[ZT]

I have a 40 cal M&P compact. Took it apart to clean and oil. When I slid the slide on, it didn't go all the way and is now stuck in place. The protruding button end of the recoil spring is sticking out 1/2". I can move the slide back about an inch more, but not forward. I thought that the problem might be the sear deactivation lever. I used a thin screw driver and now have the lever facing straight forward. Is that enough? Moving the sear lever didn't let me remove or completelly pull the slide back.

I plan on taking it to the gun shop, tomorrow,where I bought it, to see if they know what to do.

Any suggestions on what I could try before then?

Thanks for any help.

Tom

 

[999]

I have a 40 cal M&P compact. Took it apart to clean and oil. When I slid the slide on, it didn't go all the way and is now stuck in place. The protruding button end of the recoil spring is sticking out 1/2". I can move the slide back about an inch more, but not forward. I thought that the problem might be the sear deactivation lever. I used a thin screw driver and now have the lever facing straight forward. Is that enough? Moving the sear lever didn't let me remove or completelly pull the slide back.

I plan on taking it to the gun shop, tomorrow,where I bought it, to see if they know what to do.

Any suggestions on what I could try before then?

Thanks for any help.

Tom

Hmmm Im not too sure to make of this. Is your take down lever facing straight down? I have seen the take down levers move slightly during reassembly which results in the slide jamming out of place.



Anyone else have a suggestion....

 

[NERES]

This can be a tricky one. The sear "deactivation lever" has nothing to do with reassembly in terms of hanging up the slide. What probably happened is that either you didn't have the spring properly seated or you "cross threaded" the slide on the tabs in the frame which is easy to do until you have the "touch".



My best suggestion is to gently reverse or undo what you did and don't use any tools or undue force. Just gently wiggle the slide side to side and pull it forward. As mentioned in the above post, make sure the take down lever is pointed down.



Maybe the guys or gals at the gun store can help and it might be best to just leave it be until someone with more experience can look at it.

 

[ZT]

The spring must have been what was in a bind. When I had the slide pulled back as far as I could, I noticed the spring rod didn't appear to be centered. I grabbed the front button end of the spring rod and pulled it more toward the center. The spring snapped back into place leaving just the button end protruding. Now it works fine.

I would have sworn that the spring was properly seated before I tried to reassemble the slide, but apparently I had something out of place.

Thanks for the replies.

Tom

 

[ackspac]

Well, after breaking my .40c down at leats 40-50 times, over the past year and a half, mine seems to have done the same thing. Except mine wont budge. I called S&W and they said just send it in even if I fix it. They Mailed me a shipping label out today. I still cant figure this one out. Everything was centered perfectly when reassembling .

 

[Waldox05]

if you are POSITIVE that the gun is unloaded. no mag, no round in the chamber, nothing, then try pulling the trigger when aligning the slide. If it is just the sear deactivation lever, then maybe pulling the trigger and holding it down will release some tension. If that doesn't work, then I'm out of ideas.

 

[ackspac]

if you are POSITIVE that the gun is unloaded. no mag, no round in the chamber, nothing, then try pulling the trigger when aligning the slide. If it is just the sear deactivation lever, then maybe pulling the trigger and holding it down will release some tension. If that doesn't work, then I'm out of ideas.

I just tryed that,no dice. This is really driving me nuts now. Its completely stuck. I have got it to where the slide goes back about 1 inch now but it pretty much is still frozen. Ok after holding the trigger in while pulling the slide back and forth after 100 times, it did come free. What the hell happend? Its fine now. I know the mechanics of this gun and Im still at a loss. Any body have any insight?

 

[Waldox05]

I just tryed that,no dice. This is really driving me nuts now. Its completely stuck. I have got it to where the slide goes back about 1 inch now but it pretty much is still frozen. Ok after holding the trigger in while pulling the slide back and forth after 100 times, it did come free. What the hell happend? Its fine now. I know the mechanics of this gun and Im still at a loss. Any body have any insight?

I would say try to take it apart and put it back together several more times. Just do it the way the manual says.



1. Take out the mag

2. Make sure it is unloaded

3. Make sure it is unloaded

4. Make sure it is unloaded

5. Lock the slide open

6. Depress the sear de-activation lever

7. Rotate the take down lever

8. Release the slide stop and pull the slide off from back to front.



Then to put it back,



1. Make sure the take down lever is rotated

2. Make sure the sear de-activation lever is depressed

3. Make sure slide components (barrel, spring) are assembled correctly

4. Put slide back on, lining up the rails, from the front to the back

5. Lock slide open, all the way back.

6. Raise sear de-activation lever

7. Rotate take down lever to standard position

8. Put slide into battery.

 

[alwalker84]

Same thing happend to me twice on my 9FS. The last time, I just pulled the triger and the slide just flew off!

 

[mp9werks]

Any body have any insight?

[/quote]



INSIGHT AND PICTURES ATTACHED.

Avoiding this problem is easy if you understand why it happened in the first place.



