M&P .380 Shield EZ - POS or Not?

[jim6918]

My son bought a S&W M&P Shield .380 EZ last week, primarily for his wife for eventual concealed carry.  They took it out yesterday, and ran about 50 .380 reloads of mine  through it with multiple jamming issues.  Before you question the reloads, I had fired about 50 of the same batch through my 45 year old Walther PP with 100% performance.  I used a "middle of the road recipe".  Every reload was gauged, and I re mic'd them last night and they are within .001's of factory in all measurements.

 

The problems, IMHO, related to the slide.  Stove-piping, failed slide run back after discharge, etc.

 

I was a little suspect of the whole EZ slide idea when he bought it but didn't say anything.  I think he thought it would help his diminutive wife.

 

I'm taking it out this morning with a box of factory Federal ammo to see what  happens.

 

Anybody here have any experience with the EZ?

 

 

[M1A4ME]

I bought a new one a couple months back.  Went to the S&W website to register it for the warranty and found out they already had a recall on them for safety issues.  Called S&W (the web site page to report your serial number see if yours was recalled was defective, too, so I had to call them) and the lady confirmed I needed to seen my brand new M&P back for the safety recall/warranty work.  Got it back a couple weeks later, took it to the range, no issues.  Took it to the range a couple weeks later and once again, no issues.

 

I have heard of issues where some of them eject the last round in the magazine along with the empty of the next to the last round.  People say that issue is magazine follower related.  

 

I've only shot Remington FMJ and hollow points through it so I can't say if any other brands/bullet weights work.

 

Reasonably accurate.  About like the two M&P's I had a few years ago.  Not what I'd want, not what I carry every day, but you can hit somebody in the chest with it at 10 yds. or so, every time.

[dapribek]

I would think you’d have to run a box of factory loads to totally rule out that your reloads are the culprit. Your reloads may run fine in your Walther PP, but may not be powerful enough to run the new gun.  Please let us know how you fare with the factory rounds. BTW, my buddies have had the same problem with other new guns and almost always, the reloads just weren’t hot enough. 

[jim6918]

2 hours ago, dapribek said:

I would think you’d have to run a box of factory loads to totally rule out that your reloads are the culprit. Your reloads may run fine in your Walther PP, but may not be powerful enough to run the new gun.  Please let us know how you fare with the factory rounds. BTW, my buddies have had the same problem with other new guns and almost always, the reloads just weren’t hot enough. 

 

Egg on my face.  It has to be the reloads aren't hot enough.  I shot a box of 50 assorted (JHP, FMJ,etc) factory ammo through it without a glitch.  I checked the log book and I didn't go "middle of the road" but rather loaded at the "soft recoil end".  I'm gonna bump it up a little and run some tests.

[dapribek]

Sounds good, glad it is a simple fix!

[dbgeek]

Let us know what you think - These 380EZ's seems like they hit the right spot for size/capability.

[fstbandit]

I was gonna say I only heard about some people with the last round stuff. I shot and have sold quite a few of these and have never heard anything bad about them. Glad you found the fix.

 

[Swede45]

Just bought one for my wife yesterday, stopped by club and ran 200 federal thru it.  No issues whatsoever.  Shoots great.  First gun she actually really loves.  Wants to go back to range soon.  My only complaint, other than being .380, is mag release needs stronger spring.  Seems like it releases with slight touch.

i actually like it.

[Hi-Power Jack]

On ‎9‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 3:06 PM, jim6918 said:

 

  It has to be the reloads aren't hot enough.  

 

Could be, but other possibilities are :

 

1.  lubrication (inadequate)

 

2.  limp wristing (my Grandson's girlfriend kept having FTF's with my BHP with

      reloads that I've used for decades.   My Grandson and I did NOT have any

      FTF's with the same load/gun at the same time).

 

Not trying to talk you out of bumping up the power and powder, but there are

other possibilities     

[PacMan]

I bought one and as what I normally do with my own guns, I ran the first 200 rds of full power factory ammo without any additional lubrication, right out of the box.  Found out it did not like weak stuff even factory loads.  This gun is for defensive purpose so it better run with hot loads, and exactly what it liked, defensive loads JHPs.

[synchronicity]

On Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 6:30 AM, Swede45 said:

Just bought one for my wife yesterday, stopped by club and ran 200 federal thru it.  No issues whatsoever.  Shoots great.  First gun she actually really loves.  Wants to go back to range soon.  My only complaint, other than being .380, is mag release needs stronger spring.  Seems like it releases with slight touch.

i actually like it.

 

 

After spending an afternoon at a couple stores with large pistol walls I handed my wife an EZ.  It was the only pistol that her arthritic

hands could rack.  She loves it.  It is the first pistol that she has ever shown an interest in and she loves it.  She is currently wearing

out the owners manual and getting comfortable with the basic mechanics.  Today we introduced snap caps.  I will break the gun in

and let her get her first few shots in, but then I intend to turn her over to a female trainer that I met at an IDPA match.  My wife would

fit in Super Senior.  I picked up a couple of extra mags and am looking for a holster and would try it in BUG IDPA.

