M&P22 range fail

[Zunaro]

I'm going to chime in here with a couple of thoughts. My Ruger MarkII Stainless Target never did anything like that to me. Field stripping it stinks, but the thing always works, and has from day one. (smug mode off) On the topic of .22 for defense, absolutely not. I've been shot with a .22. The clue was the hole in my clothes. Based on that, I think you'd need perfect shot placement to get quick stoppage of an assailant. You try managing that under severe stress. I want to do the best I can to shoot center of body mass, and make large holes, and a good amount of tissue damage. .40 S&W is as small as I'll go for defensive purposes. I'm extremely happy with my M&P .40 FS.

I think the majority of us that are using the M&P22 are either new to shooting or, like myself, new to pistols. Or just using it as a trainer/plinking firearm. I ain't gonna EDC it. I have alot of confidence in shooting a long gun in a high stress situation. However, I am new to pistol shooting and would like a gun to train on to graduate to a .40 S&W, .357 Sig, or .45 ACP. M&P or M&P shield would be my choice.

I do also think that with a .22 LR you can slap more rounds on a target faster than you could with any other common pistol cartridge. Especially folks with less experience on a pistol platform. Ain't nothin' wrong with learning on a .22.

 

[oldandfatonaharley]

It really is to bad that there are several out there having trouble with a really fun side arm. I also bought mine to use as a practice weapon, agreeably only for practice and not for defense or every day carry. Someone talked about learning to shoot, he and his wife, and that's why they got the 22. I say good choice!!!! You are starting out with a full size frame and learning how the weapon feels in hand and also how it feels when shooting. Staying with the M&P line is the right idea, especially to start off. If you decide to upgrade to a 9mm or 40 cal. the feel of the firearm will be the same. The difference will be in the recoil when shooting, but everything else is the same. Learn your weapon, understand your weapon. Cleaning your weapon is learning it and becoming familiar with it. We can only hope that we never have to use it in a life threatening situation, but if it happens you have to know your weapon to be effective. An old movie quote from Full Metal Jacket is meaningful:
This is my rifle. There are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy, who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will. Before God I swear this creed: my rifle and myself are defenders of my country, we are the masters of my enemy, we are the saviors of my life. So be it, until there is no enemy, but peace. Amen.

I say keep shooting and enjoy your freedom to be able to shoot!

Cheap practice and plinking are why I have any .22s at all. I'm not so insistent that the .22 pistol itself be similar to what I will actually use. I have several pistols. Learning the manual of arms of another pistol to the point where I don't have to think about much of anything, and getting it to hit for me often enough has never seemed all that difficult. Then again, maybe I'm being unfair. I did start being taught the rudiments of handgun use at age 5. Not everyone has that background. My kid doesn't. I think my Dad perhaps went too fast with that. I was using 16 gauge shotguns before I was 10. As I remember, the recoil was like getting smacked with a bat.

 

[Georgia Boy]

Some of the same issues

As far as Smith's, I own a Bodyguard 380, a M&P Shield 40, and an M&P 22 Pistol.

I bought my 22 after firing a friends on the range. His was having issues when I tried it, but he claimed he had put over a 1,000 rounds through it since cleaning.

I have had it at the range 7 times. I took it out first with the factory gunk still packed in it. After putting about 200 rounds through it, it was filthy. I was using Remington Golden Bullets, 36 gr hp. So far, these seem to be the round the gun likes the most.

I have put about 2,000 rounds through it to date. I have cleaned it between each trip to the range. The gun gets very dirty, as a 22 LR is a dirty firing round, from what I hear.

Here are the issues that I have. This happens whether firing Federal Bulk Pack rounds, or Remington Golden Bullet Bulk pack rounds.

I don't recall a single fail to fire. I think the rounds are reliable, and are being struck hard enough. No failures to fire would indicate this.

About every five or six mags, (12 per) I will have a failure to eject. The round has fired, but the casing does not eject, and the gun hangs up in the feed. It is easy to clear. I just pull the mag out, and pull the slide. Out it comes. Every time this happens.

