15-22 had a Kaboom today.

After something like 100-200 Federal Bulk Pack 36gr HPs, and maybe 50 or so CCI Mini Mags.... I had ONE MAG LEFT, full of CCI Stingers I kept for emergency, self defense or SHTF or societal collapse etc. Basically IF something happened that I had to grab my 15-22 and use it in the defense, I had a 25 mag full of CCI Stingers. I WASN'T EVEN GOING TO SHOOT THAT GOLDDARN MAG but I decided what the heck. -- re: Stingers, It was and is my understanding that they are fine to use in the non-Performance Center model and I believe the original owners manual (which I Cannot find mine at the moment but Buds Gun Shop has it on their site as a .pdf) actually lists it as a recommended ammo.

the first Stinger made a great sound firing, much more "BOOM" like than the other ammos. Directly on target, it was awesome. The second Stinger hit EXACTLY what I was shooting at ... very awesome!!! I just started to smile and enjoy myself immensely and I squeezed off the third CCI Stinger round.

A loud, explosion sound, my face took a face-full of hot exploding stuff, and I knew I was in big trouble. The bolt was dangling in the ejection port, i saw a Stinger half-chambered, the empty shell pretty much torn up inside the chamber area, a spring dangling out of the bolt and I knew I was in trouble.

I guess the extractor blew out.... there was no searching because the property is basically sand for soil, dirt and sand everywhere, with 300-400+ previous spent rimfire shells all over the place, and I knew even if it was just sitting there I would be hesitant to try to mess with it.

So I am wondering here... - I guess I need to call S&W and try to send it in. Will they help me out here? My 15-22 was bought I believe 1 APR 2010, so it's not brand new, but not heavily used or anything. Plus I am getting mixed results Googling the Stingers, some people write that there is no problem, other stories say S&W won't do anything for me, etc. What do I want to do here... call S&W and see what they say? I need it looked at and repaired, that's for sure.

Ok thanks much for your help and time, thanks very much.

Sorry to hear that, but If you are the original purchaser of the gun, you should be fine. Lifetime warrantee.

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/w...4_757812_image

Very thankful that you are not injured. Such accidents are very rare. Call S&W. Doubtless they will repair your rifle. Contact CCI. They will want to examine the ammunition. It is very likely they will replace your ammunition, etc.

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Same thing happened at a range here a couple months ago.

The 15-22 will fire out of battery if not properly cleaned.

I am glad you didn't get hurt.

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M&P's and K Frames Pleeze!

Thanks all vety very much.

My Dad kept saying the same thing... " [ Scrappy ] you're extremely lucky, you're fine, it's just a gun, you have plenty more, it can get fixed, you could've been seriously hurt or killed etc, its no big deal you're very lucky etc. " just sucks though. Im nearly 34 and this was one of the few times my old man was having a blast shooting. Oh well at least it didn't happen to him!

Monday I'll call , thanks again very much.

I had a similar experience with Stingers in my Marlin 60. It obviously fired slightly out of battery as the back half of the cartridge blew out and peppered my arm with bits of brass and unburned powder. Fortunately neither I nor the gun was damaged. Rereading the Marlin's manual revealed that it says do not use hyper velocity ammo. Trust me, I won't do it again in that weapon. I have fired a few in the 15-22 without incident, but probably won't do so again thanks to your experience.

Glad you are okay.

Here in the UK around my local area CCI are hard to come by so I use Eley ammo, I notice that after maybe 200 rounds or so, that I start getting FTF's 1 in every 30, rim of ammo has a good clean strike but doesn't go down range, pop it in again and they always fire. This generally corresponds with the build up of 'gunk' around the face of the bolt in the indent where the firing pin is. Is this the part you refer to as needing to be properly cleaned? I keep a little plastic thing in my kit bag to scrape out the build up of gunk. That area seems to be the culprit for my FTF's that and bad primers.
I cringe when I hear of this OOB happening, luckily no one ever seems to have a serious injury.

