I have a new M&P MOE and I have put about 1000 rounds through it. I had an out of battery discharge today and a piece of the shell casing or something bounced off off my cheek. Winchester high velocity ammo, 500 round brick.

I cleared the gun, inspected the chamber and barrel for obstructions, there was no damage to the bolt etc, so I fired 10 more rounds cautiously and then left the range.

I guess I will call S&W on Monday. FYI, blue spring.

The gun is probably a little dirty from firing; however, this should cause a misfeed not an out of battery discharge.

what magazine were you using>? was it a brand new brick of ammo or a partial from another visit>?

possible a static buildup caused the misfire?>

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Overkill is Underrated

25 rd magazine loaded with 18 or so rounds. 2 week old brick of ammo, Winchester 555 high velocity. I highly doubt the static discharge. I believe it fed a round, did not close the breach fully, I puled the trigger, out of battery discharge.

With no damage to the rifle, what to you want S&W to do about this? The design of the rifle allows the hammer to drop long before the bolt is in battery. No issues on the M16-family as the firing pin is too short to reach the primer before the bolt rotates, locks, and is retracted into the carrier, but the M&P bolt does not lock and hammer can strike the firing pin with the bolt slightly out of battery. The nature of the beast.

This is common with all blowback .22 rifles and pistols.

They may ask you to return the rifle but that won't guarantee the problem is gone and your new rifle should already be at "latest specs."

I aggressively polished the chamber of mine. No OOB discharges since then but it may be coincidence.

-- Chuck

Chuck:

That is the issue, you can fire the pin with the bolt open. On my MOE the bolt can be open 1/2 inch and fire the pin; however, how open the bolt can be and fire a round is undetermined. this test, the bolt had to be open the thickness of a dime. Mine was open enough for a piece of the casing or other material to strike my cheek. See this video:

‪Testing the S&W M&P 15-22 for Out Of Battery firing.‬‏ - YouTube

I will talk to S&W about this. I don't want to have to check the bolt after every shot and feed. I am not sure if this is an issue on the 10-22 but it definitely can not be done on my Buckmark. I love the gun, but it may need improvement.

Happened to me with my Ruger .22LR pistol a couple of times. No damage. My M&P15-22 did this to me nearly 2 years ago and blew the extractor out of the bolt. Rifle went back to S&W and was "upgraded to latest specs." I polished the chamber when it got back. Either one or the other fixed it (at present) and you're already at "latest specs" that are later than mine.

-- Chuck

here is another video of an apparent out of battery discharge:

‪Smith and Wesson MP 15-22 Bullet Misfire.mpg‬‏ - YouTube

I was at a rimfire tactical match last year where 2 15-22 blew the extractors out. That was before the S&W "fix". My buddy was shooting one also but did not have the problem. I've had a couple of OOBs happen in my Rem 597 competition gun, only one of which actually launched the extractor (VQ) but did not hurt the gun at all. The faster you can shoot the gun in competition the more likely in a rimfire you might get an OOB. All of them can usually have the hammer fire when the bolt/slide is still slightly open. Keeping it clean is not a help since rimfires shoot more reliably slightly dirty and with as little lube as you can get by with.

I just got off of the phone with Smith and Wesson and they want me to send the gun in. The root cause, in my opinion, is that you can pull the trigger and fire the firing pin with the bolt carrier open.

We'll see if they have a fix for that. I will keep everyone posted.

I used to have out of battery discharges when I was a teenager....you'll grow out of it?

LOL!