"Fixing" the auto-forward in my m&p.

[MookNW]

I found this thread concerning a fix for the auto forwarding in M&P's.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-w...de-action.html
Has anyone tried it, and what has been your experience since the mod? I'm at a point where I want to either eliminate this feature of the gun or switch to a different make.

[GitmoSmoke]

I think I am going to give it a try. I dont' care for the auto forward either, but I'm not going to get rid of the M&P. If you decide to go to another platform I think I can find a good home for your 9mm.

[Alaskapopo]

Personally I wish they would design pistols to do this. Some of the guns I have owned would do this and its much faster for reloading and I have never had one that did not feed a round. The problem comes when it does not drop forward when you expect it to.
Pat

[nickdrak]

The problem comes when the auto-forward of the M&P kicks in inadvertantly and you end up with a failure to feed or an empty chamber. It is the sole reason I dumped the M&P9 platform in favor of the 9mm Glock.

I have owned 3 M&P9 (9mm's) and they all suffered from some form of feed-way stoppage relating to the auto-forward malfunction.

Ball/FMJ ammo feeds fine in the M&P9's. Hollow point ammo not so much: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-w2i7OWkyY

[MookNW]

Originally Posted by nickdrak

The problem comes when you attempt to rely on the auto-forward of the M&P to chamber a round and you end up with a failure to feed or an empty chamber.

This.
I had it happen to me a few days ago(In my case, it was an empty chamber). Even when I de-mongo my reloads, I have a hard time keeping it from auto forwarding. If I can't rely on a round chambering when it happens, then I don't want it to happen.

[nickdrak]

Originally Posted by MookNW

This.
I had it happen to me a few days ago(In my case, it was an empty chamber). Even when I de-mongo my reloads, I have a hard time keeping it from auto forwarding. If I can't rely on a round chambering when it happens, then I don't want it to happen.

My original post was edited to more accurately represent my experience with the 9mm M&P platform.

[durus5995]

I might have to give this a try. I am going be switching to the M&P as a carry platform and right now my M&P 9 FS auto forwards only every so often. Right now if it does happen I do a tap rack because I do not want a click. Every time so far a round was chambered and essentially I could be throwing life saving ammo on the ground. Not a good feeling but who has the time to do a press check during a reload? However perhaps a press check should be used? FWIW I had a Glock 23 gen 3 that would auto forward if you inserted the mag just right.

[F-Trooper05]

Originally Posted by MookNW

This.
I had it happen to me a few days ago(In my case, it was an empty chamber).

The last class I was at this happened to one of the M&P shooters who relied on auto-forwarding for reloads. I'm now sold that it's bullshit and a major training scar.

[dougwg]

Originally Posted by MookNW

I found this thread concerning a fix for the auto forwarding in M&P's.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-w...de-action.html
Has anyone tried it, and what has been your experience since the mod? I'm at a point where I want to either eliminate this feature of the gun or switch to a different make.

What he did was not a "fix" for the auto forward although he may have made it less likely to happen with full engagement of the slide stop to the slide.

A true fix would be to change the angle of the interface surfaces so they lock together. Although this will also make releasing the slide by pushing down on the slide catch nearly impossible for those that employ this method.

From the left side looking at the slide catch it is slightly like this "\" and would need to be changed to this "/".

Or just stop SLAMMING your mags home like a caveman.

[sniperfrog]

My M&P9 had a slide stop that was so hard to press I had to use two thumbs and even then it was difficult. I think S&W went too far the other direction to solve the auto-forward issue.

I sent it back to S&W and they installed a new slide stop. Now it works perfect. No auto forwarding and it's still easy to press.

[panzerr]

Originally Posted by nickdrak

The problem comes when the auto-forward of the M&P kicks in inadvertantly and you end up with a failure to feed or an empty chamber. It is the sole reason I dumped the M&P9 platform

I am in the process of dumping mine as well. I just need to find a replacement that feels as good in my hand.

[Fire_Medic]

All of 2010 I worked at a local shop/range on my days of from the FD. We sold and rented all types of pistols naturally. Of our polymer framed pistols that we had for rent, ALL of them did the auto forward when inserting a mag, HK, Glock, M&P. They did not all start out that way, but all ended up that way. So I will not accept this as an M&P only issue. I wouldn't see it at this point as a reason to dump a platform either "unless" after contacting the manufacturer for resolution there still wasn't one.

I think we are far passed the days where "certain" brands of pistols were bomb proof reliable. The fact of the matter is, all of this guns have parts that can and will fail, regardless of brand. Yes some are more ergonomic than others, some are engineered better than others, and some are cheaper to fix than others, but they still should all receive the proper maintenance when it is required/necessary. For a good time I saw folks so confident in a certain brand that they would take a new pistol and start to CCW it without even firing it, which to me is a bad ideas regardless of brand. These things are mass produced, and they can have bad batches of pistols, parts, etc.

