years and shot it--cycled fine and still cycles fine.

My firing pin broke after about 35.000 rounds fired.
I did do 'dry fire' sessions every so often, but not on a real big scale, say less than 2500 times dry fired in total.

For the 'hamer down' I now do prefer to do it with the action opened a bit. Still not ideal - using snap caps is better - but I don't like dummy rounds as in several diciplines they make your weapon considered 'loaded' and in dry firing exercises replacing them all the time is a pain.

my conclusion: don't worry to much about dry firing,but don't exagorate.
And keep a spare firing pin and tools to replace it in your rangebag

You can use a spent shell casing to dryfire/uncock the hammer. You can also open or remove the upper receiver, place your non-firing hand thumb on the hammer and squeeze the trigger and safely catch the hammer by "riding it" with that thumb into the forward position. I don't think occasional dryfiring will truly hurt the 15-22 though.

If you've just cleaned it, let the hammer down easy like was describeed above and then close the upper onto the lower per directions in the manual.

Otherwise, you can also open up the upper, lower the hammer easy and then close.

Or, pull the charging handle back a little ways, pull the trigger and then let the charging handle go forward.

I agree with ChattanoogaPhil, I use the same technique.