Suggest Mfg & Grain Size JHP's For S&W M&P 15-22

[Abraham]

Currently, I've found .22 caliber, Winchester M-22 40 Gr and Blazer 40 Gr. lead nose work flawlessly in my S&W M&P 15-22, but they are fmj's.

Can anyone recommend (before I plunk my money down) any type of hollow points that work well in this semi-auto? I know we have a few on this forum that own this rifle.

Plus, I know I've not found a jhp that my Browning Buck Mark likes much and I wonder if my rifle will be the same?

Thanks!

[Rhino1]

I've had my AR15-22 for several years. The manual at that time had a list of recommended and not recommended ammo. One not recommended was "any subsonic ammo". I bought a suppressor for the rifle and sampling of subsonic ammo to see if I would have any trouble with cycling. All have cycled flawlessly although the dynamics are different in a suppressed weapon. All the subsonic is hollowpoint

Aguila Super Extra
Eley
RWS
Fiocchi

[puma guy]

First I have to ask where are you finding FMJ .22 LR ammunition? I assume you are talking .22 LR not .22 WMR since you said you are using it in a Browning Buckmark and S&W M&P 15-22. Though .22 WMR come in FMJ, Jacketed soft point and JHP I have never seen a .22 LR round with a jacketed bullet. The closest I've seen is plated, copper, bronze, etc.

To your question - I always check my .22 semi's with all the .22 loadings just to see how they react. HV down to subsonic to CB. Most of the time Standard Velocity is about as low as I can go to get reliable ejection and feeding. CB ammo doesn't even open the bolt most times. I shoot CCI Mini Mag .22 LR HP in my M&P 15-22 with no problems. It cycles Standard Velocity just fine also.

[AJSully421]

I only use CCI Standard Velocity in mine. Shows 1070 fps on the box, which is subsonic. Feeding is flawless, suppressor sounds fine, still plenty of performance out of the bullet. Lots of dead coons, possums, skunks, and squirrels thanks to mine.

[rotor]

I haven't seen any hp 22LR yet but Academy has had a sale on Federal Premium Champion AutoMatch .22 LR 40-Grain which feed in everything I own. They come in 325 box for about $18.50. I have 2 Buckmarks which take everything and one of those old Armalite survival rifles. I really like the Federal and it is priced at 5-6 cents a round on sale at Academy, at least yesterday it was.

[Abraham]

Thanks all for the responses.

Yes, I'm referring to .22 cal long rifle ammo.

In the latest issue of "Guns and Ammo", there's a list of various .22 cal LR ammo they tested. They listed Armscor as 36 gr, lead JHP on page 72, that they later refer to as plated. Created some confusion for me...

And, no they're not FMJ's, but simply plated or round nose, round nose being solids, so my referring to them as fmj's.

This is a great article, but they didn't mention what works well and doesn't in semi-autos as they did their testing with a single shot rifle.

[puma guy]

Thanks all for the responses.

Yes, I'm referring to .22 cal long rifle ammo.

In the latest issue of "Guns and Ammo", there's a list of various .22 cal LR ammo they tested. They listed Armscor as 36 gr, lead JHP on page 72, that they later refer to as plated. Created some confusion for me...

And, no they're not FMJ's, but simply plated or round nose, round nose being solids, so my referring to them as fmj's.

This is a great article, but they didn't mention what works well and doesn't in semi-autos as they did their testing with a single shot rifle.

Ah! So! Thanks for that information. I hope yo find the ammo that works the best. It is trial and error because what works in on firearm may not do so well in another, both accuracy and functioning. My Buckmark pistol has occasional hiccups with Standard ammo, but my SIG 1911-22 eats it up. I don't shoot hyper-velocity ammo in any of my semi-automatic 22's. There's a great little book by C. Rodney James on .22 rifle and ammo. I think Gun Digest published it.

[WildBill]

I recently purchased an M&P 15-22, but haven't been to the range yet.
I have read many reviews and the only problem ammo that I have seen is Winchester, but that was due
to problems with the ammunition, not the rifle.

I have read that the rifle was "specifically tested" to perform with the CCI AR Tactical.
As I understand it, this ammo is identical [bullet weight and velocity] to the CCI Mini-mag except the bullet shape is more rounded on the nose.
http://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/ ... oadNo=0956

I hope to get to the range this week and try my new rifle. I purchased some CCI, Federal, and Remington ammo at Academy so
I can try them all. I also have some older Remington and Federal in my ammo cache that I will try. I have had some private
conversations with Pumaguy about this and don't think there will be any problems with any of them.
I will make a post after I go to the range.

I also bought an M&P 22 Compact, which I haven't shot yet. It is a nice looking and feeling little gun and has great reviews.

[Abraham]

WildBill,

In general, I don't care for standard Winchester ammo, but the M-22 40 Gr, LR, round nose works like a champ in my 15-22, but not in my Buckmark pistol...weird.

[WildBill]

WildBill,

In general, I don't care for standard Winchester ammo, but the M-22 40 Gr, LR, round nose works like a champ in my 15-22, but not in my Buckmark pistol...weird.

I think they said it was light primer strikes that caused the problem. I don't know if the M&P 15-22 firing pin has more force than the Buckmark, but it wouldn't surprise me. They
didn't have any Winchester 22LR at Academy so I couldn't buy any.

Abraham - I was thinking about this post and it was the M&P 22 Compact that had issues with the Winchester ammo, not the M&P 15-22.

[SigM4]

As noted above 36gr HP Minimags work well in the 15-22 and all other rifles I've tried them in/own (15-22, AR-22, Sig 522, M&Pc 22, CZ 455, and 22/45 MkIII). Beyond the Minimags I've never really found any decent .22lr HP rounds. That said, maybe I haven't done enough squirrel hunting, but I've never really found HP ammo in .22lr to be much more effective than standard RN rounds. I do know back when rimfire ammo was plentiful Federal used to produce bulk boxes of 36gr HP, haven't seen that in a while.

[Abraham]

SigM4,

.22 cal in a variety of brands, gr, RN or HP is available at Cabelas.

[azul]

CCI Mini-Mag HP