SR.22 Ruger Vs the S&W 15 22

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Marshal Tom

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I have been looking at both rifles for some time. I also like the SR 22 Ruger a lot. It is heavier but is based on the tried and true Ruger 10 22 action. I like the feel of it. Has anyone had one of these and which one do you like better?
 
Marshal tom said:
I have been looking at both rifles for some time. I also like the SR 22 Ruger a lot. It is heavier but is based on the tried and true Ruger 10 22 action. I like the feel of it. Has anyone had one of these and which one do you like better?
Click to expand...

IMHO the 15-22 is by FAR a superior rifle!

The 10/22 action isn't that great, especially the newer ones. Sure you can dump a bunch of money into them to make them a great/accurate rifle, but the 15-22 already comes with a super reliable action (Had some small issues at first, but S&W fixed them right away and they are GTG now!), the 15-22 already comes with a match grade barrel that's super accurate.

-Masta
 
ANother thing to consider is that the SR22 uses the same 10 round mag as the 10/22. The 15-22 can use 25 round mags, way more fun. Don't forget that the 15-22 is also less expensive, more money for ammo.
 
Owning btoh a 10/22 and a new 15-22 I say hard choice but I would go with the 15-22 and here is why.

My Ruger is tits, trigger like glass deadly accurate, reliable, it is 15 years old, I am 27 it of course isn't an SR-22 and that is why I bought the MP 15-22 when I wanted a tacticool trainer. The Smithy checks every box except proven reliability and most will argue that comes with the brand not the model anyways.

My personal tally though, not that I am at all unhappy with the smith is this:
Ruger; untold thousands of rounds over 15 years, in it's life time I would say it has had maybe 2 dozen FTF's and since I replaced the buffer pin 2 years ago almost no stove pipes unless Im shooting Aguila Supermax. Since Christmas approx 3000 rounds, I have only bore snaked it and dropped a tad more Lucas in it and it has no FTF and one stove pipe.

The 15-22 while totally acceptable for my uses has several FTF's since we got it, I don't even keep track now I just accept it rack it and keep rocking. My gun does have the new FP design and I am less then thrilled with some of the brass I have looked at but most has good clean strikes so again no complaints for it's purpose. But after 300 rounds of value pack you do start getting FTF's, no biggie though It's just like a real AR, break it down shoot the bolt with whatevers-clever wipe it on your levi's and go back to being American. If you had to clean the Ruger your day is over.

If you want a fun plinker and something the kids will have a blast with or you want to have a cheap trainer for your big boy toy get the smithy. If you want a classic that's going to be in the family and will fire everything under the sun every time you pull the trigger get a regular 10/22 and save yourself some scratch. And for full disclosure my Ruger is heavily tuned but it has always fired everything and she seems to like to be dirty.
 
If you want a light weight AR platform then the 15-22 is the only choice. If those are not your top priorities then there are a lot of other fine choices, the Ruger being one of them.

Dec 2010 American Rifleman has a comparison of all the .22lr black rifle gang.

As far as which one I like better.... I bought the 15-22. ;)
 
Used to own both, and sold the Ruger, it sat in the closet. Nobody touches my Smith, and I've been offered $800 for her the way she sits now.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I was not referring to the 10/22 but the SR 22 tactical rifle, built on the 10/22 action. It is their answer to the M&P 15/22.
 
If you just want a .22 that looks like the M16 than any will do.

If you want a .22 that nearly completely reproduces the mechanics and operation requirements of the M4 Carbine get the M&P15-22, it's the 3¢/round solution for 30¢ ammunition. Ten times the trigger/sight picture practice as the 5.56mm version. Same ergonomics as the real rifle and can be setup to mimic yours exactly.

A 30 round magazine of 5.56mm sends $9 down range making little holes in paper. 25 rounds .22LR making the same size holes in the same paper target costs ya 75¢. Good trigger time is good trigger time.

-- Chuck
 
It depends what you are looking for.

- If you want an AR platform .22 rifle, get the 15-22. It functions (almost) exactly like a 5.56 AR, the only exception is the absence of a forward assist and dust cover. It's size, shape, controls, magazine size, method of assembly/disassembly (minus the obvious bolt & bolt carrier differences), feel, etc. are that of a larger caliber AR.

- If you want a semi-auto .22 dressed up to look tactical that only approximates the look of an AR, get the Ruger. The SR22 is only a cosmetic modification of the 10/22, nothing more. All of the controls, magazine, assembly/disassembly method, etc. are that of a 10/22.

In my opinion, they are not in the same category of rifle. The 15-22 fits squarely in the AR platform category, at this point, no other 'tactical' .22 rifle does. Even the Colt .22 M4 is questionable because a portion of that rifle is purely cosmetic.

I've owned a Ruger 10/22 for over 25 years and I think it is simply one of the best .22 rifles ever made. Out of the box, my 10/22 is easily much more accurate than my 15-22, however, they serve different purposes and were designed for different purposes. With some work, the 15-22 can shoot just as accurately as the 10-22 or any other hunting type semi-auto .22

I think all here would agree that saying 10/22 is the same as saying SR22. I think there is very little difference between an SR22 and a 10/22 with a tactical stock.


