New owner with ammo questions

[bandit67]

New member here. I just purchased an M&P 15-22 yesterday - just have to wait 8 days for the background check to go through. Boy I miss the days of the 15 minute check.

Has anyone tried Remington's 22LR Viper Hyper Velocity ammo in one of these guns? It's a copper plated truncated lead cone. I wanted to pick up some ammo so I'd have at least something to shoot when I picked up the gun, and grabbed the only stuff I could find locally before I found out what ammo is recommended.

I decided on this gun after searching around rather unsuccessfully for a .22 AR upper. Add to that the price of the uppers now, and I just decided to go with a cheaper .22 overall, so I settled on this M&P 15-22, as most of the local gun shop owners recommended it.

I wanted another AR style that was cheaper to shoot so I didn't have to run through so much 5.56 or .223 ammo, and something that my wife and eventually, my daughter, would feel comfortable shooting.

As most of you probably already know, 22LR ammo is nearly impossible to come by. I'm also a little bummed that I didn't realize how finicky this S&W is with 22LR ammo, but once the run dies down, I'm hoping it won't be such a big deal.

 

[sophie]

Hello bandit67 and welcome to the forum.

________
James

 

[Majorlk]

The hyper velocity stuff, no matter the brand is almost always the least accurate and the most prone to barrel leading, the copper wash not withstanding. However, if that's all you can get your hands on, it is better than nothing.

Welcome Aboard!

 

[Racefan3n88]

What state are you in with 8 day background check? Took mine home same day. I live in FL. Probably going to be that way everywhere at some point though. I definitely feel fortunate

 

[Beuford T. Rimfire]

I've used Remington Yellow Jackets in mine and had no issues. Haven't shot a lot of them, but the accuracy and performance mimics that of the CCI Stinger. I would expect the Viper to act similarly as it's basically the same bullet, just not hollowpoint. As already mentioned, buy what you can and shoot what you got. Maybe this availability issue will all blow over soon.

FWIW, my rifle feeds on pretty much everything I've tried but others are not so lucky. There are plenty of other 'which ammo is best' threads here to search through if you're interested.

 

[Shooterjgs]

What Majorlk said "it's better than nothing"... Welcome from Texas and good shooting to ya...

 

[bandit67]

Thanks for the info.

I'm in Colorado. Our dem Governor & dem run house & senate are talking about a state ban. Apparently he's one of the members of Doomberg's Mayors against anything not liberal, and word is that group of those idiots are funneling a ton of money into CO to get a gun ban passed. I guess they figure if they can get one of the wild west gun supporting states to cave, it'll open up the flood gates for other states to follow. We're a blue state now thanks to Denver & Boulder (the rest of the state is still red, but not a big enough population to outnumber the 2 big lib towns). Too many CA libs have been flowing in here over the last 15 years. So the law abiding gun owners have been scrambling to get ourselves stocked up. Same thing happened here back in Nov 08 around election time, but this is the first time our state govt has talked about any sort of ban.

Back to topic - sorry for the rant.

Is there any way to "help" these guns to "learn" to eat anything? Like feed only one of the recommended types during break-in, or is it just luck of the draw? The guy at the gun shop told me not to buy his CCI because it was too expensive and I should buy the cheaper stuff because I could run anything through the gun. He wasn't the owner, who is also a gunsmith. I was going to ask the owner when I went back to see what he says.

I'd be really happy if I ended up with one of the 15-22's that eats anything, but if there's something I need to do during break-in to ensure that happens, I'm up for suggestions.

 

[Majorlk]

There's no way to "teach" a firearm to like any particular ammo. You find out what your rifle prefers by shooting a selection of various brands and see which one performs best for you.

There's nothing wrong with CCI brand ammo. Some rifles like it better than others.

 

[bandit67]

I picked up the 15-22 today. Background check was done in 6 days, instead of the 8 the gun shop thought it would be. I've got a handful of mags on backorder around internet land, so all I have for now is the stock mag and the Blackdog 50 round "tommy gun" magazine.

I grabbed the last 50 count box of CCI Stinger at the gun shop so I had something, but come Monday, a 5000 round case of CCI Standard Velocity 40gr LRN is showing up, so I'll be running that for quite a while - this gun better "like" it. Had to jump on that deal pretty quick this week, since there's not much in the way of 22LR available anywhere.

So next weekend, I plan to take the gun out for it's first run. Looking forward to it. Gonna let my wife play with it too after I get some time with it, and may let my daughter give it a try once I run it and determine if I think she is ready for it.

 

[skyscratcher1969]

IMO you should have got a cheap Ruger 10/22 then bought one of the many tactical mods. 10/22 is a great gun. I bought a used 10/22 for $85, Archangel 10/22 mod for $175. It took me 30 minutes to put together. $260 total and awesome!

