Any M&P45 Problems?

[Charlie Xray]

First post - I did a search and did not find what I was looking for so here goes....

I am interested in the S&W45 but would like to know more about it before I commit. I have a SAI XD45, and there is a lot I like about it even though my background and all training and competition is centered on the 1911 system. My interest in the S&W45 is because of my disappointment in the XD45. Some of those seem to have issues with feeding relating to the extracting empty coming into contact with the top round in the mag, driving it nose downward into what is being called a "nose-dive jam". The round actually jams in the magazine at about a 45 degree angle.

Sent it back to SAI and they sent me a new pistol, but it is exhibiting the same symptoms.

My purpose is not to trash the XD45; I like it and would keep it if it worked. My purpose is to determine if the M&P45 is a viable high-cap alternative that is free of systemic reliability issues.

I would love to hear of any issues users have had with this pistol and how they were resolved.

Thanks,
CX

[jfd]

I have both XD45 and M&P45C, like both just fine. Interesting to hear of the feeding/extracting prob w/your XD. Does it occur with various makes ammo? I've run Winchester and Remington primarily through mine, both FMJ and HP without problems. I got a M&P 45C because I wanted something a little smaller for CC. Feeds reliably, is very comfortable and controllable to shoot. No complaints from me, probably have 500 rnds through it.

[Vulcan Bob]

Im very happy with mine, no issues.

[Charlie Xray]

Originally Posted by jfd

I have both XD45 and M&P45C, like both just fine. Interesting to hear of the feeding/extracting prob w/your XD. Does it occur with various makes ammo? I've run Winchester and Remington primarily through mine, both FMJ and HP without problems. I got a M&P 45C because I wanted something a little smaller for CC. Feeds reliably, is very comfortable and controllable to shoot. No complaints from me, probably have 500 rnds through it.

You can read all about it here.

The Continuing Mag Problem, Part2 w/Pics - XDTalk Forums - Your HS2000/SA-XD Information Source!

It has to do with the extracting empty case dropping slightly below the center feeding rail of the slide during extraction. This brings the empty's rim into violent contact with the top round in the mag, driving it nose down. Some have reported it was so bad the top round reversed position in the mag. Lots of pics and discussions on the problem and how to test to see if yours exhibits the symptoms - and it may and you don't know it yet.

BTW, it was originally diagnosed by most as a weak mag spring issue, but it turns out that is not the problem at all. So the thread name is a misnomer. Near the end of the thread are some interesting fixes - if you have the machinist's skills and equipment.

CX

[jaysouth]

Major problem with my 45C is keeping up with reloading enough fodder to feed it.

No problems except the ammo problem and envy of other shooters when they play with it.

[10mm Sonny]

If you buy a used one, stay away from ones starting with serial # MPRxxxx. They have slide quailty issues.

[jfd]

Charlie----thanks for the reference to XD Talk Forum. Have looked only at the first few pages, will look at it more thoroughly when time permits. Good info, thanks for passing it along. Makes me that more more comfortable in trusting my M&P!!!!!

[Wee Hooker]

I can't hit anything with mine. Mainly because it's hard to see the sights with a paper bag over my head :-) (I spent so many years bad mouthing plastic guns that I shoot in fear of being recognized. )
Seriously though. While It will never replace my 1911's, I've really taken a shine to my M&P. Fits my hand like no other double stack .45 I've ever handled and it's a very reliable/ fun gun to shoot!

Hi, My name is Dave and I now happily own a plastic handgun.....

[Smith Pistol]

Originally Posted by Wee Hooker

I can't hit anything with mine. Mainly because it's hard to see the sights with a paper bag over my head :-) (I spent so many years bad mouthing plastic guns that I shoot in fear of being recognized. )
Seriously though. While It will never replace my 1911's, I've really taken a shine to my M&P. Fits my hand like no other double stack .45 I've ever handled and it's a very reliable/ fun gun to shoot!

Heehee . . . Me too! All except for the paper bag part. I just say, "To heck with 'um if they can't take a joke."

Hi, My name is Dave and I now happily own a plastic handgun.....

Hey, is that the first step of the 12 step "Plastic Pistol Anonymous" program?

