What is a "light strike?"

A light strike is when the firing pin or striker doesn't hit the primer hard enough, so the cartridge doesn't fire.

So the slide will go forward and remain that way and I'll have to rack it to eject the round?

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Sort of.
A light strike is one type of "failure to fire" malfunction. The biggest danger (in a range setting) is what is known as a "hangfire", where the primer takes an extra moment to fully ignite, and then sets off the powder. Murphy's law being in effect, that will surely occur at the worst possible time, so it is recommended to keep the pistol pointed at the backstop for a bit before cycling the slide to eject the live (?) round.
The ejected round should be inspected and compared to fired casings. Some people won't try fire one, I just put it on top in the next mag. If the M&P has the ability to hit the same round twice with the firing pin (quick research didn't give me an answer, and I'm just not motivated enough to dig deeper when you can simply find out while dry-firing) it may be better to practice a malfunction drill anyway, and have the round for troubleshooting purposes if you get more malfunctions.

You can read anything, about any gun, you want to read on the Internet.

Don't start worrying about it until you start having them.

Then stop shooting hard primer European mil-spec ammo because it is cheap.

rc

Then stop shooting hard primer European mil-spec ammo because it is cheap.

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Or at least don't blame the gun on your troubles if that is the cause.

Well that is another thing to consider, since to practice I will be using the cheapest 9mm I can find.

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Nothing wrong with that, just don't panic if the cheap stuff gives you an occasional malfunction.
Heck, I use cheap steel-case and aluminum case when I don't feel like doing a great job of policing brass at our outdoor range. The occasional malf. is just an opportunity to do a tap-rack-bang drill.
Now, if you're getting light strikes and other malfunctions with good commercial ammo, there might be an issue, but don't stress over that until you actually have the gun in your possession.

"Light Strike" is also a euphamism for "I didn't seat the primer all the way".

Sport45,
If the primer isn't fully seated, then wouldn't it be closer the the firing ping, and therefore more prone to puncture. I would expect light strikes to be a product of seating the primer too deep. I am very new to reloading, so would you mind explaining this to me. PM me, so we don't derail this thread any more than we already have if you don't mind.

Thanks.

Primers should be seated to the bottom of the pocket. When they aren't, the first firing pin strike might do little more than finish seating the primer. A second strike will often set the round off properly. It's easy to think from this that the first strike was "light".

I'll go ahead and post this as it doesn't really seem to be off-topic.

Then stop shooting hard primer European mil-spec ammo because it is cheap.

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I've had plenty of light strikes with factory American ammo too. Should we all stop using it too?

I've had plenty of light strikes with factory American ammo too. Should we all stop using it too?

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Yes. Hopefully that would keep the prices down and the supply line moving.

Glad to hear that. I almost bought an MP but I went with the GLock instead.

Place a pen down your barrel and Dry fire your gun toward the ceiling. A strong hammer strike will thrust the pen up quite a few feet with some force. With a light hammer strike the pen will whimper out the barrel if it even does.

Maybe, maybe not?

Depending on the firing pin design of the gun in question, you may get a pencil stuck in the ceiling. (1911)
Or it may not even clear the muzzle. (Glock, SIG, and others)

That doesn't mean you are getting light strikes.
It just means the firing pin protrusion is limited by the design of the firing pin.

rc

^gotcha