You can go red dot for close quarters plinking and training. You can also go for a variable scope for overall precision and distance shooting. As can be seen, the M&P 15-22 is an excellent platform for a wide variety of scopes, but you need to pinpoint how you’re going to use the weapon. What’s important is that shooters realize the M&P 15-22 is a .22 LR and not a .223 and is scoped accordingly.
Whatever purpose you intend to use, however, you can bet one of these 4 recommended scopes will work well. They’re, in our humble opinion, the best scopes for M&P 15-22 you can buy.
Barska Plinker
The Barska Plinker is an excellent companion to the M&P 15-22. It’s lightweight, compact, and easy to use. It complements the weapon well. It’s specifically designed for the .22 LR round, and it’s designed to mount on any standard Picatinny rail. The optic itself weighs 11.5 ounces and is a foot long. The Barska Plinker also uses a standard 3 to 9 power magnification, which is an excellent all around magnification range for any rifle scope.
The Plinker is actually surprisingly affordable. Although it’s an affordable optic, it does not skimp on quality. The Barska Plinker is water, fog, and shockproof; like the Energizer Bunny, it is the little optic that can just keep going and going.
The Plinker comes out of the box ready to go, with mounting rings and lens covers. The Plinker is perfect for plinking, of course, but it is also an excellent optic for hunting small game or even casual competition. The Plinker provides a nice clear picture to the shooter, and is quite easy to zero. The turrets have a click value of .25 of an inch at 100 yards. That’s a surprisingly small for this scope, but small adjustments allow the shooter to stress precision. It’s an excellent M&P 15-22 optic period.
Aimpoint Carbine Optic
The Aimpoint Carbine Optic is on the higher end of optics for the M&P 15-22. The M&P 15-22 is as close as you can get to a rimfire .22 LR AR 15. So it stands to reason that the same optics that excel on the AR 15 with excel on the M&P 15-22. This is quite true, and the Aimpoint Carbine optic is the most affordable option out of the Aimpoint line, but it is still superbly capable optic. You can train with your M&P 15-22 with the ACO and easily transition to a standard AR 15 with something like a COMP M4.
The ACO (see full specs) is like every other Aimpoint optic out there, meaning it will last, and last and last. The ACO is designed to work with a single battery for up to a year on continuous use. The ACO is combined with a rugged high mount that allows the user to have absolute co witness with iron sights.
The Aimpoint Carbine Optic comes with 9 total brightness settings, but is not designed to work with night vision. But I doubt many S&W M&P 15-22 users have a need for night vision. The optic is completely waterproof, shockproof, and fog proof. It’s a step up from a plinking optic, and it’s about as high quality as you can go for a rimfire optic. Indeed, if you’re willing to shell out the dough, it’s likely the best scope for M&P 15-22 on the market.
Sightmark Ultra Shot Pro
If you want to go more towards a holographic optic but don’t want to spend the dough for an Eotech or an Aimpoint, then the Sightmark is for you. The Sightmark Ultra Shot Pro is a square windowed optic that gives the users a much wider field of view. The Sightmark Ultra Shot Pro has a quick detach mounting system so it pops on securely in just a second.
The Sightmark Ultra Shot Pro (see full specs) has an all aluminum body and is designed to hold up to powerful center fire calibers, up to the .50 BMG. So it can stand up to a .22 LR like the M&P 15-22 without any issues. The Ultra Shot has a total of four different reticle options for user’s choice. You also have night vision capability should you ever need it.
The Sightmark ultra is an excellent optic for close quarters plinking and getting that feeling of tacticool. It’s an awesome little scope that’s easy to use, easy to mount, and is a great idea to train new shooters with. The double pane glass eliminates parallax and makes it possible for new shooters to accurate and easily hit their target. No ifs and buts, this is one of the best scopes for M&P 15-22.
Bushnell AR Optics
The Bushnell AR optics line has gathered a lot of attention in the AR realm. The Bushnell AR optics line is traditionally based on the 5.56 caliber. However, realizing the .22 LR variants of AR 15s, like the M&P 15-22, are extremely popular they entered that market. The Bushnell AR optics Drop Zone22 is purpose built for the .22 caliber rifle.
It features a bullet drop compensator that is specifically designed around the .22 LR round. A bullet drop compensator, or BDC, allows the shooter to accurately compensate for a round’s drop. A BDC makes longer range engagements as easy as point and shoot.
Even though the scope is designed for a .22 LR, it’s an extremely well built optic. First and foremost it’s built almost identically to the 5.56 variants of the optic. You get fully multi-coated optics for absolute clarity, a 2 to 7 magnification range, and a side focus parallax adjustment. Out of the box it is ready to go, and ready to help you put rounds on target on day one. This is a strong contender for the best M&P 15-22 scope for the money.
22 LR
The .22 LR is the perfect round for plinking, small game hunting, or even training. Standard .223 ammunition is much more expensive and oftentimes can be difficult to afford when it comes to training with a firearm.
The M&P 15-22 gives the user an alternative to train or plink with the AR 15 platform. Adding a scope allows you to train with the same style optic you’d train with on your standard AR. Alternatively you can scope the AR 15-22 just for fun, or for small game hunting. Good luck!