Are some manufacturers more prone to things going bad sure, are any of them perfect, I don't think so. I say be honest with yourself, and decide what are your needs in a pistol, find the one that meets those needs or most, and go from there. I have seen many folks dump a platform for no reason other than what they have read on the net, myself included a few years back.

I am of the belief that with the reputation of stone cold reliability of the Gen 3 9mm Glocks many folks just got lazy, stopped changing springs when it was recommended, didn't clean/lube their guns on a regular basis, and then wanted to blame the pistols when something went wrong.

The bottom line is, if you have a pistol that works, use it.

Some folks have had legitimate issues with pistols, and there are leg imitate issues out there, but a lot of stuff sometimes gets blown out of proportion. There is no one heavenly perfect handgun, shoot what works best for you.

Just my $0.02, which are not professional, and did not cost anyone anything.

[panzerr]

Originally Posted by Fire_Medic

So I will not accept this as an M&P only issue.

It certainly isn't an M&P only issue, however M&Ps are extremely prone to auto-forwarding right out of the box and THAT is an issue.

[hunt_ak]

Originally Posted by F-Trooper05

The last class I was at this happened to one of the M&P shooters who relied on auto-forwarding for reloads. I'm now sold that it's bullshit and a major training scar.

Yup, and the only time it didn't work in the two days was during the timed portion of firing, and he didn't expect it.

It's like the sex panther cologne in Anchorman...works 60% of the time, everytime.

[ralph]

Originally Posted by panzerr

It certainly isn't an M&P only issue, however M&Ps are extremely prone to auto-forwarding right out of the box and THAT is an issue.

It's just something else for S&W to fix..along with the hit/miss accuracy problems, crummy out of the box trigger, weak ejection some folks have,magazine issues I've read about ..When does it stop? I moved to another platform, and pretty much gave up on my FS9..I thought S&W listened to customer feedback, what happened? I guess a improved slide stop to prevent auto forwarding, will be something Apex Tactical will have to make, Because I doubt S&W will do anything about it anytime soon...

[19852]

My HK P-30 does this reliably with 8 rounds of more when using a reasonably firm seating push. If done slowly it won't. Had an G17 that just started doing it during a match, had never done it before, continued to auto forward from that time on. My thumbs are long so when I rest my thumb on the slide catch [Beretta M9] I drop the slide anyway when the mag is seated.

[nickdrak]

If my M&P9's reliably chambered a round when the auto-forward occurred I wouldn't really care much at all and would still be carrying the M&P9 as my duty and daily concealed carry pistol.

The real issue for me came up when it occurred with several different hollow point loads including my issued duty ammo (Win Ranger 124gr +p bonded) and it caused a feedway stoppage where the nose of the hollow point would get jammed up against the bottom of the feedramp. I could easily replicate this with every M&P9 I ever handled including the three I used to own. They had production dates of: 2007, 2010, and 2011.

[Fire_Medic]

Well......

Mine only does the auto forward if an excessive amount of force is used and I hot the rear of the grip intentionally when I reload.

[Biggy]

Originally Posted by nickdrak

If my M&P9's reliably chambered a round when the auto-forward occurred I wouldn't really care much at all and would still be carrying the M&P9 as my duty and daily concealed carry pistol.

The real issue for me came up when it occurred with several different hollow point loads including my issued duty ammo (Win Ranger 124gr +p bonded) and it caused a feedway stoppage where the nose of the hollow point would get jammed up against the bottom of the feedramp. I could easily replicate this with every M&P9 I ever handled including the three I used to own. They had production dates of: 2007, 2010, and 2011.

I totally agree with you on the above, they need to make this priority one and fix the issue asap. Reliability trumps all and any accuracy issues are secondary in my opinion. The following may not be applicable to the M&P 9mm pistols but here is a pic of what Colt did to the barrel feedramp on the new series 70 pistol to make them more reliable with HP ammo (barrel on the right).

http://www.coolgunsite.com/comm_pistols/barrel.jpg

[Lincoln7]

If I know anything about S&W's they'll solve the issue by changing the
CAUTION: CAPABLE OF FIRING WITH MAGAZINE REMOVED
to
CAUTION: CAPABLE OF AUTOMATICALLY CHAMBERING A ROUND WHEN MAGAZINE INSERTED

Is it agreed that only the 9mm's suffer from malfunctions when auto-forwarding? My .40 auto-forwards reliably but I don't use it.