M&p Warranty Issues

[EricW]

I asked S&W point blank and was told flat out that owners would be able to buy parts to service their pistols. The liability argument doesn't wash for various reasons I won't bother to go into.

Guns for which there are no parts and no mags have little to no marketability in the competition arena. I'm not sure which part of that confuses people, but just in case it wasn't clear the first 3247 times I said it, there it is again.

If I can't have a baggie of common spare parts in my range bag, I have exactly zero motivation to shoot a particular manufacturer's pistol in Production division - the whole point of which was that it was a low-cost-of-entry division. If Production shooters have to maintain two identical pistols, they might as well just go buy a used Limited pistol and a baggie of spares and be done with it. And yes, I have called both Springfield and Smith and Wesson and pointed this financial reality out. Clearly, neither one is terribly concerned about the competitive market. I think their only interest in competitive shooting is to market their wares to non-competitive shooters.

[smokshwn]

Eric +1

[Vlad]

I asked S&W point blank and was told flat out that owners would be able to buy parts to service their pistols.

So .. maybe they could print out a memo or something and pin it the cube walls in their phone support land? 'Cause it sure seems like that policy hasn't trickled down to those who might actually ship out a part to a customer.

[EricW]

I asked S&W point blank and was told flat out that owners would be able to buy parts to service their pistols.

So .. maybe they could print out a memo or something and pin it the cube walls in their phone support land? 'Cause it sure seems like that policy hasn't trickled down to those who might actually ship out a part to a customer.

I've seen everything I ever need to see that nothing will ever change inside S&W - so long as it's union and based east of the Mississippi. This is the 3rd gen pistol all over again: the right pistol with all the wrong people manufacturing and supporting it.

[This is in no way meant to disparage J-Go or the person who I chatted with inside S&W. The person I spoke to was on all the right sides of the issues.]

[RIIID]

Competition shooters are probably less one percent of any major gun manufacture annual sales, excluding S_I. Look at the numbers over 50,000 membership numbers and less than 15,000 active members. Now that's a HUGE market to cater to?

When companies launch new models like the M&P and the XD maybe it is in the companies best interest to find out if the are problems. By selling parts to the public they have no idea if there is a problem that needs attention unless the customer sends the gun in for repair.

If you didn't hear it the first 3248(Eric ) times, gun companies are in the gun selling business not in the parts business. When guns that are selling as fast as they can be produced every part that is sold is one less gun that can't be sold. Some companies are content with flooding the market with spare parts because they don't want to be bothered with warranty repairs. Now that's the attitude from a company I want to buy a gun from.

Give it some time.

Rich

[R/T Performance]

Three strikers in one thread and they actually believe that LE agencies would purchase this piece of *something*.

SA may not be willing to sell XD parts to people but if something breaks you can get a replacement without having to get an act of congress passed. The only thing in my XD that has busted was the roll pin but I had one the next day overnight from them.

The gun was looking really nice for a while and I liked the feel of it but until this crap is cleared up, my safe will be minus one M&P.

Ampleworks,

Thanks for your input.

After reading your post, I called customer service at Springfield.

I was told by the nice lady that strikers for the XD were on the

"do not ship list".

You can not buy one, they will not ship you one under warranty.

For striker replacement, the gun must be shipped to SA.

I guess both S&W and SA veiw strikers differently from roll pins

which you can buy at Home Depot for about a $1.00.

Just trying to keep the XD apples compared to M&P apples.

If we are comparing apples.

XD strikers do not break

Roll pins yes

Factory recooils yes

Cracked locking blocks a few(But they seem to rush this repair)Mine took about 1.5 weeks door to door.

Mp looks great but I won't be buying one soon

[EricW]

Rich,

My issue is that competition shooters are over 75% of *my* market and S&W called and asked me to develop grips for their new pistol. I'm happy to do it, but they need to support the competition market on their end to make it financially viable for me. I agreed to do it based on verbal assurances that people wouldn't go through this kind of rigamarole. And if S&W isn't planning to support competition shooters, it shouldn't be sponsoring competiton shooters shooting IPSC, IDPA and the like. It's almost false advertising in a way. The top dogs get to run an M&P....but the catch is that they're able to do so because they're getting "service" that Joe or Jill Shooter doesn't have available to them.

E

[chp5]

S&W - like SA - says that it will sell "parts"- - but has a list of parts that are "controlled" (i.e., not for sale).

I hope that Ernest L. and Julie G. will influence S&W's parts policy to be friendly to the competitive shooter.

However, as Rich points out, competitive shooters are a small percentage of the firearms market.

