Hi everyone,
I've been a lurking member for about a year. I joined after I bought my M&P Shield 9mm.
I recently bought a M&P 15-22 and this is probably the most fun gun I've ever shot. It's just a blast to shoot this "Sheep in wolf's clothing". While it was in the mandatory 10-day California purgatory waiting period I bought a couple cool looking CA compliant 25 round mags. What I did NOT know when I bought them is, UNLIKE the standard 10-round AND 25-round mags, #1 they do NOT come with a load assist button and #2 the pin to make them CA compliant means you can't install one. I found a video on YouTube on how you can knock the pin out, which would allow us to install a load assist button, BUT it's then a high-capacity magazine that is a felony to possess in CA. I was thinking I could do that and then just install a rivet or something to be back in compliance, but I decided against that as I figured a load assist button wasn't worth free state room-and-board, an orange jumpsuit and a boyfriend named Bubba, so I nixed that idea.
SOOOO, here's MY solution. I went to the local Do-It Center with my magazine in hand and found a nylon bolt/nut that I could insert in the follower as a load assist button. The key was to find the right size that wouldn't bind the follower. Installing it was really just a quick 4-step process. Like everything else in life, the first one took 5 times longer as I was figuring out how to make it work. I'm sorry I don't know the size I ended up with, but it was really easy to just fish around until I found the size I needed.
Here was the process:
1. insert the bolt thru the follower and screw the nut down close to the mag, but still leaving some play.
2. Cut the shank of the bolt as close to the nut as you can with a pair of wire cutters. This is where using nylon instead of a metal bolt made it much easier.
3. I dripped some Krazy Glue around the threads and let it seep down to permanently glue the nut in the desired position
4. Then I used a Dremel to grind off the excess shank and rounded off the corners of the nut a little to make a little more like a round button.
Obviously, you have to make sure: #1 the bolt is not too tight so it can slide easily without binding and #2 it is recessed into the channel, so it fits into the mag well without touching.
DONE!! I tested it with snap caps in both magazines and it seems to work perfectly. Each nut and bolt combo costs about $.80 plus tax. Why S&W doesn't just put a load assist in ALL the 15-22 mags is just stupid, but here is an easy and inexpensive workaround. It will only take 2-3 minutes, once you know what you want to do.
I hope others find this useful.
Bob
Homemade 15-22 S&W CA 10 round long mag load assist
Linear Mode