I bought the one without the manual safety.

[Nadia]

On 10/22/2018 at 7:10 AM, PacMan said:

I bought one and as what I normally do with my own guns, I ran the first 200 rds of full power factory ammo without any additional lubrication, right out of the box.  Found out it did not like weak stuff even factory loads.  This gun is for defensive purpose so it better run with hot loads, and exactly what it liked, defensive loads JHPs.

Can somebody please explain to me what "hot" loads is? I took my new 380 Shield EZ to the range with CCI Blazer 95 gr. FMJ ammo, and most of the time didn't fire AT ALL. And the few times it fired, it didn't eject the shell, or the shell got stuck vertically as it was trying to eject. What ammo should I use? Thank you so much in advance.

[mpom]

I would contact S&W and ask for a prepaid shipping label, as this is not normal. My EZ functions just fine with Blazer 95 gr FMJ ammo.

Mark

[mwx40x40]

Been training a Lady recently with one of these and for the most part seems like a decent gun. However, the one issue we have run into is this gun has manual safety and I have been training her to run it like a 1911 with thumb on top of safety. With this grip she has had multiple times Gun would not fire because grip safety not depressed. Goes against my my normal train of thought to grip with thumb below safety and she was not receptive to modding grip safety. 

 

[hidingout]

purchased one of these for my wife and right out of the box stove piping and jamming issues. i just sent it back to s&w so hopefully when it returns it will operate 

properly. 

[FirstTimeOwner]

On 10/1/2019 at 10:27 AM, Nadia said:

Can somebody please explain to me what "hot" loads is? I took my new 380 Shield EZ to the range with CCI Blazer 95 gr. FMJ ammo, and most of the time didn't fire AT ALL. And the few times it fired, it didn't eject the shell, or the shell got stuck vertically as it was trying to eject. What ammo should I use? Thank you so much in advance.

 

We just purchased this last week, and are having the exact same issues...maybe there was a bad batch of them or something!!  I even got video of a live round stovepipe in the MIDDLE of a magazine, instead of the end like most were complaining of earlier.  On first 50-60 rounds, we'd be lucky to get 2 rounds off in a row without having to manually eject the spent shell.  Not pleased with the reliability so far...

[AverageJoeShooting]

I bought one and loved it so much that I bought one for my wife and my mom

 

No issues with any of the three 

[Sean990]

Three months ago I just purchased my 380 EZ Shield and now I'm having problems with my hammer being in the wrong position to remove the slide doesn't seem to have any problems with a gun functioning but I was wondering if anybody else had an issue like this and if they know how to fix it this is my first semi-auto I've had revolvers most of my life or rifles and I'm not used to all the internal moving Springs in mechanisms I haven't been able to find a way two set the spring so that the hammer Cox properly if somebody else has anything I could try before I send it in I would love to hear it

[CaptLarry]

On 9/17/2018 at 4:48 PM, dbgeek said:

Let us know what you think - These 380EZ's seems like they hit the right spot for size/capability.

I have numerous guns 9mm, 380’s, etc.  I can honestly say, this gun is awesome..I bought is for my wife who is 70, has weak hand strength, but has no problem racking this 380. We ran 100 rounds thru it today. Not a stoppage, stovepipe, jam, or misfire. Although, a little bigger than a pocket gun, LCP ll, 380 Bodyguard, this gun can be CC with ease. Price is right as well, although I bought it at a gun show. Saved a little there, but even retail is about $450..

[CaptLarry]

On 10/14/2019 at 10:32 PM, FirstTimeOwner said:

 

We just purchased this last week, and are having the exact same issues...maybe there was a bad batch of them or something!!  I even got video of a live round stovepipe in the MIDDLE of a magazine, instead of the end like most were complaining of earlier.  On first 50-60 rounds, we'd be lucky to get 2 rounds off in a row without having to manually eject the spent shell.  Not pleased with the reliability so far...

I have an idea, perhaps the beaver tail safety is not fully depressed. Just a thought. 

[CaptLarry]

I have an idea, perhaps the Beavertail safety is not fully depressed. Just a thought. Good luck

[YeahGo]

I suppose this thread may be a bit old by now.  Bought a Smith 380 EZ Sept 2020.  I tried 4 different factory loads.  Rem UMC, Wolf Gold, Hornady Critical Defense, CCI Blazer, most bullets 90 - 95 grain.  Except for a few Hornady Critical Defense rounds, all failed to eject, so after about 50 rounds total, I quit testing.  I took the gun apart, applied 600 grit diamond paste to the rails, hammer, trigger sear, anything that has contact (you can find diamond paste on Amazon and other places) reassembled, and cycled the action manually about 400 times, taking the gun apart every 200 cycles to reapply paste.  Take the gun apart, clean, apply 1,000 grit paste, work the actually manually again about 600 times, taking the gun apart and reapplying paste every couple hundred rounds.  The gun is amazingly easy to disassemble, takes about 15 seconds.  This might sound like it took a lot of time, but it went pretty quick, you can cycle the action hundreds of times in a matter of a few minutes.

