I hope they hired you to consult on this problem.Originally Posted by Bill Riehl
(And there was a reason I only put up a partial solution online,)
I hope they hired you to consult on this problem.
(And there was a reason I only put up a partial solution online,
Nope. Which is why only partial solutions were mentioned. The remedy is fairly easy, though.
Then again, I'm an unrepentant capitalist and Smith ain't a charity
Last edited by BLR; 03-01-2015 at 11:53 AM.
Can the solution be addressed in the aftermarket setting? Since Smith won't appeal to your sense of capitalism, maybe some of us could...Nope. Which is why only partial solutions were mentioned. The remedy is fairly easy, though.
Then again, I'm an unrepentant capitalist and Smith ain't a charity
I wouldn't think un-warping something warped during production would be economically feasible - unscrambling eggs?
In one his his marathon regrets over his inability to get his M&P9 to shoot, DocGKR posted a link to a company that was tooling up to produce aftermarket slides for the M&P. I haven't read anything about them since, though, so you'd have to ask him the status of the project.
If I were in the market for an M&P9, I think I'd buy the M&P40 and install an aftermarket 9mm barrel and try that. If it didn't work you could always sell the 40 and the barrel.
Smith & Wesson could market it that way and call it the "Special Operations Model, with a heavier, more durable slide, for the toughest operations..." People would flock to it and they could continue to admit nothing. Or they might try marketing the slide un-blackened and save a procedure.
It is likely that those people wouldn't notice the accuracy issues of the original M&P so my guess is that particular dog don't hunt
I am unclear what you are referencing."Maybe Doc can hook him up with one of his new M&P's that are fixed?"
First, most M&P9c and M&P45's shoot very accurately--typically high 90's with tight concentric groups on par with Glocks, as illustrated by the M&P9c target below:
We have tried various vendor's stainless steel match barrels in different M&P9's with varying degrees of success--sometimes this helps, other times it does not.
We have tried placing 9 mm conversion barrels in M&P40's--that generally gives acceptable (mid-90's), but not always outstanding (high 90's) accuracy.
Surprisingly, sometimes just swapping different OEM barrels and slides between M&P9 frames can result in an accuracy increase.
Recently, the following was posted by an LE officer at LF:
"I am in the process of getting a new M&P 9 set up for duty use with an RMR. I wanted a completely second gun for this project. I purchased my 1st M&P in 2013 and have been very impressed with the accuracy. My best to date 25 yard group was a 98. This gun shoots mid 90's on a regular basis with a smoothed out stock trigger. I got my second gun 2 weeks ago. It is a new manufacture gun with a barrel that has the 2 dimples on the bottom. The first time out with it I shot some groups around 90 but the overall spread was much larger than my original one. My next time out to the range I struggled to stay in the 90's and had at least 1 flier per group. I am pretty good at calling my shots and to have a 6 ring and an outer 7 ring just didn't add up. I started refreshing myself on the issues of early unlocking and several people on other forums talked about checking barrel hood to slide fit. My original gun that shoots very well had a .006" gap between the barrel hood and slide. The new one was a .008" I swapped barrels between slides and found that the older barrel also measured .008" in the new slide and the new barrel was a .006" in the old slide. This told me it was slightly larger port on the slide. My agency has several brand new un-issued guns in the arms room so I thought I would check the barrel fit on those guns. Of the 6 I checked they were much tighter than either of my personally owned guns. The tightest one measured out at .003" I swapped this barrel into my gun and vice versa. Both now measured out to .005"
Lots of numbers in the above paragraph but did it work. Yes it did. Both guns are now at .005" (slide to barrel hood fit) and they both shoot very good groups. The very next 10 shot group I fired was a 94 and the whole group could be covered by a closed fist from 25 yards. The other gun with my original barrel shot almost as well. The group was much tighter than anything I had shot when it was in the gun it came in. Was the original barrel good enough? For most people they probably wouldn't have noticed, at least not right away. The groups were about 5" and opened to about 8" with the flier figured in. For me it wasn't going to cut it, especially with a gun I am putting an optic on. I am very happy with the accuracy now. This barrel hood to slide fit is acknowledged on several different forums. Not sure why S&W doesn't have it as a QC check at the factory as it would be easy enough to do and would potentially solve the issues that are mentioned all over the internet. I still am sold on the system. I came to the system from a 1911 so I like having the manual thumb safety. I recently pulled out a brand new Gen 4 Glock 17 and shot a 92 with factory sights so they are still building a quality product too. I have a number of people watch the groups I am turning in with my M&P state they need to change. I then shoot a very similar group with their Glock and usually they get the point that it is the archer not the arrow in regards to these 2 platforms."
Facts matter...Feelings Can Lie
See below. This and countless other posts seem to infer you think they're OK.
Think for yourself. Question authority.
I have NEVER stated the M&P9 is fixed, nor did I say the pistols we tested were mine.
What I did do was report the results of the testing we performed. Based on the objective numbers, all the M&P9's fired scores that were acceptable using typical LE agency standards (be able to pass agency qualification, as well as a standard bullseye course with, for example, a 90% or higher score) and nearly equivalent to what new in the box 9 mm Glocks achieved. You may not like that, but it is what occurred.
While a small number of LE officers are highly capable shooters who will not find that level of performance acceptable, sadly the vast majority of officers do not have enough training and ongoing practice, and as a result, are NOT capable of shooting better than their pistol--be it an M&P, Glock, or some other model.
Facts matter...Feelings Can Lie
This may be a stupid question, and if so I truly apologize, but:
Is checking the "Barrel hood to slide fit" on an M&P FS9 something that can be done at home with an automotive feeler gauge?
Yes
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