M&P ejection issues

[YVK]

M&P 9 mm full size ejects spent casings right in my face. The ammo is 115 gr Blazer; shot about 50 rounds of it and all of them flew straight back. The only alternative ammo I had was 124 gr regular pressure HST. I shot 10 rounds and ejection, while not very strong, was was to about 4 pm so I didn't get hit. Prior to today, the gun had some 50 rounds of 147 gr Winchester and I don't remember having this problem; admittedly, it was about 3 weeks ago and the gun spent most of the interim time at S&W.

Anybody has had this problem, with Blazer or any other ammo? Solutions, suggestions? I am going to get some assorted practice ammo, WWB, 147 gr Winchester load, maybe some Aguila and whatever else I have and see if it is ammo-dependent. Regardless, Blazer constitutes a bulk of my training ammo and I am getting quite negative about M&P, between this, and accuracy, and small parts falling right out of the box.

[JMS]

Mine doesn't do this, and my M&P45 flings an occasional case back at my forehead hard enough to draw blood if I'm not wearing a hat. I'm a crappy example, though, because I simply don't notice where brass goes and what it does unless it ends up resting on flesh and burning me.

I've a friend, however, that has a M&P9FS (I don't have the info on date of manufacture close by...) that basically did a brass-bukkake on her upon test-fire after re-receiving the gun from a trip back to S&W for some significant fail-to-feed and fail-to-eject problems. Those disappeared, and the turn-around was good, but the post-CS test-fire put something like 20+ rounds worth of brass right in her mug, within 100 rounds of S&B 115gr ball. Hilarious picture of a distinctly unhappy lady with little carbon-colored crescent moons EVERYwhere. My return messages of "BWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" and "TOLD you to wear a hat...!" and "WHY are you wearing a V-neck shirt, girltard!?" were NOT well-received....

Without getting into too much detail, I had her try two different brands each of 115gr and 124gr, each, and the trend remained. In my mind, and in this case, I feel that we reasonably eliminated ammo as a primary culprit. The current speculation is that something's up with the geometry of the extractor that's hanging on to the brass too long. It's been replaced with an Apex extractor, but has not been test-fired, so we're in a holding pattern until that can be done.

It ain't just you. I have the same questions, and am in the same spot until she can get to her range again.

[bdcheung]

My 9fs and 9c eject in an acceptable direction (I, also, don't pay specific attention as to which direction it flies). The 9fs was purchased back in 2008, and the 9c purchased in late 2011.

Have you given any thought to Apex Tactical's FRE (Failure Resistant Extractor)?

[G60]

One of my 3 m&p 9s (fullsize) does this. I've never been hit in the face, but ejection is random, some spent cases land as close as my support hand wrist/forearm.

It occurs most with federal champion 115gr fmj, less often with the 300 or so rounds of RA9T, and not at all with about 200 rounds of 125gr lrn over 4.2 of w231 at 1.131 coal.

Don't know what to make of it working so well with the reloads.

[JV_]

They must have hired a Glock engineers - or two.

[KeeFus]

They must have hired a Glock engineers - or two.

Now, that's funny! LMAO

Seriously though, neither of mine (M&P 9 and 45) cast the brass back at me. They both make a nice pile at about 4:00.

[bdcheung]

My M&P .22 threw a casing in between my eyepro and right cheek. That really hurt. It was also the last time I shot without wearing a brimmed hat of some sort.

[YVK]

In a spirit of p-f.com "Not to half-ass anything that's related to shooting" I collected as much of different ammo as possible, rented another M&P, and went on to troubleshoot this. I shot two different lots of 115 gr Blazer, 124 gr Blazer, 115 gr WWB, 147 gr Winchester, 115 gr Tula, 115 gr PMC and 124 gr Aguila. Add to this some 124 gr HST I shot during the weekend, and it ends up being a considerable sample.

All ejection problems were confined to Blazer ammo, 115 gr being the worst case. The rental MP ejected better than mine, but still had occasional "in your face". Putting a barrel from rental gun into mine caused it be even more pronounced.

I am bummed. Blazer has been my primary practice ammo for years. Glock occasionally throws it over my head, but never at me. P30 ejects neatly at 3-4 pm, and so do my Colts and P7. Having said that, it doesn't seem like I have much grounds to raise this issue with S&W. Perhaps I should talk to Apex folks about their extractor.

JV: I can't change "extraction" to "ejection" in the thread's name; perhaps you could help?

[JDM]

JFK has an APEX extractor in his gun, I imagine he will be along shortly to chime in...I'll PM him a link to the thread.

[Savage Hands]

I have an Apex extractor installed by Randy is my FS9 and a factory one in my 9c. No problems with either, but the Apex extractor seems to throw them with a bit more force to the ~4ish direction.

[JFK]

I chipped (who knows how) the bottom of my stock extractor at about 7k rounds in my full size. I replaced it with the APEX kit and have seen no problems or issues since. (about 2 -3k rounds) The APEX Kit is very solid, a much more stout piece of metal. As far as ejection goes I did not have issues before and the APEX is no different. It puts the brass right to my right in a nice little pile. I would recommend this modification.

On a side note it is hard as balls to get the extractor pin out. I broke two punches and came up with at least three new curse words trying to do this before I had to take it to a smith friend. He broke one punch then made a tool to get it out. (ground down punch with only about 1/4" shank on it.)

[GJM]

Early 9/40 pistols had the solid pin, which is difficult to get out. Later pistols and the 45's have a roll pin which is easier to remove. I asked Apex to put their extractor in several early pistols, and they don't have a problem getting the solid pin out.

[JV_]

JV: I can't change "extraction" to "ejection" in the thread's name; perhaps you could help?Sure.

[sportfit]

M&P 9 mm full size ejects spent casings right in my face.

Yup, just shot my new M&P 9 and of 100 rounds fired at least half the brass was ejected directly at my head, hitting between top of head and eyebrow. Used Federal 115gr and American Eagle 147gr., FMJRN and FN, respectively.

The rental I used two weeks ago-- which prompted the purchase-- did not do this.

The gun, of course is especially ergonomic and accurate.

[JHC]

They must have hired a Glock engineers - or two.

Also funny how certain things can go viral while other parallel things can float along under the radar and not cause interweb pandemics. Like Glock ejection consistency (lack thereof) in general across any generation or funny little things with M&Ps. My Pro 9 would sometimes land a case on the slide - balancing upright just in front of the rear sight. Like it set it down there. Not often and only when braced on a rest.

[Salamander]

My M&P 45 has never hit me in the face with brass, but it did have four or five stoppages in the first 500 rounds. I replaced the extractor with the Apex FRE and there have been no more stoppages since then, several hundred more rounds. Seems to have fixed the problem.

Now if I can just get a response from S&W about the faulty mag springs, 10 days and counting...

[KeeFus]

My M&P 45...

Now if I can just get a response from S&W about the faulty mag springs, 10 days and counting...

Did they look like this (http://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?2177-M-amp-P-45-magazines&highlight=magazine+spring)?

If your springs are green...replace them, even if you have to buy them from elsewhere (http://www.speedshooterspecialties.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_88_177&products_id=1046&zenid=e4cb71c274542a5a44c2416e422e8680)...they're relatively cheap. The black ones work OK but I've had to replace a few. The newer mag springs are blue and come with a new follower. The jury is still out on them but they seem to be working well thus far. If you see some older mags that are more of a blued color versus the silver looking ones see if you can buy them. The mag spring will likely be painted orange. Ive found 2 and have had zero issues with them.