[snscott]

First, I have to stress that I have been desperately trying very very hard to like the MP40. I really, honestly have been trying.

My dad came in to town this week for Thanksgiving and since he had not been out shooting in more than a decade I offered to take him with me to continue my reliability testing. Before I report on that though, I will mention that his first comment about the MP40 was: "I don't like this trigger". (And that was the slicked up with Slide Glide version that isn't even gritty). His second comment was: "Feels like it is trying to twist or rotate in my hand when it recoils".



So, for MY MP's reliability record:



:arrow: MY MP40 began to self-eject magazines after a little more than 200 rounds. This required a trip back to S&W for a completely new frame.



:arrow: A trigger that no one who has fired it likes at all.



:arrow: Both mags have a really obnoxious rattle.



:arrow: Today I started testing it's reliability with Winchester Ranger ammo for SD use. From a thoroughly cleaned and lubed start, it did not make it through one magazine before I had a failure to feed. Round's bullet made it fully into the chamber, but the case stopped short. Like it hung up on the rim of the case. I cleared the jam, placed the same round back in the mag and it worked correctly on the second try. No more issues for the rest of the afternoon.



At this point, I have to say I do not get a "warm fuzzy" about the MP for self-defense. It has just fallen short on the "reliability scale" compared to my HK USP .45 that has not had a single hiccup after hundreds of rounds of several flavors of ammo. (My dad does not particularly like the HK trigger either, if that is any consolation). My only problem with the HK is that it is just a little too big for really comfortable concealed carry.



I love the FEEL of the MP in my hand and I love it way it LOOKS, and I know people on this forum will tell me how they have not had any problems, but if you had experienced the above, would you trust your life to THIS MP?



Based on MY personal experiences with the weapon, if someone asked me for advise on a self-defense pistol in this price range, in good conscience I would have to tell them to go with the Springfield XD and to pass on the MP. This honestly, truly saddens me.

 

[TBoliv]

How many rounds have you put through the pistol? Is it possible the pistol needs to be broken in? (Please excuse the ignorance if this is not something M&Ps need, i'm new to the platform.)



I ordered mine from Bud's this morning, should be able to start shooting in a couple weeks! Hopefully I dont have the same problems. I've heard good things about the M&P and absolutely loved the .40 I shot before.

 

[MP4ME]

 

[ClosetCaseNerd]

I would take your issues to Smith and Wesson customer service, and have the pistol fixed under warranty (yes...again). It sucks, but if the pistol isn't right, it isn't right. Have them fix it, its their job to do so.



After the issues have been addressed I would carry it after 2k consecutive problem free rounds.



I am sorry you are having problems, mine has been problem free with only 800 or so rounds through it. Hopefully the trend continues. Don't give me any of your bad juju!



Goodluck!

 

[osinious]

man that sucks....

MY M&P 9mm has not had a failure but then again neither has my Ruger P89 my dad got me when i was 19... 8 years ago. Some guns outta the thousands they make will be crap. I would ask smith and wesson if they could replace your .40 with a new one. The worst they can say is no. You will have to pay to get it registered but it shouldn't have problems. If not just keep sending it back it does have a lifetime warranty.

 

[FastSS]

Every now and then you run across a bad apple



I suspect the problems are somewhat due to faulty magazines. I've been a bit of an HK mag spring Nazi lately as I’ve been going through some issues with my HK mags. I've seen more posts on here that sound far too much like mag spring problems to be overly comfortable.



Your mention of self ejecting mags, mag rattle and feed failures all point to mag spring issues. The only 100% confirmed case of mag spring failure thus far was a friend of mine from stuffing 18 into the 17 round magazines. After a hundred or so rounds the mags got tired of the abuse.



Fully loaded, one would bind so bad the rounds got loose inside it and made an awful rattle and would jettison the magazine every now and then. If he did get it through a full mag it wouldn’t hold the slide open.



The other one just stopped feeding rounds correctly altogether.



As far as the trigger pull goes, like I said, sometimes you get a bad apple. I would demand a new weapon from S&W.



