The S&W M&P problem thread

[TriumphRat675]

I consider the Glock a "flawed design" in that area. Guns that don't require one to pull the trigger to break the weapon down are a better choice for many (especially cops that think of their pen the same way they think of their gun).

This is exactly right. I get irritated when someone says something like "sounds like a hardware fix for a software problem" or something similarly stupid. Software problems happen; people get tired or lazy or they have a brain fart and bad things happen. If there is a hardware fix that will eliminate the software problem from causing problems, that is a good thing.

I have a Glock and like it OK, but IMHO pulling the trigger should do one thing and one thing only, and that is make the gun go bang. The M&P is a big improvement over the Glock in this regard.

Back on topic, I had a very early (MPA serial # range) .40 cal M&P that had about a dozen light primer strikes in the first several hundred rounds and a barrel with some cosmetic issues. Smith replaced both real quick-like, and after a trip to the factory it has had no mechanical problems since, while my M&P 9 went from out of the box to an Aim Fast Hit Fast class and never choked.

I wonder, if there was an Interwebz back when the first Glocks came out if there would have a similar thread about Glock problems...

[C4IGrant]

This is exactly right. I get irritated when someone says something like "sounds like a hardware fix for a software problem" or something similarly stupid. Software problems happen; people get tired or lazy or they have a brain fart and bad things happen. If there is a hardware fix that will eliminate the software problem from causing problems, that is a good thing.

I have a Glock and like it OK, but IMHO pulling the trigger should do one thing and one thing only, and that is make the gun go bang. The M&P is a big improvement over the Glock in this regard.

Back on topic, I had a very early (MPA serial # range) .40 cal M&P that had about a dozen light primer strikes in the first several hundred rounds and a barrel with some cosmetic issues. Smith replaced both real quick-like, and after a trip to the factory it has had no mechanical problems since, while my M&P 9 went from out of the box to an Aim Fast Hit Fast class and never choked.

I wonder, if there was an Interwebz back when the first Glocks came out if there would have a similar thread about Glock problems...

Thanks for the feedback.

Glock's came out in 1982, but didn't come into this country for several more years I believe. Back then, gun forums really didn't exist like they do today. Most people just believed whatever their local gun dealer told them (which was and still is generally low quality intel).

I have to imagine that if we had the large forums and wealth of info (like we do now) back then, peoples opinions of Glock's and lots of other guns would be totally different.

Both my GEN 2 and GEN 3 G19's ran well and never gave me any issues. I just never shot them all that well. Such is life.


C4

[JHC]

I wonder, if there was an Interwebz back when the first Glocks came out if there would have a similar thread about Glock problems...

There sure has. If I've seen one, I've seen a hundred.

[TriumphRat675]

There sure has. If I've seen one, I've seen a hundred.

I know - I keep forgetting sarcasm doesn't translate well in print.

I think the larger point is that the M&P has some issues...and the Glock has some issues, and the Beretta 92 has some issues, and if there were as many HK's out there as there are Glocks I bet we'd see more HK problem threads. No matter who makes the gun you choose, you've got to function check it yourself, accept the fact that any mechanism undergoing as complicated a cycle as a handgun firing/extracting/ejecting/chambering a round from a magazine is going to crap the bed once in a while - hopefully once in a great while - fix any issues if you can and move on with life.

[JHC]

Preach on brutha! LOL EVERY time I eye some new pistol to possibly wring out so I don't leave any important stones unturned before getting too old to rack a slide, I zero in on the forum dedicated to that brand and what do I see? Plenty of happy shooters but also plenty of folks with problems. Sigs, H&K, FN, all the neat new-ish "go fast" CZ models - all those dedicated forums have a good number of folks with problematic guns . . . and with the volume of Glocks out there vs some of these others . . . I tend to think Glock 9mms have fewer issues than almost any other but I won't argue that point if someone contests it. Why bother eh?

I just finished a 2K test with my Pro 9 and the gun is just sick for fast 'n fancy action games. I have posted before I shoot every drill faster and more accurate with it vs my Glocks or TRP. The trigger is too light for my comfort level in a carry gun but that's addressed in the stock guns I guess. The two fails to reset I saw near the end of my 2K test are of only mild concern. The gun is too sweet to give up on over that. However personally I still prefer to carry any of my G19s or 17s for SD YMMV.

[DrMark]

...I consider the Glock a "flawed design"...

[Norinco]

Do the M&P9 Pro's have these same issues??


Dane

[excatm76]

Just got new M&P .45. I noticed last night that when I insert a mag if it is not at just the right angle the top front of the magazine catches on the magazine release. Is this a common probelm? I'm thinking the easiest fix would be to remove the release and file the bottom corner slightly or just file the edge that sticks out down a hair. Any opinions or experiance with this problem? Is the mag release a readily available part? I don;'t want to send it back to S&W for something that seems this easy to fix, especially since I haven't even fired this one yet. But if I can't get another release I don't want to void the warranty on the gun if it dosen't fix the problem.

[Magsz]

For what its worth all four of my M&P's (i own three now) have ALL ran absolutely fabulously on WWB ammo.

My main 4.25 inch M&P 9 has spit out over 31000 rounds now, about 27000 of them being wwb with nary an issue. There is visible wear on the full size 9's extractor but it still continues to work without qualm.

I have never removed the extractor for cleaning on any of my guns as i do not own the hammer of thor needed to remove the roll pin.

My newest gun is a 9mm pro that has 500 rounds through it. Three light primer strikes but i am attributing that to the ammo and im also running a 13 pound recoil spring.

[JSantoro]

I definitely wouldn't say that it "requires a bunch of fixes and upgrades out-of-the-box..."

That's what I was thinking, too. I don't think that most of the stuff we see folks do with their M&Ps are required fixes. They're things that enhance the shooter's ability to use the pistol as well as they can, but they're not strictly necessary.

The trigger jobs, sight swaps, Apex sears, are all more in the "like-to-have" category from a functional standpoint. Not "have-to-have." I've had the triggers on each my .45 and 9c tweaked, and while I definitely like the results, there's no way I can objectively say that it was an absolute must. Better? Hell, yes, but I could have gone on shooting either with what I had.

Same with sights; I like the Warrens on my .45 better than the originals, but I still have stock sights on the 9c and it shoots as well as I can shoot it once I had the rear drifted a tad. May change them over, may not.

If your slide sometimes closes on its own upon slamming a mag in, so long as it doesn't cause feed problems and you don't fall into the trap of thinking of it as a "feature" (it's NOT, it's a result of a certain combination of circumstances), then it's certainly difficult to objectively define it as a design flaw. Subjectively, it's damned easy.

Parts breaking before they're ideally supposed to are another thing entirely, a pretty distinct "must have." Given how popular the M&P series pistols have become (due to good design!), I don't think that the tales of such things are common enough to point to anything than the intermittent QC issues common to even the very best of mass-produced manufactured items.

I think that it boils down to the shooter remembering that -- just because they define something as a requirement as a shooter in no way indicates that it is the same as a requirement for a given platform to function in the way it was designed.