Problem Child 15-22

[terribleein]

I searched high and low to find a M&P 15-22 MOE FDE edition and was successful. Now, I hope it's not biting me in the as... As I was about to ask, I need advice. I got the rifle, cleaned it, and shot the only ammo I could get my hands on, which was Winchester Super-X. The rifle was not liking it at all and would have a FTE every two or three rounds, the stovepipes were driving me crazy. After 200 rounds or so, I decided to clean it again. The rifle worked a bit better, but would still have a FTE after five or six rounds. Rinse and repeat with that scenario for the next range trip.

Fast forward to today, I got my hands on some Federal Automatch. I've read that the 15-22 platform loves Federal ammo and a lot of guys like running Automatch. I go out with a clean 15-22 and plenty of rounds, but it went south pretty fast. The rifle was preforming better, but was still having a FTE every six or seven rounds. After another roughly two hundred rounds, it was back to the usual two or three rounds, then another lovely FTE. I thought it finally got its act together after dumping almost 20 rounds straight (Buddy even turned to me and asked how I fixed it), but that was short lived. I read about the cleaning/lubing, I am loading the magazines correctly, and I've tried four different mags (Two S&W twenty-five rounders, two Promag thirty-two rounders). At one point today, I even grabbed the multi-tool and tried the extractor tweak, no dice though. Anything else I should do before boxing her back up and sending it off to S&W?

I also bought another one that is new in the box. I was going to send it to my younger brother, but I'm tempted to break it out to see if it preforms correctly. Thanks guys, I appreciate the help (Yep, I searched to see if I could find an answer).

 

[AR-Getsome]

Brand new magazines usually give me the exact same problems your having. I had 2 new magazines today doing it. The broke in ones ran fine.

 

[yzf128r]

What color is the spring on your bolt? If its not blue, you need to contact S&W for the right spring. Double check the extractor and ejector.

 

[Jack80]

I had the exact same problem. I wound up sending it back to S&W. Took exactly 2 weeks from the time FedEx picked it up from my house till the brought it back. They said they adjusted the ejector. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet though

 

[OliRage]

What color is the spring on your bolt? If its not blue, you need to contact S&W for the right spring. Double check the extractor and ejector.

Hmm really? The spring on my bolt is just plain grey and my 15-22 runs great. Is this something just for the MOE versio? I'm just making sure I didn't miss anything

 

[yzf128r]

Hmm really? The spring on my bolt is just plain grey and my 15-22 runs great. Is this something just for the MOE versio? I'm just making sure I didn't miss anything

The earlier models did not have the updated blue spring and were known to have issues firing out of battery and ejection problems. If you call S&W they will send you the updated spring. If you do a search there are several posts about it.

 

[terribleein]

Yep, I forgot to mention in the original post that it does indeed have the blue spring.

 

[leswill]

I bought one of the very first run of the threaded barrels 15-22-----a total jam-o-matic. Tried everything I could read about to get it to shoot more than 1-2-3 in a row,, no go. Chunked it in a closet,,, forgot about it. Called S&W last week and I now have a return shipping label in the mail to me,, gonna FINALLY get the little fella fixed. I also tried some of the ''new'' mags with ''25 rounds'' molded on them,, no better. The Smith customer service gentleman told me a few days ago that they are the EXACT same mag as the earlier ones, just a change in molding the ''25 round'' on the mags,,, regardless,, none would work in mine anyway. Send that sucker back,, they will fix it. [ if you send it back,, do NOT send a mag with it,, they USED to give you one when they returned your rifle,, hoping they still do ]

 

[OliRage]

The earlier models did not have the updated blue spring and were known to have issues firing out of battery and ejection problems. If you call S&W they will send you the updated spring. If you do a search there are several posts about it.

Thanks. Id hate for it to fire out of battery. Ill make a call to S&W tomorrow

 

[terribleein]

Well, I decided to go ahead and send the rifle back to S&W, so they can tweak it. I was told it could be up to three weeks before it returns, so I think I'll break out the other new 15-22 I was going to send to my younger brother, just to make sure his doesn't have the same fate.

If anybody else has to send their rifle back, make sure to ask for the shipping label to be emailed, not sent via snail mail. That alone should save you a few days of waiting.

 

[Foxone]

When tuning the ejector, make that sucker rides as close to the bolt as possible,the rim on a rimfire isnt much to work with. Thats what fixed mine.