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S&W M&P 9mm...don't buy one.

105K views 36 replies 30 participants last post by  Bozz10mm 
#1 ·
I recently purchased an M&P 9mm. I have been teaching my girlfriend to shoot, and she was learning on my Walther P22, my 1911, a friends Glock, and my XDm. After showing a reasonable amount of proficiency, I decided to buy her very own gun for her. She is 4'10" and has pretty small mitts, and after trying out a variety of guns, she felt that the M&P fit her hands the best. I had done some research on the internet, and found pretty mixed reviews about the gun, which made me a bit hesitant, but Smith and Wesson seems to have pretty reliable customer service. Although I found it depressing, ( I wanted her to get an XD ) I caved and purchased the Smith and Wesson.

I took it home and taught my girlfriend how the gun functioned, and how to properly field strip it, and clean/lube it.
I took the gun to the range the next day. We were shooting 9mm military ball ammo. I've fired this ammo thru all kinds of pistols (Berettas, XD's, Glocks...you name it) without a problem. The first round thru the M&P resulted in a failure to extract. As did the second, third, and every other successive round. The expended brass stayed in the chamber, and the slide would push the next round into the ass end of the first round.
Needless to say, I was less than thrilled. This occured with both magazines. Also, 90% of the time, loading a magazine forcefully into the pistol with the slide locked back resulted in the slide coming forward and loading a round, without touching the slide release. This has never happened with my XDm, but I've experienced it with Beretta's, and once with a Glock. On one occasion, I also had the slide fail to lock back on an expended magazine.
After 8 magazines of being extremely frustrated and shooting a semi automatic one shot at a time, the failure to extract problem started clearing up. The last 2 magazines resulted in ONLY 2 malfunctions per 17 round magazine. Out of 170 rounds fired...I never got thru a magazine without a malfunction.

The next day I purchased 50 rounds of CCI Blazer Brass in an effort to determine if it was simply the ammunition that the pistol disliked. The pistol fired properly thru all 50 rounds, though I still experienced the problem with the slide coming forward when loading a magazine.

On the upside...I have to agree with my girlfriend when it comes to the ergonomics of the M&P. I have rather small hands as well, (I use the smallest backstrap on my XDm) and the feel of the pistol is spot on. The reach to the trigger and the handle is very comfortable, and pointing/aiming the weapon is very natural feeling. Much more so than the Glocks, and arguably, even more so than my XDm...which I hate to admit.
The trigger pull is somewhat quirky, and I've read that the pistol requires a "break in" for it to even out and become consistent. That sounded kinda retarded to me, but it turns out to be true.
The pistol is easy to shoot, and pretty accurate. I could keyhole rounds at 10 meters, and at fifteen meters I was shooting a 2 inch hole in a 3 inch dot without trying too hard.
So...basically the pistol was a blast to shoot...When it actually fired. :?

So, the bottom line is...I would never rely on this gun for self defense. But that's not what I bought this gun for. It's fun to shoot but certainly picky about ammo. I thought about sending the gun back to Smith and Wesson, but I think I'll experiment with different ammunition some more. If Smith and Wesson built this weapon to compete with Glock and XDs, then they have achieved failure of epic proportions because it doesn't compare in my opinion. Even without the failure to extract issue, the slide going into battery when loading a magazine is enough to piss me off. I didn't buy it with the expectation that it would outshoot my XD or a Glock, but I certainly didn't think it would be a POS right out of the box.

I dunno...I have pretty mixed emotions about the gun. I'll fire it some more, and then do a follow up.
If anyone else has had issues like this, then drop me a line.
 
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#28 ·
I was also originally looking into the M&P 9mm for the wife. I did a LOT of research about this pistol. I also found mixed reviews. One of the best places I found for info was the MP Pistol forum. They even have a sub-forum for malfunctions/defects:mrgreen:

I found a post that posted a similar problem to yours - failures to extract and cases sticking. What they ended up finding was that the M&Ps chamber had some slight burrs in it that would grab the shell once it expanded and lock it into the chamber - making extraction very difficult. Apparently once the chamber was polished/deburred the problem went away. This was just one of many quality control complaints about the M&P.

I would definitely send the pistol back, as the unreliability is unacceptable, let alone the many things that frustrate you about it.

For my wife, I think we are going the revolver route:D

However, good job considering the needs of your wife! Keep looking and if you decide to sell the M&P I'm sure you'll find something else even better for her.
 
#30 ·
I've got about 700 rounds through mine that I bought last September. The 700th round was just as smooth as the first one. Something obviously is very abnormal with your gun. The M&P has been built up to status to the point where ONE FTF/FTE is unacceptable. Then again, I am more leaning towards the ammo aspect of it. The XD I used to have would have about 2 FTF's with every 100 round box of WWB. Every other ammo was fine however. I don't think the M&P would be getting the sales it is getting now if they were unreliable. I bet if you called S&W they would tell you to send it in immediately. Just my .02.
 
#31 ·
I purchased the S&W M&P 9mm with the range kit about a month ago, the kit comes with most of everything you need to have a regular day at the range including 3 17 round magazines, 3 different back straps, a double magazine pouch, a speed magazine loader, and chamber/slide key lock, plus a case that is designed to fit all the items securely. I spent about $600 after tax. the stock M&P 9mm is a great starter gun out of the box, however it is one of the most customizable pistols on the planet. If you go on google and type smith and Wesson M&P accessories you literally get millions of hits. I recently installed tritium fiber optic night sight on my M&P, as well as an APEX tactical trigger kit. the stock M&P trigger is pretty stiff but with the APEX upgrade it is as smooth as it gets.
 
#35 ·
Also, 90% of the time, loading a magazine forcefully into the pistol with the slide locked back resulted in the slide coming forward and loading a round, without touching the slide release.
This is by design, same with the Berreta 92fs.

One of Haley's videos showed this, Magpul dynamics?


As for reliability you have a extractor lemon, Apex makes a better extractor for it, but S&W will fix it for free and they will pay to ship it.

I recently sold a M&P 9mm FS, and it ran like a tank.
 
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