bassjam
Member
I bought an M&P 15-22 for my daughter. My first impressions was "this light thing feels like a cheap toy", but after shooting it I'm pretty jealous I don't have one for myself. It runs everything we put through it and I've come to enjoy the lightness of the gun.
I also have a SIG 522, which isn't an AR platform but is somewhat similar. It has the heft of the "real" SIG 556, and mine is accurate and reliable. It uses Black Dog magazines, which is what most of the AR .22 conversions also use. The mags are reliable and well built, but in comparing them to the M&P 15-22 mags you can appreciate the thought S&W put into them. Sure, they're proprietary, but they also have thumb studs which let you pull down the followers to easily load them without your fingers getting sore after a few mags. Every now and then I get an itch to build a dedicated .22 upper, but then I think of how fun my daughters M&P is and ask my self why I would spend $400+ on an upper, when I can just get the 15-22 for $350 or so.
I also have a SIG 522, which isn't an AR platform but is somewhat similar. It has the heft of the "real" SIG 556, and mine is accurate and reliable. It uses Black Dog magazines, which is what most of the AR .22 conversions also use. The mags are reliable and well built, but in comparing them to the M&P 15-22 mags you can appreciate the thought S&W put into them. Sure, they're proprietary, but they also have thumb studs which let you pull down the followers to easily load them without your fingers getting sore after a few mags. Every now and then I get an itch to build a dedicated .22 upper, but then I think of how fun my daughters M&P is and ask my self why I would spend $400+ on an upper, when I can just get the 15-22 for $350 or so.