[Spotteddog]

Same place you were at almost exactly 1 year ago Dave.
First step if I recall the literature S/P, is admitting you have a problem.
Well, my problem was not trusting Tupperware made elsewhere.
Guess that problems been solved!

(EDIT) As a matter of fact until our evil dominatrix/moderator Barb C began teasing us with her purchase of one, the last thing I had in mind was needing another .45ACP? Looks like the addiction continues. Thanks a lot Barb! One year W/O smoking cigarettes, and now I'm being overpowered by another addiction?

[BarbC]

I have both the XD45 and the M&P45c. I haven't had any problems with either one but I find the 18-pound slide on the XD is much more difficult for me to pull into a locked position than the M&P's. The Springfield customer service did not recommend switching out the spring to a lighter weight one because a lighter spring might damage the frame.

Both guns shoot very well, but it's the M&P45c that I carry. It's the perfect size and even carried in a Don Hume IWB on beltless polyester slacks, it balances well and doesn't get in my way.

Spotted, you're going to have to get one!

[Spotteddog]

Your a vicious, merciless woman Barbara.
But alas, I am as putty in her hands......

[jaysouth]

Originally Posted by Spotteddog

Same place you were at almost exactly 1 year ago Dave.
First step if I recall the literature S/P, is admitting you have a problem.
Well, my problem was not trusting Tupperware made elsewhere.
Guess that problems been solved!

(EDIT) As a matter of fact until our evil dominatrix/moderator Barb C began teasing us with her purchase of one, the last thing I had in mind was needing another .45ACP? Looks like the addiction continues. Thanks a lot Barb! One year W/O smoking cigarettes, and now I'm being overpowered by another addiction?

Bad news: Yes, it is a powerful addiction for which takes control


Good News: No cure needed.

[mtnsmithguy]

I bought my new M&P .45 two days ago and fired 50 rounds thru it yesterday. The last round in the mag on the first set did not feed. Almost seemed to stick in the mag. Another 40 rounds and no problems. I was shooting "factory reloads" from a large ammo dealer. I'll chalk it up to being brand new. The recoil is very light compared to my Glock .40s.

The 10 round mag fully loaded will not seat unless I take one out. Is this normal? I don't like forcing the mag into the well, but if I can't take care of a situation with a total 10 rounds of .45 I'm running like heck.

[TippyRacer]

It's a gun, don't baby it. Slam the mag home.
Mine requires a good bit of force on a full mag.

[Plumbata]

No issues with mine, I have one of the very early guns.

[marc257]

I shoot my M&P 45 in IDPA. Shot probably 5000 rounds or so up to now. Never any problems.

[slammr]

Sorry to hear about your XD. I have an XDM-40 and shot over 1000 rounds with only one FTL; no other issues except that I would like a lighter trigger. PRP may take care of that before long.

I have an M&P 9c coming in next week. Can't wait.
I'll post back after firing a few hundred.

[Dances with Guns]

my mp45c has been great, it feeds all-even corbon 165grn +p sierra jhp's.

(got 230 +p TAP ammo in the first mag on the left, and the corbon 165grn +p's in the other two)






i used to have an xd45-nothing but problems. jammed all day long and the accuracy went way downhill the hotter the barrel got.

[snowman.45]

My MP45c has replaced my Glock 36 (even sold it). I'm very fond of the MP45c; so much so, that I'm about to sell off a Glock 20 with only 50 rounds through it to get a full-size MP45. I think they're phenomenally great pistols. Who know, the next to go may be all four of my Glock 40 cals. in favor of MP40's.

[federali]

I know to only use high quality factory loads for self defense. That said, the bulk of my practice firing is with carefully reloaded ammunition using mostly once-fired brass recovered at the range. I've learned that M&Ps can be extremely sensitive to high primers causing light hits and failures to fire.

I use a Dillon 550 B and I was really leaning into the priming step to no avail. Research led me to buy a Sinclair primer pocket uniformer and after using it, I wondered how I ever did without it. No more high primers and no more FTFs.

To date, my M&P feeds and cycles everything I run through it including 200 grain round nose lead and semi-wadcutters.

