I’m guessing the reason your folks couldn’t duplicate my complaint was the ammunition you use to test. All my gun failures came while shooting 115 grain American Eagle or Blazer Brass target ammo.

When I changed over to 124 grain Aguila 9mm Luger, the problem went away. I fired 500 rounds thru 3 magazines loaded with 5 rounds each. That’s about 33 times and I never had a single failure. That’s not to say it’s a perfect solution, as I think any S&W firearm should function properly with any ammo as long as it’s industry standard, and not be restricted to a minimum grain load. If it DOES have a minimum grain bullet load it should specify that clearly and in very large letters so the consumer doesn’t have these kinds of problems. I was beginning to suspect the gun had the return spring of an M&P 40 rather than the 9, but the spring is blue as all the 9s are.

I’m not completely happy with the result or the solution. I own several S&W pistols from the Performance Center 1911 45 to the M&P Shield 9mm to the M&P 40 and none of them have ever done this. So you might ask somebody in tech support or repair ‘why’. Rather than just right it off as “Can’t duplicate customer complaint” and move on to the next job, don’t just assume the customer is an idiot. Just because your folks can’t duplicate it, doesn’t make the complaint bogus. Ask yourselves ‘why’ can’t we duplicate it? What’s the customer doing that would make it fail? You bench test the gun under ideal conditions. Maybe the customer has positioned his hands in such a way as to put pressure on the slide stop and it’s keeping the slide from locking. Maybe it is the ammo, but if it is an ammo problem, doesn’t that make it a gun problem as well? Isn’t the gun supposed to function with 115 grain 9mm bullets? And if it does not, why not?

S&W really needs to do a better job at diagnosing the problems they are faced with. “Can’t duplicate customer complaint” is an easy way out and really does a disservice to Smith & Wesson and the customer who puts his trust in your products.