Letter from S&W

[lonejacklarry]

When I got home, I found a letter from S&W. When I opened it it I found it was addressed to "Dear New M&P 15-22 Owner". I'm guessing my name/address info came from warranty card information.

Anyway, after the perfunctory stuff it got down to the good stuff:

"There is a broad array of .22LR ammuniton made by several manufacturers in different brands and types. Smith & Wesson has found wide variations in primer sensitivity and other characteristics between some brands and types of .22LR ammunition. Based on the design and action of the M&P 15-22, Smith & Wesson recommends that you use the following brands and types of .22LR ammunition for optimal performance in your M&P 15-22 rifle:

CCI Standard Velocity
CCI Mini-Mag
CCI Stinger
Federal American Eagle
Federal GameShock
Winchester Super-X High Velocity
Aguila Super Extra High Velocity
Aguila Super Extra Standard Velocity

Through our testing, Smith & wesson has also found that there are several brands and types of .22 LR ammunition that do not perform consistently or reliably. Consequently, Smith & Wesson does not recommend that the following brands or types of .22LR ammunition be used in your M&P 15-22 rifle:

Remington Golden Bullet
Remington Thunderbolt
Remington Target 22
Winchester Wildcat
Any and all sub-sonic brands and types."

I guess that this is an effort to say the least. I'm not making excuses for them but this is an effort on their part. Yes, they probably have included this w/ the rifle.

If anyone wants or needs a copy, shoot me an PM w/ your email and I'll send it as a pdf file.

No word on my rifle repair yet.

 

[SNAPPYCRY]

"Through our testing, Smith & wesson has also found that there are several brands and types of .22 LR ammunition that do not perform consistently or reliably."

Did they mean to just write....Acording to S&W Forrum...

 

[straight-shooter]

I'm surprised the Winchester Super X is listed as being ok to use. If i recall correctly alot of members here were saying that it was one of the major rounds that were firing OOB.

I've used the Winchester 333 with no problem but others have reported trouble with it.

I'm still not sold that it is completely the ammo's fault but yes it is a contributer. Still a design change somewhere needs to be addressed.

 

[maxicooper]

Pretty accurate, according to the rusult of my 15-22. I have great result from all CCIs that were mentioned above, and as well as Federal bulk.

I have Mini Mags in stock, good enough for 6 months of plinking.

 

[KrayzieVanh]

The Super X worked good in my rifle.

I didn't see Federal 550 on that list. That works well also.

I know for sure that there was something weird about the Thunderbolts, there was a lot of smoke. However, it perform flawlessly and I had good grouping with it.

 

[mag318]

While reading my owners manual on my 2'nd M&P that I just picked up with the flash hider, they did recommend the above ammo. This is in all the new manuals.

 

[Temporaryscars]

Just to kick in, I had zero problems with Blazer, but damn does it shoot dirty.

 

[Jerry-R]

I purchased mine a week ago; Serial starts DTUxxxx. Anyone have an idea on where in the serial number sequence the "fix" was put in?

I slipped the EMod off my entry carbine and put it on the 15-22; fits great! I won't be buying a second stock, but will swap back and forth.

I used an indoor range to sight-in the irons. Put a front bench rest device on their "shelf" and used CCI Mini-Mag solids. I had one FTF in the first magazine, but I think that was my fault. I was gripping the magazine well and putting some pressure on the magazine. I stopped doing that and did not have any other failures that day. I also ran a box of 20 year old WildCat shells through it - I still have 3 or 4 bricks of that left in my "barter box".

Image below is a composite of three pictures of the jammed cartridge. The left most looks smaller because I positioned the camera above the case to show the dink in the nose where it jammed against the breech. The other two show the bend and dimple in the case.

I am very pleased with mine so far, and will be putting a red dot on it for cheap carbine drill practice.

 

[Basil_Moulds]

Yes! Aguila is the only ammo i run and it runs flawlessly, i have had a few ftf and fte's with mini mags but none with the aguilas.

 

[Crazy Ed]

Good to know info. Thanks for posting!

Ed

 

[mikengracie]

Yes! Aguila is the only ammo i run and it runs flawlessly, i have had a few ftf and fte's with mini mags but none with the aguilas.

Aguila what? SV, HV which product? Many different types of Aquila from cheap to match. Just curious. Always have shot CCI SV or Mini Mags when I need break in or reliability.

