Frady

For those of you with a FS 22, how well does it serve as a trainer for a FS 9mm? Is it a close surrogate for the purpose of training? Will it fit holsters for a 5" Pro?

I've put another 700+ rounds through without a failure. I'm pretty confident it was just a worn striker spring.

Haven't been able to get to the range since posting this. Cleaned the pistol, applied a fresh coat of oil and slide glide and replaced the APEX striker spring with a new one. Ran about 200 rounds without a failure this weekend. Not enough rounds to say it's GTG, but considering I had 7-10 failures over the course of 200 rounds last month I'd say the issue was likely caused by a worn striker spring. I'll still replace the recoil spring if they'd ever come back into stock. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

Thanks for the replies. I have cleaned the striker channel and extractor as well as I could without a detail strip. From the outside (and then 30 minutes in the ultrasonic cleaner) they are both spotless. The striker spring seems obvious for the light strikes, I just found it odd that all of a sudden I was getting light strikes and FTE/Double feeds (two seemingly unrelated failures) on a pistol that had gone ~15k rounds without a single of either. Lead me to believe it might not be as simple as a spring. Is there a benefit in replacing the whole striker assembly vs. just the spring? There doesn't seem to be any wear marks on the pin itself. As I said, I'm using the factory (blue) recoil spring and I don't think it's an ammo problem. Last month I used ammo that had been made before I stopped shooting and I thought maybe that was the problem, this month I loaded new ammo (same components and specs) and still had problems. If the new parts don't make a difference I'll go buy a box of factory ammo and see if that's the problem.

I picked up an M&P pro 5" in early 2012, installed APEX Comp trigger internals, RAM, and the rest of the internals are factory. I've always used Mobil 1 oil, Mobil 1 Grease and most recently slide glide. I don't keep a precise round count, but I estimate around 15k rounds from 2012-early 2014. In that time I never had a failure not related to ammo (bad primer seat, squib, etc.). I didn't do a deep clean and it sat dirty (didn't know I'd be taking such a long break). From early 2014 till last month I barely shot at all due to other commitments taking priority. Last month I shot my first match and had 3-4 light strikes and a double feed. I disassembled and cleaned the pistol, even going as far as to use the ultrasonic cleaner I recently picked up. Lubed it with oil and slide glide as normal and shot a match (~170 rounds) this weekend. I had 8 light strikes, 3 double feeds and a stovepipe. Same ammo I've always used. Coming from a pistol that literally had never had a single failure to a pistol that couldn't make it through a single stage without crapping the bed multiple times is frustrating. I've ordered: a new APEX striker spring a new S&W extractor extra power extractor spring Recoil Guide Rod Assembly (backordered) I'm going with the factory extractor because up until this point I've never had an issue and it's $3 vs. $45 for the Apex. That being said, if this doesn't solve the problem I'll give the APEX extractor a try. Is there anything else I should be replacing or considering as a source of these problems? The ammo I had problems with last month was loaded back when I wasn't having problems and the most recent match was with new ammo loaded to the same specs (ie: I don't think it's a problem with the ammo). Any ideas are welcome, thanks in advance.

I have both and the 5" is MUCH nicer to shoot IMO. Of course, the little bit of sight radius is helpful the but for me the 5" balances so much better. At the end of the day, the difference is small enough that it probably won't make a difference until you get to a pretty high level.

Is anyone aware of a place to buy the 5" factory barrels? I called S&W and was told I had to order it through Midway but the 5" 9mm is not an option I can find.

If you already have the FS and money is tight then maybe not, but if you're buying a gun for gaming then definitely go pro/9L. For me the extra sight radius isn't that big of a deal, but the 5" feels like a completely different pistol in my hand. The 5" feels much better balanced to the point it feels lighter than my FS.

I have the same issue. During a match I will slam a mag home and about half the time it chambers a round and the other half it won't. I haven't noticed a pattern yet. It's really annoying if you're in a stage that requires all the rounds in a mag and you eject a live round because you rack the slide just in case and eject a live round.

Great thread! Thanks everyone for playing, your efforts are appreciated. Good luck in the next thread.... All rise.... Presenting the Honorable Judge Philip J. Yacucci, Jr. of the 19th Judicial Court of Florida. http://www.circuit19.org/judges/yacuccip/yacuccip.html

I have also made three orders from them and all transactions went perfectly. The last set of mags I ordered I received an email immediately telling me they were backordered and asking me if I preferred to wait or cancel the order. I asked how long and within 10 minutes had an estimated timetable that proved accurate when the mags arrived a few weeks later. I have 7 mags from them and they are all genuine S&W 9mm mags.

Why are you converting it to 9mm if you're shooting limited? It won't be legal in production either, so I'm missing the point here?

I used to shoot a CZ clone that did not have a de-cocker. When I first started shooting I was really worried about a ND as you described and a friend advised me to stick a finger between the hammer and the firing pin when pulling the trigger. On the LAMR command I would seat the mag, rack the slide and before touching my finger to the trigger my weak hand pinky and ring finger covered the firing pin. As I slowly let the hammer down I would pull my fingers out once I was confident I had control. I'll take a slightly tender pinky over a ND any day. I've done it so much that now it's hard to NOT to do it.

IF you can get an L version (non-pro 5" model) then no, it's not worth it. If you can't, then yes it is worth it. The Ls are pretty hard to come by. I took the Pro internals (actually pretty good) and put them on my 9c and my fiber is a nice backup for the range.

Of course, that's the plan. However, there are times when it is necessary to shoot to slide lock despite good intentions. I just don't like the idea of being -1 round because I'm forced to eject a live round or roll the dice that it chambered a round. Thanks for the replies, I haven't found a viable solution yet. :-(

I have an M&P pro 9 that is used exclusively for USPSA gaming. Sometimes during reloads the slide will auto-forward, which I wouldn't mind except that it is hit or miss (~50/50) on whether the pistol chambers a round. I'm not trying to auto-forward or intentionally slamming the magazine in, it just happens sometimes. I wouldn't mind just racking the slide anyways, except this sometimes ejects a live round messing up my stage strategery. I have found a lot of discussion about the merits of auto-forwrding and feature vs. defect, but has anyone found a way to either stop the auto-forwarding or make it chamber a round reliably? I just want it to do the same thing every time either way. Any info would be appreciated.

Will the releases be on site or are they available online somewhere?

Thank you for putting this on!

Precision Moly 147s w/ 3.0 grains of N320 at 1.12" gets me about 128 power factor. I only had a handful to try but I was able to shoot a ~3 inch group at 25 yards (bearing in mind I'm an awful group shooter).

Last year you were able to shoot both in one day. That being said, make sure you hydrate accordingly because it will be hot.

Do they fit in typical USPSA holsters (ie: bladetech) and do the mags fit in holders designed for 9/40 M&P mags?

They are included in the kit already and will be production legal.

Legal and a fantastic upgrade for the pistol.

I just bought Talon grips and I love em.

Another vote for the 2nd weekend in the month from one of the guys who would be traveling from Tallahassee.