M&P .22 WMR pistol update

I have more M&P's than I need, but the M&P .22WMR is a want to have. I've read the gun writer's reports and they all give it a 5/5 as most do on any review. Anybody who is a proud or otherwise owner care to post their opinion?

1700 failure free rounds through mine. I'm on a mission to see how far it will go out of the box, no lube, no cleaning. It's no target pistol, but mine runs well on anything I put through it, and I've put some real junk through it. Others have had varying results.

Thanks

Thanks for the quick reply. 1700 rounds now that is impressive. Have you shot any of the 50 gr. Federal rounds? What do you prefer to feed it? Thanks.

It loves the old 50 gr. Feds. from the 80s. Haven't tried any new ones. It doesn't care for any CCI that I've tried, they function but not the best groups. I've got a bunch of old 3 color Armscor that it seems to like fairly well, even if it is all nasty and gummy.

Dvus said:

1700 failure free rounds through mine. I'm on a mission to see how far it will go out of the box, no lube, no cleaning. It's no target pistol, but mine runs well on anything I put through it, and I've put some real junk through it. Others have had varying results.

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Firstly, I am certainly NOT trying to pick a fight here, but..

I guess I just don't understand the attraction of running a firearm "...to see how far it will go out of the box, no lube, no cleaning.". To me it is akin to buying a new car and seeing how far it will run without ever changing the oil and filter.

Now, a YouTube persona who gets the guns provided for free (or one with a sufficient following to be able to just write them off as a business expense?) is a whole 'nother thing! They can throw 'em out of helicopters, run them over with a motor home, etc. All in an effort to build their $ubscriber$.

Not trying to be critical, but... (The "but", again!)

What does one do under the circumstance when the firearm finally fails, or grenades? Send it back for service?

Cheers!

STORMINORMAN said:

Firstly, I am certainly I guess I just don't understand the attraction of running a firearm "...to see how far it will go out of the box, no lube, no cleaning.". To me it is akin to buying a new car and seeing how far it will run without ever changing the oil and filter.

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Dirty guns don't explode or become permanently damaged, they become unreliable and harder to clean when you do get around to it. They can also become less accurate. Worst case is the is usually something like this thread where the fouling in a countersunk muzzle was so bad it looked like a corroded barrel.

If you shoot corrosive ammo or your guns are stored in a humid environment barrel pitting and rust can occur but with modern steel and non-corrosive ammo it is not the issue it used to be. Storing guns in a safe with some sort of dehumidifier helps too.

I also take issue with guns that need to be clean and well lubricated to work well. If its a range gun like my S&W 41 its not a big deal as long as the gun shoots so well its worth the extra cleaning effort. But I don't want a carry gun that is right on the edge of working. And a gun that will not work reliably unless it is clean and oiled is going to be inherently less reliable than one that works out of the box, dirty and dry.

I dislike cleaning guns so much I often found myself not going to the range to avoid it. Until a friend told me that if I was spending more than 5 minutes cleaning a gun I was doing it wrong. My carry gun still gets more than that but I found the 5 minute rule to be a good compromise between no cleaning and the more detailed cleaning I used to do on every gun every time I shot it.

STORMINORMAN said:

Firstly, I am certainly NOT trying to pick a fight here, but..

I guess I just don't understand the attraction of running a firearm "...to see how far it will go out of the box, no lube, no cleaning.". To me it is akin to buying a new car and seeing how far it will run without ever changing the oil and filter.

Now, a YouTube persona who gets the guns provided for free (or one with a sufficient following to be able to just write them off as a business expense?) is a whole 'nother thing! They can throw 'em out of helicopters, run them over with a motor home, etc. All in an effort to build their $ubscriber$.

Not trying to be critical, but... (The "but", again!)

What does one do under the circumstance when the firearm finally fails, or grenades? Send it back for service?

Cheers!

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OK, then don't try to start a fight. My gun, my money, my choice and my reasons that you don't need to understand. Not trying to be critical, but yet you are. And when the gun finally fails I will clean it, oil it and go back to shooting it. It's not going to seize up or grenade, and there won't be any need to send it back to the factory. And even though I don't need to explain myself to you, I will offer this in the spirit of understanding;

The gun came new dripping with oil, so it's not like it's running dry. My wife wants to use it as her bedside gun as it is light and easy to for her weakened hands to use. Before I'm going to depend on ANY rimfire for any defensive use whatsoever, I'm going to torture test it and make it prove itself. My goal is 2500 rounds before it fails to feed or function (not including typical rimfire ammo issues, of which I have had only 1 so far.) Some would say that 1700 is enough, but like I said, I have a goal. And as it is right now the little pistol is surprisingly clean and all parts are moving freely, so I don't think 2500 is an unreasonable task for it.

And just out of curiosity, when you bought your new car, did you change the oil and filter as soon as you got it home, or did you leave it in there for the recommended break in period?

Sorry if I offended you: just wondered what the "mission" was...?

Cheers!

P.S. Actually, I change the oil & filter on all new cars and all new (to me) used internal combustion vehicles as well, typically at about 1K miles. Always have done so. Since about 1992 I would also cut open the filter: it can be amazing to see what can (not in every case) be in a brand new car's filter.

