M&P chamber polishing.....

[jaxman7]

Need some guidance fellas. I have a relatively new m&p 9 fs with approx 1000 rounds through it. Last Sunday I had my first double feed. It was with the infamous WWB. More specifically Winchester's 147g JHP. I shot 100 rounds of this type and literally the first round and only the first round was the only malfunction. Before I order Apex's new extractor I am going to polish the chamber and conclude,yes or no, if that corrects the problem. My question to y'all is what do you guys use for this procedure and why? Thanks.

-Jax

[5pins]

You fire 1000 rounds and have one malfunction and come to the conclusion that you need to polish the chamber? How did you come to this answer?

[Beat Trash]

I work for a Department that has had 1,200 M&P 9mm's in the field for slightly over 4 years now. The WWB 147 gr JHP is the issued duty load, and has been the duty load since transitioning from revolvers in the late 1980's. It's actually a decent load.

I would not be in any big hurry to polish the chamber just yet.

I would first check under the extractor to ensure it's not junked up.

I know that Apex is selling parts, to include extractors, but we haven't seen an extractor issue yet. When we had 5906's and 5946's, yes the extractor was a POS. But not with the M&P's.

[opmike]

If you're unable conclude with certainty that it was a lack of polish on your chamber that was the cause of your problem, I would leave it alone.

In my experience, the M&P is not gun that requires a "polished" chamber or feed ramp in order to run properly.

[Assy Mcgee]

Originally Posted by jaxman7

Need some guidance fellas. I have a relatively new m&p 9 fs with approx 1000 rounds through it. Last Sunday I had my first double feed. It was with the infamous WWB. More specifically Winchester's 147g JHP. I shot 100 rounds of this type and literally the first round and only the first round was the only malfunction. Before I order Apex's new extractor I am going to polish the chamber and conclude,yes or no, if that corrects the problem. My question to y'all is what do you guys use for this procedure and why? Thanks.

-Jax

WWB is good range ammo. never had an issue with it in tens of thousands of rounds.


double feeds are often caused by extractor issues. they have nothing to do with polished feed ramps. if you must polish it--don't use a dremel. although this won't accomplish anything for you.

i would contact s&w and have them either send you a new extractor free under warranty, or send your gun to them to tension it properly if you're not familiar with that.

[M4arc]

I have to agree with these guys; there's no need to polish the chamber. You simply had a FTE, it happens. I also wouldn't be so quick to order an APEX extractor either. Check to see if your extractor is gunked up and if so clean it. Get some more rounds down the pipe before you do anything.

[Robb Jensen]

Originally Posted by jaxman7

Need some guidance fellas. I have a relatively new m&p 9 fs with approx 1000 rounds through it. Last Sunday I had my first double feed. It was with the infamous WWB. More specifically Winchester's 147g JHP. I shot 100 rounds of this type and literally the first round and only the first round was the only malfunction. Before I order Apex's new extractor I am going to polish the chamber and conclude,yes or no, if that corrects the problem. My question to y'all is what do you guys use for this procedure and why? Thanks.

-Jax

If it was doing it with ammo other than WWB then I'd say polish the chamber and replace the extractor. Or return it to S&W. WWB is pretty well known to cause these problems with M&Ps. If you're buying your ammo at Walmart try the 124gr RWS in the orange-black box.

M&PS have three things that contribute to extraction problems.
1. Rough chamber from the finish applied to the barrel.
2. They unlock faster than almost all other Browning style locked actions.
3. They use the same extractor for all caliber M&Ps. But the newer ones do have better extractors. I still prefer the Apex tool steel extractor in my own guns.

Polishing the finish out of the chamber helps a lot. I also use OEM/stock recoil springs even for competition.

[John_Wayne777]

Originally Posted by Assy Mcgee

WWB is good range ammo. never had an issue with it in tens of thousands of rounds.

WWB presents an issue with the M&P because they are still apparently using extractors that don't deal well with the small rim of the casings on WWB. Initially the M&P came out with the same extractor for all calibers which didn't help any. The extractors on current guns are supposed to be a revised design, but AFAIK they are still using the same extractor in all guns. Invariably when I hear about a FTX on an M&P it's with WWB ammo. I've personally fired several thousand rounds of WWB through a few M&P's and I've experienced 2 FTX.

I've never experienced an FTX with any other type of ammunition, including aluminum and steel cased crap ammo.

My advice is this: If you experience an occasional FTX with WWB in an M&P, basically accept that as the cost of doing business with WWB. If you experience them frequently or with other types of ammunition, then it would be time to consider sending it back to Smith.

[jaxman7]

Alrighty then. Good advice from all and thanks. One thing that I forgot to mention in my initial post is that I have noticed a small amount of surface rust on the chamber and was wondering if this may have been part of the problem. Therefore another reason to ask about polishing the chamber. But like you guys said an occasional ftx with wwb is par for the course so I'll just hold off on working on the chamber. Thanks again fellas.