I had to send my well used, purchased 9/2010 copy for a firing pin problem. They fixed it no cost and replaced all the springs to boot. You wont have any issues getting it fixed by S&W.

Glad to hear it's only the rifle that took the beating.

WOW!

Sounds like it was a close thing.

Glad to hear you unscathed after that close call.

Rifle is relatively easy for you to get fixed, your noggin, no so easy!!!

Good luck with the repairs

Rob

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Utrinque Paratus

One thing I wanted to comment on-

I am basically OCD when it comes to cleaning my guns. If I go a month w/o cleaning my carry pistol I get mad at myself because of the gunk buildup possibility. When I wait a day to clean my guns after a range session, it is absolutely shocking to the family, "He must be very tired or not feeling well." I used to and still do love to read military history books etc. and I remember reading about the SEALs in Vietnam.. that no matter how long they were out in the field, how tired they were, how bad they took losses or how close a friend perished in the field next to them, when they got back to base, the first thing that was done was clean their weapons... (then their equipment...then themselves..) because of the possibility of either an emergency mission/sudden POW rescue type deal or even a base attack. That was something I always tried to do, immediately clean my guns and maintain them.

So I don't want you to think I don't clean my guns or let the 15-22 build up tons of gunk. Did I shoot it a bit Thurs and Friday, yes I did. I shot it about 40-50 rounds on Thursday and perhaps it was coming up on 300 on Friday. And I would have cleaned it last night had this not happened. The only reason I am not going to clean it now is because I want S&W to be able to look at it as it is, and as it happened/exactly how it was left after the kaboom. would you righteous peoples agree with that?

Thank you again for all your kind words and help. The scariest thing is that, while I am fine and it was just a moment or two of discomfort and no serious problems at all, it could of be bad, it is scary.

Just wanted to say,
The point raised above about weapon admin is something that is (in UK) taught at the basic level for all members of the "green" army, indeed in any branch of the forces as far as I am aware. From day one recruits are taught the priorities of weapon, kit, team and then ones self. That same ethos is then built on across the board. It isn't just SF that follow that principle.
I don't see where anyone intimated that your weapon malfunctioned as a result if bad cleaning drill.
I would also point out that from an ATO ( ammo technical officer) point of view and likely that of S&W, it is absolutely right to leave it as is and record as much info as possible in the feedback to them ( this should help them put together a clear picture of what happened) and with the weapon left dirty and in bits they should be able to see the true extent of damage.
It might help if you could find any missing bits to again help them understand the full extent of what happened.
At the end of the day, the main thing is that you are unscathed and lived to tell the tale so that others may not suffer this type of catastrophic failure.
Let's hope it is a one off and that your weapon is repaired in short time so you can get back to enjoying your shooting once more.

Here's hoping to a speedy solution

Rob

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Utrinque Paratus

2010?

Curious if it has the blue springs.

I am glad to hear you are ok. If you look at the stinger cartridges, you will notice that the brass is slightly longer than a standard .22LR.

I think what happens is that you get a bunch of gunk built up in the throat of your chamber, then when you try to chamber a stinger, your bolt doesn't go fully into battery or you get excessive pressure due to the gunk or both.

Could you post some pictures of the gun?

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John

Yep.

This is why I won't shoot Stingers after LR in any semi auto.

Sounds like a "common" problem with the MP15-22. This same thing more or less happened to me within the first mag on my new rifle. Blew the extractor, spring and plunger off. Off to Smith&Wesson it went and two weeks later it was back in my hands running like a champ. Just no more Stingers for it.

i gotta admit i don't clean my hunting, plinking guns that much. my EDC's are spotless though. my 15-22 may get a bore snake run through a few times and the chamber and bolt face hit with a toothbrush and some brake cleaner, and a lube job, but that's about it. it is a permanent host for a Pilot II can, and i shoot mostly Rem subs. never had an issue.

in the past i have had problems with different semi's and Stingers and refuse to use them. they are longer, just by sight, you don't have to measure them. by buddy had one go in a 10-22 but it being a little more sturdy w/wood stock, etc., it only blew the claw off the extractor, easy fix.
S&W should fix it no problem. maybe i'll give mine a going over today as i blew off a bunny hunting trip by just being too lazy!

