TX Instructors - TEMPORARY BAN ON SMITH& WESSON M&P 15/22

[Weezer]

Texas Cadre,

PLEASE READ -- students with Smith & Wesson MP15-22 rifles
(15th September, 2016) As directed by our national office, effective immediately, Project Appleseed will not be allowing S&W MP15-22 rifles on the line at any of its events until further notice. This follows an unusual number of out-of-battery discharge incidents at our events involving this model.

We cannot be certain of the actual cause and we are in close contact with the manufacturer to investigate this issue. However, while we wait for guidance from the manufacturer, we would be remiss in not taking preventative action, as safety of our students and instructors and their families is paramount.

If this poses a problem for any of our students, please contact us. We can usually arrange a loaner rifle, free of charge. If this is unacceptable or impossible, we will be glad to transfer or refund your registration.

We will keep you updated on this issue as it develops. Please feel free to contact us for clarification.
I am emailing all of our participants to let them know and to tell 15/22 owners how to request a loaner.   In the meantime, if one of these shows up at an event, politely tell the user that we're temporarily not allowing them on the line for safety reasons and offer them a loaner rifle.  Appleseed has no beef with Smith & Wesson; rather, this has only to do with keeping shooters safe and we hope this problem is resolved quickly.

All participants registered for Texas events have been sent an email regarding this issue; however, since not everyone checks their email...

** Have extra loaners on hand.  Ask each instructor/IIT to bring a .22 along to events. (Always a good idea, anyway.)
** There is no waiver for this - no 15/22s, period.   If someone is adamant that they shoot their 15/22 or nothing, kindly offer them a refund and then get in touch with Scuzzy or me to make that happen. 
**  If you wind up with several of these on the line and not enough loaners (doubtful, but could happen), same as above.  Offer a refund and we'll gladly make it happen.   
**  Keep it light.  Don't knock the rifle or the manufacturer. 
**  Questions?   Comments?   Concerns?   Post them here.   

[TimBeatty]

I have seen one do that. That was a ammo problem. The case crushed in the corner and then it went off out of battery. The gun was very dirty. After we cleaned the gun they were able to shoot it more without problems. I did have them go to the end of the line so if it happened again no one was to the right of them.

[Weezer]

Ammo and/or routine maintenance (i.e. cleaning) may well be a big part of the issue.  However, since we can't be the ammo police (seriously, the 15/22 owner's manual has a laundry list of ammo it doesn't like) and because we can't provide gun-cleaning services to all our participants, the safest option is to temporarily keep them off the line until S&W has finished their investigation.    If it truly is a problem that's easily remedied with the right ammo and a squeaky clean chamber + bore, we'll proceed from there.   Until then, though, we'll just wait until S&W renders their verdict. 

Keeping that shooter down to the right of the line was the prudent thing to do after an issue like that.   The overall problem is that if two or more or gathered, there aren't multiple right sides to use.