[vluc]

However, as Rich points out, competitive shooters are a small percentage of the firearms market.

And race car drivers are a small percentage of the car market, yet modifications and testing in that competitive market find its way to the street for joe and jane driver.

[Bigbadaboom]

Three strikers in one thread and they actually believe that LE agencies would purchase this piece of *something*.

SA may not be willing to sell XD parts to people but if something breaks you can get a replacement without having to get an act of congress passed. The only thing in my XD that has busted was the roll pin but I had one the next day overnight from them.

The gun was looking really nice for a while and I liked the feel of it but until this crap is cleared up, my safe will be minus one M&P.

I did a hate rant over this and deleted it but I'll clear the air real quick about S.A.

The sear in my .40 Tactical XD slips off the striker if I seat a mag too hard. I called S.A. and asked them to please send me replacement parts and I will install the as I am a competent gunsmith. I even told them I would buy the parts so i could fix my own gun. They lady told me they do not sell or ship strikers or sears for the XD. I asked why they have this inane policy and she replied "There are liability issues." Liability issues? What liability issues? Is the S.A. XD some super special gun that has some super special liabilty issues that no other firearm has including S.A.'s other firearms. I told her that I have about 6-7 M1A sears and firing pins produced by S.A. that I bought from Brownells so why doesn't the M1A have "liability issues"? Why are Sig, Ruger, STI, SV, Glock, Para, CZ, Browning, Bushmaster, Colt, Armilite, and many other firearms manuacturers able to sell and ship fire control parts but S.A. can't sell them for the XD? I would have had more respect for S.A. if they had told me "We want our custom shop to have a monopoly on doing trigger jobs on the XD's". At least then they would have been being truthful.

I, personally, will never buy another S.A. product again. If S&W says something like this I'll react the same way.

Edited June 29, 2006 by Bigbadaboom

[chp5]

+1 Bigbadaboom!!

I hope S&W doesn't follow SA's lead in this area!

I like the M&P, but until then, I'll stick with a Glock

Although, if Rich started doing trigger jobs on the M&P, I would be tempeted . . .

Edited June 29, 2006 by chp5

[j2fast]

[Drift Mode On]

Although, if Rich started doing trigger jobs on the M&P, I would be tempeted . . .

I don't in any way speak for Rich but I've seen it mentioned on the XD board that he may be looking at doing at least trigger work on the M&P's. This may be even less factual but I think I may have read he has an M&P in the shop.

Disclaimer: The is 2nd hand info from another board, don't take as fact...

[Drift Mode OFF]

Back on Topic...

SA's parts policy had some effect on me buying a limited gun and going that direction after initially shooting an XD in Production. I had actually planned getting M&P then shooting it in USPSA once it's PD approved but.....

Edited June 29, 2006 by j2fast

[raz-0]

Well i contacted S&W support about my striker. Since i want the extended slide release, I didn't argue about sending it in. However rearding a spar striker, I had a conversation with them regarding having a spare if dry fire is going to shear of your striker if i was going to shoot it competitively with it.

They said to note that i needed a spare along with the rest of the issues in a note upon return and they would take care of it.

So we'll see if it is passing the buck or if they will follow through.

[Rob Boudrie]

I spoke to a S&W technical service person about this over the weekend. He was not in the office so he could not give me the info on specific parts (he'll follow with me via email), however, he told me there are a couple reasons some parts are restricted sale.

Some parts require fitting, and are not "drop in." Other parts may come in several variants (different dimensions) and/or require checking specific part in the gun to make sure the individual specimin is suitable for that gun. [ I can hear the whirring and Eli Whitney spins in his grave ]. These parts are available to factory warrantee stations and police departments (which generally have factory trained armorers on staff).

So, it appears there is a rational reason for this approach.

[Nik Habicht]

Reasonable approach, as long as S&W will be willing to sell and fit several of those parts to the gun in question, so the shooter can have spares.

[RIIID]

Bigbadaboom,

Did you send your XD back to Springfield so they could fix it for free under warranty?

Rich

[Bigbadaboom]

Bigbadaboom,

Did you send your XD back to Springfield so they could fix it for free under warranty?

Rich

No!

It's setting in my safe because I'm not going to spend $80.00 to ship it express air, overnight when they could send me the parts for $5.00 shipping and let me put them in. I'll probably sell the gun for about $350.00 and let someone else get it fixed.

[R/T Performance]

Bigbadaboom,

Did you send your XD back to Springfield so they could fix it for free under warranty?

Rich

No!

