Tippmann Arms M4-22

[Poconnor]

I saw a Tippmann Arms M4-22 .22 LR Rifle at my LGS. It looked pretty good. Anybody try one yet?

[HCM]

buddy who shoots IDPA and Steel Challenge has had one about a month. He is raving about it.

Only downside I see is the mags are proprietary and relatively expensive

[olstyn]

Would that be the same Tippmann that makes entry-level paintball guns, or am I thinking of a different company?

[HCM]

Would that be the same Tippmann that makes entry-level paintball guns, or am I thinking of a different company?

Same one.

[olstyn]

So given the pricing and the non-awesome rep Tippmann has (or at least, had; it's been a while since I paid attention to paintball guns), I think it bears asking what this gun does that the S&W M&P 15-22 doesn't. It seems like the M&P 15-22 can frequently be had for a lot less than the $550 MSRP Tippmann is asking for theirs.

[HCM]

So given the pricing and the non-awesome rep Tippmann has (or at least, had; it's been a while since I paid attention to paintball guns), I think it bears asking what this gun does that the S&W M&P 15-22 doesn't. It seems like the M&P 15-22 can frequently be had for a lot less than the $550 MSRP Tippmann is asking for theirs.

its all metal (weight) and has a full length rail available.

Otherwise, yeah I'm already invested in the 15/22 mags etc.

The competitor friend I mentioned is a shooter, not a collector. He has maybe half a dozen guns, all high quality, all of which he shoots the hell out of. He already has several thousand rounds and one steel challenge match with the Tippman, no issues so far.

[TGS]

So given the pricing and the non-awesome rep Tippmann has (or at least, had; it's been a while since I paid attention to paintball guns), I think it bears asking what this gun does that the S&W M&P 15-22 doesn't. It seems like the M&P 15-22 can frequently be had for a lot less than the $550 MSRP Tippmann is asking for theirs.

It's been a long time since I paid attention to paintball as well, but what's up with the non-awesome rep you're referencing? I remember them having a fantastic rep for QC, customer support, and overall ruggedness and reliability for the .68 Carbine, Pro-Lite, Pro-Carbine, and 98 that well exceeded everything else on the market, their biggest competitor at the pricepoint being the Spyder. I got out of paintball a few years after the 98 came out, so I have no idea what happened since then.

[olstyn]

It's been a long time since I paid attention to paintball as well, but what's up with the non-awesome rep you're referencing? I remember them having a fantastic rep for QC, customer support, and overall ruggedness and reliability for the .68 Carbine, Pro-Lite, Pro-Carbine, and 98 that well exceeded everything else on the market, their biggest competitor at the pricepoint being the Spyder. I got out of paintball a few years after the 98 came out, so I have no idea what happened since then.

I just remember them being thought of as kind of "meh" vs the truly competitive/cool guy options like Autocockers, Automag RT Pro/E-mag, etc. I guess I don't recall a lot of talk of unreliability or anything like that, but I also don't remember anybody I knew being excited about them either. "Non-awesome" wasn't meant to convey "bad" - it was meant to convey exactly what it said - "non-awesome." When thinking about cheaper paintball guns, I do remember being more interested in Spyders than Tippmanns, but it's been solidly 10, and maybe 15 years since I really thought about it much.

My skepticism probably also stems at least somewhat from the example of Umarex, an airgun company, which happens to own Walther, branching out into real guns, labeling them as Walthers, and having them all be significantly less good than "real" Walthers. (The perpetually problem-ridden P22 and PK380 are prime examples of this.)

[Poconnor]

What interested me is that the Tippmann is all metal. The rail was a nice mlok. It feels like a real AR15. The S&W feels like a toy AR in comparison

[TGS]

I just remember them being thought of as kind of "meh" vs the truly competitive/cool guy options like Autocockers, Automag RT Pro/E-mag, etc. I guess I don't recall a lot of talk of unreliability or anything like that, but I also don't remember anybody I knew being excited about them either. "Non-awesome" wasn't meant to convey "bad" - it was meant to convey exactly what it said - "non-awesome." When thinking about cheaper paintball guns, I do remember being more interested in Spyders than Tippmanns, but it's been solidly 10, and maybe 15 years since I really thought about it much.