I’m so fed up with mag spring issues that I don’t even load mine back to capacity after I chamber a round. I carry a spare mag which more than makes up for it.



And FTR, HK triggers are largely an acquired taste.



If you still aren’t happy, might I suggest a USP compact? If you want something bigger there is always the P2000 and for smaller there is the P2000SK. I’m fairly happy with my USPC, its small enough that it fits in my pocket but then again I'm a fairly big dude.

 

[Jester]

Hmm, hard to say.



I would talk to smith and ask for a replacement and see what they say. You woln't have to pay anything for the xfer. When they get the pistol, they will just send out the other one as long as you are the owner. Don't know how they do it.



If you decide to sell, let me know, I'll be willing to deal with making the pistol right again.



I have 2 40s right now. 1st one has well over 10k rounds through it with the ocational problem with glock reloads(not the M&P's fault) and light primer strikes(only on reloads)



The 2nd one has 700 rounds through it with no issues, even with rangers.



Maybe talk to Dan to have a look at it, as a last resort.

 

[tire iron]

snscott,



I feel your pain. I have been in your shoes before (although not with the M&P - but with other firearms) - and even though I was able to pinpoint the problem - and fixed it - I could NEVER "warm up" to that firearm again. I eventually sold it and purchased another firearm.



I will not own a firearm that is anything less than 1,000% reliable (100 percent isn't good enogh for me - the firearm in question must go at least 1,000 rounds of ammo without any maintenance/lubrication except for the initial cleaning/lube).



If I had your M&P - I would send it back to the factory to have them fix it - then I would sell it and either get another M&P - or get something else entirely.



Hope this helps,



cheers



tire iron

 

[ysued]

How bad is your trigger??



Like Jester suggested, send the Gun back to S&W, they will either fix it to your 100% satisfaction, or give you a brand new gun!!



they are very good at this, they do want you to be 100% happy with your purchase.



Cll customer service.



Both of my 2 M&P9's work flawlessly.



Y

 

[snscott]

How bad is your trigger??

Answer: Worst I have ever personally experienced. So it strikes me as odd how many reviews I've read of the MP where the author talks about the wonderful "smooth and consistent" trigger.

send the Gun back to S&W, they will either fix it to your 100% satisfaction, or give you a brand new gun!!

Answer: Already sent it back once and in the accompanying letter I stated I was returning it because it was auto-ejecting mags on each shot, AND secondly because I felt the trigger was really bad. They apparently pulled my original gun's guts out and dropped them in a new frame to address the auto-mag eject, but they did absolutely nothing to the trigger.

If I had your M&P - I would send it back to the factory to have them fix it - then I would sell it and either get another M&P - or get something else entirely.

Answer: see above. I have sent it back once already.



Also, in my original list of woes, I forgot to mention that the gun will automatically close the slide when I insert a new, full magazine about 75% of the time. Note that it is not 100%. Sometimes I can not make it do this no matter how hard I slam the mag in (and I only used "extra" force when attempting to make it function this way on purpose after witnessing it happening with "normal" mag insertion force). Often it will do it with not much force applied at all.



Bottom line, what really shattered my faith in the MP as a self-defense gun was that very odd failure to feed of the Winchester Ranger. It was really strange that the BULLET made it fully into the chamber but then it snagged on the case somewhere/somehow. I would have found it less bizarre if the hollow-point had hung up on the feed ramp or something like that, but not have the round get into the chamber. This means it was already past the "bullet hitting feed ramp" phase.

 

[ysued]

1) the Trigger can be fixed by dan Burwell for $50.00!!



2)On the Outo Ejecting mags, does it do it for other folks?? It might be the way you hold the gun!! This used to happen with a 1911 I had and I was pushing the button while I shot it!!



3)The Dropping of the slide on a new mag is covered in the Instruction booklet. I call that a feature not a Woe! When I'm doing a reaload from Slide Lock in a match, I LOVE that feature!!



Onthe Bullet, you got me!! This is really weird!!



If you don't trus S&W for fixes, let Dan Burwell take a look at it!!