 

I also removed the barrel assembly (flip the slide upside down, falls out in your hand) and scrubbed the barrel and firing chamber out with gun solvent, and used a rotary cloth buffer that I put some tape around as a marker to make sure it didn't go too far into the chamber and touch the rifling, and then used 1,000 grit paste to polish the firing chamber with a drill for about 2 minutes, and also lightly polished the feed ramp by hand.

Examine the magazines, and push the follower down to the base of the mag, looking for any point where the follower in the mag "catches" and keep cycling the mag follower at any point where it felt "rough" until it smoothed out.

I then loaded 7 dummy rounds (no primer or powder) and kept stuffing them into the magazine and cycling the action manually again, ejecting every round until magazine empty, reload, do it again.  I did that about 500 times.

 

Clean everything thoroughly one last time, apply gun oil, retest firing the commercial ammo mentioned above.  This might seem like a lot of work, but with the ammo shortage and current prices, it seemed a lot faster and cheaper way to "break in" the action on the gun.  Everything ejected as it was supposed to.  300 rounds later, not a single malfunction, and with no intermittent cleaning/oiling.  Except the Wolf Gold JHPs, those chronographed at a pretty slow velocity and appears it still doesn't enough energy to action the slide, about half the Wolf rounds still failed to eject.

 

At this point, I'm happy with the gun and consider it very reliable.  I plan on handloading self-defense loads to about 240 - 250 ft lbs energy with the 90 grain HP (in my case, Sierra Sportsmasters), there are some reloading manuals that show optimal velocity powders that are low/moderate flash powders that can reach that level without appearing to go into "+P" range.

[mpssrh]

@ YeahGo

Enjoyed reading your interesting/informative post about your use of diamond paste. I would think that it took considerable courage (perhaps frustration was also a factor) to do this. 

 

Brief questions about the process/results, if I may:

 

1) How much of the diamond paste did you apply (and reapply) to the rails, chamber, and other components? Was it just a very light coat?

2) When you finished the process, was there any noticeable difference in the side-to-frame fit? If so, how much?

3) Did you have to completely disassemble (detail strip) the pistol in order to apply the diamond paste to the hammer, trigger, etc.?

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

[YeahGo]

I used a very light application of the diamond paste.  There's numerous vendors, the product I ordered was named "Tech diamond tools polishing compound" I believe.  I'd already tried firing some rounds and had worked the slide manually, so it wasn't difficult to see some of the wear points already starting however faint.  The grit I was using was fine enough to create no difference I could detect in slide to frame fit although I wouldn't want to overdo it with 600 grit, even though that's still a very fine grit, but 1,000, 1,200 or 1,500 or smaller probably better if you're going to work the action very much.  I began with 600 as a limited STARTING place, similar to removing chatter marks on the inside of a defective manufactured barrel by hand lapping (or fire lapping with lead bullets and very fine lapping compound using a kit like Neco's - sorry, getting off topic).  I only did basic disassembly as outlined in the manual, and used a swab and toothpick to apply paste in hard t reach areas.  

 

Although I have factory ammo that I've listed above, I plan to load self defense rounds myself using RP cases (for limited use, practice rounds will be more like 3.0 - 3.2 grains), mag primers, W231 powder and Sierra Sport Master 90 gr JHP bullets.  I shouldn't list load data because there can be liability concerns, but if a person works up their loads gradually and start with much lower beginning powder charges, I found I was able to chronograph about 1,060 fps and about 225 ft lbs energy using 4.1 grains of W231.  The Smith EZ is a locked breech design that can influence both felt recoil and the concerns around the strength of the slide spring.  These were chrono'd in 75 degree weather.  You can't use primer observation considering the much lower pressure levels the 380 was intended to operate with, so I had to inspect the cases and use the chronograph to help gauge.  380 load data can be all over the page, most loads with that bullet weight and powder recommend a max of 3.2 to 3.6 grains, but the various Speer manuals often show 4.0 grs W231 with their 90 grain Gold Dot bullet, but again, I hope no one intends to start there.  The Ballistics101 site does a pretty good job of listing the performance specs that they claim (testing often shows less) for a lot of the commercial ammo, and some of the hotter ammo claims to exceed the specs I listed above considerably, many in the alleged "+P" range.

 

I use undersize dies (about .003 under standard, Lee sells them for the 380) and the Lee bulge buster to help ensure no failure to load considering the lightweight slide spring, although some folks would probably consider that overkill, I do so to help assure the cases are something very close to new factory case specs, and a light crimp on the bullet seated to standard COL.  I mostly use RCBS small base dies (undersize) for the semi-auto rifle cartridges I load but I already had the Lee 380 4 die kit that had the factory crimp die that mates up with the bulge buster as the required die.

[Ohvall]

I am a little surprised that some of the 380 EZ Shield pistols are not cycling properly.  Mine has run 100% in limited testing and it feels undersprung.  I was thinking that adding about 2-3 pounds to the recoil spring would make it a bit less "EZ" to rack but also softer shooting.

 

Further testing will have to wait until I can switch my reloading press over from 9mm to .380.  I'm not going to pay $1.50/round panic prices for factory ammo!