My skepticism probably also stems at least somewhat from the example of Umarex, an airgun company, which happens to own Walther, branching out into real guns, labeling them as Walthers, and having them all be significantly less good than "real" Walthers. (The perpetually problem-ridden P22 and PK380 are prime examples of this.)

There are some funny correlations to guns:

Tippmanns were the HK of paintball. Shitty triggers but they just always worked, including cold weather. Choice of LE agency training guns and paintball range rentals. Feed it anything you want. Model 98 was their attempt to be more attractive to the mainstream, like the VP9.

Brass Eagle = Hi Point. Cleetus and all that. No two were the same...they were all bubba'd with dangerous, tacky looking jerry-rigged modifications.

Autocockers = 1911s. People had these for pride of ownership, and spent a month of tinkering so it could make it through 1 game day. Superbly temperamental on what ammunition you fed it.

Spyders = Cohen-Era SIG. Lots of unnecessary options, cool-guy features, and bling at various price points.....but they wouldn't run as well as Tippmann. At some point, the gun would go down during a game day. Good idea to bring a second gun.

Automag/E-Mag: Tuned Beretta 92 or CZ75 race gun for professionals. These people will murder you in a match. Go to a different field.

heh. Paintball. I had a lot of fun playing paintball in middle and high school. Almost got shot by some cops when it came over the radio that a kid had been shot, and the dispatcher forgot the whole "children with paintball" part.

IDK. If I had hope for any paintball gun company bringing to market a successful real gun, it'd be Tippmann. My observations on the companies are 20 years old though, so it's possible Tippmann went down the tubes. I think they actually started as a company making .22LR machine gun replicas before they even started making paintball guns.

[olstyn]

Automag/E-Mag: Tuned Beretta 92 or CZ75 race gun for professionals. These people will murder you in a match. Go to a different field.

Yeah, I always lusted after the idea of a custom Automag built around the RT valve. It just seemed like the most mechanically elegant system out there, but it was also too rich for my blood.

[Wheeler]

So given the pricing and the non-awesome rep Tippmann has (or at least, had; it's been a while since I paid attention to paintball guns), I think it bears asking what this gun does that the S&W M&P 15-22 doesn't. It seems like the M&P 15-22 can frequently be had for a lot less than the $550 MSRP Tippmann is asking for theirs.

Interestingly enough, the MSRP on the 15-22 is $449 for a mostly polymer gun. Taking that into account, an additional Suggested Retail of $100 doesn’t really seem all that unreasonable for a mostly metal firearm.

28594

[nate89]

There are some funny correlations to guns:

Tippmanns were the HK of paintball. Shitty triggers but they just always worked, including cold weather. Choice of LE agency training guns and paintball range rentals. Feed it anything you want. Model 98 was their attempt to be more attractive to the mainstream, like the VP9.

Brass Eagle = Hi Point. Cleetus and all that. No two were the same...they were all bubba'd with dangerous, tacky looking jerry-rigged modifications.

Autocockers = 1911s. People had these for pride of ownership, and spent a month of tinkering so it could make it through 1 game day. Superbly temperamental on what ammunition you fed it.

Spyders = Cohen-Era SIG. Lots of unnecessary options, cool-guy features, and bling at various price points.....but they wouldn't run as well as Tippmann. At some point, the gun would go down during a game day. Good idea to bring a second gun.

Automag/E-Mag: Tuned Beretta 92 or CZ75 race gun for professionals. These people will murder you in a match. Go to a different field.

heh. Paintball. I had a lot of fun playing paintball in middle and high school. Almost got shot by some cops when it came over the radio that a kid had been shot, and the dispatcher forgot the whole "children with paintball" part.

IDK. If I had hope for any paintball gun company bringing to market a successful real gun, it'd be Tippmann. My observations on the companies are 20 years old though, so it's possible Tippmann went down the tubes. I think they actually started as a company making .22LR machine gun replicas before they even started making paintball guns.

