Frady Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Get a new striker spring and a new recoil spring then re-evaluate. Have you cleaned your extractor REALLY well lately? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nwhpfan Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Striker spring for the light strikes.... Maybe check the velocity on your ammo. Double feed; slide short stroking, IDK... But check your ammo too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMike Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 For the light strikes, make sure the striker channel is clean, degreased and "bone" dry. Clean it with Q tips, a degreaser and blow with compressed air. Do not oil it. Your replacement parts list looks good. Let us know what you come up with. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bergy24 Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Prior to replacing any parts, try some other ammo, preferably factory. Depending on how you stored your reloads, it could be your ammo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilkMyDuds Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 I'd suggest change the striker assembly. You can buy it from Brownell. Of course put on a new APEX striker spring on it. Make sure you clean the striker assembly channel thoroughly making sure no grit is in there. Also, what recoil spring are you using? I'd suggest try the 13# if you are loading minor PF (anything around 130PF) and 15# or factory if you are loading otherwise. Light strikes are usually due to striker spring, striker pin, or the timing issue with your striker block. FTF and other issues may be the recoil spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frady Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilkMyDuds Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 I replace the APEX striker spring every 5-7k, and recoil spring every 8k. I had run into light strikes a couple times before but with CCI primers. Never had problems with WSF or Federal - for the past 20k or so rounds following the above schedule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Don't rule out high primers. Do you have a hand primer to check for a seating problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 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. I had about 25K on my M&P Pro, had never had a problem of any kind. I shot 7 good stages at the CO state USPSA championship and then I had 30 light strikes and 4 FTFs on the last 5 stages. I swapped out the striker spring the next day and back to good. Kid was shooting a sister M&P, same batch of ammo, the next day and no issues. Striker springs are not supposed to go that long, and I know it, no excuses. It is getting a complete refresh this offseason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazygiant Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 I recently was experiencing light strikes with my M&P 40. I first swaped out the striker spring for a extra power striker spring which worked for a while.Then switched from cci primers to federal and got maybe 3k more round before it started crapping out on me. So I just switched the whole striker assembly. Which now works without any problems no matter what primers I'm using. So I would second just playing it safe and swap the whole striker assembly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frady Posted November 8, 2015 Author Share Posted November 8, 2015 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pc13 Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 Adjust Trigger Bar loop to .16 with Apex Trigger and install a new factory striker spring.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frady Posted December 9, 2015 Author Share Posted December 9, 2015 I've put another 700+ rounds through without a failure. I'm pretty confident it was just a worn striker spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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