M&P problem

[rauchman]

Greetings,

I picked up a used M&P45F last Oct. I've only put about 200 rounds on it since. My accuracy sucked when shooting that pistol on my one outing. I've been doing a fair amount of dry fire on it. I've been finding frustration that somtimes, just as the trigger broke, it seemed like when viewed as if shooting it (backside of the slide) that the pistol would kick to the left by about 1-2mm.

I thought it was me and really was debating on selling the pistol thinking since I couldn't shoot the thing. I was dry firing a couple of nights ago and noticed something strange. If I recocked the slide to reset the trigger and held pressure to the left side of the gun during the recock, the pistol would stay perfectly still during the break of the trigger. If I held pressure to the right side of the gun to reset the trigger, I'd get the back of the slide kicking over 1-2mm to the left. I then noticed that I could wiggle the back end of the slide by about 1-2mm by applying pressure to the right and left side of the slide.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any recommended fix?

[Magsz]

There will be play between the slide and sear housing. It is a mass produced, duty gun, Glocks have this too.

So long as your barrel is in line with your sights this will NOT matter.

Having said this. You are seeing sight disturbance from your trigger press. The trigger weight, coupled with the over travel inherent in the system is causing you to influence the frame when the trigger breaks.

Dry fire left handed and you should see your sights jump to the right.

Proper instruction on trigger control is a fix for this issue OR look into removing the over travel from the system via an Apex Sear.

My vote goes for fixing the software, not the hardware.

[bdcheung]

Done in one.

Well said, Magsz.

[rauchman]

There will be play between the slide and sear housing. It is a mass produced, duty gun, Glocks have this too.

So long as your barrel is in line with your sights this will NOT matter.

Having said this. You are seeing sight disturbance from your trigger press. The trigger weight, coupled with the over travel inherent in the system is causing you to influence the frame when the trigger breaks.

Dry fire left handed and you should see your sights jump to the right.

Proper instruction on trigger control is a fix for this issue OR look into removing the over travel from the system via an Apex Sear.

My vote goes for fixing the software, not the hardware.

Appreciate your reply, but I'm not explaining this correctly. Forgot to mention, I already have the Apex sear in the pistol and I've polished the internals. The trigger pull, aside from a not so great reset, is actually very nice and smooth, and lighter than stock.

Let me try again....

If I recock the trigger by pulling on the slide about 1/4" and put pressure on the left side (kind of pull the rear of the slide to the left during recocking), and then pull the trigger, the sights stay perfectly still through the trigger press.

If I recock the trigger by pulling on the slide about 1/4" and put pressure on the right side (kind of pull the rear of the slide to the right during recocking), and then pull the trigger, the rear of the slide kicks over to the left by about 1-2mm.

I understand typically w/ new shooters, the software could be in question. I don't know how to say this any other way, but in this case, it's hardware. I've been shooting for close to 20 years and can shoot well ( at least in the context of slow fire shooting, I'm in complete envy and awe of what I read about you guys doing in dynamic shooting).

I'm going to look at the pistol again tonight, but my guess is that somehow the rear left rail got bashed/pushed in somehow and is not giving sufficient outward reach to where it rides in the indent in the slide. I would guess that the left rear rail is short by 1-2mm. If this is the case, I'm guessing that the steel chasis would have to be replaced?

Thoughts?

[Jon_in_wv]

If you are convinced its the weapon then I don't see what is to be gained by NOT calling S&W. Call them up and send it to them so they can fix it. We can't fix it on the forum and if there is a problem with the rails you aren't going to fix it yourself.

[Magsz]

R,

Any possibility you can get us some video?

I am having a hard time understanding exactly what the issue is.

[dougwg]

The slide shifting from one side to the other is normal and it happens on every M&P I've seen.

I think your estimate of 1-2mm is exaggerated.

I sure it's more like .25-.5mm or .010"-.020" as there is normally around .015" clearance between the slide and rails.

Again, it's normal. But if you still feel it's the gun, take it to your local range and have someone there look at it and shoot it before going any farther. Also take a look at some of the M&P's that they have there for sale and see if they do what you described.

[DocGKR]

dougwg is absolutely correct. All the M&P's I've seen do this to some extent. It does not generally effect accuracy. In fact, several of the M&P45's I've seen that exhibit this trait most noticeably are capable of shooting sub 2" groups at 25 yds.

[mizer67]

I believe Apex working on a new rear sear housing block to remove some of the slide to frame play.

My M&Ps exhibit this issue. My Glocks do also, but to a much lesser extent.