Very accurate. All I ever really used were the Tippmann guns, although I did buy a used 'race' gun with all the electronic stuff once. I had some buddies who got way more into it than be and started a speedball team that traveled around a bit. They even bought a decent number of the inflatable bunkers and would set up a field for people to come play on. Good times about 10-15 years ago.

[Duke]

Thread drift.

I built a full M4 training gun a few years back.

Pretty much everything Tac com Made at the time. Stainless Cmmg style bolt group, dedicated 22LR match barrel, buffer plug, extended firing pin/extractor, raptor CH, laure trigger (added 5 years or so after it was originally built)
Daniel defense Lower, T1 on a Larue Mount etc


Once I was far enough in to have bought decent 5.56 it was too late.

The one piece imo that lead to this Guns extreme reliability is the boonie packer better mag adapter for use with the M&p15-22 mags - which I have found to be excellent.

Would have been a ton cheaper to get an M&p 15-22 but I’m happy with it

[rob_s]

Interestingly enough, the MSRP on the 15-22 is $449 for a mostly polymer gun. Taking that into account, an additional Suggested Retail of $100 doesn’t really seem all that unreasonable for a mostly metal firearm.]

Unless, of course, that metal firearm is a POS.

Also, I’m not sure there’s any real tangible evidence that metal>plastic in this case.

The way I look at this is that you can get a known-entity for $100 Les, which is a no-brained in my book.

[olstyn]

Unless, of course, that metal firearm is a POS.

Also, I’m not sure there’s any real tangible evidence that metal>plastic in this case.

The way I look at this is that you can get a known-entity for $100 Les, which is a no-brained in my book.

Hard to disagree on any of those points, but they're also true of just about anything that's new, which is why it's so nice when other people buy new stuff and share their experiences with it. :)

[rob_s]

Hard to disagree on any of those points, but they're also true of just about anything that's new, which is why it's so nice when other people buy new stuff and share their experiences with it. :)

I almost put a comment in my post about being thankful for the pioneers who take the hit of early adoption.

Important to remember that different isn’t always better, better is better. But better is always different.

[Wheeler]

Unless, of course, that metal firearm is a POS.

Also, I’m not sure there’s any real tangible evidence that metal>plastic in this case.

The way I look at this is that you can get a known-entity for $100 Les, which is a no-brained in my book.

Is there any tangible evidence at all regarding the superiority of one vs the other?

[rob_s]

Is there any tangible evidence at all regarding the superiority of one vs the other?

no comparison that I'm aware of. Just a track record of one having been a pretty good performer, vs an unknown with no real claimed benefit.

But I'm well aware that's not enough for most people, and in fact seems to be a booger trap that people can't help but go wandering into.

[Wheeler]

no comparison that I'm aware of. Just a track record of one having been a pretty good performer, vs an unknown with no real claimed benefit.

But I'm well aware that's not enough for most people, and in fact seems to be a booger trap that people can't help but go wandering into.

Yeah. That reminds me of all those silly folks that bought them plastic guns...

[TGS]

Yeah. That reminds me of all those silly folks that bought them plastic guns...

And those midlength AR15s...….

[HCM]

http://youtu.be/mHXkDwFCTm4

[Cory]

I used to have my own "outlaw" paintball field in the woods near my house. I had a started with a Spyder, buddies had Tippmans, 1 dude had an Evo... it was a great time. I used to practice rolling my fingers. Eventually I started playing stock class with a Sheriden PGP pistol. Stil have that somewhere.

Tippman was always the most reliable marker. It wasnt popular for speedball with inflatables, but they were great in the woods.

Tippmann is the only brand I could see moving into real firearms. They're older stuff has been used for pepper balls and stuff by LE I think. With paintball starting to get pricey maybe they need to branch out.

-Cory

[rob_s]

Yeah. That reminds me of all those silly folks that bought them plastic guns...

Somewhat of a red herring as the Glock at least offered lighter weight, greater capacity, more compact profile and (at least claimed) improved reliability. The tippmann .22 offers... different?

