[MADMAX22]

OK so my girlfriend took her firearm class today (given at the gunrange Im a member of) since its her first gun an all and I dont want to teach her my bad habits yet. This was the first time shooting her new MP9c since buying it new.



Few issues



1.) The rounds when ejected fly up and back, they were hitting her in teh shoulder and when I fired it were allmost hitting me in the face. My MP40 (standard) ejects to the right and high like they should.



2.) When she was shooting it it would either not fully eject the spent brass so you get the stove pipe going on or it wouid eject the brass but not load the next round all the way. It would stick about part way before chambering so the slide would be back about 1/4" to 1/2" or so.



Now this only happened when she shot it. I put about 4 full clips thru it and it shot fine (with good accuracy I may add) so I am assuming maybe shes barely hitting the slide with her thumb. I even tried to limpwrist it by holding the gun just hard enough to keep ahold of it and firing several shots. I need to shoot it some more but I am thinking this is the issue.



3.) Now also the rotating take down lever doestn like to stay down. I can get it to stay down but it is like right on the edge of flipping abck up. My 40 doesnt do this, you slide it down and it stays down unless you put some good force on it.



Of these issues I am mainly concerned with the ejection part since the others I think are her shooting method and the third isnt too important. I know there was a thread on the ejection of brass but I didnt see it.



Thanks, and other then that it shot fine for me and was very very accurate. We were only doing 10yds or so for training but I was still impressed.

 

[choochboost]

Right off the back I'm think of two things. It still needs to break in, and your woman is limp wristing. Its possible there might be a slight issue but so far those are the usual suspects based on your description.

 

[MADMAX22]

Thanks for the quick reply, I gotta go and shoot again with her and get a closer look at what shes doing when shes shooting it allthough I dont think that limpwristing is a issue with these guns (IMHO) but I could be very wrong.



Would it be possible to have her barely touching the slide but not really feel it. I would have never thought of this until reading some threads here.



Any thoughts on the brass ejecting straight back though

 

[ToddG]

OK so my girlfriend took her firearm class today (given at the gunrange Im a member of)

Dude, let me stop you right there. You deserve a frakking MEDAL for sending her to a class rather than trying to do it yourself. No matter how much a guy knows or how well he teaches, trying to provide basic/initial firearms training to a girlfriend or wife almost always leads to more bad than good. The percentage of guys who have enough self-confidence to let someone else teach their women to shoot is small. Good on you!

1.) The rounds when ejected fly up and back, they were hitting her in teh shoulder and when I fired it were allmost hitting me in the face. My MP40 (standard) ejects to the right and high like they should.

This is probably a combination of relatively weak practice ammo and a gun that hasn't been broken in yet, combined possibly with a less than perfect grip (though a gun should still work right even if the grip isn't perfect). As long as it's running properly, I wouldn't get too worried about it until there have been 300-500 rounds through the gun. Hopefully, it will go away by then. Also, if you haven't, make sure the gun has been properly lubed.

2.) When she was shooting it it would either not fully eject the spent brass so you get the stove pipe going on or it wouid eject the brass but not load the next round all the way. It would stick about part way before chambering so the slide would be back about 1/4" to 1/2" or so.



Now this only happened when she shot it. I put about 4 full clips thru it and it shot fine (with good accuracy I may add) so I am assuming maybe shes barely hitting the slide with her thumb. I even tried to limpwrist it by holding the gun just hard enough to keep ahold of it and firing several shots. I need to shoot it some more but I am thinking this is the issue.

She may be impeding the slide, but it's more likely she is holding the gun too high in her hand, it should fit down low and as snug against her hand as possible. Make sure the beavertail is in contact with the web between her thumb and index finger. Again, this problem is probably exacerbated by a combination of light standard-pressure ammunition and the gun's need to break in a bit. However, the gun has to work for her in her hands or it's all a moot point. Make sure her grip is good and that she's not flinching the gun backwards with the recoil. If she still has problems after that 300-500 rounds, the gun should be sent back to Smith.

3.) Now also the rotating take down lever doestn like to stay down. I can get it to stay down but it is like right on the edge of flipping abck up. My 40 doesnt do this, you slide it down and it stays down unless you put some good force on it.

Are you saying it tries to rotate out of position during normal firing? Assuming this isn't caused by your grip (which it probably isn't since your 40c is the exact same size and configuration) then there is definitely something SNAFU'd with your pistol.



If it's just a matter of the lever trying to spring back into position when the gun is disassembled, I wouldn't worry about it overmuch. Perhaps Dan B. or David B. could provide better technical advice on that!

 

[MADMAX22]

Thanks a bunch, as for the take down lever its while cleaning that it wants to flip back up. Just not use to it is all hence not a big concern.



I think Ill jsut work with her on the grip and fire a bunch of more rounds thru it. We were shooting the federal UMC stuff put 100 rounds thru it. As I stated I put several rounds thru it without issue.



Thanks for the input guys.

 

[sholling]

Thanks a bunch, as for the take down lever its while cleaning that it wants to flip back up. Just not use to it is all hence not a big concern.

My M&P45 does exactly the same thing. If I don't hold it while sliding the slide off it was jam up solid as a rock. I haven't looked into it any deeper yet because it does not effect function, but I will.

 

[MADMAX22]

Well just to update and clear up a few issues.



Since we have had this gun the only issues were the first night of firing when the girlfriend was shooting it. I have since put several hundred rounds (300 or so ) thru it without a single missfire. She has been shooting with the gun twice since then and put another 250 -350 rounds thru it without a single missifre. Whatever she was doing she isnt any more.



The gun works great and is dead nuts accurate.

 

[phred]

Glad to hear that the problems sorted themselves out. 1 of my 2 M&P 9's does the same thing regarding the takedown lever, its kind of annoying, but I just work around it when field stripping the gun.

 

[halfcrazy]

my 40c's take down lever used to do that but after 2000 ronds and several cleanings it seams to have broken in and works fine