OH BUDDY S&W GOT IT RIGHT!!
Never been a big Smith fan - always appreciated the craftsmanship but other than a snubby and the M&P AR's most of the product line has been lost on me. Today the FedEx guy brought me Smith's new M&P15-22 and Ive been smiling ever since!
This is the Holy Grail of dedicate 22's boys and girls!
Made of polymer its pretty light and the sights that come with it are kinda clunky looking, but so are almost all the BUIS that are of the "I don't fold" category. Thats all the bad words I have for this weapon - yeah its kinda odd calling a 22 a weapon, but once you step out and shoot it you'll understand.
So disregarding all established protocols I didn't clean it (forgot to check the barrel too - oops) and proceeded to the shop where I could see if it would run. Run is the operative word. Clunky sights and all at 25 yards she put 6 in an inch and I wasn't trying at all. For grins later I put some Magpul polymer flip ups and a Magpul stock and an ATI vertical handle and stepped it back to where I really could even see the Caldwell spot and popped off 2 - 50 yards and a 1 inch group.
Yeah 6 at 25ish and 2 at 50ish in an inch isn't world class but that is right out of the box and those that know me know that on a good day I suck! Shows me someone set the sights and also that the rail is dead nuts straight since I just slapped the Magpuls on it and fired. Pretty good for a piece most folks will sell for around 5 bills!
So a bit more facts.
The barrel is SOLID and sizable. Compared to the Umarex/Colt its like night and day. The Umarex/Colt is a pencil barrel inside an AR "like" sleeve. Unless Im missing something the M&P barrel is the real thing - a barrel.
Popping the top is easy. No pins to beat out like on the UC. The guts are REAL! The trigger pins are real and in the right spots. Any AR trigger set up will drop right in including my favorite Chip McCormick drop in trigger. I tried for a few to get my 5.56 upper to hook up but there are some differences. The pins line up but then it dawned on me it was pointless since the recoil tube isn't functional. From the receiver side the tube is solid, but once you pull the stock off, the tube is hollow and thoughtfully capped with an easily removable S&W plug. Guess you can stash stuff there.
So lets see the bolt setup looks like (and I'm no expert) a modified Ciener setup. Its solid but put together differently then the CMMG kits Ive got. The ejection port is appropriate sized for the round and as reported there isnt any dust cover but since the bolt is what looks like hard chromed, its not a problem. And yes, the fire control is CORRECT - not 180 out for fire like on the UC.
Oh and yes the bolt locks open on the last shot and shock of all shocks, the bolt release WORKS!
The trigger guard is "enhanced" so you don't have to buy another Magpul do hickey from me - of course I do have stocks that your gonna want to put on it
And for those of you who haven't figured out that polymer (Glock, XD, and a ton others) is a good thing - I took the entire upper and applied girth and width to it (tried to break it) and then shot it. Didnt get a bit of flex ot of anything.
Mags are within reason as far as size goes. A bit bigger than the BDM but still smaller than the UC mags that look like 40 round AK mags. Yeah they are propriatary and Im sure they wont be cheap but what is these days.
My next project will be to see how I pull the barrel out of it and get it over the Whiz next door for threading. Can anyone say suppressor?
Like I say at least in my opinion, S&W got it right. Ive got backorders for these in at every distributor I can find and honestly figure that I wont be selling too many more of the UC's.
This is the Holy Grail of dedicate 22's boys and girls!
Made of polymer its pretty light and the sights that come with it are kinda clunky looking, but so are almost all the BUIS that are of the "I don't fold" category. Thats all the bad words I have for this weapon - yeah its kinda odd calling a 22 a weapon, but once you step out and shoot it you'll understand.
So disregarding all established protocols I didn't clean it (forgot to check the barrel too - oops) and proceeded to the shop where I could see if it would run. Run is the operative word. Clunky sights and all at 25 yards she put 6 in an inch and I wasn't trying at all. For grins later I put some Magpul polymer flip ups and a Magpul stock and an ATI vertical handle and stepped it back to where I really could even see the Caldwell spot and popped off 2 - 50 yards and a 1 inch group.
Yeah 6 at 25ish and 2 at 50ish in an inch isn't world class but that is right out of the box and those that know me know that on a good day I suck! Shows me someone set the sights and also that the rail is dead nuts straight since I just slapped the Magpuls on it and fired. Pretty good for a piece most folks will sell for around 5 bills!
So a bit more facts.
The barrel is SOLID and sizable. Compared to the Umarex/Colt its like night and day. The Umarex/Colt is a pencil barrel inside an AR "like" sleeve. Unless Im missing something the M&P barrel is the real thing - a barrel.
Popping the top is easy. No pins to beat out like on the UC. The guts are REAL! The trigger pins are real and in the right spots. Any AR trigger set up will drop right in including my favorite Chip McCormick drop in trigger. I tried for a few to get my 5.56 upper to hook up but there are some differences. The pins line up but then it dawned on me it was pointless since the recoil tube isn't functional. From the receiver side the tube is solid, but once you pull the stock off, the tube is hollow and thoughtfully capped with an easily removable S&W plug. Guess you can stash stuff there.
Oh and yes the bolt locks open on the last shot and shock of all shocks, the bolt release WORKS!
The trigger guard is "enhanced" so you don't have to buy another Magpul do hickey from me - of course I do have stocks that your gonna want to put on it
And for those of you who haven't figured out that polymer (Glock, XD, and a ton others) is a good thing - I took the entire upper and applied girth and width to it (tried to break it) and then shot it. Didnt get a bit of flex ot of anything.
Mags are within reason as far as size goes. A bit bigger than the BDM but still smaller than the UC mags that look like 40 round AK mags. Yeah they are propriatary and Im sure they wont be cheap but what is these days.
My next project will be to see how I pull the barrel out of it and get it over the Whiz next door for threading. Can anyone say suppressor?
Like I say at least in my opinion, S&W got it right. Ive got backorders for these in at every distributor I can find and honestly figure that I wont be selling too many more of the UC's.
This thing is awesome a definate A++ I was shocked when it preformed this well out of the box. Thanks TDS!!!!
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Will the S&W upper fit and fire on any AR lower?
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Sorta - the takedown pins dont line up dead nuts but since the whole upper assembly is polymer a slight mod could be done and yes it would work.
Speaking of slight mods - I wonder how long it will be before someone with a soldering iron opens up some space and pops in an auto sear. Wont be me cause that would just be wrong dontcha know.
I was able to physically hold the upper to my AR lower and it did fire. Of course for the cost of the rifle which you run the risk of screwing up by opening the holes for the takedown pins you could just get a dedicated upper and be done with it all.............
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Did you get the barrel threaded?
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Honestly that project got pushed to the back burner a bit. From what we see there is a tool that needs to be made or found that reaches inside the rail to undo the slotted nut. It appears that once this is undone the rail, barrel and upper will be free to separate and then the barrel can be turned.
I got an email from a company that offers "goodies" for this rifle, of course that's on my to do list as well........
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