Digging through my ammo cans I came up with some Stingers and CCI Velicitor (30% mor energy) . Because of this post they will not make it into my 15-22's or DPMS M4 .22lr. Apparently I bought the Velicitor ammo years ago...I do not know if they are still made. My 15-22's eat Mini Mag's by the brick and love them....actually Golden bulk is the only ammo they have balked at shooting, I have a couple of cases of Aguila Golden Target and it shoots more accurately in my 15-22's than anything.

I am not so sure S&W will fix your gun because of an ammo problem.

Well I called today. The gentleman did not even ask what had happened, just immediately said, Wow that's terrible, let me get you taken care of. Give me your email addy (excuse me, he asked for my serial number, name, and mailing addy info etc.) and emailed me a shipping tag.

They asked in the instructions for a note of what happened. I did in fact tell the truth because I am not of the thought I did something wrong nor it was Necessarily "an ammo problem" ... the original S&W M&P 15-22 Owners manuals list the CCI Stingers as one of the recommended ammos in the list. You can confirm this yourself by going to Buds Gun Shop and pulling up the 15-22 Owners Manual. It was not until the PC Model came out that they removed it from the recommended ammo list and said NOT to use it in the PC model rifle.

Attached Images

15-22 Owners Manual.jpg (129.0 KB, 81 views)

Bravo Sir,
Let's hope it all gets sorted for you in good time.

Rob

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Utrinque Paratus

Thank you very much and thank you everyone- I just wanted to say, in addition to thanks to everyone who helped with not only actual help but keeping my spirits up (This really troubled me... 1- my 15-22 is my baby and it SUCKS to experience this, and 2- You sort of get the feeling like, Man, I could have died.... I could have lost an eye.... or a hand.... etc._) I wanted to apologize if I came off as confrontational or such, not my attempts at all, just wanted to convey my thoughts and feelings but not arrogantly or standoffish etc.

Thanks again, I will keep people informed, I'm off to FedEx in the local city soon to get it sent out.

OK Now the plot thickens .... I need some perspective here?

As I said I had sent out the rifle Monday- I had called Monday morning, explained ,the gent immediately emailed me the return shipping form and instructions, and I went right out to send it. It arrived Wednesday morning. So I just called and said, "Listen I just want to confirm, as the gentleman I spoke to on Monday told me to, that you received my rifle and it's been entered into the system etc."

He gets the serial number and said, "Yup... it's into the system.... Actually, The rifle is coming here... It's coming down to Customer Service..." and I said kind of concerned, "Okay, is that a good thing?" and the guy says, "Yes.... You just need to speak to a representative about that... you will be contacted probably next week and the gentleman will explain..." and I said, "Explain what??"

"explain the situation".

And that is basically all he said.



So what does that mean, that my damaged rifle is "going to Customer Service". Are they going to call me and say, "Well this isn't our problem, so you can either pay us or take it back broken?"

And i really don't think it was that big of a deal, maybe some new springs and an extractor ... but I am of course not sure and not an expert.

Ok thanks much.

SW will fix the gun. They are a stand-up company and it is not worth the hassle to give anyone a hard time over an insignificant repair and get a poor reputation. ("It's not personal, it's just business.") They and we are simply glad you were not hurt.

I will be a bit surprised if you get a nickle from CCI. They may be a better company to deal with than some, but in my experience ammunition suppliers are not terribly responsive to screw ups. Very best luck there.

I've had both Winchester and CCI cut me checks for bad ammo in the last year. They do require that you send back the remnants, and where possible, the lot numbers (which is why I never toss an empty box at the range - never know what you'll find while cleaning that night).

