Plinker Tactical Magazines and Charging Handle for the Smith & Wesson M&P15-22
Lewis Creek Shooting School 11.14.12
When I first saw the Smith & Wesson M&P15-22 in .22 rimfire, I knew they had a winner. It has been an incredibly profitable product line for them. They are popular as plinking guns, kids love them, and there are matches all over the country that now have a class for rimfire tactical rifles. The problem is they won’t accept a lot of commonly used AR-15 accessories.
Plinker Tactical has come up with a couple of accessories for the M&P that promise to be popular. The S&W magazine is a good one, it loads easily and is reliable. It only comes in one length though, and some are limited to just ten rounds in states like California. The 25-round capacity is good but Americans always want more. Plinker Tactical has come up with a 35-round magazine that’s ten rounds better for those folks. While the Plinker magazine doesn’t have the spring compression button like the S&W, there is a loading device that compresses the spring allowing easy loading. This can be seen both ways. The compression button is handy but it can allow dirt into the magazine, and in the growing in popularity rimfire tactical matches, magazines are ditched when they’re empty.
For a good part of my life, I’ve been teaching young people how to shoot. When I got my first M&P 15-22, I asked about a shortened magazine to allow prone shooting. The 25-round magazine is too long for a conventional prone position and doesn’t work well on a shooting bench. Once more, Plinker Tactical has filled a niche. The, soon-to-be-available ten-round magazine will allow a low prone position and will work fine on products like theCaldwell Lead Sled.
Plinker Tactical has also come up with something for those guys who are shooting rimfire two-gun and tactical matches with their M&Ps. They now have an extended, ambidextrous charging handle made from aluminum and stamped steel. The ambidextrous charging handle allows faster stroking and right side operation with less effort. I’ve upgraded mine and it’s amazing how fast people notice the change.
Dick Jones is an award winning outdoor writer and a member of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association Board of Directors. He writes for four North Carolina Newspapers as well as regional and national magazines. He’s hunted and fished most of his life but shooting has been his passion. He’s a former High Master, Distinguished Rifleman, and AAA class pistol shooter. He holds four Dogs of War Medals for Team Marksmanship as shooter, captain and coach. He ran the North Carolina High Power Rifle Team for six years and the junior team two years after that. Within the last year, he’s competed in shotgun, rifle and pistol events including the National Defense Match and the Bianchi Cup. He’ll be shooting the Bianchi, the NDM, the National High Power Rifle Championship, The Rock Castle AR15.com Three Gun Championship and an undetermined sniper match this shooting season.
He lives in High Point, North Carolina with his wife Cherie who’s also an outdoor writer and the 2006 and 2011 Northeast Side by Side Women’s Shotgun Champion. Both Dick and Cherie are NRA pistol, rifle, and shotgun instructors and own Lewis Creek Shooting School.