FWIW, as part of the quality testing he did with ARs is his collection, Pat Rogers ran them with no cleaning and lube only. A quality AR should easily go 50K rounds with no cleaning but generous lube. At least one was documented specifically in articles, "Filthy Fourteen" (its rack #). The same generally is true of all firearms - lube is needed, cleaning is optional. I recall a serious competition shooter (Barnhart maybe) stating in a video interview that if a pistol won't run when dirty but wet, there is something wrong with it.

The military style cleaning regimen is not needed for the (modern) firearm; it is part of other training goals not relevant to the firearm and or left over from black powder days. In fact, Pat referred to the damage done by such fetishistic cleaning.

I do not clean my guns after every use unless I'm shooting some corrosive ammo. I don't see the need and am not obsessive/compulsive enough to care. I DO lubricate and wipe them down after every use and sometimes before use, depending on how long it has been since it was last used. I'm not saying that I never clean them, most in my safe are spotless at the moment, but I'm not going to make a special effort to clean a gun just because Iran a box of ammo through it. My M&P .22 WMR is an exception for testing purposes. After testing it will receive a thorough cleaning and lubrication. I will then inspect for wear and report my final findings.

I have roughly 500 rounds thru mine with various types of ammo , zero malfunctions. Did the 1st 150 right out of the box then a quick clean and had it out a couple times since then. Added a red dot sight at roughly 300 rounds with no problems. 30 gr XTP,s created quite a fireball.

Rather than repeat myself, checkout this thread. Picking up a M&P 22 Magnum


Perhaps I suffered from a new and unproved specimen and later models have improve but when a manufacture recommends only a few brands of ammo be used, it raises red flags.

I got one and have not shot it much, Trigger is not to my liking, no comparrison with my K 22, K 38 and similar guns, nor the M 41, or a tuned Browning HP, or the 1911 types, and nowhere as good as a Sig P 365.

On another forum a member who is left hand posted that he could not activate the safety with the right side lever, meant to be used with the left thumb, so I tried mine and found the same thing. He then said a certified S&W armorer took it and really lubed it and got it working. I tried that and found it to also be extremely hard to apply on that side, and it appared to be catching on the bottom of the slide. I did slightly relieve, round and polish the top corner of the safety lever and that seems to have helped, but it still catches and jams on that side, the left side lever gives no problem. I find I can flex the rear of the slide to the left and make it work, or squeeze the front of the slide and the grip frame together and it seems to make it work better.
Anyone else seen or heard of this problem? I am thinking at this point what it needes is to cycle on and off a lot to wear parts in.

Mine does NOT like the new sold in bulk Federal 50 gr rounds.
It DOES like the Hornady 30 gr rounds.
Jeff

Update on the hard to engage right hand safety, I greased it as I had read about and got it working. Took the gun to the range and it simply would not fire, I could see I was getting very light primer strikes. I then took it back to the house, my parents old house and found a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid, best thing I had on hand, so washed the internals with that, and then lubed with some lightweight machine oil, typewriter oil my father had gotten back when he had worked at an office equipment company. Back to the range and it ran perfectly, so it's lightweight oil for it from now on. I picked up a bottle of Pennzoil 0w16 to use as gun oil, seems thinner than most motor oils and more like that machine oil. Oh, and now safety works easier and more consistant,

I lump shooting a firearm without cleraning along with how far you can drive a car without adding or changing oil ... sorta useless knowledge .

My Daddy would tell me ..." Boy ... don't be acting the Fool !"
He was a stickler about cleaned and lubricated guns and cars ...
but I'm glad for those lesson's .
Gary

Bought a .22 compact a month or so ago, got it used at a good price and I really enjoy shooting it. Roughly 600 rounds through it and the only failures have been from Winchester ammo. I use CCI exclusively now and it runs like a champ.

My semi .22mag models are the Kel-Tec PMR & Walther WMR.

The Kel-Tec is surprisingly accurate, but it mostly only runs with 40gr ammo.

The Walther is amazingly accurate! Well built, doesn't feel like a cheap polymer framed .22, IMO. It too has to have 40gr ammo. Walther also lists ammo brands & types on their web site so owners know which ones to buy, which ones to avoid.

The M&P .22 series just feels like a gun from Big Lots. IOW, not much quality. The Walther feels like a "real" gun.

My .o2

bobsguns said:

My semi .22mag models are the Kel-Tec PMR & Walther WMR.

The Kel-Tec is surprisingly accurate, but it mostly only runs with 40gr ammo.

The Walther is amazingly accurate! Well built, doesn't feel like a cheap polymer framed .22, IMO. It too has to have 40gr ammo. Walther also lists ammo brands & types on their web site so owners know which ones to buy, which ones to avoid.

The M&P .22 series just feels like a gun from Big Lots. IOW, not much quality. The Walther feels like a "real" gun.

My .o2

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No experience with the Kel-Tec or the Walther but your comment on the M&P are accurate, IMHO.

Busch297 said:

Bought a .22 compact a month or so ago, got it used at a good price and I really enjoy shooting it. Roughly 600 rounds through it and the only failures have been from Winchester ammo. I use CCI exclusively now and it runs like a champ.

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Care to expound a bit? Is it the M&P or another brand? 22 long rimfire or .22 magnum?