My beloved 15-22 Kaboom'ed today - (UPDATE: Fixed & Fine)

[ScrapmasterFlex]

15-22 had a Kaboom today.

After something like 100-200 Federal Bulk Pack 36gr HPs, and maybe 50 or so CCI Mini Mags.... I had ONE MAG LEFT, full of CCI Stingers I kept for emergency, self defense or SHTF or societal collapse etc. Basically IF something happened that I had to grab my 15-22 and use it in the defense, I had a 25 mag full of CCI Stingers. I WASN'T EVEN GOING TO SHOOT THAT GOLDDARN MAG but I decided what the heck. -- re: Stingers, It was and is my understanding that they are fine to use in the non-Performance Center model and I believe the original owners manual (which I Cannot find mine at the moment but Buds Gun Shop has it on their site as a .pdf) actually lists it as a recommended ammo.

the first Stinger made a great sound firing, much more "BOOM" like than the other ammos. Directly on target, it was awesome. The second Stinger hit EXACTLY what I was shooting at ... very awesome!!! I just started to smile and enjoy myself immensely and I squeezed off the third CCI Stinger round.

A loud, explosion sound, my face took a face-full of hot exploding stuff, and I knew I was in big trouble. The bolt was dangling in the ejection port, i saw a Stinger half-chambered, the empty shell pretty much torn up inside the chamber area, a spring dangling out of the bolt and I knew I was in trouble.

I guess the extractor blew out.... there was no searching because the property is basically sand for soil, dirt and sand everywhere, with 300-400+ previous spent rimfire shells all over the place, and I knew even if it was just sitting there I would be hesitant to try to mess with it.

So I am wondering here... - I guess I need to call S&W and try to send it in. Will they help me out here? My 15-22 was bought I believe 1 APR 2010, so it's not brand new, but not heavily used or anything. Plus I am getting mixed results Googling the Stingers, some people write that there is no problem, other stories say S&W won't do anything for me, etc. What do I want to do here... call S&W and see what they say? I need it looked at and repaired, that's for sure.

Ok thanks much for your help and time, thanks very much.

 

[68sixspeed]

Sorry to hear that, but If you are the original purchaser of the gun, you should be fine. Lifetime warrantee.

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/...4_750001_750051_757818_-1_757814_757812_image

 

[brucev]

Very thankful that you are not injured. Such accidents are very rare. Call S&W. Doubtless they will repair your rifle. Contact CCI. They will want to examine the ammunition. It is very likely they will replace your ammunition, etc.

 

[dullh]

Same thing happened at a range here a couple months ago.

The 15-22 will fire out of battery if not properly cleaned.

I am glad you didn't get hurt.

 

[ScrapmasterFlex]

Thanks all vety very much.

My Dad kept saying the same thing... " [ Scrappy ] you're extremely lucky, you're fine, it's just a gun, you have plenty more, it can get fixed, you could've been seriously hurt or killed etc, its no big deal you're very lucky etc. " just sucks though. Im nearly 34 and this was one of the few times my old man was having a blast shooting. Oh well at least it didn't happen to him!

Monday I'll call , thanks again very much.

 

[TX-Dennis]

I had a similar experience with Stingers in my Marlin 60. It obviously fired slightly out of battery as the back half of the cartridge blew out and peppered my arm with bits of brass and unburned powder. Fortunately neither I nor the gun was damaged. Rereading the Marlin's manual revealed that it says do not use hyper velocity ammo. Trust me, I won't do it again in that weapon. I have fired a few in the 15-22 without incident, but probably won't do so again thanks to your experience.

Glad you are okay.

 

[GhostMutt]

Same thing happened at a range here a couple months ago.

The 15-22 will fire out of battery if not properly cleaned.

I am glad you didn't get hurt.

Here in the UK around my local area CCI are hard to come by so I use Eley ammo, I notice that after maybe 200 rounds or so, that I start getting FTF's 1 in every 30, rim of ammo has a good clean strike but doesn't go down range, pop it in again and they always fire. This generally corresponds with the build up of 'gunk' around the face of the bolt in the indent where the firing pin is. Is this the part you refer to as needing to be properly cleaned? I keep a little plastic thing in my kit bag to scrape out the build up of gunk. That area seems to be the culprit for my FTF's that and bad primers.
I cringe when I hear of this OOB happening, luckily no one ever seems to have a serious injury.

 

[cjt50]

15-22 had a Kaboom today......
(snip)


So I am wondering here... - I guess I need to call S&W and try to send it in. Will they help me out here? My 15-22 was bought I believe 1 APR 2010, so it's not brand new, ................................(snip)

I had to send my well used, purchased 9/2010 copy for a firing pin problem. They fixed it no cost and replaced all the springs to boot. You wont have any issues getting it fixed by S&W.

Glad to hear it's only the rifle that took the beating.

 

[Rob1]

WOW!!!

WOW!

Sounds like it was a close thing.

Glad to hear you unscathed after that close call.

Rifle is relatively easy for you to get fixed, your noggin, no so easy!!!

