Concerns (Not Problems) with M&P .40 cal

[proctorman]

After reading Ermac's problems with his M&P 9mm and all the possible causes and solutions, I'm getting a little concerned.

I've fired about 450 rounds of remington and winchester 165 gr. fmj's with no jams at all, I've even shot "gangsta style" and limpwristed but still it keeps on firing.

Mine has neither internal safety or mag disconnect safety.

But I do have a few concerns. What should I be looking out for on the gun itself in terms of wear and tear? I've heard of pins coming loose and having to be knocked back in. What are these pins and where are they located? (Sorry for the dumb question) Is there anything else I should pay particular attention to on or in the gun?

There does seem to be a difference in quality between the 9mm and 40cal. So for anyone considering getting one of these guns, I'd suggest the 40.

 

[Coronach]

The idea that 9s are having problems and 40s aren't is a pet theory of mine. I have no hard evidence to support it, just hearsay. One guy here on THR had a 40 with a problem, too, so they're not immune. That said, we've used and abused ours pretty hard. They run quite well.

I'll ask our ordies about the pins, etc. They've seen no problem with our guns since the orginal batch of T&E guns. They had some light strike issues, but a simple change of the spring (IIRC) solved that problem. I wish I could tell you more about stuff to look out for, but unfortunately nothing has broken.

Oh, check your magazines, too. See if the baseplate slips off easily. That was raised as an issue, too. They might have redesigned the baseplate because of it (I'll need to see a side by side picture of an "old" magazine vs a current production one to be sure).

Mike

 

[proctorman]

Thanks for the advice.

The baseplates on both mags seem to be fine and everything else looks just fine to me.

I just got back from the range and put another 300 or so rounds of winchester white box and remington through it without a hitch. So far I am very impressed with this gun and glad I bought it.

 

[Coronach]

Try this to test the baseplate.

With an UNLOADED gun (check it twice!) with the slide forward (in battery) and pointed in a safe direction, take a fully loaded magazine and push it home into the magazine well with authority, like you might do under stress- HOWEVER, allow your palm to slide off the front of the magazine, like might happen if you were doing a reload under stress or while running. Try it several times. What happens?

If the answer is "nothing", download the magazine by one and try it again. Continue this drill until you're doing it on an empty magazine or until the baseplate slides off the front and pukes the guts of the mag (spring, follower and ammo) onto the floor.

I could never get it to do it with anything put an empty or nearly empty (one round) magazine. Some people claimed you could do it with a full mag, but I've never seen it happen.

1. I think this is a very minor problem, assuming it only happens with empty or nearly empty magazines.

2. It seems to be rectified, anyway.

FYI

Mike

 

[swingset]

I for one don't think the 9 is having more problems than the 40. I read the S&W and the M&P forums, as well as THR, TFL, AR15.com, Gunsnet, 1911forums, on and on. It seems the few M&P problems so far are spread across the guns. The 2 worst cases have been 9mm guns, but that's just 2 guys on the net, not rock solid evidence that the quality is 1 bit different between the two guns.

My 9mm has been flawless, and I know 3 other owners personally and none of us have had an issue with ours either. No pins walking, no fte/ftf, nothing. The local range has both the .40 and a 9 on rental and both are nearing 10,000 rounds with no problems except a bad mag on one of them. They don't even clean them, they look like an old chimney but they're still running.