M&P15-22 Extractor Blown Out

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mikewayde

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I had a problem this evening while I was firing an M&P15-22 I purchased Friday January 30th. It appears that a round failed to enter the chamber fully and upon firing the case expanded about a 1 mm from the primer end and blew out one side. The case failed to eject and when I dropped the magazine the extractor spring fell out. I was not happy... :barf: The extractor is nowhere to be found...
Shot approximately 85 rounds in this .22 since new…

Has anyone else had any trouble? How is the S&W service? Have any recommendations on sending in or self repair?
:confused:
 
Check out the Smith and Wesson forums. This is an extremely common problem with the 15-22, so you are not alone. Many people over there have needed to send their in for extractor repair. You'll need to send it back to Smith and Wesson, which should take a few weeks to fix, and you should get a free magazine or two for your troubles. The good news is that everyone that gets theirs fixed has no problems after.
 
I've heard of the problem.
What ammo were you using?

I tried to make mine fire with the bolt slightly back. It wouldn't fire unless the bolt was all the way forward.
SWMP22test.gif

I've got something over 2,000 through my S&W now.
 
I was going to get one of these until I heard about and read dozens and dozens of stories of it happening. Considering the Colt seems to be equally craptacular I'm back in the market for a .22LR upper.
 
Thanks for the replys,
M2 : Ammo = the cheapest winchester bulk I had, Just to see if it would run on it, but it didnt...
 
M2 : Ammo = the cheapest winchester bulk I had, Just to see if it would run on it, but it didnt...
Click to expand...
I thought so.

Due to the large amount of 22LR I shoot, to keep the cost down I shoot Wal Mart Federal, Remington and Winchester 55 bulk pack. The ammo does have problems, mainly duds because the cases have no primer.
In firing some Remington a couple days ago I noticed that the brass case appears to be too thin or too soft.
I haven't had a blow out with it yet but if/when it happens I will not be surprised.
I think I had one last week with my SIG 522 but I couldn't find the fired case.

Since the M&P extractor and spring is usually lost in a blow out I'm thinking of ordering a extra set from S&W.

In years past I've had a number of 22LR blowouts. While scary, I've never had any harm done by them (not that there can't be).
 
I had a casing from a Remington bulk pack blow out in my 15-22 the other day, but it didn't damage anything. Lots of duds in there, too, regardless of the rifle used, so no more Remington .22 ammo for me.
 
IMO this is a symptom of the really really crappy nature of bulk Wally world .22 ammo than a rifle design flaw.

I don't shoot 22 much anymore for that reason
 
There have been some extractor issues from what I have read. There have been more EJECTOR issues. It looks like your EXTRACTOR is fine!

Now...

If all that happened from a BAD round is the destruction of the thin metal of the ejector, then the gun is plenty robust. The problem with the Smith ejector has NOT been destruction, but some have come MISALIGNED from the factory, and fail to properly EJECT the round. All that have sent their rifles BACK to Smith have faired VERY well, and end up with a gun that shoots very reliably. You can even fix it yourself with a pliers (with care).

So... It ain't a poorly designed rifle - not from what I have read.
 
I have seen that before...in my S&W M&P 15-22 with REM ammo. Of course, part of the problem is that the gun will fire out of battery. Combine the two parameters of a weak case and a gun firing out of battery and ... KB!
 
briang2ad
It looks like your EXTRACTOR is fine!
Click to expand...
M2 posted the picture of his rifle with a shim to hold it out of battery. My extractor is missing...

Thanks M2 for your test.
 
M2 posted the picture of his rifle with a shim to hold it out of battery. My extractor is missing...

Thanks M2 for your test.
Click to expand...
After I couldn't make the gun fire unless the bolt was all the way forward, I removed the extractor to see if the gun would still extract and eject the fired cases. The gun worked almost 100% but the brass wasn't thrown as far.


This looks like it might be interesting.
I'm getting a lot of duds with Wal Mart 55 bulk Remington.
Out of one magazine today I had 8 duds, 2 of which fired on the second try.
When I get a dud I pull the bullet and look for priming. There never is any.

I took pictures of the six duds today.

The six Remington duds with no priming and a unfired Federal as an example of what the priming should look like.
Rem22dudsinside.gif

Now this has had me thinking for a while.
I think maybe that the the 22 brass is too thin and soft.
The S&W firing pin hits the case very hard and has sharp edges, as can be seen. The firing pin almost cuts through the case.
I suspect that the cases blowing out might be caused by this.
Just a guess.

Rem22duds.gif
 
M2, you should send that picture to our friends at Remington!

And, nothing to terribly wrong with the 15-22, send it back, get it fixed, enjoy it...probably a batch of bad extractors...even the vendors the manufacturers use nowadays tend to cut corners!
 
M2, you should send that picture to our friends at Remington!
Click to expand...
Yes, I'm thinking about sending both pictures to Remington and S&W.
I've got a pill bottle full of no primer duds, not all Remington.

Maybe I got an especially bad lot of Remington lately but there are a LOT of Remington duds this week.
 
The hard hitting firing pin very well could be puncturing the case and causing the blowouts. What if the firing pin squared ends were rounded off? Mainly at the two front 90 degree angles.

It would be helpful if people were posting pics of the blown out cases that took their extractors with them.
BTW anyone know how to remove the firing pin and ejector from the bolt? I like to fully disassemble mine every few cleanings since .22's seem to be very dirty and affect their firing pins alot more than most guns.
 
The range I worked at had very similar problems with a Ciener kit in a dedicated .22LR upper. Various OOB ignitions (some of which blasted bits of brass and carbon onto the shooter's arm), and eventually an OOB blew out the ejector, and it was never found.

I believe they sent it back to Ciener for repair, and it ran fine after that, but it was bothersome up to that point.

Is this just a common occurrence with .22LR ARs if the gear isn't properly tweaked?
 
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