I have 4 mags for my rifle. One mag consistently has 4-6 fte's with good ammo. What could be the issue? Was told possible stiff spring and to keep loaded for a while to break in. Any ideas?

Sounds to me like you are going to have to do a bit of Lt Columbo style, detective work.

Swap the spring from the 'suspect' mag for one which works and see if the 'suspect' mag still gives you issues or if the working mag starts with issues. Then you can rule out the spring. That will also show you if the issues are with the follower or the feed lips on the 'suspect' mag.

It is alarming the amount of FTE threads there are here by new owners and new forum members. I can honestly say i have never had a FTE at all on my 15-22. A few FTF but that is ammo related. A disturbing trend.

You can very, very closely compare the upper lips of the mag that has the problem, with the good mags. A caliper can help as well, with measurements. Once and awhile, the upper lip on one side or the other can be bent slightly upward, or even downward and that can cause a misalignment, which can cause several types of problems. If there is any noticeable differences, you can correct it easily by hand. If so, that may solve your issue.

I have 9 mags and no issues.
Also ise a lightning loader. From what Ive read. Hand loading can increase ftf issues.
Need proper stacking. But tou know this.
Also try swapping springs like posted above.

These polymer mags do wear out. I have discarded one and have a couple others (with well over a thousand rounds through each) that are right on the edge and causing an occasional issue. The problem is the feed lips erode after many rounds through them, and the magazine will no longer hold the round at the correct angle. They want to nose up too much, and that causes all kinds of problems. I don't know how many rounds you have through those magazines, but this is one possibility.

I currently have 24 magazines and two rifles. Eight magazines are still in the packages as backups when one wears out, so we are using 16 different magazines on a regular basis.

The mags are new. The rifle was purchased a few weeks ago. About 1000 rounds through rifle with about 200 or so on the mags. Started having ejection issues after the first 150 rounds. Aside from the bad mag, cci and aguila has fired the best with only occasional fte's maybe no more than 1 fte per mag with some firing the whole mag without issues. Tryed federal automatch and Remington golden bullets and had major issues with those. Im thinking it could be magazine issues mostly.

You could also try bending the ejector in towards the bolt a tiny bit.

Yes . . . sounds like you have an ejector issue. Mine have almost zero ejection issues except with worn out magazines. The extracted rounds get hung up by the nose-up round on top of the magazine. You definitely shouldn't average one per magazine. You can either try tweaking it yourself or send it in.

Ok I have been told that also on another thread. Just seemed more of an issue with one particular mag. I have watched the ejector fix video but I am unsure on which way to bend it. Does it need to go up higher into the chamber and almost scrub the bottom of the slot in the bolt that it rides in? I think it would have to go that way cause the slot width in the bolt is very close to the ejector on both sides. Thanks

So do you have no failures with the other mags? I assume so based upon your description. If that is the case, the issue shouldn't be with the ejector & I'd leave it alone. The ejector is a finicky part & I never mess with mine.

If the issue is limited to one magazine, I don't see how you can blame the ejector and sure don't understand why you would start bending it. I would follow the initial suggestion of trying to figure out what is different about that one magazine. If you can't figure it out, then I'd just set it aside.

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Totally agree with what redneck Jim says above. It's got to be a faulty magazine if it only happens with 1 of your mags. It can't really be much else

I am alarmed that everyone who has joined the forum recently, has had a complaint about FTE's. This could suggest that some quality control is amiss at S&W.

If I had problems like that my order of priority would be:

1: check the ammo brands...some 15-22's are picky.
2: If happens with every ammo, then check magazines, check to see if they are staggered and angled correctly. Check magazines for defects/dirt.
3: If the mags are fine, make sure the rifle is clean and that there is not a large collection of debris on the breech or feed ramp.
4: The next issue would be with the bolt, possibly the extractor, which I would remove and check that the spring is okay and not either broken or dirty, then add a little oil. Then clean the whole bolt face, extractor, rails.
5:If the problems still persist then I would use my barrel nut tool, to make sure that the barrel nut is tight..loose barrel nuts can cause accuracy issues, seriously loose barrel nuts, I would imagine would cause more serious issues.

Failing after all these checks then I would consider moving the ejector, as the last thing that could cause the issue that would require actual manipulation.

Although to be honest if the issue was FTE every few rounds, then I would take it back to the shop where I bought it or if I were stateside back to Springfield.

I feel for all you guys having issues with your new 15-22's I sincerely hope you get them sorted out so you can get to actually shooting the rifle and enjoying it.

This was my test this weekend:

Four 25 round S&W magazines

All mags loaded with auguila hi velocity copper plated round nose 40 grain

Round 1:
Mag #1=0 fte
Mag #2=0 fte
Mag #3=1 fte
Mag #4=5-6 fte

Round 2:
Mag #1=0 fte
Mag #2=1 fte
Mag #3=1 fte
Mag #4=5-6 fte

I guess I should try more ammo I guess. I was having about 1 fte per mag with cci. I never had a bunch of fte's in a mag with cci. If it was the ejector would it matter what kind of ammo it was?

If you have cleaned & lubricated the rifle per suggestions on this forum and you are properly loading the magazines, so that the cartridges stagger, and you have that many failures using CCI, then I suggest trying some fixes. There are several current discussions dealing with these issues. First, I'd try the new third party extractor. Doesn't cost much, and can only help. If that didn't fix the issue, I'd tweak the ejector. If still having issues after that, I'd send it off to S&W.

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I had a brand new mag that was nothing but trouble. Wife was going to the mall so I sent it with her to exchange it and they did no questions asked. Probably just moved it on to the next guy. The 4 magazines i have now seem to work very well when the charging handle doesn't interfere, it seems to be wearing in without modification

I bought me another mag to replace it but haven't had a chance to do anymore shooting. I couldn't bring myself to return the faulty mag. Id hate for someone to wind up with it and have trouble.