Also, about every other Magazine fired, the slide closes on the 12th round, instead of staying open. This is VERY annoying, and if I am not counting rounds fired, I am dry firing the 13th shot. Smith recommends NOT to dry fire this weapon, although every other semi auto they sell they say dry firing is fine?

Anyway, I am looking for suggestions to stop the two issues, failure to eject and the failure of the slide staying open when the mag is emptied. Mainly to prevent dry firing, but dang it the gun should work correctly and reliably.

I don't want to turn to Smith for resolution, or at least at last resort only. I have been waiting on a mag for my 40 cal for three months now. I can only imagine how busy they are, and where my issue will fall in their response. I don't want to be without this weapon for any time.

Oh, I shoot with a very strong grip, and the same happens with a friend firing my weapon who also has a strong grip. I don't think this can be associated with grip.

HELP!

 

[Delos]

I meant failure to fire...when the bullet is in the chamber and has a dent in the back from the firing pin. I gets stuck and I have to pry the live round out. Its probably happened 40 or 50 times out of 500 rounds.

This is my first gun...I'm not really sure of the terminology.

Clean the barrel and chamber real good. Copper wire brush and oily swab at minimum.

Unless the cartridge is bent from the chambering process? Real unusual in a 22 rimfire.

If the magazine has been sat on or stepped on or somesuch. If the magazine releases the cartridge later than it should it could get messy.

If the cartridge does not slide up under the extractor smoothly things can get crunchy. I have never heard of it in a 22 rimfire. They feed almost straight-in usually with loose extractors.

Someone who has been around semi-autos needs to look at it.

You should be able to drop a 22 shell into the chamber and have it seat from its own weight.

If the cartridge does not go all the way into a dirty chamber - and the firing pin moves it a little not firing it - then cleaning barrel/chamber will do the trick.

 

[Delos]

Clean and test

Please understand. I have never seen anyone ever pry a shell out of a chamber.

Not to be impolite or excessively blunt - but it sounds like you guys are shooting large numbers of cartridges without cleaning.

Or the modern cheap shells might be going through high speed loading assembly and coming out bent a bit.

Try dropping them into a chamber prior to shooting. Do they drop in easy?

 

[Eyelawdoc]

I have a M&P .22 that I bought in November. I have taken it to the range multiple times after first cleaning it thoroughly of all packing grease, detail stripping it, polishing away any perceived roughness or tool marks, polishing the feed ramp, polishing the hammer and sear, polishing the mainspring strut, removing the obnoxious magazine disonnect, reassembling and lubricating the pistol.

The gun is a tank! It fires and feeds practically anything, including the infamous Remington bulk pack hollow point Golden Bullets. I've shot stuff in the M&P 22 that my Smith & Wesson Model 63 revolver would not digest! It performs superbly when fed a diet of CCI MiniMags and it shoots well with most everything I've tried.

I am sorry and surprised to hear that others have had problems. I can only offer my empathy and report that my gun is as trouble free as theirs seem to be trouble prone.

 

[FLY FIS]

I suppose there could be a run of badly machined parts that causes the slides to have tolerances that are to tight as the slide heats up causing the slide to stick or move at a lesser speed, or force, to accomplish the task of ejecting the spent casing and loading the next round. It might be interesting to look at the serial numbers to determine if such a thing does exist on those weapons. The last 4 on my M&P 22 are (3162). Mine also has a small white dot (slide marking) on the slide just behind the eject portal as well as the same white dot on the chamber part of the barrel with the letters "DE(with the dot plus another marking)BC". I believe these letters and figures are barrel markings and not just a white dot. I've tried to blow this picture up to show that it is indeed some sort of manufacturers marking, but can't seem to get the picture to save it so I can't post it. Does anyone have any idea there??????

 

[FLY FIS]

OOOOPS!!!!!! Forgot the picture.

 

[Jswiney9]

I got 2 different types of ammo at the LGS this week. Remmington yellow jacket bulk and I got some high dollar CCI match.

