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M&P 15-22

427Cobra

Lt. Colonel
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Nov 24, 2005
    5,915
    319
    DFW Texas
    So I have been a 10/22 guy for over 40 years, still have my first one from K-Mart, I picked up a used Gen1 15-22, with two 25 round mags for 250 bucks, WOW is all I can say, 2 weeks and 1500 rounds from various manufacturers, not a single hiccup, pretty good accuracy using a Holosun 510. Looking down the road I am torn from keeping it stock and just shooting it, or RR the handguard, trigger, barrel, and stock, has anyone used one of these for semi auto precision, if so what is your setup.
     
    I have one of the newer gens. I didn't spend too much time doing accuracy tests but I did slap a scope on it first. Honestly the accuracy was on par with my base model 10/22.

    Now it just wears a red dot and I larp with it. 😜
     
    reliable and accurate! They use Thompson barrels (now Smith and Wesson) and generally known to be reliable with all ammo. Loved mine, wish I didn't sell it. Might need to get another!
     
    My son has had one for about 8 years and it has been a lot of fun and very reliable.
     
    I wanted one when they hit the market. Glad I waited until Tippmann came out with their version of an AR 22lr clone. Only drawback is being limited to using thier proprietary mags...accuracy and reliability is great...we have two.
     
    Love the stupid things. I SBR'd my first one, one of the first gens, and it has been running with a 4.5" barrel and a can 100% of the time for the last 7 years or so, and I snagged one of the newer pistol versions recently with the brace as well, havent had a chance to get it out yet.

    My first gen I swapped the handguard recently with the Tacticool22 6", easy swap and much nicer than the quad-rail style.
     
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    I have two. Both have blown the extractor apart. Both were fixed under warranty by S&W.
     
    Not sure what “gen” mine is. Have had it about 5-6 years now. Didn’t do a thing to it except put a cheap 4x scope from Amazon on it. But it fired anything I put through it. Use to smack squirrels out of my wife’s ridiculously expensive bird feeder until I got the RPR Rimfire. My sons loves it.
     
    Not on topic, but the McFaden Speedloader really makes these shooting sessions sooooo much more fun. Reload a mag in 3-4 cycles- maybe 15 seconds...

    Turns a 500 round box of 22lr into noise REALLY fast....



    I just ordered another one. I've had it for years and not had a problem, but if it broke, my thumbs would cry...

    Plus, I forgot to take it to the range once... makes for either a short day or a long day as you call it early after handloading- or handloading and taking forever to shoot.
     
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    I have a gen1 and previously had a gen2. My gen1 started as a state compliant model; pinned (fixed) stock, non-threaded barrel, Mossy Oak pattern with a quad rail. I bought it used at a pawn shop. I eventually bought a new gen2 model with a threaded barrel and the m-lok handguard. The gen2 model had an issue extracting empty cases, which a new extractor fixed (Tandemkross or Volquartsen, can't remember which one). I did the Tacticool22 handguard upgrade and played around with both rifles for a while. Eventually settling on keeping the gen1 model with the threaded barrel from the gen2 and sold the other rifle to a friend.

    The T22 handguard upgrade was well worth the money. The factory handguard uses a very small barrel nut and the handguard flexes a lot. The T22 handguard uses a huge barrel nut and gives the handguard a nice firm feel, like what you would see from a quality AR-15 free floated handguard. To swap handguards you'll need the barrel nut wrench (long tube with notches) and a way to clamp the barrel securely in a vise (non marring jaws of some kind).

