First two range sessions with it, tons of FTF

[soupy]

Well this weekend I finally found the time to swing by the range to try out my new DVPXXX serial 15-22 and I guess I can say my results were rather mixed.

The first session was pretty horrid; I wasn't loading the magazines properly like Brett's videos and was using the ambi-assist shooting Federal Bulk stuff from Walmart. I was getting FTF's at least 4-5 times in two of the three magazines I was using. Of course, quickly I noticed that the magazine that S&W provided with the gun was much better than the other two I picked up from 44mag.com. It ran even better when I switched to using CCI Minimags. Probably shot around 200 rounds only that day.

That evening, I cleaned the rifle (man Federal bulk shoots dirty as hell), tried flipping the magazine springs, and packed it up for the next day.

Now this morning, I went back to the range and tried to stick with just Mini-Mags and started loading it like Brett's videos while watching the rounds stagger; muuuch better range session. My original mag didn't FTF once with CCI's OR with a load of Federal Bulk. The other two however were probably getting 1-2 FTFs each time, though sometimes none at all. I then tried one of the 44mag ones with Federal Bulk; ugh, impossible to shoot. It was just repeating what I suffered through the first session with FTFs like crazy.

I think I might check if I can exchange these 2 mags from 44mag, otherwise I might just shelve them and order more from a different supplier. It just might be a bad batch they have at the moment. Either way, I'm just going to avoid these two mags as it's completely ruining my fun with this gun.

 

[bobkarno]

Are you having FTFeeds or FTFires? I bought an additional 11 mags from Midway (on sale for $15) for my new 15-22, and all have performed flawlessly with Winchester Super-X HP (thousands of rounds now). I believe that all the mags should be factory S&W's as I have not seen any after market 25 round mags for sale (there is an after market 50 round drum system you can get on Midway). I did notice when I was looking for mags that some listed different part numbers for 25 rounders. The part number I got was 404850000. It is the only 25 round mag they have on Midway and on S&W's site. I would say you need to give the gun time to work itself in a bit. My 15-22 and my 22A pistol were a bit dicey (plenty of FTFires) at first even with the "better" ammo. I know people give a lot of weight to the loading of the mags (staggering), but my 12 year old son helps me load and his mags are not always staggered the best, but this has caused no issues. We shot 300 flawless rounds of Super-X yesterday.

 

[crracer_712]

I have 5 magazines from 44mag.com and all were exactly the same as the factory mag in every way.

 

[CrazyFingers]

As Bob noted, "FTF" can mean several things. If you're having a Failure To Feed, then the magazine is certainly a possible problem. If you're having a Failure To Fire, then that likely has nothing to do with the magazine. Please be more specific and we'll try to help.

 

[soupy]

Definitely Failure to Feeds; I kept getting rounds caught in the chamber on an angle and needed to take off the mag to eject them out. I'd find rounds with the bullet bent off the brass or rounds with dents in the sides of the brass. All the mags I have are identical to each other with the 22LR 25 Round markings on them.

I'm probably going to test out a third session with only Mini-Mags Wednesday night to really confirm my noted patterns with the magazines.

 

[CrazyFingers]

Have you checked your feed ramp for any obstructions (burrs, scratches, rough spots, etc.)? Also, check the seating of the good magazine versus the ones giving you trouble. Do they seat higher/lower than the good one or at an angle? Probably easiest to check that with the upper receiver removed.

 

[soupy]

Yeah, I noticed some rough smudge spots on the feed ramp last night. I cleaned it off but I might hand buff it with a light metal polish later today. The rounds seat the same visually; the only real difference I can feel is the way the tension on the springs feel when you pull on the ambi-slider. If it doesn't improve I might just give S&W a call to see if they can do an exchange on the mags on their dime.

 

[crracer_712]

Have you noticed if the bullets are seating in the casin tight prior to loading them? I've had two boxes of winchester 333 where the bullets spun freely in the case and would actually 'cock' to one side cause feed issues (feed issues caused in every 22 I own, not just the M&P.

 

[soupy]

Well, after two more range visits this past week I can finally say I love this rifle. One of my mags I determined was hopeless to continue using while the other one might feed improperly every 2 or 3 loads. Regardless I decided to ship them both back to S&W for replacements.

As for my working mag, I'm feeding it Federal Bulk, CCI Mini-Mags, Winchester 333 Bulk, and Winchester Super-X round and it never fails to feed properly. The Federal stuff I'm getting a few FTE's, but I've run hundreds of rounds of everything else flawlessly. So far I'm finding the most consistency shooting either the Mini-Mags or Winchester 333's. The Super-X 1300fps 40gr rounds can group tightly, but I'm getting too many flyers with it. And as for the Federal bulk? Yeah, I'm finding what others are seeing where it's more like shooting a shotgun than a 22. It definitely feels great to be able to shoot during a range session and concentrate more on shooting than whether X-mag with X-ammo is gonna jam on me.

 

[team sidewinder]

I just got a 10round shorty mag. from 44Mag also and it works great. I will be doing more business with 44Mag in the future. Great prices and fast shipping for a excellent all around internet transaction.

 

[clinton1621]

Hmm... I just went yesterday and "broke in" my new 15-22... I put 500 consecutive rounds through her with only 2 failures, which were not even the weapons fault as far as I can tell.

