From the first trigger pull of the Innovative Arms M&P 15-22 I was smiling. I had loaded it with a magazine of Federal Automatch .22LR that always has a supersonic crack that nearly makes suppression useless. Yet even though the rifle was a full 16” with suppressor, there was no supersonic crack. In fact firing the rifle was just as loud as closing the action. The trigger reset was louder than the thump of the bullet driving into the berm downrange.
This is possible because of the port drilled just a few inches in from of the chamber. It causes a relief of any excess gasses that would normally push the bullet past the supersonic barrier in a longer barrel. Without this porting we would have to pay a premium for subsonic ammunition or cough up another $200 for a “Short Barreled Rifle” tax stamp to use a barrel shorter than 5”. But with this setup you can shoot the standard ammunition all day long just as quiet as possible with only 4 oz extra weight.
The barrel on the rifle is actually around 10.5” in length and then the suppressor core takes up the rest of the 16” to obtain legal length. Another innovative idea behind this rifle is the barrel nut that also acts as a diffusor over the gas bleed port to prevent any “ping” of the high-pressured gasses slamming directly into the suppressor tube. The monolithic core of the suppressor is easily removed from the muzzle end with either the included tool or a standard 3/8” drive socket.
Accuracy was on par with my standard M&P 15-22s, which is not that impressive. You could hit a golf ball from 50 yards with it, but not every shot. It’s more designed for fast shooting at nominal sized targets. Since it’s so quiet with standard ammunition I’d love to take it squirrel hunting, but anything over 75 yards you could blame the rifle and not the shooter for a miss.
To ensure that the porting didn’t rob of too much accuracy I tested it through my chronograph and was very pleased that with the standard Federal ammunition it ran at a perfect subsonic 1,021 FPS average. A 16” M&P with the same ammunition was running 1,183 FPS.
The M&P runs retails for $1,150 but as always, you will find a more competitive price from Silencer Shop.
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