Just purchased a new m&p 15-22....first trip to the range had nothing but light strikes. Everything looks good but can't get more than two shots before I get light strikes and have to clear them? What's up? My son's inexpensive Savage 64 that is also new eats right through with no problems. Very disheartened so far.

Not saying this is it, but if you don't go slow loading those magazines, they haven't become funny for me.

What ammo did you use

Federal and Aguila. Got less no fires with Aguila

Check to make sure the barrel is firmly in place and the barrel nut is tight.

Not saying it's the cause but it's a possibility.....You might also scrub the snot out of the chamber with a brush and solvent. If the round does not seat 100% in the chamber, the firing pins energy will get absorbed as the round moves the last bit on impact. This happens more often than not with waxy or standard velocity ammo. Both steal energy out of the cycle.
(btw: Aguila in particular can be a very waxy round that fouls a chamber quickly.)

Once clean, try running cci mini mags in it as a test.
Worth a try before sending the gun back anyway

__________________
Dave

Couldnt agree more.
Clean everything and check barrel.
Is the sping getting caught on anything?
When forced out, how far does the firing pin stick out?

Was the gun cleaned and lubed per manufacturer specifications in the owner's manual prior to your first range trip?

Agree above statements.

You might also want to check hammer and trigger pins as our 15-22 has the reputation to get loose.

Sent from my SM-N9208 using Tapatalk

How about running some rounds thru it and let it brake in

I'll check these suggestionset and get back. Thank you for the insight!

I have a perfect solution for you other than the suggestions outlined above. If you still have issues after trying the above fixes you might consider this. It works, but it IS Expensive. Try the Hiperfire 24-C trigger with anti rotation KNS pins. It is designed to have a light pull with a positive hammer fall. It is also one of the fastest triggers available for the rifle. Anyway you might want to check it out if all else fails.

Can you explain how a new trigger would help with light strikes?

The Hiperfire system of triggers have a design which includes two 'toggle' springs which act kind of like a compound bow and give the hammer extra hammer fall energy, without sacrificing trigger pull weight. The design is one of the reasons I put a 24C in my 15-22 and it works, I have not had any light strikes since dropping it in my 15-22.

I can hear the difference when dry firing. The hammer strikes the firing pin much louder than the stock trigger. Love mine in my 15-22. If I hadn't already put a CMC trigger (also expensive) in my AR I would have put the Hiperfire in that gun also. I subscribe to the theory buy once, cry once when it comes to triggers in all my guns. I even put a Wild West Guns, trigger in my Marlin 30-30.

I just got back from taking my wife to shoot her new 15-22 Muddy Girl rifle. I experienced the same thing with it, at least 1/3 of the rounds didn't fire. I took the bolt out of my 15-22 and it runs fine. Put the bolt back in and lite strikes return. Looking at the 2 bolts the firing pin in the new gun looks much shorter. I'll strip them both down and get some measurements but I'm guessing they figured out how to cure the out of battery problem they saw at the Appleseed matches my fixing it to where it just only fires sometimes. :-(
I'm not happy with the new gun after all the years of flawless operation of my older rifle.

OK, I stripped down both of my bolts for the comparison. The old bolt that runs anything I put in the rifle has a Ti firing pin that is .060 longer than the new gun that has a steel firing pin. S&W has a history of messing up the firing pins on the revolvers so I guess the same thinking has made it to the 15-22. I checked the passageway of the pin for trash or burrs but it's clean and the pin travels freely, it's just too heavy and short to be reliable

That's strange - I have a really new 15-22 and don't have that issue. I did have FTE issues, which was solved by putting in a Volquartsen Extractor.

I wonder if this is something S&W just recently tried to re-engineer, or if they have a bad batch or out of spec firing pins.

By now you would think S&W would have all the bugs worked out of this rifle.

Let us know what you find out.

Are you certain the tip of your firing pin has not broken? I say this because one of mine did. I called S&W, and they sent me a new pin and spring at no charge. It's worked like a charm ever since.

The tip is in good shape. If you measure the pin from the slot where the cross pin goes through to the tip they almost measure the same, it's the back end that is driven by the hammer that is longer.

I'll talk to S&W Monday and depending on the answers I'll get an old style pin from them or I'll hunt one down or worst case I'll get some Ti round bar stock in the mail and turn what I need out on the mini lathe. I really should not have to be fixing this though because the old stuff worked wonderfully. They did the same thing in the revolvers with the frame mounted firing pins, they kept getting shorter until they were no longer reliable. At that point their unreliability became a liability so now they are back longer than ever and reliability of ignition is back.

I know my 15-22s run extremely reliably with the latest S&W firing pins which are, FWIW, the same firing pin my 3 1/2 yr old 15-22s came with. I just got a couple of the latest pins as I finally broke an original.

Comparing this with the S&W revolver firing pin debacle is meaningless. The 15-22 uses an intertial firing pin which the revolvers don't and FWIW the latest revolver firing pins are the same length as the original "good" titanium firing pins.

Good luck on your endeavor. There's a very fine line regarding material and heat treat to get a firing pin the is hard enough to not deform and ductile enough to not break.

