Fail to Fire S&W M&P

[Boats]

Had a couple of FTF's with my new M&P L both times with Winchester White Box 9mm. Friend of mine had the same thing with Blazer in a M&P pro. I also have a M&P 9 C that has never failed to fire. At least 2000 rounds through the compact gun WWBox and handloads.

Looking at the dud loads and cases that fired propery does not seem to be much of a primer indentation. My routine is to use Handoads pratice and factory match. Handloads I use Remington small pistol primers. I believe Remington primers are soft, in fact use them in a target rifle that is speed locked and has a weak hammer fall. The Remingtons go off everytime while CCI's will not. Could be why I have not had any problem with handloads in this pistol. Have to shoot a few test loads to compare primer indentation M&P L vs M&P C.

Anybody know anything about the hammer fall in M&P's

Boats

[High Lord Gomer]

My M&P9 went 30,000 rounds on the original striker assembly without any failues to fire. I put a new striker assembly in "just because" and have not had any problems with that one, either.

I would take the striker assembly out and see if there is anything obviously wrong with it. If not, clean, lube, reassemble, and test.

[Lee King]

Clean the striker channel. There is probably brass shavings accumulating in there. My wife's gun has that problem. Not sure what causes it. Maybe striker dragging on the brass. But I have to clean hers every few hundred rounds. Don't use a lot of lube in the channel. It makes it worse.

[NoSteel]

Pull the striker and check it. There have been some early issues with broken strikers. If not, then clean striker assm and channel. When re-installing use NO lube. Dirt, built up lube will cause weak hits of the striker. At most I use WD40 to clean and lubricate insure that I left only a slight film. Have had no FTF in either my M&P 9 or my M&P Pro in 3000 rnds.

[mike cyrwus]

+1

no lube in striker channel

for what its worth, wwb seems to be good for 1-3 light strikes per 1km no matter the gun.

[ben b.]

A gummy chamber or out of round ammo will also cause light strikes. If the round doesn't fully seat, the slide's not fully closed, & striker moves the round forward sapping energy from the strike.

I'd check the striker and channel, but also pull the barrel and case gauge a box or two of the ammo with it.

[Boats]

Thanks will look into all these problems. I have about 20 rounds left from that box of WW ammo. Think I am going to fire 5 from each of 3 or 4 9mm's and look at the primer indent first. Could be something obvious in the M&PL strike compared to others.

Pistol is new with 300-400 rounds or more through it. Don't suspect dirt or too much oil but you never know

Will post result once fixed

Boats

[FLG8R]

Had a similar problem with mine but its a .40 cal. Thought it was some of the reloaded ammo so I switched back to factory WWB and still had problems. Cleaned the pistol, checked the striker, etc. Finally called S&W, and they told me to send it back. When I did it only took a week and they sent it back with an entire New replacement slide, striker, and barrel I called to ask what required the change, and they only told me that it was an easier fix just to replace the entire upper assembly than any one problem solving solution. She shoots fine now, but never really had an answer.

flg8r

[Flexmoney]

I thought I just read on another forum where a guy had similar troubles with new M&P's...the long slide version. I'll check that out and report back.

[Flexmoney]

This excerpt is from John H. and is a review of his experience with taking the course at the Rogers School:

My buddy, who was shooting S&W M&P's was not so lucky. He had planned on brining two Performance Center M&P Pros. One of the guns had to go back to S&W before the course, so he only came with one pistol. That M&P did not last the first day of the course as it would not reliably ignite primers and was replaced with a borrowed, stock M&P. That pistol had several failures throughout the course related to ejection. My buddy has now sold all of his M&Ps and is now trying Glock 34's. It was observed by more than one person that the M&P may not be ready for "prime time."

[NoSteel]

Sounds like someone who doesn't like M&P's wrote that review. I have had 0 problems with mine feeding it Wolf, CCI aluminum, WWB, Remington, and 3 different handloads..... 0FTF's... If it does have a problem from what I've seen on the M&P Forum I know S&W will take care of it....

[Boats]

Am sure S&W would take care of it, But in a lot of years shooting competition have seen most guns fail at some time. I make it a point to know how to fix simple stuff my self. What with expense to drive to matches I need to be able to keep them running. This pistol is new to me but does not look real complicated.

Am going to check the primer indent using the same ammo see if the offending gun strikes light then look for the cause. Have not figured this one out yet but most FTFire is ammo, next gummy strike from too much oil around the pin compounded by dirt. Then broken firing pin sapping some of the energy of the hammers fall. Then weak springs. Will post once figured out. I still suspect the ammo is the problem.

Boats

[Boats]

I got anxious and took it apart without any test of cartridges. The firing pin was gritty and dry, no lube at all. Squirted some carb cleaner on it and blew the whole thing clean with my air hose. Re-assembled and lubed sparingly with two drops of Mobil 1. It's much smoother now, I don't believe in lube around triggers hammers or firing pins but this one seems to need it. Will try running it lubed for a while to see what happens. In all my years of Goverment model shooting never had to do this. Guess new guns need new tricks. Now that I know it's clean will look for any acculamation of brass or grit around the pin. May be a clue

Plan run a couple of hundred rounds through the pistol before our next club match. Thanks all for the good advice.

Boats

Edited November 21, 2008 by Boats

[Boats]

To wind this up took the cleaned M&P L, M&P C and my old BHP and fired 5 shots each with cartridges out of the same box that had the FTF. Kept the cases seperate and had the dud round from the match.

Back home using a small glass looked at all the primer indents. You can tell the cases from the High Power easialy. two M&P's hardly any difference. if they were mixed they could not be seperated by gun. All the M&P indents were good and showed no problems. Going back to the dud load it was light looking but duds usualy are. When the cartridge fires it increases the indent.

My opinion was it was a dud load. While the M&P L did have crud in the striker assembly , nothing that should have held the pin back enough to cause a missfire. Could have all been a waste of time, but know I know all about strikers in M&P's and still believe any firearm can missfire and you need to know how to clear them properly.

Boats

[saibot]

I just read about a person having the same issue with his and fixed it with a new recoil spring.

http://mp-pistol.com/boards/index.php?s=&a...st&p=174578

Note. You have to be logged in to view.

Hope this helps.

[hartzpad]

Yep, I saw that post after I had stovepipes on my new M&P Pro last week. Ordered a new guide rod and a 13 lb. recoil spring. We'll see if this cures it.