Hello,
I don’t post here often, but I thought this was worth sharing. I’m a career LEO with over 20 years in the profession of arms. I used to shoot competitively (before kids), and I shoot on average 25,000 rounds per year. I don’t usually get excited about too much, but this might interest you.
I bought the S&W M&P 15-22 model 811033 and added the following accessories and furniture:
Magpul CTR stock
Magpul rear BUIS
Knights foregrip
EOTech
M-3 weapon light
Magpul MIAD grip
Midwest Industries QD sling loop
H&K picatinny QD sling loop
VTAC sling
AAC 5.56 Blackout flash hider
Surefire rail covers
2 spare mags
(The birdcage flash hider screw right off with no effort.)
Before you loose your mind on the thought that I might have spent more on accessories than on the actual gun, bear in mind that a lot if these items were spares that I had on my workbench.
Additionally, everything is in the same place as my service M4, so it’s a great understudy for training. Since my service carbine has a shorter barrel with a shorter quad rail, I placed the foregrip and light in the same location as my service rifle, even though it looks too far back on the 22’s rail.
The rifle is 6.5 lbs with all the toys on it (as photographed). It was actually lighter than advertised out of the box at 4.75 lbs. It balances nicely, with the CG just forward of the mag well. My M4's CG is in the center of the mag well, so it balances fairly similarly.
The trigger is a single stage and consistently broke at 4.875 lbs. I actually like it and will probably will leave it that way. My service carbine has the stock Colt M4A1 trigger group and it’s 6.125 lbs. Since I'm used to that, this trigger feels just fine to me.
Shooting impressions:
I mostly shot round nose lead ball Remington standard velocity bulk. I shot 300 rounds without a single malfunction with that fodder.
I zero’d it at 25 yards. My groups at 50 yards were 2.5", 3.75”, 2.5”, 2", 1.75” (one 2.5" 10-shot). For an average of 2.5”. The hits were about 1" high at 50 with the 25-yard zero.
At 25 yards, lead ball gave me 1.5”, 1.25”, 1 1/8”, 7/8”, and 1.25" for an average of 1.2”. Keep in mind these groups were using a red dot and shooting off the seat of my four-wheeler.
I shot some old gold-colored mystery HPs just to see how they shot. The original box is gone, and they now reside in a ziplock, but I shot them for fun. They seemed to vary in recoil and report, so they might be a little old. At any rate, they shot 1 1/3” and 1 1/8” at 25 yards, but I had one 1 malfunction. I cleared it and kept shooting, so I don’t know what the problem was. The good news is, since the manual of arms is the same as my M4, it was instinctive to tap and rack my way to a fresh round. On that note, since the slide locks open empty, reloads were as natural as with any M4 or AR15.
I took it back to 100 yards, and the old hollow-points gave me 7" and 6" groups. The hits were actually roughly POA since they were scattered evenly on the 8" target. If anything, they were ever so slightly high. I thought there would be more drop than that. With the lead ball, I got a 6" and a 3.5” group. Both groups were strung vertically. I was shooting a red target with a red dot off of an improvised rest, so I’m sure that wasn’t the best it could do. I doubt I'll shoot much if any past 50 yards with this gun.
I didn’t work up the nerve to put my M4-2000 on it yet, but I probably will eventually since the Blackout begs for it. I have to be certain I won’t end up with a baffle strike first. I don’t see it staying on for more than a few rounds, even so. I understand they will junk up a rifle can pretty quick.
I am extremely happy with this purchase so far. It’s a gun I can use to teach new shooters and it’s surprisingly quiet. With its adjustable stock and low recoil, my kids enjoy shooting it. Not to mention, it’s cheap to shoot and it’s quiet enough to not be bothersome to shoot on my ranch. My wife said she couldn't hear me shooting from inside the house, 200 yards away.
If you have been thinking about getting a 22 understudy for your M4 or AR, I would highly recommend this one.