Last Wednesday took my never fired 15-22 to the range with 8 loaded magazines, and zero in the red dot at 75 yards, with 4 rounds, and let rest rip at the different targets I set, without failure.
Love the rifle, so much fun compared to shooting pistol, but will say 200 rounds goes quickly.

__________________
USAF/RET. 1966-1990

I forget how old my 15-22 is. I bought it while shooting an indoor match at the S&W HQ when they gave us a huge discount on them. It's somewhere around 10 years old. You would have thought that for drop test and protection from slam fires that they would have stayed with the Ti pin. My old gun with a weak JP hammer spring will still run everything.

My 929 came with a .498 length pin strait from S&W and I never found one that long from the old days, I was thrilled to find one that was .490" back when they were turning out guns with a .482" pin.

Where'd you get the pins?

I called S&W.

929s got a different firing pin for some reason. The others went back to the "good" titanium .495" firing pin.

I didn't know the early 15-22s had titanium firing pins. Mine are both "blue spring" guns that came with what are still the latest version parts.

double tap

I forgot to mention that my early 15-22 does not require inertia to fire. When the back of the firing pin is flush with the back of the bolt the pin is as far forward as it can go. If it went any further you could not dry fire the rifle. The new gun must overcome the spring to make it to the cartridge.
I think I'll call Randy Lee tomorrow to see if I can spur any interest to make 15-22 firing pins.

Here is a picture of the new and old bolts, notice the resting position of the firing pin in the old bolt on the right.

Attached Images

15-22.JPG (157.8 KB, 12 views)

Interesting, they have changed them a bit. Thx for the info.

FWIW mine are match reliable with all the stock parts in the bolts (original extractors are still in place) but I do run Geissele trigger groups that use an extra power hammer spring.

Which Geissele trigger are you running with the new type firing pin? I just picked up an S3G on the Memorial day sale and put it in my older rifle that I use for Steel Challenge. While her gun wasn't running she shot my rifle and said "I sure like that trigger" so I know I'll be buying another. I was wondering if the Geissele full power hammer spring would drive the new style firing pin hard enough. It looks like from your experience that it will.

I'm running SD-3G trigger groups with a Hi-Speed National Match - Match Rifle trigger spring. It's a trigger spring "one step" lighter than the lighter of the two trigger springs supplied with the trigger.

It's extremely reliable.

I tried to have an open mind about the flat triggers even though I didn't like them in auto pistols. I tried a flat trigger in another rifle and just couldn't make myself like it. It may be due to my index fingers being short with a lot of curve to them and the flat trigger just didn't work for me. Lucky for me Geissele had the S3G option to take my money. :-)

Thanks for the tip on the NM trigger spring, I'll get one since I'm used to lite triggers.

When I broke my 8 year old 15-22's firing pin I had the same issue you are having now.

You are going to need a new bolt. As you have discovered S&W change the design and the newer firing pins are too short. Send it in to them and they will take care of it.

Thanks for the information about the bolt. My old gun is fine so I don't need a bolt but after doing some more comparison I see that an old style pin won't work in the new bolts and vice versa. I really hope I never break my old pin because it gets direct contact with the cartridge and it fires everything and since it has such good ignition it stays pretty clean for a .22.

I talked to S&W today and they are going to send a new firing pin and hammer spring. We will see what that does for me.

After finding out about the design change of the bolt and firing pins I'm working on sourcing a few replacement Ti pins for my old bolt.

If you get a Geissele Match trigger spring you'll get an extra power hammer spring with it. I'd suggest running that.

Hi-Speed National Match: Match Rifle (Match) Parts Kit - Trigger Maintenance Kits - Lower Parts

I'd also suggest getting the 901 Colt trigger and hammer pins. They're long enough (just right actually) to sit flush with the outside of the lower instead of being recessed like the originals.

Trigger & Hammer Pins For COLT 901 - Trigger Maintenance Kits - Lower Parts

They're pretty good about that. Ask about extractors and you'll find the sore spot. Extractors seem to be a real touchy subject.

I ordered the spring kit this morning and had the same thought as to what I would do with the hammer spring. I also got my KNS trigger pins that are made for the 15-22 in the mail today and installed them in the problem gun.

I have a couple of Volquartsen extractors coming in the mail just to have but I really have had no problems with the stock one in my old rifle and it has a lot of miles on it.

Same here. I have 2 VQ extractors as spares but the originals are still in my 15-22s.

Appreciate this thread. As I have found some older models had barrel nut tightness (lack of and backing off) issues. Extraction issues. With improvements made over the past few years, does this rifle now have it's little act together as much as can be expected? OP, have you resolved the light strike issue? If so, what was the problem? Thanks guys.

I am having lite strikes also. Sucks in steel competition!

My firing pin is recessed like the one in the photo above on the left.

Will changing to the style on the right fix my problem? Is it a new bolt and firing pin or just firing pin and spring?

Who do you contact at Smith & Wesson about this? phone #, name?

Also, when cleaning do I spray lube in the firing pin area or try to keep dry and free from oil/lube?

Thanks,

Mike