    Accuracy wise, you can do trigger upgrades like a regular AR (pretty sure I ran a Larue 2-stage at one point), although I eventually found the factory triggers to be fairly decent after they break in a little and smooth out. Barrel options are limited to Volquartsen, they run over $300 last I knew, and I don't know what kind of accuracy increase they would offer. I was not into match ammo at the time and am a significantly better shooter now, but both of my barrels seemed to like CCI SV for non-match ammo (I tested quite a bit of ammo at the time) and averaged in the 2-3 moa range. Last time I put the rifle on paper for groups was 2.5 years ago and over the course of 33 groups at 5-shots each, it averaged 1.2" at 50 yards with CCI SV off a bench with bags and I believe a Hawke 3-9x40 scope. The rifle is inherently lightweight, so benchrest precision shooting probably isn't what it's geared towards.

    The rifle accepts mil-spec collapsible AR stocks. I've had BCM, B5, Magpul, etc. Some fit tighter and some fit looser, no surprise there.

    Fast forward to today and the 15-22 is painted purple, wears some BCM & Magpul furniture and has a Romeo5 red dot. This is and always has been my daughter's rifle, but of course Dad just had to tinker with it. I've since switched to Tippmann for an AR precision "trainer" rifle and currently getting around 1.5 moa from that rifle with CCI SV and a Harrell Tuner. But maybe I should put a scope on the 15-22 again and see what match ammo will do in it?


    Here are some random pictures over time, not necessarily in any certain order:

    20190527_070257.jpg


    T22-12.jpg


    M&P15-22 groups.jpg


    T22-6.jpg


    T22-7.jpg


    20190629_190933.jpg


    This is the current setup in all its purple glory.

    20220115_081055.jpg
     
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    Not on topic, but the McFaden Speedloader really makes these shooting sessions sooooo much more fun. Reload a mag in 3-4 cycles- maybe 15 seconds...

    Turns a 500 round box of 22lr into noise REALLY fast....



    I just ordered another one. I've had it for years and not had a problem, but if it broke, my thumbs would cry...

    Plus, I forgot to take it to the range once... makes for either a short day or a long day as you call it early after handloading- or handloading and taking forever to shoot.
    This. I bought one and then .22lr became my favorite to shoot. Then next thing I know, I have a Vudoo. :)
     
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    Very nice gun. I traded mine many years ago when I got away from shooting 22lr. Sold away much of my 22 ammo as well.
    Needless to say. I’m back to 22 shooting. But precision.
     
    I got a McFadden loader, yesterday I put another 500 trouble free rounds, I’m looking at putting a 15 inch handgaurd on it, I added a Magpul MOE stock, the Holosun 510 continues to impress, I was hoping to shoot a steel challenge match this weekend with it but the fair weather match director canx it due to its going to be cold this weekend.
     
    I have owned two 15-22s. I got the original model when they first came out and later upgraded to the Performance Center model. Runs like a clock. It's scoped with a Redfield which I sent to Leupold for parallax adjustment to 50 yards. I have not really tried to get much accuracy out of it. Most importantly my daughters really like to shoot it. Here they are in December taking turns at the range. One shooting and one spotting.

    WOVSbXw.jpg
     
    I have owned two 15-22s. I got the original model when they first came out and later upgraded to the Performance Center model. Runs like a clock. It's scoped with a Redfield which I sent to Leupold for parallax adjustment to 50 yards. I have not really tried to get much accuracy out of it. Most importantly my daughters really like to shoot it. Here they are in December taking turns at the range. One shooting and one spotting.
    What did they charge for that? I have a Leupold 4x28 fixed power, that has the parallax set at 60 yards. Would like to have it adjusted to 35, since it is mainly intended for 20-50 yards or so.
     
    Have one. Reliable but not very accurate. Mags are great and get shared duty with my dedicated .22 AR Beyer barrel build thanks to a BetterMag adapter. Lots of fun running the two against each other on a rimfire dueling tree with a buddy at 30 paces.
     
    One, yes. The other was a few years into production.
    Early ones had the problem to the point bolt was changed and, IIRC, the chamber slightly modified. Mine is a very early one and I never had the extractor issue. Seems the worst offender was Remington Golden Bullet ammo and I never used it.
    Used mine for NSSF Rimfire matches but it has been quiet for some time now.
     
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