 

[snscott]

1) the Trigger can be fixed by dan Burwell for $50.00!!

Plus another approximately $100 for shipping, making it ~$150 for me to get the trigger S&W should be giving us out of the factory. If they can do it in Croatia, why can't they do it here?

2)On the Outo Ejecting mags, does it do it for other folks?? It might be the way you hold the gun!! This used to happen with a 1911 I had and I was pushing the button while I shot it!!

No, this was a frame defect. This is what I sent my MP back for and they replaced the frame. It dropped the mag on each shot no matter how I held the grip.

3)The Dropping of the slide on a new mag is covered in the Instruction booklet. I call that a feature not a Woe! When I'm doing a reaload from Slide Lock in a match, I LOVE that feature!!

It is only a "feature" if it does it consistently, which it does not. I would not mind it either, if it did it every time I inserted a mag, but it does not. Some times I can't make it happen.

 

[ysued]

[quote name='snscott][quote name='snscott][quote]3)The Dropping of the slide on a new mag is covered in the Instruction booklet. I call that a feature not a Woe! When I'm doing a reaload from Slide Lock in a match' date=' I LOVE that feature!! [/quote] It is only a "feature" if it does it [i][b]consistently[/b][/i]' date=' which it does not. I would not mind it either' date=' if it did it [i'']every[/i] time I inserted a mag, but it does not. Some times I can't make it happen.

The gun "IS" doing what the manual says it does!!!



Why complain??



Have you read the manual??

 

[JoeM&P]

It seems to me that you have decided what your going to do.

B4 you give up on M&P try to work with your dealer. In the past I've had good luck with the dealer calling Smith Wesson

 

[rjhauser]

I offer a crisp 100.00 bill to take the POS off your hands.

 

[matt7184]

Well, I have not felt a croation XD trigger that has bested the M&P trigger so I do not know what you are referring to there.



I have 2 M&Ps personally and used more. Unless I slam the magazines in the guns, they do not close for me (with the old or new slide release). If I slam them in, sometimes they do. No different than any other gun.



The trigger may feel different if they changed your sear assembly. Thanks to mass production, there are variances in the parts. If you want hand fitting, you have to pay. This is a sub $500 gun, not a custom 1911.



Just because others say the trigger is bad, doesn't mean it is a "bad" trigger. Trigger feel is very subjective. Some may like a long DA pull, some a short light SA pull. Some may prefer a crisp break, some a rolling break. Plus, who gives a rat's ass what others think. Is this their gun or your gun?



In regards to the ranger ammo, did you size the round compared to another ranger round? Was it doing this for all of the ranger ammo? This may actually be an ammo problem with oal too long. FWIW, I have used/use RA9T and never seen a problem with QC/QA in my limited experiences.



Your choices are:



1) Sell the gun

2) Keep the gun and call S&W to look at it again (which I am sure they will on their dime)

3) Trade the gun

 

[entropy]

I don't get what you want from us? We like ours, as do many respected journalists. If yours is not functioning correctly, your only choice is to send it back to S&W to fix it. Then you can come here to complain that it took 2 trips to get it fixed... but to lady about it and not take the only option to fix it is kind of silly, no?



S&W has a warranty and they stand by it. Every manufacturer has a few lemons. Especially on a brand-new design, I'm surprised there haven't been more! Many of us have thousands of rounds through ours without even the slightest hickup.



If everything is working correctly and you still don't like it... well, sell it for what you can, cut your losses and get what you really want. You certainly won't hurt my feelings. Not every gun is for everyone (I can't get comfortable with a glock although I want to like them).

 

[rjhauser]

on the topic of s&w technical assistance, if you call them and explain it very nicely, they will pick up the dime, every time.



They have with mine that have gone back, even for simple things. Just have to talk nice.

 

[Bigbadaboom]

I offer a crisp 100.00 bill to take the POS off your hands.

I'll go $110.00

 

[Jester]

Lets get back on topic. It sounds like he is really trying to give it a chance.



Please call smith and wesson and tell them your problems. I can only hope that they treat you well.



Sounds just like frustration being vented.