I have had a 15-22 for awhile now and am enjoying it way too much. It has caused me to begin looking at the big brother, the Sport (basic model).

While in my local gunstore this past weekend, I asked about their Sport prices. The young man there told me that he had problems using Pmags in his personal Sport and that this was a widely recognized issue with the Sport. I have searched the forum and only found minimal issues with this rifle so, I'm wondering was he trying to sell me what he had by creating problems with the gun I was asking about.

I have seen and experienced other LGS employees who "downed" the customer's guns to make their guns more appealing to me. Don't much care for the practice.

Is this a legitimate problem or am I being manipulated by the the LGS guy?

thanks, joe

I've noticed that there have been times where a Pmag won't seat into the mag well of my Sport and that it takes me giving it a hard slap on the bottom of the mag for it to lock into place. Overall, I wouldn't call it an issue as this only happens once in a while so it could be due to that particular magazine and not the rifle.

I never gave it much thought until you posted this, but the Sport is a superb rifle and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one.

The only problems I have seen with the Pmags, is after 30 rounds, I have to replace it with a full one...LOL

Slapping a PMag into place is not a Sport issue or a PMag issue. It is common practice to properly seat a magazine. No dainty touch required. Someone will surely post that he never needs to firmly seat his mags and I say good for him. Pistol or rifle, you should always firmly seat your magazines to insure proper operation when needed. Unless failure is an option for you.....

Qualifier - (This does not necessarily apply to .22lr or other rimfire firearms due to spring strength and cartridge size differences)

No problem with mine.

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M&P15 Sport-M&P9c-SW9VE

What problem was he having?

I love when people say they have problems but can't give a clear example of that problem. It's kinda like the B.A.D lever "problem".

As for issues seating the mag, I've yet to have unless I'm trying to sear a fully loaded mag on a closed bolt.

I don't own a Sport, so I'm a bit hesitant to chime in here. But... what the LGS guy says sounds suspicious to me.

But let's say it's true. There are plenty of other mags to use in tandem with your M&P15 Sport. Granted I have a healthy supply of Pmags, but I also use and love the Troy battlemags. Standard Aluminum ones while not as smooth still function flawlessly.

Also, and most importantly... The Sport ships from S&W with a Pmag. Let that sink in....

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686/M&P9 Pro/M&P15X/M&P15-22

Is there something about seat a mag on a closed bolt that causes an issue? If so, this may explain what happens to me once in a while.

The way that an auto feeding pistol or long gun works is that the top round in the magazine sits high enough that the round is pressed forward and out of the mag and into the chamber by the bolt or slide as it cycles. The next round is now actually pressing up into the bottom of the slide/bolt till it travels to the rear and then that round moves up to be picked up and chambered.

As you know while loading rounds the more you put in the mag the harder they are to place in the mag. Sometimes that last round is near impossible due to the mag spring pushing back. So you take that fully loaded mag and try to seat it on a closed bolt. That top round is now having to be pushed down due to the close bolt and thus trying to push the entire mag out of the gun. So as you seat a loaded mag you're actually fighting the mag spring. The more rounds in the mag the the harder that spring is pressing back. So one round loaded will be easier to seat than a full mag.

I know very long answer but I had some free time.

Another item not covered by the above posts, which are all pretty much consistently correct to a fault, is this:
Expanding off ASTMedics' post- it has been common discipline to 'bounce' or tap a mag bottom to seat the rounds. What this does is makes for the cartridges to bounce in the magazine and settle in properly. Often, when shoving them in, you will inadvertently load a few slightly crooked. It causes the last couple rounds to load very hard.
For years, you have seen GI's tap their mags off their helmets in movies. All I can say is; there was a time when I watched a buddy do this several times. All went well..... until he took off his helmet to cool off when resting and doing a top off on his mags. That last one he tanked himself with was right in the melon, with no skullcap on.

it's hard not to laugh when a guy is cussing and holding his head from stupidity!!
I bounce mags on my thigh; you can feel the ammo shift and clunk. It's usually GTG after that.

The LGS kid might be having issues, but it is likely he is at fault, and not the rifle. Pmags are golden.

Sport+Pmags=Priceless. I"be never had an issue with my Sport and the use of Pmags.... 30 rounders or 10 rounders. They both work, as they should.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

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S&W Girl, for sure.

I have never used anything except pmags in mine without an issue. The only issue I ever had was I had a failure to feed with a very old (1st run) 20 round pmag. That magazine has done that in numerous rifles, so I don't blame the rifle.

Thanks guys. I figured he was probably not as proficient with pmags as he was sounding. I had never heard of this problem as long as I have been reading the forum but I wanted to check to make sure.

Now, to go get that Sport ordered!

joe

I used PMAGS for the first time a few days ago and I was less then happy with them. It deff needed a tap on the bottom of the mag to get it to seat properly but besides that the rounds did not feed into the mag that well at all, not like they had w/ other polymer mags or steel mags

When the first M&P rifles (and lowers) came out, there were reports that the mag wells were of a different spec than other AR platforms, and Pmags would not seat. It was an easy user mod with some sandpaper, but I believe the factory was also taking them back and fixing them. I never encountered this first hand, but read a lot about it on one of the more reputable .mil forums.

No one mentioned this, but doesn't S&W supply PMags with all of its M&Ps, Sport included?

Vinney47 did in post #7

Slide the mag in and give it a good smack on the bottom to make sure it's fully seated. I've been doing that since basic training 33 years ago...

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Audaces Fortuna Juvat

I don't have a Sport, but I have had an LGS counter boy tell me that the 25 round mags for my AR-10 that I was looking for were out of stock but "they don't work very well" so I should just get the 20 rounders (that they had in stock). I have since purchased and used 6 of the 25ers with no issues. I think your guy is full of it too.

Yeah everyone that has had some type of issue w/ the PMAG in the Sport is just full of it lol

Most gun store salesmen and used car salesmen come from the same school, you have to go into the store educated on your purchase. I have heard all the sales pitches I care to hear. I now do my research ahead of time, then go in and chuckle a little about some of the BS I hear. I went into a local store just yesterday, one I do not go to often, I have an Ithica 1911 Government model I am thinking about parting with. This gun is circa 1944, was my fathers side arm in the army, so I am the second owner of this gun. Pistol is every bit of a 90% gun, barrel looks like it has never had a round down it. Only wear on it is holster wear on the bluing. Guy told me the pistol was only worth about $400.00. I picked up the gun and left. Gun was appraised at $2200.00 last week. Don't believe everything you hear from a salesman, they will tell you what you want to hear to make a sale.

Not saying that you don't have say 1 Pmag that might have an issue. But if you are saying every Pmag you have is giving you issues, then you are better off looking to the rifle for your problem, plain and simple.
Have been running Pmags for quite some time. Between myself and my 2 sons, we run nearly quite a few of them. And there are no issues. None. Nada uno.
Cheap ammo, hunting ammo, reloads, NATO ammo, all mixed up. And no problems. 5 different rifles. And when in a training session, we are tossing mags from one guy to the next, all day long. No one is having issues with them, and these mags have been run for between 1-5 years.
To be fair, I have a bunch of aluminum mags that work just fine, and the better ones have upgraded followers in them.

Oops. Missed that. Thank you, and sorry to Vinney47!