SharpshooterOPD
Member
About 7 weeks ago I purchased a 15-22 mainly for use as an inexpensive training rifle. Despite the cold temperatures and "The most snow ever recorded in northern Ohio during the month of February," I managed to get to the range a few times to test the 15-22. My initial impression of the rifle was that it was a worthy stand-in for the 5.56mm M&P 15. I definitely preferred it to the Colt version because all the controls functioned the same as those of the M&P 15.
During my live-fire tests, the 15-22 fired, ejected, and extracted just fine. Unfortunately, I was experiencing far too many failures to feed. I tried several different kinds of ammunition, and the FTF's remained. I was fairly certain the magazine was the culprit, but when I called S&W they said to send the whole rifle back.
So, off it went with Fedex on Monday, March 8th. It returned to me yesterday (the 17th) and within an hour of accepting the package from the delivery driver, I had the 15-22 back on the range. For testing purposes, I took some ancient Remington ammunition. My thought process being: if it functioned with that, it should function with anything. I noted that the document accompanying my rifle indicated that it had been updated to the latest specs, and the magazine as well as unspecified "springs" had been replaced.
For my test, I had 100 rounds of ammo. I subsequently loaded the new magazine to capacity 4 times. I am very happy to report that the 15-22 never missed a beat. I shot it fast, I shot it slow, I held it in different orientations, and it never failed. This is the kind of performance I was hoping for with this rifle, and now it is living up to my expectations. My advice to any of you who are having functioning issues is to send the rifle back. It looks like S&W has figured out the problem(s) and you will be happy with the result.
HRF
During my live-fire tests, the 15-22 fired, ejected, and extracted just fine. Unfortunately, I was experiencing far too many failures to feed. I tried several different kinds of ammunition, and the FTF's remained. I was fairly certain the magazine was the culprit, but when I called S&W they said to send the whole rifle back.
So, off it went with Fedex on Monday, March 8th. It returned to me yesterday (the 17th) and within an hour of accepting the package from the delivery driver, I had the 15-22 back on the range. For testing purposes, I took some ancient Remington ammunition. My thought process being: if it functioned with that, it should function with anything. I noted that the document accompanying my rifle indicated that it had been updated to the latest specs, and the magazine as well as unspecified "springs" had been replaced.
For my test, I had 100 rounds of ammo. I subsequently loaded the new magazine to capacity 4 times. I am very happy to report that the 15-22 never missed a beat. I shot it fast, I shot it slow, I held it in different orientations, and it never failed. This is the kind of performance I was hoping for with this rifle, and now it is living up to my expectations. My advice to any of you who are having functioning issues is to send the rifle back. It looks like S&W has figured out the problem(s) and you will be happy with the result.
HRF