FAILURE 1. Failure to feed... immediately dropped the the mag and cleared, looked like a buildup of crud on the feed ramp (after about 300 consecutive rounds) which caused the round to nose up just a bit high and not make it into the chamber... just wiped the ramp off and problem solved.

FAILURE 2. Failure to fire... looked like a good solid hit on the primer though, so I put the round back in and rotated the rim to hit a new spot and it fired... I even picked up a different round someone left with a primer hit that didnt fire, rotated it the same way and it fired also.

So after 500 consecutive rounds with a brand new rifle, I am completely satisfied with the reliability, as the two failures were not related to the weapon itself.

 

[ironfist1]

I posted a rant about my 1st time at the range with mine in another thread...Had so many fail to feeds I couldn't believe it. Gun of the year?? Hardly in my opinion. Ive owned many many rifles and pistols and this is by far the most feeding problems I've ever seen. I started with a properly cleaned rifle. The fails started immediately. No fun for me, more like $500 bucks down the toilet. serial DUUXXX. I'm gonna go look for the "video" on how to load the mags better....what a joke.

 

[clinton1621]

I posted a rant about my 1st time at the range with mine in another thread...Had so many fail to feeds I couldn't believe it. Gun of the year?? Hardly in my opinion. Ive owned many many rifles and pistols and this is by far the most feeding problems I've ever seen. I started with a properly cleaned rifle. The fails started immediately. No fun for me, more like $500 bucks down the toilet. serial DUUXXX. I'm gonna go look for the "video" on how to load the mags better....what a joke.

I would recommend CCI ammo... and make sure you only load one round at time, just slightly pulling the load assist down to get ONE round in each time. If you pull it down too far the rounds nose down and stick, then you will have jiggle it around some to get them unstuck.

It sounds worse than it is... I practiced at home with a couple of mags just hand loading and unloading them, once you get the hang of it, its a piece of cake

 

[ironfist1]

I would recommend CCI ammo... and make sure you only load one round at time, just slightly pulling the load assist down to get ONE round in each time. If you pull it down too far the rounds nose down and stick, then you will have jiggle it around some to get them unstuck.

It sounds worse than it is... I practiced at home with a couple of mags just hand loading and unloading them, once you get the hang of it, its a piece of cake

Thanks for the note, I watched the video and then did it myself, yes it's easy. But now I want to go shoot and see if that was the issue and I have to wait 'til the weekend. argggg! I also broke the gun down and examined my ejector and extracter in a comparison to the troublesome ones who've posted pics. It's seems mine is already more "centered" and doesnt need any tweaking. Does DUUXXXX put me in a time period when the models we're produced "better" ..without the need for "ejector tweaking"for lack of a better term?

 

[clinton1621]

Thanks for the note, I watched the video and then did it myself, yes it's easy. But now I want to go shoot and see if that was the issue and I have to wait 'til the weekend. argggg! I also broke the gun down and examined my ejector and extracter in a comparison to the troublesome ones who've posted pics. It's seems mine is already more "centered" and doesnt need any tweaking. Does DUUXXXX put me in a time period when the models we're produced "better" ..without the need for "ejector tweaking"for lack of a better term?

I'm not sure on the serial #'s... but it should be pretty evident if you have any ejection problems, I checked mine when I got and it seemed to be in order, and I didnt have any ejection problems with 500 consecutive rounds the first time out with it recently

 

[ironfist1]

Im certain I had more ftfeeds than fte's. Unless the fte's were causing the ftfeeds. I'm hoping it was a mag loading failure. I'm bringing my AK-47 next time to unleash rounds out of frustration if this 15-22 fails me again. A Century Arms $375.00 gun that never ever had a failure of any kind whatsoever in years of abusive hot round firing.

 

[davevt48732]

Thanks for the note, I watched the video and then did it myself, yes it's easy. But now I want to go shoot and see if that was the issue and I have to wait 'til the weekend. argggg! I also broke the gun down and examined my ejector and extracter in a comparison to the troublesome ones who've posted pics. It's seems mine is already more "centered" and doesnt need any tweaking. Does DUUXXXX put me in a time period when the models we're produced "better" ..without the need for "ejector tweaking"for lack of a better term?

I have a DURXXXX no issues at all. Love this gun. I would try CCI min mags and loading the mags carefully. I have shot CCI blazers with good success but they seem to be a much dirtier round than the mini mag

 

[antifederalist22]

Fired over 400rds more through mine on Friday last week with CCI AR Tactical and Federal Blue Bulk, no issues (about 2000 total now with feed issues only related to round staggering in the mag on my first trip, which are solved with attention to detail)--also, my wife loves this weapon now since it was her first outing with it and she shoots great offhand with it.

 

[ironfist1]

I have a DURXXXX no issues at all. Love this gun. I would try CCI min mags and loading the mags carefully. I have shot CCI blazers with good success but they seem to be a much dirtier round than the mini mag

Whew....maybe I got a good one then... DUUXXX. But, I was using cci mini mags and still had tremendous failures. I will adjust my mag loading technique and test it out again....weekend can't get here soon enough!

 

[antifederalist22]

Whew....maybe I got a good one then... DUUXXX. But, I was using cci mini mags and still had tremendous failures. I will adjust my mag loading technique and test it out again....weekend can't get here soon enough!

It's probably the mag loading/staggering the rounds. Good luck.