Here's the latest...
Here's the latest in my personal ongoing mag drop saga.
I received my 9 and 40 Compacts back from S&W for the mag drop problem earlier this week. It was the first return to the factory for my 9C and 2nd time for my 40C for this defect. The enclosed repair notes stated that they replaced the mag catch on both of them as the only work performed. Well, I finally took them out to the range today and had the following results:
9C - Shot 50 rounds of my defensive ammo (Gold Dot 124 Grn +P), along with 100 rounds of WWB (Winchester White Box) 115 Grn FMJ and had no failures of any kind. It performed as flawlessly as when I first shot it out of the box. However, I still am lacking the confidence to carry it as my CCW weapon again for the forseeable future due to the fact that I didn't experience the mag drop problem with this pistol until I put several hundred rounds through it, and moreover due to following:
40C - Shot one full magazine of WWB 165 Grn FMJ successfully, then attempted to shoot a magazine of my defensive ammo (Gold Dot 165 Grn JHP) and only got through two rounds before the mag popped out.
From that point on, it would pop out the mag approximately every other round, even with the WWB ammo. I used the same grip as I did with my 9C, with thumbs high and no where close to hitting the mag release button.
So, here I am again, just like Groundhog Day, with my 40C good for nothing other than a paper weight just like it was three weeks ago. As I prepare myself for the inevitable call to S&W tomorrow to get the return mailer to send it back for a third time for the same problem, I'm unfortunately almost beyond any inclination to ever use these pistols for CCW. I'm now of the opinion that the design of the M&P's mag catch seems to be on a razor thin margin of working reliably 100% of the time.
I believe that this will be the last time that I send my 40C back for this problem. My patience has hit its limit...I have other more important things to worry about. If I get my 40C back without a replacement frame and/or a permanent and robust fix for this problem, I'm dumping it.
I must say though, I'm very happy with my S&W 642 revolver I just bought to use for my CCW instead. I'm inclined to have 5 shots of 100% reliability as opposed to just one.
Here's the latest in my personal ongoing mag drop saga.
I received my 9 and 40 Compacts back from S&W for the mag drop problem earlier this week. It was the first return to the factory for my 9C and 2nd time for my 40C for this defect. The enclosed repair notes stated that they replaced the mag catch on both of them as the only work performed. Well, I finally took them out to the range today and had the following results:
9C - Shot 50 rounds of my defensive ammo (Gold Dot 124 Grn +P), along with 100 rounds of WWB (Winchester White Box) 115 Grn FMJ and had no failures of any kind. It performed as flawlessly as when I first shot it out of the box. However, I still am lacking the confidence to carry it as my CCW weapon again for the forseeable future due to the fact that I didn't experience the mag drop problem with this pistol until I put several hundred rounds through it, and moreover due to following:
40C - Shot one full magazine of WWB 165 Grn FMJ successfully, then attempted to shoot a magazine of my defensive ammo (Gold Dot 165 Grn JHP) and only got through two rounds before the mag popped out.

So, here I am again, just like Groundhog Day, with my 40C good for nothing other than a paper weight just like it was three weeks ago. As I prepare myself for the inevitable call to S&W tomorrow to get the return mailer to send it back for a third time for the same problem, I'm unfortunately almost beyond any inclination to ever use these pistols for CCW. I'm now of the opinion that the design of the M&P's mag catch seems to be on a razor thin margin of working reliably 100% of the time.
I believe that this will be the last time that I send my 40C back for this problem. My patience has hit its limit...I have other more important things to worry about. If I get my 40C back without a replacement frame and/or a permanent and robust fix for this problem, I'm dumping it.
I must say though, I'm very happy with my S&W 642 revolver I just bought to use for my CCW instead. I'm inclined to have 5 shots of 100% reliability as opposed to just one.