I only use the Stingers in my 10/22 (they are marked as "don't use" for the target editions, mine is not one, verified with Ruger). It is an interesting side effect of the current .22 market. For several weeks my local WM stores only had Stingers, and the price was good, so I bought them. Over time I discovered that stated or not, they were problematic, so I was left with a stash that is gun-specific. That breaks all my rules, but I've not seen a box of Stingers since, so hasn't been much of a recurring problem.

ScrapMaster,

If you are the original owner of the gun it is warrantied for life as stated in the manual on the M&P line of rifles. S&W will take care of your gun and have it back to you in a week or two. I had the same problem with my MP15-22. I blew the extractor, plunger and spring off the bolt when I shot Stingers. I can understand your worries but let them do their thing and get your baby fixed.

oK thanks everybody, it just sounded a little shady.

It wasn't, "Oh yes your gun is going to be fixed, " or , "Yes your gun is in the pipeline" or "has been repaired and we'll let you know, " it was ,

"Your rifle is coming down here to customer service and you'll be explained "the situation" by a rep next week" - just made me a little bit queasy.

Thanks again

let them do their job, i'm sure there are plenty in front of your's that need to be fixed, maybe some of the same problem. As a QC in a different arena at one time, it does take a little detective work as they want to document what they think went on. we would always call the customer to see what their story was, not that we were a grand jury, just to document what the customer POV was. the repairs were always done, but in the order received. I would not worry too much. i would contact Stinger and send them the lot number and kinda 'demand' replacement, non-stinger ammo from them. Winchester will always, well in my case, has always, provided another box of ammo of your choice, same caliber, if a lot number has caused a kaboom or some other type of destructive malf in a weapon using their ammo. YMMV, just my .02 from experience.

Quick Update-

I had called again about 10 days back, maybe last monday, I forget when.

Anyway I got in touch with an excellently-mannered and extremely helpful gent at S&W CS, he looked into my situation and said, "Let's see... ok it says it's coming down here to Customer Service.." and I said, hey, I mean no disrespect, but let me point out that is what the other guy I talked to said and I am not at all understanding WHAT it means that my rifle is "coming down to Customer Service, and you'll receive a phone call.... " and does it mean it's been fixed??

He did some research- my problem was, I included in the letter of what happened to my rifle, some description of (minor) injuries that resulted from the kaboom. And I will admit, you could take my detailed and well-written, fairly substantial writings to mean, I had suffered actual serious injuries and had major problems as a result. That was not at all the case however, my injuries were minor and I am fine. Apparently whenever anyone mentions injuries like this, they automatically put the gun repair on hold, and do a thorough investigation, for both the repair part and , are they going to sue? Are they looking to cause a problem? Is this going to be in the media? etc.

After assuring the gentleman that I was okay and I was not at all intending to make an issue out of this, I just wanted my rifle fixed and was worried they were going to either refuse or pass the buck, deflect the blame, or worse, he said he would note that for me and forward it back for repairs.

I hadn't heard a thing the rest of the week and then this week... I had decided to call again on Friday but - late last night I got an email saying my rifle had been shipped out on Monday and I'd receive it Friday. No further information was included.

So hopefully tomorrow I will be able to report I received it and it's all gravy, but regardless I will make a report to you righteous guys and gals and we will see what we will see tomorrow!


As always, thanks very much for the immense support and help and kind words from all my righteous peoples and peoplettes here.

Call them and send it back to them. I'm quite sure they will make good and repair or send you a new gun. Several years ago I bought a used snubby from a friend with no documentation and after several trips to the range I noticed a slight crack in the frame and sent it back to S&W and within two weeks I received a new gun!

OK SO Here is my final report (I assume and hope, although many hopes come to naught and we all know what happens when one assumes.... lol).

