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.
Light strikes on new rifle
- Thread starter stevengb
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ragingbulldaily
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Not saying this is it, but if you don't go slow loading those magazines, they haven't become funny for me.
ragingbulldaily
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What ammo did you use
joe-836
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Check to make sure the barrel is firmly in place and the barrel nut is tight.
Wee Hooker
Member
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
(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
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little_airwolf
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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?
Clean everything and check barrel.
Is the sping getting caught on anything?
When forced out, how far does the firing pin stick out?
MichiganScott
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Was the gun cleaned and lubed per manufacturer specifications in the owner's manual prior to your first range trip?
earlthesniper
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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
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
Ricrock
Member
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.
little_airwolf
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Can you explain how a new trigger would help with light strikes?
GhostMutt
Member
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.
Ricrock
Member
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.
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
digitaleagle12
Member
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.
