S&W M&P 15 model identification

[Senior Citizen]

Hey guys, been gone a while...............

I recently bought a S&W M&P 15 from a young deputy. He needed the money more than he did the gun, but I know the boy and gave him more than he was asking.

To the point; how do you tell the model? I can't find a model name or number any where. It has a sliding/adjustable stock, it is a flat top and has what I think is a 16" barrel. I'm trying to figure out what the twist rate is. I've never owned or loaded for an AR.

Any help will be appreciated,
SC

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Never mind, I called S&W Customer Service and gave them the serial number. It was an M&P-15OR (optical ready)

 

[oneyeopn]

this is a question that would be great in the M&P15 forum, a lot of friendly helpful people there!

 

[Senior Citizen]

....a lot of friendly people there.

this is a question that would be great in the M&P15 forum, a lot of friendly helpful people there!

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yeah, if only!

Like I said, I've been gone a while. But when I left there were lots of friendly people in the lounge too. It must not be 5 o'clock yet.

 

[oneyeopn]

If you look on the top of the barrel about 1" back from the muzzle is should tell you what barrel you have. The older OR's had 1:9 twist chrome lined barrels the newer ones I believe have 1:8 twist Melonite barrels. The OR is an excellent rifle. My nephew bought one and that is how I became acquainted with the M&P15 line. I have two M&P15 Sports but there are a lot of OR owners in here. So welcome to the forum and what can we help you with?
p.s. There are quite a few of us old retired guys in here also LOL not saying you are but if you wonder why I am in here and its not 5 o'clock.

 

[Senior Citizen]

I don't know how old

If you look on the top of the barrel about 1" back from the muzzle is should tell you what barrel you have. The older OR's had 1:9 twist chrome lined barrels the newer ones I believe have 1:8 twist Melonite barrels. The OR is an excellent rifle. My nephew bought one and that is how I became acquainted with the M&P15 line. I have two M&P15 Sports but there are a lot of OR owners in here. So welcome to the forum and what can we help you with?
p.s. There are quite a few of us old retired guys in here also LOL not saying you are but if you wonder why I am in here and its not 5 o'clock.

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I have to be to be called old, but I'm 60 and retired twice after 37 years and a few months without one day of unemployment. Tenty two US Army and 15 with FL DOC.

I have been reloading since 1975 and have loaded a dozen or so pistol calibers and about a dozen rifle calibers. My favorite is 38's with 148gr HBWC for my 52 and 243 105gr AMAX. But up until about a week ago I had never even resized a 223. I got ahold of about 1000 rounds of military brass. I cleaned it good, sized and decapped, reamed the primer pockets, cleaned it again and primed 200 of them. Just for beginning I bought 1000 Winchester 55gr FMJBT's. I've got 3031, 4064 and 3 new bottles of Reloader 7. I've got way more of the RL-7 than the 3031 or 4064 and was hoping to work up some loads for me and my son to play with. He has a Bushmaster he carries in his deputy car.

Lord I hope I don't need to trim the brass. The dozen or so that I checked were under max length.

If any of you guys have any words of wisdom to share before I dump powder in the first case please come forth!

Thanks for the welcome in,
SC

 

[oneyeopn]

I dont worry about the cases unless they are super short, they will stretch, I use CFE223, other people use Varget or H335 or other powders, I just know my loads beat the fool out of factory for accuracy. Good luck

 

[Senior Citizen]

Thanks,

I dont worry about the cases unless they are super short, they will stretch, I use CFE223, other people use Varget or H335 or other powders, I just know my loads beat the fool out of factory for accuracy. Good luck

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We've got a 2 week break in deer season down here so I think I'll go over to my brothers and shoot down some of his roads. Several are over 800 yards without a bend. Can't wait to try some of my handiwork. I've read that the FMJBT's are really bad for accuracy. Guess I'm about to find out.

Thanks for the load date. I'l write it into my reloading book.

SC

 

[oneyeopn]

I have found as had others that some of the Hollow Points and the Ballistic tips are super accurate. of course the standards are the Hornady v-max, I load the 53gr the same as I would a 55gr. But then Midsouth Shooter Supply sells a Varmint Nightmare Extreme HP and Midway sells a Dogtown HP, they are both made by Nosler, and are great accurate bullets, plus the Nosler Varmageddon's are accurate bullets. I have some Hornady SPSX that are great bullets but they dont stand up to being loaded hot, they will disintegrate when they come out of the barrel if loaded to hot

 

[Senior Citizen]

Thin skinned, huh

I have found as had others that some of the Hollow Points and the Ballistic tips are super accurate. of course the standards are the Hornady v-max, I load the 53gr the same as I would a 55gr. But then Midsouth Shooter Supply sells a Varmint Nightmare Extreme HP and Midway sells a Dogtown HP, they are both made by Nosler, and are great accurate bullets, plus the Nosler Varmageddon's are accurate bullets. I have some Hornady SPSX that are great bullets but they dont stand up to being loaded hot, they will disintegrate when they come out of the barrel if loaded to hot

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When I was stationed i Albuquerque I had a 22-250 that I used to shoot prarie dogs with. A buddy had a 220 Swift. We loaded up some 40 grainers of some make and we were missing shots under 100 yards. We finally figured it out and dropped a few grains and started hitting again. We shot dogs down in Roswell for 3 days.I shot almost 600 rounds.

When I was younger and first started reloading I though everything had to be max load. The more it kicked and the more noise it made the better. Couldn't hit anything but I missed it at Mach IV. I am an accuracy nut now. That's one reason I reload. I've done really well with my 243's. 2 are just out of the box hunting rifles and one is a nice heavy barrel 700 VLS. That's my favorite. I shoot 105 AMAX's out of it. Last time I shot it I had a 3 shot group overlapping splatters on a steel plate at 305 yards. The shot on the left was the first shot and then the three shot group is after few clicks on the scope

Thanks for the bullet tips. I've noticed the dog town and nosler bullets in Midway.


SC

 

[oneyeopn]

Thats my kick with the reloading, accuracy plain and simple. The furthest I can reach out and accurately take a Pdog with my Sport the happier I am. I take them out to 260yds+ but have yet to break the 300yard barrier. I am fortunate that we have a pdog town on my grandfathers farm and unless the hunters from the southeastern U.S. are here (which they are now) that have it leased for deer hunting I can go pdog hunting all the time. You would be surprised what a 16" barrel with the right bullet will do!