M & P and Its Light of Day Profile

It doesn't bother me at all. My M&P9 is utterly reliable and accurate.

I don't have a Glock, nor have I looked at one so I can't speak to that.

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They have a similar gap.

It's referred to as a combat gun but it would appear that much dust could enter between the slide and the receiver.

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Or give any dirt, water or other debris that did get in an "escape route," so to speak. There is more than one way of looking at it.

Anyone bothered by the fact that you can see through the M&P pistol?

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Glocks have that gap as well.

Most polymer guns are like that. The rails that they ride on don't run the full length of the frame.

Trust me its no issue whatsoever.

Yes it bugged the heck out of me.

Ive owned a number of poly pistols sure they are all built to extremely loose tolerances. Yet this MP45c remains the only one you could see the loaded ammo through it...

Bugged the heck out of me too, as did being able to see daylight through the roll pins in the frame.

........For about a week, then I just forgot about it. It's reliable and accurate, I don't care how it looks.

tarosean said:

Ive owned a number of poly pistols sure they are all built to extremely loose tolerances. Yet this MP45c remains the only one you could see the loaded ammo through it...

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I believe I can see the top round in the magazine through my Glock and FNP-40

Never worried about it much.

This new Sigma I have is almost a dead ringer for the Glocks I have in the way in which the frame interfaces with the slide.
I guess, room for dust to enter is room for dust to escape too.

The irony of having a thread about openings for dust to get into a pistol that includes a photo comparison to a Beretta is just awesome.

Way back when I did my homework (and came home with a Sigma instead of a Glock), the Sigma haters were making fun of the droopy dust cover on the Sigma.

I remember reading S&W claimed it was designed / made that way, as in their testing of a certain other polymer gun (that shall go unnamed), they found if it was run to the point of getting extremely hot, the metal slide and polymer body expanded at different rates, and could result in binding & FTF / FTE, etc.

True or not I can't say, but I remember that was S&W's story waaaaaay back.

I'm assuming the bigger gap (designed into?) polymer pistols could be due to different expansion properties of dissimilar materials?

HOOfan_1 said:

I believe I can see the top round in the magazine through my Glock and FNP-40

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A sliver of magazine's upper most bullet is visible on my models 23, both 20s, both 42s and both 19s. Best I recall that's true for the 17, 26, 27 and 30SF. Design basis cooling maybe.

Sam1911 said:

The irony of having a thread about openings for dust to get into a pistol that includes a photo comparison to a Beretta is just awesome.

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Boy that is. Didn't even catch that. Might as well have a Sig 210.

BASICBLUR's story from S&W is some priceless marketing.

For what it's worth, I recall one of the boys in our shop had a very early Glock - his father's I think - in his family. They always kept it under the seat of a particular of their vehicles and one day, after years of sitting there, they decided to shoot it and it wouldn't run anymore as it once had. My guy brought it to the shop for me to look at for him and to test fire in our "snail" in back.
It turned out that the gap between the frame and slide was reduced to nil and became worse with firing.
Now, they swore up and down that they used to shoot the bejeepers outa this pistol before stowing it under that seat, in an Arizona car.
I showed it to one of the premier Glock reps in California at the time and he commented to the effect that it was a known concern early in production and had this one been used more it would no doubt have been warranteed out of circulation.

So from this, what I know to be facts:
The factory gap was insufficient
It was made and sold very early in Glock's introduction
They did honor it as a warranty scenario

The irony of having a thread about openings for dust to get into a pistol that includes a photo comparison to a Beretta is just awesome.

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I got ya...however, It was a size comparison picture, with a pretty rare Beretta In the US. Nothing to do with gaps, just happened to be the only pic I had that showed it clearly.

that might be part of its reliability ever notice how loose an ak is or at least mine was
but would fire always

It has not bothered me one bit.

Nothing to do with gaps, just happened to be the only pic I had that showed it clearly.

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Oh, I thought it was the perfect gun to use!