As far as ammo, all my .22's run great with CCI Mini-Mag RN 40gr
and CCI Velocitors HP 40gr

 

[HELLSING]

I keep CCI Velocitors for hunting and personal defense (Coyotes mostly, they bother our horses) and yes, I have killed 4 so far with .22LR. For going to the range for fun I run CCI AR Tactical, CCI Mini Mag, or the Federal bulk packs.

Check Dick's Sporting Goods often for ammo... like 2-3 times a week. My local Dick's has been getting trucks in 2 times a week with .22LR and MULTIPLE brands of .223.

Also, clean your rifle before taking it to the range. There's a lot of factory gunk and dirt in the barrel and on the bolt group. You'll love the rifle... I adore mine and my wife loves it even more than I do. She thinks she's a certified zombie killer with the thing, lol.

 

[Shooterjgs]

IMO you should have got a cheap Ruger 10/22 then bought one of the many tactical mods. 10/22 is a great gun. I bought a used 10/22 for $85, Archangel 10/22 mod for $175. It took me 30 minutes to put together. $260 total and awesome!

As far as ammo, all my .22's run great with CCI Mini-Mag RN 40gr
and CCI Velocitors HP 40gr

What fourm are you on...

 

[Jthomps123]

My 15-22 isnt the least bit finicky. My last range trip I ran CCI-MiniMags, Federal Bulk, CCI Blazer and then finished the day with... get this... Remington Golden Bullet bulk. Not a single issue with any brand.

 

[tspan]

Welcome from Michigan, they all shoot different.

Mine likes CCI Mini-Mags, Velocitor's and Federal
American Eagles 38gr copper plated HP.

 

[jajo]

My 15-22 also shoots every type of ammo I want to run through it. Some rounds show a better group than others.

I also have a 10-22 and in my opinion it's a great rifle, but no substitute for the M&P.

Congrats on joining the club and hope your family enjoys some great plinking.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[trey212]

Hello, I'm new here too and was wondering the same exact thing, got my 15-22 on tuesday and got to boxes of vipers as they only those and thunderbolts and went back everyday to get my one box limit per day(such a pain). Finally shot some yesterday as it was getting dark got about 150 off without a single issue. I was nervous since I hadn't seen info from others shooting them but they seem to be perfect so far and only $6 a box wasn't bad. Good luck with yours though!

 

[Freeway]

Welcome to the club!

I've used the following with only a few malfunctions (7 in just over 2000
rounds)

CCI Mini-Mag 40g CPRN
CCI Tactical
Federal Champion 36g CPHP (525 value pack)
Remington Golden Bullet
Winchester M-22

 

[bandit67]

Also, clean your rifle before taking it to the range. There's a lot of factory gunk and dirt in the barrel and on the bolt group. You'll love the rifle... I adore mine and my wife loves it even more than I do. She thinks she's a certified zombie killer with the thing, lol.

I figured I needed to do that after the crud that came off the outside of the barrel when I pulled it out of the box. They seem to use some real heavy lube and must have one heck of a dirty, dusty factory that they produce these things in. Never seen such a filthy gun out of the box.

I'm getting ready to order a few more goodies for it, like a bipod & forend grip. I already have a red-dot I will probably put on it. Figure I better get the stuff ordered because once my wife sees all the goodies I have on my 5.56 AR, she's gonna ask why there aren't similar goodies on the 15-22.

 

[Uncle Dave]

Is my M&P-15 issue ammo, rifle or both?

Got my new M&P 15-rifle 11-9-2012
. I fired approx. 300 rounds of Remington Golden with zero issues -- I know, not recommended ammo. Shame on me!
. Then, (using same box of ammo) frequent issues approx. every 3rd. round: misfires, late fire, difficulty in removing unfired round.
. I cleaned the gun & no improvement.
. Local gun dealer (gunsmith) said breech is probably dirty & that I should clean breech thoroughly & use CCI, 40-grain ammo for good performance.
. No CCI ammo available in my area due to heavy ammo demand
. I cleaned gun again with special emphasis on breech
. Using same ammo, no appreciable improvement.
. Tomorrow, I'm going to try Aguila SNIPER SUB-SONIC 60-GRAIN

Bottom line, why all these problems after ~300 rounds? Same ammo, gun, etc.

 

[les strat]

IMO you should have got a cheap Ruger 10/22 then bought one of the many tactical mods. 10/22 is a great gun. I bought a used 10/22 for $85, Archangel 10/22 mod for $175. It took me 30 minutes to put together. $260 total and awesome!

As far as ammo, all my .22's run great with CCI Mini-Mag RN 40gr
and CCI Velocitors HP 40gr

IMO, he bought what he wanted, and got a great rifle. Plus, he won't have to spend hundreds of dollars to make it "tactical".

OP, congrats on scoring a cool rifle that functions like and helps you train for a real AR15 if one ever comes down the pipe.