S&W M&P's rust easily?

[edwood]

I do not believe this was a problem of sweat or handling. I have had many brands of stainless guns over the years and only one had a rust problem. Stainless has Chrome in the steel and as it oxidizes it creates an invisible layer of chrome oxide called ceramic. It can be breached by chemicals that destroy the layer and allow the steel underneath to rust. This happened to one of my S&W 66s I had. I had the gun for several years with no problems, I bought a cheap after market case that must have had chemicals that breached the ceramic layer.

I started to get pitting rust all over the gun. The only thing that had changed was that the gun was kept in the case. It was not moisture it was a chemical in the foam and it has been documented before that some foam is made or treated with caustic chemicals that can do this. If you carry a cheap SS fork in your waist it does not rust, nor does it rust when left in the rain for long periods of time. I would say that the Melonite finish should set an even higher level of protection.

This said, it is more likely that the finish itself is causing some reaction with the stainless. I have an M&P that is about a year old and it has no problem. I would say that the individual has done something to this gun to make it rust but there are several reports on line that lead me to think it is more likely that its in the finish itself. I do not buy for one second the sweat idea. Even is left in salt water quality stainless should not rust.

 

[Dnaltrop]

Over a year at this point with my M&P .40 on my hip IWB... 18+ hours a day. One thing i did early on was slap a light coating of turtle wax on the outside.

Laundry is done by hand here as part of my physical therapy to force my arms to move, and the pistol has been splashed with bleachy water more than once. Infant urine 3 or 4 times. (nothing like being peed on while walking to the stash of diapers)

It gets a cleaning usually every range trip/200 rounds. usually just a wipedown and a few drops of oil. Some copper fouling that I confused for rust briefly...

Not a spot of rust anywhere.

 

[toocool]

Go Glock. Glocks are more accurate, reliable, durable and PROVEN. The only thing that should rust on a S&W M&P is the stamped "Warning, read owners manual before shooting and consult attorney" that permanently insults one on the side of the pistol.

There is NOTHING a Glock will do that an M&P won't, and M&P's do it with more style. M&P's look better than Glocks, feel better than Glocks and shoot better than Glocks...and I've never had an M&P rust EVER. The only gun I've ever had rust issues with was a Glock 21 I had maybe ten years ago.

 

[Chris Rhines]

Apparently a number of early M&P pistols made it out of the factory with finish problems. I have one of them - it's a full-size M&P 9mm and it rusts at a harsh word. Not a huge deal, but I'm pretty careful to keep it wiped down with oil.

I have two other M&P9s and one Pro, and none of them are prone to rust. I suspect the finish problems at this point are all worked out.

In general, 9mm Glocks are more accurate than full-size or 5" M&Ps. Most 9mm Glocks will shoot inside 3" at 25 yards from a bench, with good ammo. The vast majority of full-size M&Ps will struggle to make 6" groups at the same distance. The more recent production M&Ps have generally worse accuracy than the early ones.

Note that this problem is limited to the full-size and 5" 9mm M&Ps - the Compact 9mm models and all the .40s are capable of very good accuracy.

-C

 

[Ben86]

One thing i did early on was slap a light coating of turtle wax on the outside.

Really, Turtle wax? I'll have to try that for the hell of it.

Most 9mm Glocks will shoot inside 3" at 25 yards from a bench, with good ammo. The vast majority of full-size M&Ps will struggle to make 6" groups at the same distance.

That sounds unfounded. My M&P9 sure doesn't struggle.

 

[Dnaltrop]

Yep! It's been about a year, I think it's time to re-coat it... I'll post a pic once I go to the store and buy a new can to get it done... apparently I failed to seal the cannister properly before putting it on the shelf.

Gets a nice gloss to it once you pick the wax out of the impressions stamped on the slide with a toothpick.. unless you want the letters to pop out in whitish green.

 

[TG13]

just putting this out there..

not all "Stainless" steels are the same.. some are fairly low grade, and will rust nearly as easy as carbon steels.. just because it says "Stainless" on the side of the pistol does not mean that it will not rust..

my brother in law has a stainless M&P 45 in black.. it's his daily carry and the last time i looked at it, it was just fine.. and we live in a traditionally humid area.. although we are in a drought and it's not nearly as humid as it usually is..

 

[REAPER4206969]

Actually, high carbon stainless would be considered "high grade" for this application. A pistol is not a spoon.

My SW1911 rusts like the Titanic too.

 

[Apocalypse-Now]

There is NOTHING a Glock will do that an M&P won't

except not rust