I went to the range today and performance was much improved. I only had one failure to fire in 200 rounds of the yellow jackets and it was the first round in the magazine so it probably didnt chamber right. I only shot 20 rounds of the CCI and had one failure to fire and one failure to feed. I didnt like the CCI as much.

Everything I read about this gun before I bought it was that it wasn't finicky on ammo and this one is. I think if I stick with the yellowjackets I'll be OK.

I took some picks of the different bullets. The really bad Armscore is on the right with the CCI in the middle and the yellowjackets on the right.

i just wanted to let you know, those arent remington yellow jackets, those are remington golden bullets, which most guns wont feed at all, strange that yours liked them

 

[97hmcs]

i just wanted to let you know, those arent remington yellow jackets, those are remington golden bullets, which most guns wont feed at all, strange that yours liked them

For some reason my Ruger SR22 and Walthes P22 pistols love those cheap remington golden bullets.

I don't know about my M&P 22 because I won't have it until Tuesday of this week. I plan on giving the remington golden's a try.

 

[Jswiney9]

For some reason my Ruger SR22 and Walthes P22 pistols love those cheap remington golden bullets.

I don't know about my M&P 22 because I won't have it until Tuesday of this week. I plan on giving the remington golden's a try.

Yeah, my sig 522 eats anything i throw at it but I remember A LOT of people having problems with those bullets on other guns. Some manufacturers even have those on a do not use list.

 

[Eyelawdoc]

That's good to hear. Obviously you seem well experienced with firearms and have the ability to disassemble and polish necessary friction points. I have no doubt this pistol was designed to perform well, as other attest to.

May I ask which lubricant you use?

I like Mobil 1 10/30 motor oil and I use a moly EP automotive grease, or a clear silicone based grease, lightly on the rails. These are inexpensive and work well on all my firearms. After shooting I like to give my guns a quick spray and wipe down with WD40 inside and out to remove salts and oils from my skin and keep powder residue from solidifying, making them easier to clean later at home.

I believe that many of the problems that have been reported with the M&P 22 result directly from the poor quality of some of the ammo that is out there. In the past month I've run across stuff that wouldn't even work in my Model 63 revolver! Dud primers, oversized cases that won't fit into the cylinder or chamber, loose bullets, and weak powder charges are typical. I can't believe some of the **** that is being sold.

When I go to the range with my M&P 22, I always bring along my S&W Model 63, often a S&W 22A and sometimes a Ruger SR-22 or a vintage Belgian Browning Challenger. All of these are well-built, reliable guns. I've found that the M&P 22 is just as stout as these others. If the ammo I'm using is giving the M&P problems, it is giving my other .22 guns problems as well.

 

[spad124]

Wow...Glad I decided to surf through here to see if I could find out how these M&P .22's are doing. I'm thinking about buying one soon and figured I'd better see how everyones liking them. Sooooo...not so much then huh? When I purchase a gun I really need it to perform like it should. I don't have tons of money to throw around fixing,changing them so they will work good, the way they should've came from the factory working. I'll hold off until these issues are addressed by the factory quality control I guess.

Well, I bought a M&P22 back in August and haven't had any problems what so ever. I cleaned it before the first session and have run assorted ammo through it, sometimes in the same mag--everything from 20 year old bulk Thunderbolts and Wildcats to Mini Mags. Yeah, some of the older bulk will occasionally FTF, but that's bulk 22. Accuracy is improving, but I only have maybe 400 rounds through it. Cleaned it one time since the first session. So, for me, I'm happy--except I can't seem to find any extra mags at a reasonable price. But, that's not S&W's fault.

 

[rgkitchen]

OK, here is my experience . . . .

I just picked up my M&P 22 pistol last Friday, and the only plated ammunition they had was some Winchester Super-X Super Speed RN (1300fps). I had previously received two extra magazines from 44mag, so, after cleaning out all of the packing oil and grease, I filled all three magazines and headed out to see what it would do. I went through 100 rounds without incident.