So..It depends on what you are looking for.
 
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yes, my point is kind of that, the 10/22 action is sweet and reliable (both my old ones are great still, one is from '73 one from '95) but for the price what you get with the sr-22 is a 10-22 with a stock upgrade if I am correct.

for that same price you can do a lot to a used 10-22 if you're so inclined or you can have the full form factor of a real AR including the magazines, the last round hold open, everything. I think the money is better spent on either of those routes than the sr-22
 
SpudShooter said:
Owning btoh a 10/22 and a new 15-22 I say hard choice but I would go with the 15-22 and here is why.

My Ruger is tits, trigger like glass deadly accurate, reliable, it is 15 years old, I am 27 it of course isn't an SR-22 and that is why I bought the MP 15-22 when I wanted a tacticool trainer. The Smithy checks every box except proven reliability and most will argue that comes with the brand not the model anyways.

My personal tally though, not that I am at all unhappy with the smith is this:
Ruger; untold thousands of rounds over 15 years, in it's life time I would say it has had maybe 2 dozen FTF's and since I replaced the buffer pin 2 years ago almost no stove pipes unless Im shooting Aguila Supermax. Since Christmas approx 3000 rounds, I have only bore snaked it and dropped a tad more Lucas in it and it has no FTF and one stove pipe.

The 15-22 while totally acceptable for my uses has several FTF's since we got it, I don't even keep track now I just accept it rack it and keep rocking. My gun does have the new FP design and I am less then thrilled with some of the brass I have looked at but most has good clean strikes so again no complaints for it's purpose. But after 300 rounds of value pack you do start getting FTF's, no biggie though It's just like a real AR, break it down shoot the bolt with whatevers-clever wipe it on your levi's and go back to being American. If you had to clean the Ruger your day is over.

If you want a fun plinker and something the kids will have a blast with or you want to have a cheap trainer for your big boy toy get the smithy. If you want a classic that's going to be in the family and will fire everything under the sun every time you pull the trigger get a regular 10/22 and save yourself some scratch. And for full disclosure my Ruger is heavily tuned but it has always fired everything and she seems to like to be dirty.
Click to expand...

Interesing, I have completely opposite experiences with these 2 rifles.

I have 2 10/22's which are about 5 years old, as well as 1 15-22, My 15-22 is origional, so it doesn't have all the latest updates..

I have put tens of thousands of rounds threw all of them and have had more FTF, FTE, etc from both the 10/22 that I lost count. The 15-22 however has only had a couple of FTF's which were the ammo not the rifle, as they all had clean strikes and I rotated the round and they all went off the 2nd time.

I've got over 2x the money into each of my 10/22's as I do in my 15-22 and the 15-22 is far more accurate and reliable.

But as I mentioned, it seems that rugers 10-15+ years ago worked better. It seems in the last 10 years, and probably even more so in the last 7 years, the 10/22's quality and reliability have gone to $h*t. Yet the price has gone up.

-Masta
 
MastaMarksman said:
But as I mentioned, it seems that rugers 10-15+ years ago worked better. It seems in the last 10 years, and probably even more so in the last 7 years, the 10/22's quality and reliability have gone to $h*t. Yet the price has gone up.

-Masta
Click to expand...

Agreed. My 10/22 is over 25 years old and I can't ever remember any failure, EVER. Kind of uncommon for any gun at any $$$. My brother got a newer 10/22 a couple of years ago and trigger group housing was plastic (not that plastic is a bad thing:)) the trigger pull was crappy, and the finish was coming off the receiver. It still shot ok, but quality shortcuts appear to have been made over the years, however, I must say that Ruger's customer service is still top notch and they took care of the receiver finish no questions asked.


Also, another thing about reliability. No firearm is 100% reliable, especially the AR platform. We all can spend lots of $$$ on our guns inching them as close to 100% reliability as possible. However, failures WILL happen. This is why soldiers are taught immediate action drills during basic rifle marksmanship. Having the skills to react to failures/malfunctions is far more important and 'real world' practical than that unreachable reliability goal. Having failures while shooting the AR is part of the 'essence' of shooting a military or tactical rifle and dealing with them should be a part of shooting one of these types of rifles. So personally, I don't get upset if I have an occasional FTF, FTE, etc...granted, an out of battery discharge is the exception :)

I'm very encouraged to hear all of the positive comments about S&W's customer service relative to the 15-22. My 15-22 is my 1st S&W product and all of the positive comments gives me lots of confidence that I'll be taken care of should something fail on the gun.
 
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Yup i agree with you both. The older of the Rugers was just purchased by my F-in-law and he bought it because of the age. 95 bucks ain't bad for an all original 73 ruger. stock needs refinishing but the rest of it is still solid 37 years later.

even with the misfires though as CPTBeaker and I said, rack it and rock it, your shooting penny ammo, you don't complain when you get a dud firecracker. and in my book that makes the 15-22 the better 22 plinker.