-Jax

[M4arc]

Sorry dudes, I'm not buying the WWB is the problem excuse. The same thing was said about UMC back in 2008 on mp-pistol.com.

If S&W is using the same extractor on all the M&Ps then it's an extractor issue, not an ammo issue. It's a modern handgun for Pete's sake and should fire modern ammo and S&W should have realized that there were deviations in case sizes and accounted for it up front.

The other possible explanation is that WWB is the most prevalent range ammo because of its availability through the Wal-Mart value packs. Since more rounds are shot using WWB it makes sense that more failures are noticed using it. I also tend to listen to GotM4 in these matters so see his post above.

I know, I know, semantics but WWB is what it is; cheap, range ammo. You can’t expect it to be perfect but I do expect any modern handgun, especially “the future of handguns” and a “product-improved Glock” to run WWB like every other handgun in the world.

That said, based on history of the M&P I’m confident S&W will fix this. If not we have APEX as an option.

[G34Shooter]

Originally Posted by gotm4

If it was doing it with ammo other than WWB then I'd say polish the chamber and replace the extractor. Or return it to S&W. WWB is pretty well known to cause these problems with M&Ps. If you're buying your ammo at Walmart try the 124gr RWS in the orange-black box.

M&PS have three things that contribute to extraction problems.
1. Rough chamber from the finish applied to the barrel.
2. They unlock faster than almost all other Browning style locked actions.
3. They use the same extractor for all caliber M&Ps. But the newer ones do have better extractors. I still prefer the Apex tool steel extractor in my own guns.

Polishing the finish out of the chamber helps a lot. I also use OEM/stock recoil springs even for competition.

I've had 2 Fail to Fires with that ammo, hopefully the Gen 5 striker will light it now.

[Magsz]

Ive had three light primer strikes with the RWS ammo and one dud round.

Other than that i dig the stuff, especially now at its reduced price.

Is this your only malfunction to date? If so, i truthfully wouldnt worry about it. When was the pistol last cleaned, what were the firing conditions? How many rounds had been put through the pistol in that firing setting?

I do expect my pistols to be NEAR flawless but a malfunction here and there seems to be par for the course with anything made by man, even the best of the best firearms.

While i dont think there's anything wrong with your pistol i would keep an eye out for this same issue. If it happens again or happens with any other ammo then yes, i would say you've got an issue with the gun.

[jaxman7]

I am a recovering clean freak. I still clean my gun after every range trip but no where near the detailed cleaning that I used to do. So yes, the gun was clean and the extractor was clean upon arriving at the range. I shot the following in this order: 100 rounds federal 115g fmj, 100 rounds of rws, and then got on the wwb. As you can tell I raided Walmart! Anyway I just thought it was weird that I haven't had this problem yet and the first round out of the box of Winchester it had the ftx. I have been staying away from buying this stuff b/c of what I had read on here about the occasional problems. Taking some more to a class on Sunday. Hey if it does it then at least I can practice my malfunction drills. Time will tell.

Originally Posted by Magsz

Ive had three light primer strikes with the RWS ammo and one dud round.

Other than that i dig the stuff, especially now at its reduced price.

Is this your only malfunction to date? If so, i truthfully wouldnt worry about it. When was the pistol last cleaned, what were the firing conditions? How many rounds had been put through the pistol in that firing setting?

I do expect my pistols to be NEAR flawless but a malfunction here and there seems to be par for the course with anything made by man, even the best of the best firearms.

While i dont think there's anything wrong with your pistol i would keep an eye out for this same issue. If it happens again or happens with any other ammo then yes, i would say you've got an issue with the gun.

[Beat Trash]

I'm still not buying that it's an ammo issue. When I read of people having issues with WWB, it's almost always the 115 gr FMJ loading.

The OP was using the 147gr JHP round. Different loading. When my Department first started issuing this as a duty round, it was restricted to Military/Law Enforcement only. It shipped in a whit box with the restriction printed on it. Then they started putting it in a silver box. They now ship it in the white box, but it's the same round. The only change made was the first year or two, the primers were crimped. After that they stopped crimping the primers.

I've seen too many rounds of this particular load shot through too many M&P's over the last 4 years to believe that this ammo is not compatible with the M&P 9mm. It also is used in our HK MP5's without any ammo related issues.

As stated earlier, it sounds like a failure to extract. I'd check the extractor to ensure it's clean and not chipped. Then I'd check the chamber for rough spots. Then I'd call S&W Customer Service and have a chat with them.

[Robb Jensen]

Originally Posted by G34Shooter

I've had 2 Fail to Fires with that ammo, hopefully the Gen 5 striker will light it now.

Try a Glock striker spring on a S&W striker...it adds a little power.
That stuff works fine in my Pro in that fashion and works fine in my Glock 17 Gen 4 as well.

[G34Shooter]

Originally Posted by gotm4

Try a Glock striker spring on a S&W striker...it adds a little power.
That stuff works fine in my Pro in that fashion and works fine in my Glock 17 Gen 4 as well.

If I run into the problem again, I will try that! Thanks for the tip