Best regards,
JR
I don’t post here often, but I thought this was worth sharing. I’m a career LEO with over 20 years in the profession of arms. I used to shoot competitively (before kids), and I shoot on average 25,000 rounds per year. I don’t usually get excited about too much, but this might interest you.
I bought the S&W M&P 15-22 model 811033 and added the following accessories and furniture:
Magpul CTR stock
Magpul rear BUIS
Knights foregrip
EOTech
M-3 weapon light
Magpul MIAD grip
Midwest Industries QD sling loop
H&K picatinny QD sling loop
VTAC sling
AAC 5.56 Blackout flash hider
Surefire rail covers
2 spare mags
(The birdcage flash hider screw right off with no effort.)
Before you loose your mind on the thought that I might have spent more on accessories than on the actual gun, bear in mind that a lot if these items were spares that I had on my workbench.
Additionally, everything is in the same place as my service M4, so it’s a great understudy for training. Since my service carbine has a shorter barrel with a shorter quad rail, I placed the foregrip and light in the same location as my service rifle, even though it looks too far back on the 22’s rail.
The rifle is 6.5 lbs with all the toys on it (as photographed). It was actually lighter than advertised out of the box at 4.75 lbs. It balances nicely, with the CG just forward of the mag well. My M4's CG is in the center of the mag well, so it balances fairly similarly.
The trigger is a single stage and consistently broke at 4.875 lbs. I actually like it and will probably will leave it that way. My service carbine has the stock Colt M4A1 trigger group and it’s 6.125 lbs. Since I'm used to that, this trigger feels just fine to me.
Shooting impressions:
I mostly shot round nose lead ball Remington standard velocity bulk. I shot 300 rounds without a single malfunction with that fodder.
I zero’d it at 25 yards. My groups at 50 yards were 2.5", 3.75”, 2.5”, 2", 1.75” (one 2.5" 10-shot). For an average of 2.5”. The hits were about 1" high at 50 with the 25-yard zero.
At 25 yards, lead ball gave me 1.5”, 1.25”, 1 1/8”, 7/8”, and 1.25" for an average of 1.2”. Keep in mind these groups were using a red dot and shooting off the seat of my four-wheeler.
I shot some old gold-colored mystery HPs just to see how they shot. The original box is gone, and they now reside in a ziplock, but I shot them for fun. They seemed to vary in recoil and report, so they might be a little old. At any rate, they shot 1 1/3” and 1 1/8” at 25 yards, but I had one 1 malfunction. I cleared it and kept shooting, so I don’t know what the problem was. The good news is, since the manual of arms is the same as my M4, it was instinctive to tap and rack my way to a fresh round. On that note, since the slide locks open empty, reloads were as natural as with any M4 or AR15.
I took it back to 100 yards, and the old hollow-points gave me 7" and 6" groups. The hits were actually roughly POA since they were scattered evenly on the 8" target. If anything, they were ever so slightly high. I thought there would be more drop than that. With the lead ball, I got a 6" and a 3.5” group. Both groups were strung vertically. I was shooting a red target with a red dot off of an improvised rest, so I’m sure that wasn’t the best it could do. I doubt I'll shoot much if any past 50 yards with this gun.
I didn’t work up the nerve to put my M4-2000 on it yet, but I probably will eventually since the Blackout begs for it. I have to be certain I won’t end up with a baffle strike first. I don’t see it staying on for more than a few rounds, even so. I understand they will junk up a rifle can pretty quick.
I am extremely happy with this purchase so far. It’s a gun I can use to teach new shooters and it’s surprisingly quiet. With its adjustable stock and low recoil, my kids enjoy shooting it. Not to mention, it’s cheap to shoot and it’s quiet enough to not be bothersome to shoot on my ranch. My wife said she couldn't hear me shooting from inside the house, 200 yards away.
If you have been thinking about getting a 22 understudy for your M4 or AR, I would highly recommend this one.
Best regards,
JR