I have even been thinking about redoing my ruger to .17m2 now because the 15-22 is such a great plinker and neither is a fantastic whistle pig gun.
 
CPTBeaker said:
Agreed. My 10/22 is over 25 years old and I can't ever remember any failure, EVER. Kind of uncommon for any gun at any $$$. My brother got a newer 10/22 a couple of years ago and trigger group housing was plastic (not that plastic is a bad thing:)) the trigger pull was crappy, and the finish was coming off the receiver. It still shot ok, but quality shortcuts appear to have been made over the years, however, I must say that Ruger's customer service is still top notch and they took care of the receiver finish no questions asked.


Also, another thing about reliability. No firearm is 100% reliable, especially the AR platform. We all can spend lots of $$$ on our guns inching them as close to 100% reliability as possible. However, failures WILL happen. This is why soldiers are taught immediate action drills during basic rifle marksmanship. Having the skills to react to failures/malfunctions is far more important and 'real world' practical than that unreachable reliability goal. Having failures while shooting the AR is part of the 'essence' of shooting a military or tactical rifle and dealing with them should be a part of shooting one of these types of rifles. So personally, I don't get upset if I have an occasional FTF, FTE, etc...granted, an out of battery discharge is the exception :)

I'm very encouraged to hear all of the positive comments about S&W's customer service relative to the 15-22. My 15-22 is my 1st S&W product and all of the positive comments gives me lots of confidence that I'll be taken care of should something fail on the gun.
Click to expand...


My 10/22's are about 5 years old and don't have plastic trigger groups, so that tells me they've made even more quality cuts since I bought mine. That alone makes me really turned off the 10/22 product all together.

As for reliability, you are right nothing is 100%, though after many thousands of rounds my S&W M&P 15T (223/5.56) has yet to have a single problem, not ONE!

The S&W M&P 15T was my first S&W product, I had no real interest in an S&W product before I purchased the M&P 15T, obviously I knew the name but none of their products interested me. After owning the M&P 15T for ahwile, as soon as I saw that they were releasing the M&P 15-22, I was at Cabelas (2 hours away), 2 hours before they opened the first day they had them for sale!! (Cabela's gets firearms/ammo FIRST when they are available due to their sales volume)

Since I have shot many thousands of rounds in my 15-22 with out a single failure other then the FTF's, which as I mentioned above was ammo related. Failures go with .22lr ammo, especially bulk .22lr ammo! But I just haven't had one yet with my 15-22!

I have been soo impressed with S&W M&P line that I have talked to my wife about the purchase of an M&P Pistol to complete our collection.

On top of all of that, their M&P line is covered under a lifetime guarentee! S&W has been GREAT at handling the claims with the 15-22, paying shipping both ways to have it repaired and they were fast to correct the problem(s).

I can't explain why there were soo many problems with the origional 15-22's before S&W fixed/updated them, but mine has been 100%! Maybe since mine was an early release it was hand built instead of assembly line? I don't know.

-Masta
 
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I own both a 10/22 and M&P 15-22. If you are truly looking for the AR style and quality, go with the Smith and Wesson. It has a functional charging handle, magazine release, slide release, and dis-assembly, and more just like a real AR. It also has a very nice feel to it and is much more upgradable with parts for AR style carbines. The Ruger is basically a 10/22 dropped inside a stock that looks like an AR, no fun there as there are many types of stocks available for the 10/22.

When I first looked into getting a MP 15-22 I looked at all the competitors (Mossberg, Colt, Ruger, etc.) and found that the MP 15-22 was the best built, most functional, and the funnest to shoot.

The choice is yours, but I hope all of us influencing you leans you towards the right choice. Best of Luck!:cool:
 
I looked at both and got the 15-22. All the above factors were in my decision, but also the fact that with the S&W I at least got sights and a large magazine that is not a pain in the fingers to load each time.
 
Both are fantastic firarms. For my dollar the 15-22 wins for function. If you just want to shoot as cheap as possible, get a used 10/22.
 
Gun Tests Magazine performed an assessment of the Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 and Ruger’s SR-22 in their February 2010 issue (Tactical-Style 22 LR Carbines: Ruger, S&W, Legacy Duke It Out). They rated the M&P with an "A" and the Ruger with an "A-". The Ruger has a higher cost compared to the M&P. The article in Gun Test also noted that the Ruger did not come with sights while the M&P did. The M&P provides the function and feel of the AR-15 platform. The SR22 provides a tactical look but is based upon the 10/22. Ultimately, it comes down to what it is you are looking to accomplish and which one best fits your purposes/expectations. Keep in mind that the Ruger 10/22 carbine can usually be purchased for around $200 (Dick's Sporting Goods). There are numerous modifications and enhancements available for the 10/22 including ATI stock replacements, trigger upgrades, etc. I personally have the M&P and the 10/22 - both are great guns.
 
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