score69 ... You described exactly the same 2 issues I've been having with my rifle. Just got it earlier this month. I've had it out twice now. After the first time I read about the magazine loading thing. So next time out I was really careful to make sure the rounds stacked properly in the mag. I have three magazines and had the same issues with each using quality ammo (mostly). I shot 3 mags each of CCI minimag, Win super X, and the Federal Bulk ammo. Continued to get random FTE's and stovepipes without a big difference between magazines. Got a total of 12 failures out of the 225 rounds (4 Federal, 5 Win, 3 CCI)...not so good. I called S&W and they are sending me a return postage slip. Oh well, after reading other stories here I'm confident that S&W will fix it.