For every Glock success story there are literally thousands of fails.

But if you and others want to be the early adopters chasing butterflies, have at it.

Besides “metal receiver” (which is ironic as fuck given your comparison), what is it the Tippmann is referring that’s better than the known performers already on the market?

[spyderco monkey]

I think its worth pointing out that Tippmann actually began as a firearms manufacturer before they got into paintball.

Their specialty was the manufacture of 1/2 scale 1919 machineguns in .22lr - note the 1911 for scale:

http://www.lakesideguns.com/title1/1919a4.jpg

"Tippmann Arms miniature firearms are fully functional, firing, 1/2-scale models of the famous Browning machine guns. Chambered in .22 Long Rifle, .22 Magnum and most recently .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire, they are belt-fed just like the originals. They are identical to the original Brownings; and the detail in which they are manufactured and assembled is nothing short of amazing."
http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=164

A video of one of these little gem's in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9M3de5mISY

[Poconnor]

I bought a S&W M&P 15-22 when they first came out. I never had any problems but I have not used it as much as I anticipated ( .22 ammo drought, work) I think I am going to trade it in on a new S&W 12-22 moe and get a Tippman arms too. The S&W for the kids and the tippman for me. I wish 30 rd mags were available for the tippman.

[jandbj]

I bought a S&W M&P 15-22 when they first came out. I never had any problems but I have not used it as much as I anticipated ( .22 ammo drought, work) I think I am going to trade it in on a new S&W 12-22 moe and get a Tippman arms too. The S&W for the kids and the tippman for me. I wish 30 rd mags were available for the tippman.

SBR’d my 15/22 about 20k rounds ago... it goes on every range trip since then.

[Thy.Will.Be.Done]

Anybody here using these Tippman AR .22, currently? Looking at buying one for a .22 trainer, since ammo costs are basically forcing my hand if I want to practice more.

Also considering an M&P 15-22 Sport but would prefer an all metal receiver set for safety in the case of OOB firing, etc. Does anybody know if the buffer tube is Mil-Spec on these? They claim MOST parts are but not specific parts, I have a nice pistol grip and stock I want to put on it which (B5 SOPMOD, MOE SL-K or A2).

I also seem to have a mental block against giving Smith and Wesson money at this point, never have and really don't want to either.

[HCM]

Anybody here using these Tippman AR .22, currently? Looking at buying one for a .22 trainer, since ammo costs are basically forcing my hand if I want to practice more.

Also considering an M&P 15-22 Sport but would prefer an all metal receiver set for safety in the case of OOB firing, etc. Does anybody know if the buffer tube is Mil-Spec on these? They claim MOST parts are but not specific parts, I have a nice pistol grip and stock I want to put on it which (B5 SOPMOD, MOE SL-K or A2).

I also seem to have a mental block against giving Smith and Wesson money at this point, never have and really don't want to either.

I originally bought the Tippman pistol and liked it enough I bought the rifle.

Re: the buffer tube. If you mean is it mil-spec sized - yes it will work with any standard stock.

If you mean is it made of mil spec materials, I don’t know but you could swap it. It accepts standard AR buffer tubes and rear plates. I know because my one complaint about the Tippmans is the rear plates with extended sling loops which come on the guns.

[Thy.Will.Be.Done]

I originally bought the Tippman pistol and liked it enough I bought the rifle.

Re: the buffer tube. If you mean is it mil-spec sized - yes it will work with any standard stock.

If you mean is it made of mil spec materials, I don’t know but you could swap it. It accepts standard AR buffer tubes and rear plates. I know because my one complaint about the Tippmans is the rear plates with extended sling loops which come on the guns.

Thanks for the quick reply, think I'm going to just make an Easter Impulse buy and not second guess it since I just came across these and I trust your judgement on firearms.