It's setting in my safe because I'm not going to spend $80.00 to ship it express air, overnight when they could send me the parts for $5.00 shipping and let me put them in. I'll probably sell the gun for about $350.00 and let someone else get it fixed.

I might need a back up if you decide to sell pm me.

[1911user]

Bigbadaboom,

Did you send your XD back to Springfield so they could fix it for free under warranty?

Rich

No!

It's setting in my safe because I'm not going to spend $80.00 to ship it express air, overnight when they could send me the parts for $5.00 shipping and let me put them in. I'll probably sell the gun for about $350.00 and let someone else get it fixed.

Just so I'm clear on this, springfield will not pay for shipping either way for a warranty repair on a part they refuse to sell? Is there an option to send it to a gunsmith instead of the springfield factory?

S&W will at least send a shipping tag (prepaid) for warranty issues.

Edited July 12, 2006 by 1911user

[TxD]

I have been away from this computer for a while but,

here is is a follow up to my original post on the broken striker in the M&P9.

As previously stated, S&W will not sell a striker at this time, however many other M&P

parts are available.

I didn't go through a long list with them, but for example, you can buy a sear, which seemed a little strange to me.

Why a sear and not a striker?

To cut a long story short, I am very pleased with the warranty service in this case.

I received the gun back repaired, exactly 8 working days from the time of my first

call to S&W. This included 3 days to get the prepaid shipping label and 2 days of

actual shipping time. The gun was in and out of the shop in 3 days.

My total cost: 1 gallon of gas = $2.80

Now, if they would just reimburse me for that.

[R/T Performance]

I have been away from this computer for a while but,

here is is a follow up to my original post on the broken striker in the M&P9.

As previously stated, S&W will not sell a striker at this time, however many other M&P

parts are available.

I didn't go through a long list with them, but for example, you can buy a sear, which seemed a little strange to me.

Why a sear and not a striker?

To cut a long story short, I am very pleased with the warranty service in this case.

I received the gun back repaired, exactly 8 working days from the time of my first

call to S&W. This included 3 days to get the prepaid shipping label and 2 days of

actual shipping time. The gun was in and out of the shop in 3 days.

My total cost: 1 gallon of gas = $2.80

Now, if they would just reimburse me for that.

Congrats glad they took good care of you

Edited July 12, 2006 by R/T Performance

[RIIID]

Springfield will pay shipping both ways if it is a warranty issue. If someone tinkers with the gun then the owner will pay for shipping and repair work.

I'd buy the gun for $350.00 and have SA fix it for free, what a bargain.

Rich

[Bigbadaboom]

Springfield will pay shipping both ways if it is a warranty issue. If someone tinkers with the gun then the owner will pay for shipping and repair work.

I'd buy the gun for $350.00 and have SA fix it for free, what a bargain.

Rich

Then someone at S.A. is B.S.ing me again.

When and If I decide to sell it I'll put it up here first for $350.00 and the first one to respond will get it. I'm kind of holding out in hopes that S.A. will change their policy but if they haven't by the time the M&P is production legal then the XD is gone.

[raz-0]

Ok, well if you need a spare striker, you can try a modified version of my approach. Send it in for an extended slide stop under warranty. They will cover shipping both ways.

Here's my experience. 10 business days from me handing the box to UPS and UPS handing it back. I won't bother with rating the time to get the call tag because it all coincided with the 4th of july holiday weekend which was screwed up anyway. Can't fault S&W for that.

Anyway, they replaced the slide stop with an extended slide stop. IMO this is what should be shipped on the gun. It's a good design and as far as I can tell, snag-proof.

I asked for a spare striker and a spare grip strap retention thing. They provided both. They also threw in a new magazine and a new chamber flag to boot. They also managed to get everything back to me in the case I sent it in (the original S&W case it came in).

Viewing S&W from the perspective of a retail customer, their service was outstanding.

As for selling/not selling strikers, the intention behind them not selling it is clear, and completely stupid at the same time.

They aren't selling the striker by itself, because it appears to be polished by hand. At least the spare they gave me is completely black on the bit that engages with the sear. So yeah, they wouldn't SELL me a striker because it is finished individually for each gun, but they would GIVE me an unfinished spare.

It is completely baffling, and I can't fathom their logic in the least.

The spare striker included all the plastic bits and springs as well.

[Dan Burwell]

Just last week I got S&W to sell me a few strikers, new "improved" slide stops, and some sears. So it appears they may have changed their minds or maybe I got lucky and the salesman (jeff) I spoke with did not know he wasn't supposed to sell me the strikers.

Dan