S&W M&P 15-22 Issues?

[Crusader]

Good morning everyone,

I just wanted to see if anyone else had been having issued with their M&P 15-22 rifles. I bought one last night for an Appleseed shoot I am attending this weekend. I took it out this morning to zero in the sights (very accurate by the way) and to do some general breaking-in.

First mag went through just fine. I did have one jam but that is to be expected from a brand new rifle, especially a 22.
I was all zeroed in from the first mag so loaded the second and started firing about a round per second. I started getting jams every 3-5 rounds so I started paying attention to the brass flying as the jams were all failures to extract/eject.

I got about 2/3 through the 2nd magazine and boom - powder all in my face, burns on my support hand (holding just in front of the magazine and wrapped around the handguard close to the magwell/ejection port), and a near-instantly black/blue and swollen pinky finger on the support hand close to the ejection port.

After making sure I had no shrapnel in me, I cleared the rifle, mag, set the safety, and peeked into the chamber.
Inside was a case that had failed to eject but the next live round had mostly chambered. When I pulled the trigger, the gun fired out of battery. This shredded the FTE case and blew the case head from the rest of the shell on the round that fired out of battery.

Called S&W to see what they could do and they said to mail it in so they could expect it. Turn around time - unknown.


I don't have a photobucket acct or anything so I can't post pictures, but the FTE case was practically fused to the out of battery round that went off with about have the case missing. We'll see what S&W does to resolve the issue.

Anyone else have any problems like this?

Edit:
I should add that I broke down the rifle last night for cleaning to get all the juice off it and I was using brand new Federal AutoMatch .22 ammo

[Iknownot]

There were issues initially with the 15-22 when it first came out that S&W revised pretty quickly with new hammer springs, if I am remembering correctly. I haven't heard of anyone having your issues. Seems, from everything anyone has ever posted about the 15-22 is that it pretty much runs like a top for a semi auto 22lr rifle.

I'm glad to hear you didn't get hurt too badly. That's scary.

['ol shooter]

I have had an M.O.E. for four years. Several thousands of rounds later, it is hands down my favorite plinking rifle, and I have several custom 10-22's. What few stoppages there were resulted from dud ammo or a mag issue. Fun, easy to clean, great value for the money for me.

[gsxr310]

15-22 owner here and have never had any problems. Eats any 22lr I've fed it! Hope S&W takes care of u!

[Crusader]

Yeah, I bought it based on the number of recommendations I was given. I understand that there is a lemon in every bunch - I just hate getting that lemon.

I called S&W Customer Service within minutes of the OOB detonation and was told to just send it in. I voiced my concerns as I am attending a Project Appleseed shoot this weekend and had planned on using this rifle. I was told that it had to come in.
I dropped it off at the local dealer and then e-mailed saying it was on its way and asking if S&W could do anything. I was told again to send it in.
I responded saying it was on its way, but that I had a shoot this weekend and wanted to know if there was anything they could do for turn around time. Their response was "Try and see if the dealer can clean the bore and chamber with a really good cleaner"........ uhhh.... what?

[Garv]

Same as ol shooter above except I don't have that many rounds through it.
No problems with my 15-22.

[Jimmybacon43]

Did S&W say they would repair the rifle for you? They may just say that it was an ammo related failure and that it wasn't their fault and then refuse to repair or replace the gun.

You may want to take pictures of the damage to the rifle as well as to your pinky finger or other body parts before you let them have the one piece of evidence that shows that one of their products was defective.

[Crusader]

Did S&W say they would repair the rifle for you? They may just say that it was an ammo related failure and that it wasn't their fault and then refuse to repair or replace the gun.

You may want to take pictures of the damage to the rifle as well as to your pinky finger or other body parts before you let them have the one piece of evidence that shows that one of their products was defective.

Done and done, I've got some pictures saved to my phone and computer of the rifle, chamber w/ mashed up cases, mashed up cases on their own, and my hand and included some with my e-mail to S&W.

[Caseless]

No problem with my MOE model, a few thousand rds fired. It works fine with JP yellow springs installed.
I reserve Federal AutoMatch for handgun matches. Cheaper ammo seems to give many more light strikes in handguns. Maybe I should try some in the M&P 15 to see how it groups.

[glock_this]

Ammo or BCG it seems.

Like others here, I have put more rounds down my 15-22 than any other rifle, never an issue. FTF sure, but due to ammo. No FTE issues ever I can recall. IF it is a failure to extract/eject check your BCG. Can you put a round in, close the bolt slow and extract and eject it every single time? If it is ammo related, only was to know is text another brand or totally different batch to try to narrow that down.

[Delfuego]

Sorry about your issue. But, my 15-22 had about 17,000 rounds through it before the hammer spring broke. None of my other firearms can claim that kind of reliability.

[hearthco]

What ammo?

[GM4spd]

I remember S&W having initial problems with OOB explosions but that
was awhile ago. I have a few thousand thru mine with a lot of different
ammo types with no problems. To me it's the best 22 semi I have ever used
and I've been shooting over 50 years. I am not a S&W fan,either. Pete

[wurger]

The only issue I've had with my 15-22 MOE is that it won't have anything to do with Federal Bulk ammo (in the blue boxes). Fires once and FTE, every time.

[easyPZ]

The only issue I've had with my 15-22 MOE is that it won't have anything to do with Federal Bulk ammo (in the blue boxes). Fires once and FTE, every time.

Mine ate up blue box federal champion without a hiccup. Federal automatch had a couple duds in a box though. Haven't shot anything else out of my 15-22.