That pistol sounds like an awesome .300 BLK trainer, good to know also on the buffer tube. Now I just need to figure on going pistol or carbine, I've got a 16" Geissele Super Duty which this should approximate nicely but no pistol/SBR yet (looking into a 9-11" .300 BLK so tempting). Also the pistol weighs much less for my 8 year old daughter to learn with. Too many options is both good and bad.

[bofe954]

Anyone using one their folding stocks? Been debating a 10/22 takedown for a long time. Then I saw their pistols with the folding stocks...

https://tippmannarms.com/tippmann-arms-m4-22-micro-elite-bug-out-pistol/

[HCM]

Thanks for the quick reply, think I'm going to just make an Easter Impulse buy and not second guess it since I just came across these and I trust your judgement on firearms.

That pistol sounds like an awesome .300 BLK trainer, good to know also on the buffer tube. Now I just need to figure on going pistol or carbine, I've got a 16" Geissele Super Duty which this should approximate nicely but no pistol/SBR yet (looking into a 9-11" .300 BLK so tempting). Also the pistol weighs much less for my 8 year old daughter to learn with. Too many options is both good and bad.

For me, once I decided I liked the pistol enough to invest in a bunch of the magazines buying the rifle too was a no brainer as I’m a big fan of .22 ARs.

The mags tend to be available in batches so if you find them in stock buy a couple when they are a available.

[HCM]

Anyone using one their folding stocks? Been debating a 10/22 takedown for a long time. Then I saw their pistols with the folding stocks...

https://tippmannarms.com/tippmann-arms-m4-22-micro-elite-bug-out-pistol/

No, first I’ve seen it.

Is the folder available separately or just on complete guns ?

[bofe954]

I only see the complete firearm. Isn't under accessories on their site. Maybe call them? Says it can fire folded. Would make a nice little pack gun. Price seems more reasonable, because I don't know where you'd get something comparable.

[snow white]

Comparable you say? Here is an LP for size comparison. Thing is smaller than my five year olds toy AR. M&P 15/22 pistol I converted to an SBR with a folding stock. I made a post about my process if interested.
87599
87600

[snow white]

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?47774-Folding-stock-M-amp-P-15-22-SBR-project

[DDTSGM]

For me, once I decided I liked the pistol enough to invest in a bunch of the magazines buying the rifle too was a no brainer as I’m a big fan of .22 ARs.

The mags tend to be available in batches so if you find them in stock buy a couple when they are a available.

I’m a big fan of .22 ARs I'm also a fan. Although, I build my own. I have built a clone of my service rifle for 100 yard practice, one each for my daughters, and replicated our 9mm PCC's as closely as possible for cheap practice. I feel using AR receivers, etc., gives you a more accurate replication.

I generally find a CMMG Bravo Kit on sale then bite the bullet for a dedicated barrel. I use S&W mags except in the SR clone. I feel they are better than anything else I've tried. I use the Better Mag adaptor for the S&W Mags:

https://www.redi-mag.com/product/better-mag-s-22-rimfire-magazine-adaptor/

Of course, price wise I'm above what a Tippman or S&W costs.

Here's the SR clone and a PCC practice rifle:

87616

[Thy.Will.Be.Done]

For me, once I decided I liked the pistol enough to invest in a bunch of the magazines buying the rifle too was a no brainer as I’m a big fan of .22 ARs.

The mags tend to be available in batches so if you find them in stock buy a couple when they are a available.

I'm not sure where to look for magazines? I can't help but think these ship with Magpul MBUS sights and K2 grip, is that correct on yours?

[HCM]

I'm not sure where to look for magazines? I can't help but think these ship with Magpul MBUS sights and K2 grip, is that correct on yours?

They ship with adequate but knock off MBUS sights and a nice, but knock off MOE-ish grip. - you can put any AR grip on there.

Mag dealers like gun mag warehouse carry the Tippman mags. I ordered direct from Tippman’s website.

[Greg Bell]

I’ve had one for a few weeks and it is fantastic. I set it up as a sort of clone of my beside the bed rifle and it is amazing fun walking around all tacticool sniping water moccasins and tree rats on my property. They are extremely accurate and seem to run on everything but the Cci quiet ammo and that is understandable.