@newyork, awesome! Welcome to the addiction. It’s great to have new shooters join the sport. I don’t know Rob E. personally, but he’s a great shooter. You will learn fast hanging out with him.
I have zero patience for gun problems at matches. There are a few designs for 10-round limited mags and some are worse than others. Honestly, that would make me consider switching guns if it can’t be solved.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
Caveat: I know nothing of M&P pistols specifically-
Some 10rd neutered mags are blocked half way up the tube, while others are artificially single stack. If cutting coils didn't make a noticeable improvement, then it might be follower bottoming out instead of coil bind causing the issue. If so, maybe check to see what part of the follower stops against/in the mag tube and clearance that?
Anything I post is my opinion alone as a private citizen.
That was my thought as well. I’d be very tempted to find a gun designed around the caliber/capacity that I wanted to shoot.
Then I wondered if there might not be a local competition shooters page that might be able to offer some assistance with the issue.
Short of that, watch for someone else at the match that is shooting the same gun and seems to be (a) switched on and (b) not having issues. If that guy doesn’t exist, that’s probably a clue.
Does the above offend? If you have paid to be here, you can click here to put it in context.
Didn’t see any other M&P. Rob Epifania ran them in comps for a few years. He had the same issue and just cut coils. It fixed the issue for him.
It’s literally the only issue I’ve experienced so far. Normally this wouldn’t be much of one but I can see it adding time and making things harder.
I saw p320, CZ, 2011 and a Glock and everyone seemed to easily seat mags on a closed slide.
I’ll report back on if the coils fix it. Next week. If it works I’ll cut the rest. Being in a free state would be nice as I know this doesn’t happen with people and 17rd mags with 10 in em.
I don’t want to change platforms.
IKR? The process of deciding to go shoot “my gun” in competition to see how I do and what improvements I can make and then seeing no one else shooting a gun like “my gun” and second guessing “my gun” and then switching to one of “their guns” instead is pretty depressing and expensive. OTOH, testing whether or not you can run your gun under pressure and whether or not your gun works when run under pressure is part of the purpose and process of using them in matches. Figuring out the failure points and what it will take to correct them is also part of the process.
There are people shooting M&Ps in our local comps. It’s AZ, so we don’t have the neutered magazine problem, and they seem to run fine. IIRC, @GJM has run them, again with normal magazines, and they seem to have worked for him. @DocGKR has said the M&P is one of the most tested and proven service pistols available.
I wouldn’t think about changing platforms for a minute after one match (unless you were running actual garbage like a Jennings or a Lorcin or Hi-Point). I’d work with it to see what you can do to make it run better/you run it better.
I completely agree with everything you’ve said. In the past I’d change platforms like pants and suck with all of them. I’m liking the M&P a lot. I feel it’s easier for me to shoot ok than others I’ve tried. There are parts and springs and mags around. It’s grippy as hell and comfortable. They’ve shot great for me. No way I’m switching.
The weak point is the dot because I’m just learning it but it’s not nearly as hard as I thought.
Again, I’m not switching platforms.
I’ll mess with springs in 2 of my mags for now (cut them last night).
If I lived elsewhere I wouldn’t have the issue but it is what it is.
Restricted capacity magazines are hard to seat when loaded with ten because they must not ever accept 11 in a repressive jurisdiction, so they are made very short internally. During the AWB they had to pass inspection by the
BATF. I doubt clipping springs (or anything else) will make much difference.
BUT, if you are going to be shooting regulation IDPA, you will nearly always be reloading from slide lock and not needing to seat a magazine under the closed slide except at the Load And Make Ready. For that, pick and mark your freest magazine so you can get to 10+1 with the least effort.
If you are to be shooting USPSA or a local rules match that allows speed loading, just load 9 rounds in your reload magazines; it will seldom interfere with the stage.
I don't know if it would be legal in New York, but it would be physically possible to take a standard 17 round magazine, glue in a 10 round magazine block, and sand it for enough slack to load easily but not accept another round.
Code Name: JET STREAM