However, the next day I took my son with me to the range to let him try it out. I went first, and again, I went through my three magazines without incident. I refilled them for him and let him have a go. He fired the first two magazines without incident, but the last magazine had problems resetting the hammer and stripping off a new round. I tried it out and had the same experience. I could not figure out why only this magazine would have this problem since it didn't seem to be a problem you would normally associate with a magazine.

I also had some old Federal Bulk ammunition that I had brought with me and loaded it up with that. 12 trigger pulls and 12 bangs. I loaded it up again and let my son try, and again, 12 trigger pulls and 12 bangs. We loaded all of the magazines with the Federal Bulk, and everything functioned just fine, until we ran out of the Federal Bulk.

Yesterday I went back to the range after picking up some Blazer Bulk. Normally I don't like using unplated lead in my firearms, but this is what they had. I didn't keep track because there was a friend of mine at the range who also shot some rounds (trying to see if the sights were correctly adjusted), but we must have used around 150 rounds. Absolutely no problems (except for my embarrassment at how much better my friend shot than me).

I still have a few boxes of the Winchester ammunition, and I'll use it in my 15-22 where it works just fine, but I'm not going to be using it in my pistol anymore.

One question not related to function. What do you use to clean off the burnt residue on the sides of the slide at the muzzle? In the photos above, you can see the lighter color at the end of the slide.

 

[byanose]

I'll add my 2 cents to this thread. What I have noticed, is all of the 22's seem different. I cleaned my M & P well before shooting, but I did not clean the mag's. They did have some grease in them and they were all cleaned upon returning home.
The first ammo I tried was old winchester super X. this must have been at least 25 years old. All 47 rounds fed and shot flawlessly. Then I went to some federal blue box, copper plated rounds in 50 round boxes. they started out fine, and then I began to have problems with stove pipes and feeding. I only brought 2 boxes of that, and struggled to get it all shot. By now the gun was getting dirty and the mags were greasy, but I had 273 remington golden bullets I wanted to shoot and wanted to get my initial round count to over 400. After reading this thread and others, I did not have high hopes for the golden bullets, but dang, they were great. After struggling with the last federal rounds, these were a dream. Shot all 273 of them with no problems at all. they did seem to be more powerful and perhaps that was the difference. This box of golden bullets was also probably 10-12 years old, so next outing I will shoot a new box of golden bullets. I sure hope they continue to perform like they did last weekend, because they were great and they have been the only .22 I have found recently.
Overall, I was quite pleased with the pistol, but I will need to adjust the sights a little I think after 600 or so more rounds.

 

[shootinbil]

I use only CCI tactical 22 in my M&P 22. They work every time.





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[FLY FIS]

Thanks for that info,,,,,, I figured that it had to mean something.

 

[Eyelawdoc]

One question not related to function. What do you use to clean off the burnt residue on the sides of the slide at the muzzle? In the photos above, you can see the lighter color at the end of the slide.

After shooting my M&P 22, I spray it down (metal parts only, not the polymer grip) with WD40 and wipe it off with a clean cotton cloth, then put the gun back in the case for the trip home.

 

[Zunaro]

A new range update from me;
I got back from the range a couple days ago and had put another 200-250 rounds through my M&P22 and the only failures to fire I had were two of the winchester super-X cartridges that I had such trouble with before. Other than that I only had a single stovepipe on the same cartridge. I would have put more rounds through it but I had some rifles to square away. Lots of fun for sure, accuracy improving (likely more due to my skill improving than the gun -- I'm sure that it is quite accurate) Love this little pistol!

I had cleaned it and re lubed well before my first range outing, cleaned it again well and re-lubricated afterward as well.

 

[byanose]

Shot my M&P 22 again yesterday and had a flawless performance with 350 new (Jan. 2013 purchased) Remington Golden bullets. Awesome! I would recommend all new purchasers to also clean the magazines well along with the gun before shooting. Excited about a Fed Ex delivery today of CCI standard velocity. Ready to try those out. Loving this pistol. Another 500 pr so shots and I might try to fine tune the sights.

Are you guys/gals finding you have to adjust yours a bit as well?