Well the good and the bad of S&W service. Sent an email explaining the situation to the general email address on their web-site. Received this reply:

"There was a redesign of the 9 and 40 firing pins but not the 45. If you would like you can buy the parts you want direct from us at: 800-331-0852 ext 2905. Dry firing these firearms without the use of snap-caps will cause the firing pin to break just like in your photo. I don’t know if this was the case but, just so you know."

Hmmm. We have pics here of something that apparently does not exist.

In the mean time I received direct contact info for a LE rep and called him. The reply was, "I'll ship you out 2 updated striker assemblies right away."

So again, it's all about who you talk to.

Fastbolt, thanks again for the great information.