Breaking in New M&P 15-22

[Jewbacca]

Hello everyone. I am new to the forums and am picking up my new M&P 15-22 tomorrow. I am a first time gun owner and I figured this was a good way to start. I just have a few questions on breaking it in.

After reading a ridiculous amount of posts online and watching endless videos, I am curious as to what your opinions are on breking in a new 15-22. The videos from gunsmiths and such say that you should clean the barrel before use (which seems obvious) and then for the first 10 rounds you should clean after every shot. Then shoot 40 more rounds stopping to clean every 5 rounds fired. Is this necessary or will I just look like a fool at the indoor range that I belong to? Also, does anyone use a bore guide for cleaning or is that mainly for bolt-action rifles. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[thacheese]

i just cleaned it down with some gun scrubber (with patches), and gave everything a coating of remoil, and fired about 400 rounds. took it home and cleaned it normally using a boresnake and a lead remover cloth. just make sure you use a polymer safe cleaner, and oil.

 

[Jewbacca]

Awesome. Thanks.

 

[matmat417]

just a nice cleaning and oiling you will be golden, also invest in a boresnake they are worth every penny.

 

[Jewbacca]

I went with my buddy today on my lunch break. I got a Bore Snake, Hoppes #9 Solvent, Gunslick Pro Foaming Bore Cleaner, Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber Firearm Cleaner, Cotton Cleaning Pathches, M-Pro 7 Gun Oil LPX, and a cleaning kit for all calibers for when I get more guns in the future that came with the cleaning rods and all the attachments.

 

[team sidewinder]

I was so excited when I got my new 15-22 home I forgot everything I ever was told about a cleaning a new gun( and never read a owners manual heaven forbid ). I did know I was only going to shoot 50 rounds ( I was sure after reading this forum I was going to have many FTF and FTE but they never happened ) or so anyway and after that I took it home and gave it a real good cleaning and lube everything. I only used CCI MiniMag HP ammo from the beginning and even after 100+rounds the barrel is still pretty darn clean but I still clean it with the boresnake.

I know there are match rifle shooters and custom barrel makers who all have different and exotic rituals for breaking in a new barrel but lets face it this gun is just a fun, cool looking, 22LR, plinker. It is no tack driver or match rifle. Just take it out and shoot with regular ( every 100-200 rounds ) maintenance cleaning. My 15-22 isn't used for punching paper at the range ( not that there is anything wrong with that ) but for shooting small game like gophers, rabbits and squirrels. But this all just my 2cents and the way I did/do it.

 

[thacheese]

I went with my buddy today on my linch break. I got a Bore Snake, Hoppes #9 Solvent, Gunslick Pro Foaming Bore Cleaner, Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber Firearm Cleaner, Cotton Cleaning Pathches, M-Pro 7 Gun Oil LPX, and a cleaning kit for all calibers for when I get more guns in the future that came with the cleaning rods and all the attachments.

wow. sounds like a lot... just be careful with hoppes (not sure about the others) on the polymer.

 

[Jewbacca]

Thanks for all the help. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow night when I get out of work and take it for a spin.

 

[clinton1621]

I field stripped mine when I first got it, cleaned and lubed it up... then took it to the range for 500 consecutive rounds!!

 

[ironfist1]

Cleaning and breaking it in might be the least of your issues...Hopefully you don't have fail to feeds, fail to ejects, and the dreaded out of battery explosion. Take it slow at first, load the mag properly-do a search for 15-22 Magazine loading so the shells properly stagger as you feed them. I hope you have fun and it performs well.

 

[Jewbacca]

Hey all. I just got back from the range on my lunch break and shot flawlessly. I ran a bore snake through it 4 or 5 times and was dead on for 70 rounds. I am going back to the range tonight after work to fire off some more. Thanks for all the help.

 

[Griffy19]

wow. sounds like a lot... just be careful with hoppes (not sure about the others) on the polymer.

Hoppes is fine on the polymer

 

[thacheese]

Hoppes is fine on the polymer

if i recall it said right on the bottle i gave away that it would damage polymer and some finishes. maybe it's fine, but after reading that i decided to go with the gun scrubber.. im actually about to pick up some more for my soviet 7.62 rifle... good to know it's actually safe for both.

 

[Spectre_USA]

As a multi-decade Hoppes user, I tried CLP on a lark, as an alternative, and
have to say after 6 months usage that I am hugely impressed with
this stuff from "Break Free."

Old dog, new tricks? Whoda thunk it?!?

 

[guy22]

Clean it!
I went shooting last Thursday . Put ~ 350 rounds out. Then my friend T called and and wanted to shoot the next day. So Friday we go shooting, I had 5 loaded mags (all American Eagle 40. grain HV). Shot these great.
Then loaded (5) more mags with CCI mini mags. Shot the first mag just fine. Then started to get failure to feed, failure to eject about every other round. My friend standing to the side, said" the bolt doesn't seem to be going all the way closed.
I went to another mag, same results.
So I quit the gun for the day.
Sunday I cleaned the heck out of it. Took it out Monday too see what happens. Shot (5) mags perfect.
I think I have found my cleaning cycle ~ 200 rounds.
But for sure I need to remember to clean it after every outing.
Has this happened to you?
Shooting great, then not so!
Guy22

 

[Griffy19]

if i recall it said right on the bottle i gave away that it would damage polymer and some finishes. maybe it's fine, but after reading that i decided to go with the gun scrubber.. im actually about to pick up some more for my soviet 7.62 rifle... good to know it's actually safe for both.

Well I never actually read the bottle but I've gotten some on the gun before and nothing happened. None the less I'm probably going with Ballistol after this bottle is empty

 

[thacheese]

Well I never actually read the bottle but I've gotten some on the gun before and nothing happened. None the less I'm probably going with Ballistol after this bottle is empty

read the bottle. i think there's some good stuff about neurological damage from prolonged exposure too.

 

[clinton1621]

Clean it!
I went shooting last Thursday . Put ~ 350 rounds out. Then my friend T called and and wanted to shoot the next day. So Friday we go shooting, I had 5 loaded mags (all American Eagle 40. grain HV). Shot these great.
Then loaded (5) more mags with CCI mini mags. Shot the first mag just fine. Then started to get failure to feed, failure to eject about every other round. My friend standing to the side, said" the bolt doesn't seem to be going all the way closed.
I went to another mag, same results.
So I quit the gun for the day.
Sunday I cleaned the heck out of it. Took it out Monday too see what happens. Shot (5) mags perfect.
I think I have found my cleaning cycle ~ 200 rounds.
But for sure I need to remember to clean it after every outing.
Has this happened to you?
Shooting great, then not so!
Guy22

Thats pretty typical of any weapon... you dont clean it = you have failures

Look at the chamber, feed ramp, and around the firing pin after firing for a while... you will see a build up of gunk (gsr/etc.) that can cause serious problems... such as OOB firing if the slide cannot fully close or the round cannot fully seat. It can also cause not so serious, but still annoying, failures, like failure to feed... failure to fire... failure to eject... failure to extract

Bottom line... maintenance is your best friend with any weapon... clean your weapon as though your life depended on it

 

[Jewbacca]

I went back to the range after work with my friend and we managed to fire off, in total for the day, 315 rounds without any problems whatsoever. Cleaning after the fact was fantastic and took a little longer than I expected, but it went well. Thanks for all the help everyone. I really appreciate it.

 

[Ky Bob]

Soon as I got mind I put some CLP on my Boresnake, made about 3-4 passes and lubed the bolt up with a light coat of CLP. I've shot right at 400rds flawlessly through it except for one Remington Peters lead nose and it was a FTF.