Good luck with the repairs

Rob

 

[ScrapmasterFlex]

One thing I wanted to comment on-

I am basically OCD when it comes to cleaning my guns. If I go a month w/o cleaning my carry pistol I get mad at myself because of the gunk buildup possibility. When I wait a day to clean my guns after a range session, it is absolutely shocking to the family, "He must be very tired or not feeling well." I used to and still do love to read military history books etc. and I remember reading about the SEALs in Vietnam.. that no matter how long they were out in the field, how tired they were, how bad they took losses or how close a friend perished in the field next to them, when they got back to base, the first thing that was done was clean their weapons... (then their equipment...then themselves..) because of the possibility of either an emergency mission/sudden POW rescue type deal or even a base attack. That was something I always tried to do, immediately clean my guns and maintain them.

So I don't want you to think I don't clean my guns or let the 15-22 build up tons of gunk. Did I shoot it a bit Thurs and Friday, yes I did. I shot it about 40-50 rounds on Thursday and perhaps it was coming up on 300 on Friday. And I would have cleaned it last night had this not happened. The only reason I am not going to clean it now is because I want S&W to be able to look at it as it is, and as it happened/exactly how it was left after the kaboom. would you righteous peoples agree with that?

Thank you again for all your kind words and help. The scariest thing is that, while I am fine and it was just a moment or two of discomfort and no serious problems at all, it could of be bad, it is scary.

 

[Rob1]

Just wanted to say,
The point raised above about weapon admin is something that is (in UK) taught at the basic level for all members of the "green" army, indeed in any branch of the forces as far as I am aware. From day one recruits are taught the priorities of weapon, kit, team and then ones self. That same ethos is then built on across the board. It isn't just SF that follow that principle.
I don't see where anyone intimated that your weapon malfunctioned as a result if bad cleaning drill.
I would also point out that from an ATO ( ammo technical officer) point of view and likely that of S&W, it is absolutely right to leave it as is and record as much info as possible in the feedback to them ( this should help them put together a clear picture of what happened) and with the weapon left dirty and in bits they should be able to see the true extent of damage.
It might help if you could find any missing bits to again help them understand the full extent of what happened.
At the end of the day, the main thing is that you are unscathed and lived to tell the tale so that others may not suffer this type of catastrophic failure.
Let's hope it is a one off and that your weapon is repaired in short time so you can get back to enjoying your shooting once more.

Here's hoping to a speedy solution

Rob

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

2010?

Curious if it has the blue springs.

 

[Culina]

I am glad to hear you are ok. If you look at the stinger cartridges, you will notice that the brass is slightly longer than a standard .22LR.

I think what happens is that you get a bunch of gunk built up in the throat of your chamber, then when you try to chamber a stinger, your bolt doesn't go fully into battery or you get excessive pressure due to the gunk or both.

 

[John R]

Could you post some pictures of the gun?

 

[Gopher Slayer]

I am glad to hear you are ok. If you look at the stinger cartridges, you will notice that they brass is slightly longer than a standard .22LR.

I think what happens is that you get a bunch of gunk built up in the throat of your chamber, then when you try to chamber a stinger, your bolt doesn't go fully into battery or you get excessive pressure due to the gunk or both.

Yep.

This is why I won't shoot Stingers after LR in any semi auto.

 

[RhimFire]

Sounds like a "common" problem with the MP15-22. This same thing more or less happened to me within the first mag on my new rifle. Blew the extractor, spring and plunger off. Off to Smith&Wesson it went and two weeks later it was back in my hands running like a champ. Just no more Stingers for it.

 

[roadkill45]

i gotta admit i don't clean my hunting, plinking guns that much. my EDC's are spotless though. my 15-22 may get a bore snake run through a few times and the chamber and bolt face hit with a toothbrush and some brake cleaner, and a lube job, but that's about it. it is a permanent host for a Pilot II can, and i shoot mostly Rem subs. never had an issue.

in the past i have had problems with different semi's and Stingers and refuse to use them. they are longer, just by sight, you don't have to measure them. by buddy had one go in a 10-22 but it being a little more sturdy w/wood stock, etc., it only blew the claw off the extractor, easy fix.
S&W should fix it no problem. maybe i'll give mine a going over today as i blew off a bunny hunting trip by just being too lazy!

 

[Ibmikey]

Digging through my ammo cans I came up with some Stingers and CCI Velicitor (30% mor energy) . Because of this post they will not make it into my 15-22's or DPMS M4 .22lr. Apparently I bought the Velicitor ammo years ago...I do not know if they are still made. My 15-22's eat Mini Mag's by the brick and love them....actually Golden bulk is the only ammo they have balked at shooting, I have a couple of cases of Aguila Golden Target and it shoots more accurately in my 15-22's than anything.

 

[catcus-jack]

I am not so sure S&W will fix your gun because of an ammo problem.

 

[ScrapmasterFlex]

Well I called today. The gentleman did not even ask what had happened, just immediately said, Wow that's terrible, let me get you taken care of. Give me your email addy (excuse me, he asked for my serial number, name, and mailing addy info etc.) and emailed me a shipping tag.

They asked in the instructions for a note of what happened. I did in fact tell the truth because I am not of the thought I did something wrong nor it was Necessarily "an ammo problem" ... the original S&W M&P 15-22 Owners manuals list the CCI Stingers as one of the recommended ammos in the list. You can confirm this yourself by going to Buds Gun Shop and pulling up the 15-22 Owners Manual. It was not until the PC Model came out that they removed it from the recommended ammo list and said NOT to use it in the PC model rifle.