I received my rifle back yesterday as expected from the email and tracking info. Didn't get it till 5pm because of the holiday FedEx traffic and I've been receiving my packages from a FedEx holiday helper for the past 45 days or so. So I couldn't do much with it but check it out last night. The rifle came back looking good, no problems, my $500 worth of Magpul upgrades were still attached and my Aimpoint Micro w/ Daniel Defense mount was still on (I know people will say I am crazy for sending it back with this $700 optic and $100 mount. BUT- here me out: I had JUST got it *perfectly* zeroed before it kaboomed. It is not a QD mount... so if I removed it, I would be starting from zero again. And I mean, I have it zeroed so I can hit a letter of a word printed on a target @ 25 yds. So I was very hesitant to remove it. I photographed the rifle and optic together and being packaged for shipping and being sealed up together, and noted the optic in my letter to S&W, so I had "proof" if it came to it. But it came back fine.)

The packaging included paperwork from Smith and Wesson. What was odd was, they didn't specify anything they did. None of the available parts or systems were marked AT ALL, neither REPAIRED nor REPLACED. There was one simple typed statement: "REPAIRED RIFLE & BROUGHT UPGRADED TO CURRENT" - whatever that entailed , who knows?

They did clean my rifle pretty good, and either gave me an entirely new bolt or they scrubbed and rubbed my bolt to brand-new luster ... and of course what looks like some new springs and an extractor to replace the ones that went kaboom. (springs and extractor went flying out during the detonation).

They also sent me a free 10-rd magazine. I guess since I own a Compliant version bought in NJ , despite the fact I live in Florida now, they couldn't send me a 25-rd magazine?

I took it out today and put 100 or so rounds through it. It fired fine, perfectly, did great, accuracy was great, all good.


I am very happy with this and glad it was taken care of and done for free... Could have used a little bit more clarity and communication but in the end, what the heck , they took care of me ... They had the rifle less than 2 weeks, can't ask for much more than that.

Very much thanks to everyone here to helped me and had kind words for a poor guy who blew up his baby rifle. Thanks again and good shooting my righteous brothers and babes.

Glad to hear it worked out, s&w took good care of you, and with a quick turnaround. Enjoy.

I recently ran into the same issue, when communicating with S&W via email. I never got an entirely clear answer from them... never. Almost was like they have a series of preprogrammed answers in their system & they pick the one that comes closest to answering the question. After a few of these back & forths, I asked the guy could he please respond like a human, and not some robot, and just answer my question. After that, my question was answered.

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FIDELITAS ET FORTITUDO

It's been my experience that they don't get too carried away with long winded explanations of the work they do...maybe they don't want us getting any ideas and trying anything on our own.

I re-read my explanation and wanted to clarify. Inside the box was paperwork that listed each of the 15-22 parts. this is in a grid form with REPAIRED and REPLACED boxes for each one... As in, Say they Repaired the bolt, Repaired the barrel, replaced the extractor, replaced the springs, etc. They could mark the paperwork accordingly and you'd easily be able to follow along.

In my case they didn't mark anything as neither Repaired nor Replaced... Simply a one line description: Repaired Rifle etc. Now I dont really MIND as alls well that ends well as far as I'm concerned. Just wanted to point out the specifics Since others seem to share the S&W minimalist approach to communications details lol.

Again I'm very happy and in addition to the 15-22 Success, I put a hundred or so rounds through Both my M&P Shield 9mm and M&P 22 Compact yesterday with my Dad . - - a great day with my old man and Smith & Wesson ! (I'm nearly 34 and the 15-22 is the first gun I've even Seen him smile while shooting lol)

Your explanation from S&W was the same as mine. My extractor, plunger and spring all were KABOOMED from my 15-22 as well just a month or so ago. I emailed them. They emailed a shipping label. I knew from reading the forums they would take care of it or contact me f I was going to have to pay for any repair. A week and a half later I received an email with the return shipping notice. All that was with the returned rifle was a couple of pages just as you noted with a list of parts and services and nothing was marked. My rifle was repaired and I am a happy customer. No need to over analyze it is my motto.

I've had this happen twice. Both times they've been great about repairing the rifle. Sure, the paperwork was a little sparse, but I don't really care if something is repaired or replaced as long as I get a functional rifle back.

I am glad everything worked out in the end.

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Mark32812
FS40,9C,Shield 9,22