M&P .40 kaboom update

The M&P from http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=732981 has been repaired and rides again!

The owner of this gun has a background in auto body and was sure he could fix it. His first attempt was to use an epoxy recommended by a 3M rep, but the glue failed on maybe the 10th round. His next attempt was to use some sort of plastic repair kit that entailed melting some rebar-like rods into the plastic. As you can see from the final pic, the gun looks good as new. He's got prolly 300+ rounds through it since the repair and so far the only complaint is that he's getting more soft strikes than before. Other than that, he installed the Apex trigger during the rebuild and he likes the gun better now than before the debacle!

I've lost $10 in various bets concerning the outcome of this repair job.

sexybeast said:

After re-reading the original post I would be concerned with his reloading practices. You said he likes full powder loads and is not too careful. I would not want to be holding the frame if this happened a second time.
Did he inquire about S&W replacing the frame? Cost?

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Oddly enough, the 3M attempt did end up in another "KB", sorta. The glue failed and the frame cracked along the original crack.

When he called SW they said they wouldn't send out a replacement frame and that he should just get a new gun.

DoubleMag said:

OK let's see if I got this correctly. First, the gun blew up because of reload failure now all of a sudden same shooter is a gunsmith with a minor degree in gun design?? So it's a minor degree in reloading skills with a major in body filler...

I'm GLAD I'm no where near this whole scenario perhaps the next degree with be in medical/ ER! Best advice: chuck the whole gun for a new one, buy factory loads only!

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My initial reaction to this whole thing was similar. I would have placed the blown out frame on my reloading bench as a reminder to be careful.

But my buddy does have a point. Plastic is a lot different than metal. When looked at the original blown out gun in your hand, you could see that if you pushed the pieces back into place, you couldn't really see the crack anymore. Metal would be bent and twisted and if you tried to straighten it you'd get work hardening and other issues. If you held his the repaired gun in your hand, you wouldn't even notice something was wrong with it. I think it would have been a different story if pieces were actually separated from the gun, or the plastic was bent and twisted. It was honestly one of those things that you felt you could bend back into shape.

The frame isn't all that load bearing, actually. As pointed out by another person in this thread, the locking block is what takes most of the abuse. I actually showed some pics to the local gunsmith and he said that if the crack could be repaired and reinforced, the gun might very well die in bed of old age someday far in the future.

bds said:

Interesting. What do you mean by "soft strikes than before"?

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Every so often he'd get a soft strike. Now he gets them frequently, like 4-5 per 100 rounds.

sexybeast said:

So he fired it and it cracked/failed again? Hmmm, I don't think this is a good idea anymore. I've seen quite a few failures with plastic framed guns. Usually Glocks because of a double/over charge. No damage to the frame many times. Usually the shooter gets a "BIG" suprise when pressure comes out between the slide and frame, the magazine blows out the bottom, and sometimes the frame is cracked.
The plastic around the locking block is real beefy and suprisingly strong. If the frame cracks somewhere is because of the pressure expanding the grip or other area and it breaks in a weak spot that is not usually stressed at all.
If its continues to crack I would toss it. There are frames for sale elsewhere. Gunbroker etc... You could pick one up, do the transfer because its serialized, and probably have a good and reliable gun.
The idea of shooting this one again is getting scarry!

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His first attempt at fixing it was with an adhesive from 3M. It failed after maybe 10 rounds. This new attempt was with some plastic repair kit that they use in auto body. He "welded" rebar-like rods into the plastic and it has lasted 300+ rounds so far.

The point of this post was to entertain ya'll with the antics of a mad tinkerer. In no way do I endorse what he's done. I've told him to scrap the gun and be a more careful reloader ad nauseum. But I'm not his dad; he's gonna do what he's gonna do.

By the way, the lane separators at the range we go to are 1" thick bulletproof glass structures. I'm in no way worried about shooting with him. I just sit back in safety and watch the show.