First point of understanding is pulling the trigger has nothing to do with solving this problem. When the slide is placed on the frame and slid rearward, what captures the slide on the frame is the striker arm engaging the back surface of the sear; that's why the final step in removing the slide is to either pull the trigger / push down on the sear deactivation lever......both maneuvers liberate the striker arm from the sear, allowing the slide to move off the frame completely.



Second, you must understand the design of the take down lever, when it is rotated fully vertical externally, then its engagement surface internally is completely horizontal. By completely vertical, I mean examine your take down lever and you will see a little notch on its forward surface.....the purpose of that notch is to allow the take down lever to get completely vertical ! The roll pin securing the locking block is in the way without the notch. So, you can see that if the take down lever is not perfectly vertical, then internally you are setting up what I call locking block "no-man's land"......this is the gap ( ~ 1/2" as one poster described it) wherein the rear part of your guide rod is now trapped (as is the barrel, it's just along for the ride since it is what holding the guide rod stable to begin with) between the immovable forward edge of the locking block and the internal round surface of the take down lever...since the guide rod is obviously spring loaded, it is a lot of tension to overcome to extricate the guide rod from "no-man's land". Some variation of toggling the take down lever and gently rocking the slide is the SOLUTION. Once you liberate the guide rod, you will always have to pull the trigger / push the sear deactivation lever - only ONCE !

 

[ackspac]

Any body have any insight?





INSIGHT AND PICTURES ATTACHED.

Avoiding this problem is easy if you understand why it happened in the first place.



First point of understanding is pulling the trigger has nothing to do with solving this problem. When the slide is placed on the frame and slid rearward, what captures the slide on the frame is the striker arm engaging the back surface of the sear; that's why the final step in removing the slide is to either pull the trigger / push down on the sear deactivation lever......both maneuvers liberate the striker arm from the sear, allowing the slide to move off the frame completely.



Second, you must understand the design of the take down lever, when it is rotated fully vertical externally, then its engagement surface internally is completely horizontal. By completely vertical, I mean examine your take down lever and you will see a little notch on its forward surface.....the purpose of that notch is to allow the take down lever to get completely vertical ! The roll pin securing the locking block is in the way without the notch. So, you can see that if the take down lever is not perfectly vertical, then internally you are setting up what I call locking block "no-man's land"......this is the gap ( ~ 1/2" as one poster described it) wherein the rear part of your guide rod is now trapped (as is the barrel, it's just along for the ride since it is what holding the guide rod stable to begin with) between the immovable forward edge of the locking block and the internal round surface of the take down lever...since the guide rod is obviously spring loaded, it is a lot of tension to overcome to extricate the guide rod from "no-man's land". Some variation of toggling the take down lever and gently rocking the slide is the SOLUTION. Once you liberate the guide rod, you will always have to pull the trigger / push the sear deactivation lever - only ONCE !

Thanks Mp9. I guess Murphys Law came into effect here. Now I have noticed that when ever I assemble the pistol, the take down lever is moving up from its take down spot before the slide is in place. There are no burs or anything I can find that are rubbing. Im still going to send it in to S&W just for this purpose now.

 

[mp9werks]

Thanks Mp9. I guess Murphys Law came into effect here. Now I have noticed that when ever I assemble the pistol, the take down lever is moving up from its take down spot before the slide is in place. There are no burs or anything I can find that are rubbing. Im still going to send it in to S&W just for this purpose now.

The lever will always tend to move off the vertical....it's not broken.....there's a reason for that too.



The small bend in the take down lever retaining spring is acting on the take down lever to push it slightly off vertical.......that is a secondary reason the lever needs to be held in proper position while the slide is being installed. Whereas when the slide is being removed, the entire guide rod spring is acting eccentrically on the flat internal surface of the take down lever to flip it toward the horizontal position.

 

[assault spork]

Hello from 2016...thanks for this thread, it explained why my guide rod was sticking out and the slide was locked.

 

[Ozzzzy]

Thanks for the info

I had this happen - like others from this thread.

Thanks for the info - I was able to gently tug on the protruding spring and it 'snapped' back into place.

Disassembled, reassembled with more care. All is well. THANK YOU!

 

[juggernaught]

it worked!

I tried this and it worked (see quotes below) on my MP sheild 9 EZ.
Just had to recenter the spring rod.

The issue that I was having was that I was depressing the grip safety and it got stuck mid re-assembly. But I think that the spring got misaligned while trying to wiggle the assembly back into place. The barrel and the rod were sticking out about 1".

I eventually got the barrel back into correct position by pushing on the the front of the slide and barrel with my palm, then wiggling the alignment of the rails until it slid into place, and then pulled the slide back all the way and held the slide back with my thumb while shifting the rod back and forth. the only center'ish position that would stick was low center. I tried that and it popped right back into place when I let the slide go.

The spring must have been what was in a bind. When I had the slide pulled back as far as I could, I noticed the spring rod didn't appear to be centered. I grabbed the front button end of the spring rod and pulled it more toward the center. The spring snapped back into place leaving just the button end protruding. Now it works fine.

I would have sworn that the spring was properly seated before I tried to reassemble the slide, but apparently I had something out of place.

Thanks for the replies.

Tom