Call S&W immediately, or wait?

[mgmorden]

Hey guys - just coming here for an opinion.

I had my M&P out at the range this evening and I had a strange thing happen. Fired a round, bang, slide cycles - pull the trigger and . . . nothing. I thought I might have noticed this before, but at the time I was shooting a match and thought I might not have a mag seated so I did a tap-rack-bang and kept moving. This time though, I was shooting slow fire, and know for sure that the gun basically just didn't cock after a shot was fired.

I looked online regarding this and noticed that it has occurred with M&P's before (called "Dead trigger"), but usually ones with modified trigger/sear components. My gun is dead stock except for a recoil spring/guide rod (which I don't think would have any bearing on this). Also there was supposed to be a fix that took care of this issue on guns made after October 2010. Going by similar serial numbers my gun should have been made around December 2010.

So essentially, think this might have happened twice (I've got right at 600 rounds through the gun now), but can only say with absolute certainty that it happened once.

Should I go ahead and call S&W about this now or wait to see if it happens again? (ie, might this have just been a fluke?)

 

[RightCoastBiased]

If you don't need the M&P everyday, try and shoot it again and if the problem presents it self again call S&W.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I've had it happen with pocket guns from lint on the disconnector, and with rimfires where granules of unburned powder were the culprit.

Break the gun down, and see if debris causing the disconnector to stay disconnected is your issue. If not, I'd probably call S&W and see about updated parts.

 

[ugaarguy]

I'd call S&W, and see if any gun shops near you have a M&P armorer who could look it over. You might also call the bigger S&W dealers in your area. Ellet Brothers is a big distributor in Columbia, SC; and they sponsor various armorers courses each summer in the Columbia area for their dealers in the Southeast. Any S&W LE dealer in your area should also have an M&P armorer on staff. Having an armorer look it over (most armorers at the dealer level will do it as a courtesy) will give you peace of mind without having to send it off, and be without it.

 

[David E]

You're not using graphite to "lube" it, are you?

Had a guy do just that to his Glock, then wondered why it wasn't working right.....he used a LOT of graphite!

 

[mgmorden]

Nope. I normally use 3-in-1 but lost my bottle of that so I've just been giving a very light wipe of Hoppe's oil when I clean it.

 

[bottom shelf]

Hmm. I thought the recoil spring/guide rod would have quite a bit of effect on whether or not the gun cycles correctly. When it happened, did the empty brass eject ok, or was it still in the chamber?

 

[HoosierQ]

My M&P 45 did the same thing. Had to send it back to S&W. They replaced the the entire trigger group and a bunch of the other guts. Sent me a free mag and turned it around in 9 calendar days.

It shot great afterward and NEVER malfunctioned after the trip to S&W and it has never malfunctioned since either.

S&W will make it right. Send it back. That articulated trigger is not terribly robust and mine cracked so that got replaced too.

 

[mgmorden]

Hmm. I thought the recoil spring/guide rod would have quite a bit of effect on whether or not the gun cycles correctly. When it happened, did the empty brass eject ok, or was it still in the chamber?

Cycling was fine. The spent round ejected and the next live round was in the chamber. The gun just wasnt cocked.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[Corey]

"Dead Trigger" is a known issue with the M&P pistols. Just call S&W and tell them that you have had it happen a couple of times. They will send you a Fedex shipping label so you can send in your gun and will turn it around pretty quick.

 

[Dogguy]

I had a new SIG whose trigger intermittently went dead on single action. I sent it back to SIG, they replaced the trigger bar and returned it in less than one week. It's run perfectly ever since. S&W has a good reputation for customer service so I would contact them ASAP about returning the gun for inspection and repair.

 

[mgmorden]

Well, I called them. They're sending me a pre-paid shipping label to send it back. Strange though - I told him I was shooting an M&P 9L and he asked what grain bullets I was using. I told him 124gr and his response was that "Those guns are picky on ammo and you probably want to try a higher grain bullet to make sure it cycles ok."

That kind of took me back as a gun that needs more than 124gr bullets to function right would definitely be an oddity, but after kinda insisting that the gun was cycling fine, just not cocking, the CS rep went ahead and offered to let me send it in.

 

[Kman]

check it by hand,,unloaded of course,,see if it happens to need the slide all the way to the rear or if it will cock with only half the travel,,see if you can duplicate the issue,, and then disassemble and inspect for foreign material, could be an easy fix.

 

[mgmorden]

It cocks (or pre-cocks rather, since the trigger itself finishes the cocking when pulled) within the first half-inch of slide travel. The chamber barely as to open for it to cock again.

Given the number of cases where the issue has been documented, I think there is actually an issue with the internals. I'm also not sure that the customer service guy didn't mis-hear me when I stated the model of the gun. If he knows anything about guns he knows that 124gr, while not the heaviest bullet available - isn't exactly light for a 9mm. I'm wondering if when I said "9L" he didn't hear "1911".

In any event, the shipping label is on the way. I'll let them take a look at it. This is my USPSA Production gun which I don't carry so it won't kill me to be without it for a bit (though I will be shooting my Ruger P95 in competition till it gets back. On the one hand, I have a lot more faith in its reliability. On the other, I don't shoot it nearly as well, so I guess its a toss-up ).

 

[HoosierQ]

Look. With mine, they never actually admitted to anything on the phone. They just replaced all the guts (trigger group and transfer bar) sent it back in 9 calendar days. Their "no questions asked" thing seems to work both ways. They kind of said stuff like "gee that's odd"..."never heard of that". But they always ended with "send 'er in and we'll fix it"...which in fact they did.

Don't worry about what they say, take the shipping label and let them do. It'll work out well as it did with me.

 

[wristtwister]

I'm betting you've oiled up the striker.

One of the first things they taught us at the S&W armorer's course was that we needed to only oil those parts of an M&P that needed oil, and the striker isn't one of them. The striker runs inside a nylon bushing, and oil only causes it to get gunked up and stick... so if you've oiled up the striker, you might want to get out the alcohol and clean out that particular part, or take it to an armorer to take out the striker and clean the parts off.

The parts you should oil are: 1 drop on each rail insert in the frame (4 drops); 1 drop on the muzzle of the barrel; 1 drop on the top front corners of the barrel hood; 1 drop on the tail of the trigger bar. (right out of the manual)... 2 areas that MUST remain dry... striker channel in the slide, and magazine tube.

I'm betting you've "helped" your gun a little too much...

WT

 

[mgmorden]

Actually, after consulting with some people over at MP forum I think I've got it nailed down. M&P's were notorious for developing this issue previously, but S&W switched the sear plunger & spring to a larger version to correct it in October 2010. My gun was made in December 2010 (after the change), but they mentioned over there that some guns slipped out even after the correction date with the old plunger setup. I took mine apart and sure enough, it's got the older version from before S&W fixed it.

 

[HoosierQ]

Send it back and all will be well. Nice bit of detective work. I'll bet that's what they did to mine. It did look a little different.

 

[friscolatchi]

I am having same problem with my stock 9C. It occured last spring, I cleaned it and put it away. Today at the range it happened once in 50 rounds. That's enough to warrent a call to them in the AM. I bought the pistol in early 2009. I like the gun but this is the second problem I had with it.