M&P 9f unlocking issue.

[JDM]

I have two Full size 9mm M&Ps.

I have One I use for training and shoot all the time. I purchased this pistol about a month ago. It has the serial number prefix of DVS, and the square magazine floor plate buttons.

I also have a pistol that I train very little with, and carry regularly that I've had for maybe 4 months. This pistol has a serial number prefix of DVD and has the older round floor plate button mags.

I recently reported that my pistol shot POA/POI at 25 yards with cheap practice stuff (Federal 115g champion FMJ). This was in reference to the carry pistol, and I was quite happy to find this out.

Saturday afternoon I was at my club and was working on 3x5 walkback drills with the training pistol. I noticed that I had to start holding at the bottom edge of the card to get center hits at about 10 yards. I usually "drive the dot" so this got my attention. I ran the target carrier all the way to the end of the bay (25yds) with an 8.5x11 sheet of paper as a target. I rested my pistol on the bench and started shooting 10 round groups-I wasn't even on paper using a center hold on the target after 10 rounds. Yikes. I shot 10 more using a 6 o'clock hold, and landed one (1) on the top left of the target. Double yikes. Needless to say I was quite alarmed.

Now I'm not winning any bullseye shoots anytime soon, but I was pretty certain that I could shoot a little better then that. To confirm it was the gun and not me, I loaded 5 rounds of 124+p Gold Dot and immediately shot a ~6" 25yd group on the same target using the same rest and a center hold.

Dammit.

Obviously it's unlocking early, yes?

Armed with the information I gathered here and from m4c, I prepared to fight for a prepaid shipping label from S&W. I called up customer service this morning and I talked to a lady named Pam. I explained to her, as concisely as I could, exactly what was happening. To my delight, she said she would email me a prepaid shipping label in 48 hours, and they would take a look at it.

Now I have a couple questions.

-should I clean this thing before I ship it back? I'm ~1000 rounds through the 2000 round challenge. It's filthy.

-what are they going to do to it?


I'll add updates as this progresses.

It kills me that a pistol I shot a 48 on DotTorture with at 3 yards isn't even on paper at 25.

[JV_]

I'm disappointed to hear about your issues.

-should I clean this thing before I ship it back? I'm ~1000 rounds through the 2000 round challenge. It's filthy.

I wouldn't. Don't change anything.

-what are they going to do to it?

No one knows. Want to know what they did with mine, under very similar circumstances? They shot it with WWB, said it was within spec, returned the gun (w/ test target) unmodified.

FWIW: I've noticed that excessively weak recoil springs seem to exacerbate the issue, probably because it unlocks that much faster if there is too little spring tension. Or perhaps it's not fully returning to battery (slightly unlocked). How worn is your recoil spring?

[JDM]

FWIW: I've noticed that excessively weak recoil springs seem to exacerbate the issue, probably because it unlocks that much faster if there is too little spring tension. Or perhaps it's not fully returning to battery (slightly unlocked). How worn is your recoil spring?

Hardly worn at all. I bought this gun NIB and have only shot maybe a case through it.

[Kyle Reese]

Sorry to hear you're having issues. I had the same thing happen with my FS 9mm guns, and I ended up divesting myself from the M&P platform completely as a result.

I realized that it was the gun when I shot ghastly at 25 yds with the M&P 9, and when I borrowed a Glock 17 from another Staff member and proceeded to clean the rack.

The premature unlocking is a real issue with the FS 9mm guns, and I hope Smith addresses it.

[JDM]

Sorry to hear you're having issues. I had the same thing happen with my FS 9mm guns, and I ended up divesting myself from the M&P platform completely as a result.

And I JUST switched to the M&P. Haha.
What are you shooting now?

[ToddG]

-should I clean this thing before I ship it back? I'm ~1000 rounds through the 2000 round challenge. It's filthy.

Yes. If you don't, many companies will simply blame the lack of cleaning/lube as the cause of any and all problems.

I'd send along two test targets, one shooting the 124gr +p at 25yd and one shooting the 115gr standard pressure at the same distance. Use a big enough target that the 115gr rounds will hit paper using the same POA as the 124+p.

-what are they going to do to it?

Anyone's guess. They might test fire it and say it works fine for them. They might test fire it and fix/replace something. They might take your word for it and replace the barrel, slide, or both right from the start.

[JDM]

Thanks Todd.

I really hope they fix this thing.

[JV_]

Yes. If you don't, many companies will simply blame the lack of cleaning/lube as the cause of any and all problems.

Maybe that's why they sent my gun back - unchanged? If so, I'm pretty pissed.

[JDM]

Has anybody tried simply swapping barrels (either with a new replacement or with a barrel from a known non-problematic gun) to see if that fixes the issue on the problem guns? Not that you should have to, but I was wondering if the issue is with the occasional barrel that's out of spec, or tolerance stacking.

I'm gonna switch the barrel from my good gun into the bad one tonight while I'm at the range. I'll let you know what happens.

[ToddG]

Has anybody tried simply swapping barrels (either with a new replacement or with a barrel from a known non-problematic gun) to see if that fixes the issue on the problem guns?

Yes, it does. Smith made a short run of special barrels for Ernest Langdon that solved the accuracy issues every time. I actually have one of those barrels and it is laser accurate.

I've also seen where simply swapping around factory barrels in a gun makes the problem go away.