Odd M&P extraction issue - Advice Needed

[CQC.45]

I have been shooting M&Ps for a while now and consider myself fairly familiar with the platform. However, I have come across a strange problem that I hope those who are much more knowledgeable than me can assist me with.

Background: My girlfriend had never really shot before she met me (a little under a year and a half ago), but since then she has been to the range quite a bit and done very well (very proud of her). She has shot a variety of handguns, but recently she shot my cousin’s M&P9 compact and another M&P9 compact (rental) at our local store/range. It was her first pistol (as compared to the revolvers she had been shooting), and she did very well, and there were no problems with the pistol functioning, etc. However, she recently decided to pick up here own (brand new) M&P9c and we took it out to the range. When she shot it, every single shot was either: 1. Brass hitting her in the face or 2. A jam. Never once when shooting the other two M&P9 compacts that she had tried earlier had this ever happened. HOWEVER, whenever I tried to shoot her M&P9c, it functioned flawlessly every single time. So literally every time she shot it had ejection issues, and literally every time I shot it functioned fine (25 - 50rds each). Limp-wristing was the first thing to come to mind, but she shot the other two M&P9 compacts the exact same way with no issues, and upon inspecting her grip it seemed to be very firm. When I tried to limp-wrist on purpose, it still would not malfunction for me (ejected fine). The only other variable here is that when she shot the first 2 M&P9 compacts, they had a TLR-3 attached to them, the new one did not. I am not sure if that would make a difference.

My two ideas are:

1. The recoil spring is stiff from the factory - find a lighter spring (wolff doesnt make compact springs, any sources?) and/or shoot the piss out of it to break it in for her.

2. The TLR-3 (or lack thereof) is causing an issue since the other two M&P9c that worked had the light attached while hers did not.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

[G34Shooter]

Tightness of the grip has no factor on not locking your wrist forward enough during recoil. I hate to say it but it seems she is still limp wristing as it did not happen to you.

[DasBulk]

Put a light on it and try again. If it works fine, then she likely IS limpwristing it but the light on the other two she had countered the limpwristing by weighting the muzzle.

[Seraph]

I suppose you could squeeze the hell out of the pistol grip with your fingers, and still not have your wrists locked in. The fact that it functioned perfectly for you, but not for her, indicates she's doing something wrong.

[oddballmkg]

I was told once, at a Ken Thackathorn class about 5 years ago, that when the brass cases hit you in the forehead it’s because you’re allowing the gun to twist in your hand during recoil. The twisting motion aligns the ejection port with your forehead. And like the other people said, she probably is having trouble holding the gun tight enough for the gun to work correctly.

[CQC.45]

Thanks for all of the responses so far. So limp-wristing seems to be the main issue. As I understand it:

Limp-wristing allows more energy to be expended from the gun recoiling up, which allows less energy to cycle the slide. This results in weak ejections, odd ejection trajectories, and jams.

This is further exacerbated by the fact that the gun is brand new and recoil spring is stiff (not broken in).

The light helped in earlier instances because it helped compensate for her lack of wrist control.

Correct me if I am wrong about any of the above.

To be honest I feel pretty stupid for not seeing that earlier. I made the mistake of not assuming that could be a possibility, because I have been shooting for a while and it is not an issue (do it without thinking)...obviously for a new shooter that is not the case. Thanks again for everyone who already posted, anyone else who has any comments feel free to contribute.

[mike benedict]

you are describing a very common problem for women new shooters.
While men can get away with poor grip and limp wristing most women do not provide as stable a shooting platform
What happens is the shooter is absorbing a lot of the pistols recoil energy in the shooters movement. It is like the pistol is moving to the rear at the same as the slide is moving creating a chasing the empty case situation.
Typical new shooter malfunctions.
She need a firm grip on the pistol, good aggressive stance, feet shoulder with apart and weight on the balls of her feet.

Mike

[MarshallDodge]

My wife had the same issue with her 9mm Springfield EMP. We worked really hard at fixing the issue by working on her grip, etc. which improved things but not 100%. She ended up changing guns and has had no issues since.

A reduced weight recoil spring would probably help the situation but giving it a while to break in may do the same thing.

[MichaelD]

Try locking back the slide for a week or so. That may break in the recoil spring enough to have it not cause problems for her.