Losing “Faith” in a handgun for EDC

[Mike J]

I have been slowly dealing with a problem gun for the last year. It is a S&W mod 2.0 Shield 380 EZ. It occasionally feeds the last round in the magazine all the way through the pistol without chambering it or has a stovepipe jam with a live round that fed to that point without chambering. This problem is only with the 380 (not the 9mm) version of this gun from what I have read. We experienced it the first time out with the pistol. It took a while then I sent it back to S&W. They said they polished the barrel & etc then tested it IIRC. Got it back then I procrastinated a while before I took it out & tested it. I ran 50 rounds through it 2 or 3 rounds at a time trying to set up the last round feeding issue. I got one stovepipe with a live round. I called them a week and a half or so ago & requested new magazine springs. They said they would send me new springs & followers. Still waiting. I have been stretching this out trying not to get too angry but S&W is not inspiring my confidence. Of course I could probably make a shim to reduce magazine capacity by one round but I really shouldn't have to. I suspect the gun is undersprung.
My M&P 2.0 Compact has been flawless & if this had been resolved quickly & professionally I would not be annoyed but I am really wondering if I will ever buy another S&W product or not at this point. I am about ready to find something else to fill the role the 380 EZ was intended for. Then I would have to find a way to sell it with total disclosure or have an expensive paperweight.

 

[trackskippy]

Slightly different angle on the question... you've been carrying a particular gun for a while and all has been good and well, but you begin hearing of others experiencing issues with the same model, like even people you know (or even respected members here), issues that began after you started carrying yours. Would such reports test your confidence in your sample, prompting you to go wring it out and see if your experience changes?

If youre shooting it all the time, you already know the answer.

 

[MedWheeler]

trackskippy writes:

If youre shooting it all the time, you already know the answer.

That's what I would like to think, and this hasn't happened to me so far. I'm just wondering about how easily others might reconsider, especially those who have shot a gun as much as I've shot some of the ones I have confidence in, but then had a failure and have said in this thread they'd ditch it. If they had not yet had a failure, but heard of someone else's, would they wait for their own, or would they react "preemptively"?

 

[peeplwtchr]

I am comfortable if I know exactly what went wrong. If a part was broken, I can usually visually see if it’s no longer broken. It’s the mystery fixes that bother me. You send it in and it comes back saying something like barrel and spring replaced, and you didn’t see a broken spring or defective barrel when you sent it in. You then begin to wonder if there is something wrong with the design itself- say, maybe the magazine is unreliable.

I've had 2 seperate guns replaced after I sent the in for repair. When I called to ask what was wrong with them that required replacement, I was told nothing was wrong with them. "So you replaced a gun that had nothing wrong with it?" "Yes".

I just let it go, as the guns weren't exactly cheap, and did have hundreds and hundreds of rounds through them. Also, if they know something is up with the design or lot of parts (i.e. bad batch of slides etc. and don't want to admit it, I'll just go along.

This was a top tier pistol manufacturer.

 

[Zerodefect]

I know that manufacturer. They couldn't figure out what was wrong, and/or could not duplicate the customer complaint.

But since they make very high quality firearms, there's an almost perfect chance that a new pistol will work well for the customer. Statistically, with a good firearm manufacturer, it's nearly impossible to provide someone two lemons in a row.

Recycle the old pistol. Customers happy. They likely broke even on cost. Still have quality reputation.

 

[Hangingrock]

All mechanical components/devices are subject to failure at some point. Its that simple!

 

[SeanSw]

SeanSw writes:



I bought one of those in 2014, followed quickly by ammunition for it. One day, I really need to try it out.

About the same time I bought mine. Paid around $500 and it's been a great budget AR. I should have bought two!