 

[CORPORAL PUNISHMENT]

Are federal bulk 525's 36 grn hp's considered subsonic? I only had 1 ftfeed in 500 rds of it! I hope not I have like 5000 rds of it! I do have about 2500 rds of cci standard velocity that ran about the same as the fed bulk. I think the fed bulk actually has a faster muzzle velocity than the cci standard.

 

[chriswolfe68]

Are federal bulk 525's 36 grn hp's considered subsonic? I only had 1 ftfeed in 500 rds of it! I hope not I have like 5000 rds of it! I do have about 2500 rds of cci standard velocity that ran about the same as the fed bulk. I think the fed bulk actually has a faster muzzle velocity than the cci standard.

I don't think so. They are moving at like 1280 fps at the muzzle. By comparison, CCI Mini-Mags move at 1260fps at the muzzle, both according to information printed on the packaging of both ammo.

 

[CORPORAL PUNISHMENT]

I don't think so. They are moving at like 1280 fps at the muzzle. By comparison, CCI Mini-Mags move at 1260fps at the muzzle, both according to information printed on the packaging of both ammo.

Thank you, Something tells me the guys at Smith are on the right track for sure but, to me it seems like it's coming down to brand more than velocity. I believe my cci standard is at 1070 fps at muzzle and it's considered "standard" velocity. It shoots very well though as good as the fed at 1280 fps.

 

[BELT_FED]

Are federal bulk 525's 36 grn hp's considered subsonic? I only had 1 ftfeed in 500 rds of it! I hope not I have like 5000 rds of it! I do have about 2500 rds of cci standard velocity that ran about the same as the fed bulk. I think the fed bulk actually has a faster muzzle velocity than the cci standard.

standard vel. and sub sonic are the same thing.. they fire at or below 1050 fps + ambi. air temp. which is the sound barrier making them sub sonic... so basicly the 1070 fps rounds that were mentioned if its more than 20 degress out side they are sub sonic... and im just guessing, but as loose as the barrel is on a 15-22 id say they will never build the pressure to get that fast anyway... hope this helps

 

[cal1]

Sorry if this seems obvious but I'm not a gun aficionado so I'll ask a probably dumb question...Does the grain measurement make a difference in the velocity or reliability? I was shooting 36 grain and seemed to have numerous problems. I noticed that the Federals I was having great success with listed 40 grain. Some manufacturers don't bother to list grain content.

 

[CORPORAL PUNISHMENT]

standard vel. and sub sonic are the same thing.. they fire at or below 1050 fps + ambi. air temp. which is the sound barrier making them sub sonic... so basicly the 1070 fps rounds that were mentioned if its more than 20 degress out side they are sub sonic... and im just guessing, but as loose as the barrel is on a 15-22 id say they will never build the pressure to get that fast anyway... hope this helps

Belt fed, from listening to guys like you and phil ( and others ) I know you know your ..it. So do you agree that it appears to be about brand instead of velocity? Also in your opinion, why do you think fed bulk wasn't mentioned as one of the recommended ammos? Here's my take, ( let the flaming begin ) I think most people shoot fed bulk through this gun. I think there was a couple of reports of oob with fed bulk on this forum. I think these people had a faulty extractor and they just so happened to be using fed bulk. When you call smith to get a repair label ( been there ) they ask you what kind of ammo you were shooting when you had the problem. If they got these oob reports with fed bulk they wouldn't put that on the recommended ammo list. I have a ton of this fed bulk and I know you guys do too. I think I might be trying to make myself feel better about buying all the fed bulk ammo but give me some input good or bad

 

[BELT_FED]

bullet grain (or weight) will affect overall length of the round and back pressure... since these are blow back guns that may be why your gun likes the 40s... longer length can help them feed better(depending on rifle design) and more back pressure slings the bolt to the rear harder causing the ejector to throw the brass further and/or just make the bolt go back further and help with a timing issues.. hope this helps

 

[CORPORAL PUNISHMENT]

Sorry if this seems obvious but I'm not a gun aficionado so I'll ask a probably dumb question...Does the grain measurement make a difference in the velocity or reliability? I was shooting 36 grain and seemed to have numerous problems. I noticed that the Federals I was having great success with listed 40 grain. Some manufacturers don't bother to list grain content.

Hate to answer a question with a question but, what brand were the 36 grn you were shooting?

 

[chuck s]

Speed of sound:

The speed of sound is the rate of travel of a sound wave through an elastic medium, such as air. In dry air at 20 °C (68 °F), the speed of sound is 343 meters per second (1,125 ft/s).

-- Chuck