Range Report SW M&P9 FS

[TapRackBang20]

Got my Smith and Wesson M&P9 with DCAEK in from C4IGrant the other day. I'm not completely unfamiliar with M&P's as I've had a M&Pc as my EDC for about a year now (and love it). I'd only had about 25 rounds through a full size though. Took it out to the range and put a total of 200 rounds through it. Ran 50 rounds of Winchester NATO 124gr FMJ no problems. Ran 50 rounds of CCI Blazer 115gr no problems. Ran 100 rounds of Monarch 115gr FMJ with a total of 12 Failure to Fire's (8 in one box, 4 in the other). All of those rounds had a good strike on the primer, so I'm inclined to believe the ammo is at fault, since it is pretty cheap. Accuracy was around 2.5"-3" at 15 yards, though I'm not sure that's going to be the standard since I was fiddling around with the different size grips and I do the majority of my handgun shooting at 7 yards or less. We'll see over the next couple months how that shapes up as I practice more.

The only thing I was not happy with was out of the probably 2 dozen or so mag changes I did, it auto-forwarded twice. I know some folks like this; personally, I don't want the slide to go forward unless I tell it to. So any feedback on correcting that would be appreciated. Other than "be more gentle during reloads" obviously. Never had this problem with the compact.

Also, My ejection pattern was at about 3-4 o'clock on everything except for the CCI Blazer, which alternated between going over my head at 6:00, hitting the top of my head at 6:00, and going in between my face and the gun at 6:00 (never hit my face). Logically, it sounds like an ammo issue rather than an issue with the extractor. Thoughts?

Overall, yet another satisfied customer of C4IGrant.

[JHC]

Well if it was a Glock it would be cause for alarm and disappointment. ;)

But if it were mine I would be pleased and not worried. My Pro 9 did a little of that too but it functioned well. It autoforwarded more than not but never malf'd during that.

The primers in that one lot were prob too hard or otherwise sketchy.

99.9% likely it'll prove to be GTG with more rounds.

[gunrunner505]

I have an M&P40 and mine doesn't auto forward very easily. I was doing dry practice one night and one thing I have noticed is if I do a reload with a high muzzle, more eye level, and a real assertive seat on the mag it will auto forward easier than if i do a realod down closer to ready pistol. I know it sounds silly but I messed with it for some time and that was my observation on my gun. Have you tried experimenting with gun position?

[TapRackBang20]

No, I haven't tried messing with the position of the gun, and I'm not sure if I want to mess with how I reload (instead of trying to describe how I reload, it's like the third method shown here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJDp6x3FHsQ&feature=fvwrel)
What I was really wondering was if there was some trick of fiddling with the mag release or something to prevent it. If a softer reload is the only real answer, I'll just do that. Or learn to stomach autoforwarding ;)

[gunrunner505]

I defiantly wouldn't suggest anyone change up the way they do a reload, least of all based on anything I said. The night I was experimenting to see about getting mine to auto forward wasn't a dry practice session. It was all under what conditions does my gun auto forward.

That being said it is also my understanding the M&P was designed to auto forward, it's not an accidental thing. Maybe some of the more knowledgeable guys here can chime in and confirm or deny that.

I had my gun auto forward I think twice during a defensive pistol class in March and both times I was able to recognize it had done that and kept rocking the drill.

Might be something you just live with.....

[bigc3031]

If you reload the M&P with the barrel pointed up (like if you are doing it at eye level) and at a slight angle it will auto forward 100% of the time.