[walkin' trails]

Going on 6K rounds thru mine. Never had a malfunction leading up to 5K, but sent it back to S&W a while back for them to go thru it, inspect it, check the springs, etc. It came back with a new recoil spring and some updated parts. Still runs fine. Its a duty weapon so I need to ensure that it stays running. This is one is my first experience with a S&W auto, having been a Glock guy for a long time. Your new magazines will be stiff and hard to load and hard to seat. That's the way it goes until the pistol breaks in. One thing to be careful of is when the magazine springs seem to want to bind up, check the spring. It might be bent. If so, exercise your warranty and get it taken care of. My experience with S&W is that they are standing behind this product as opposed to some other companies recently that have put out new stuff that is faulty and are slow to acknowledge the problem. Just take into consideration that S&W will move at their own pace on warranty repairs, though their pace, in my experience usually means the gun is back at your doorstep by the following week.

[Fastbolt]

I've owned a M&P 45 DE w/thumb safeties since early '08. Great pistol. I actually enjoy shooting it more than my various 1911's.

S&W was experiencing an occasional issue with some of their vendor's mag springs acquiring some weird bends. They're good at sending out replacement springs, though. The mag springs I've used have included orange, purple and now green, as they've changed the color coding to keep up with revisions, but I've only had a single problem, and that was with one of the orange painted springs. I'm still running a mix of purple and green springs.

S&W has been making some continual refinements and revisions. The "standard" .45 sear housing is now the one with the MA complaint sear plunger & spring, as well as the left-side thumb safety detent plunger & spring (for the .45's ordered with thumb safeties).

The striker assembly was revised a while ago, going from a machined striker to a MIM striker, of more robust design, using a single plastic keeper instead of the 2-piece design.

Some different night sights have been adopted.

The extractor (same one used across all models/calibers) has received a slight revision, giving it a sharper hook and more negative rake to it).

After the new "trigger" has been released in the 9/.40/.357 models (the .357 is pretty much a LE order option at present, probably due to lack of commercial sales, I'd think), we'll (hopefully) probably see the new components available in the .45 models later this year.

The M&P 45 is the first plastic-framed .45 that actually made me want to spend my own money to buy one.

I've been thinking of adding a compact model at some point, too.

The smallest of the .45 grip frame inserts gives the M&P 45 a similar grip feel to a flat MSH on my 1911's.

The trigger can take some time to break in, depending on which end of the +/- 2 lb tolerance you get, and it might have some initial roughness. (None of which interfered with a good predictable "break" and experiencing excellent practical accuracy with the first magazine load.)

I only chose the thumb safety model at the last moment because I'm a 1911 shooter. The thumb safety design is different in function and position (if you ride the lever) than a 1911. It only blocks them trigger bar from moving rearward. You can run the slide with it on (if your hand can clear the lever in the up position, of course). the pressure required to move the lever is softer than that of the 1911. (Mine, and those of a couple of other owners/instructors, now requires the same firm pressure for movement as that normally experienced in operating the safety lock/thumb safety lever of my 1911's, though. )

My other M&P doesn't have the thumb safety option (but neither do my assorted Glocks and SW99's), and any future models may not have it, either. I'm not "wedded" to the thumb safety of my 1911's, even though I'm a long time owner & shooter of them, and an armorer for the Colt Model O Pistol ... and S&W only designed it for the originally anticipated military pistol submission, anyway (along with the use of a roll pin instead of the solid extractor pin).

Yes, you can get aftermaket parts, including a sear, but now that S&W has decided to respond to some obvious customer desire for a "better trigger", why not wait for the factory revision (so it'll be covered under their lifetime warranty service)?

I think S&W has a real winner on its hands with the M&P being chambered in .45 ACP. I know some other 1911, 3rd gen and Glock .45 shooters who have added M&P 45's to their collections. A couple G21/21SF owners (other instructors) have pretty much sidelined their Glocks in favor of the M&P's.

Good plastic .45 pistol. I'd buy it again (and probably will later on ).

Give one a try at a range sometime.

[Houdini1953]

I have had only one problem with my 45s and that is I had to pull my spring a little on a couple of magazines but they still fed the weapon(s) correctly, these are in the home weapons and sometimes go into my vehicle but mostly a 40c with two 15 round mags. I have never had a problem with any M&P and have 5 of them from 357 to 45. Well I did have one failure to eject with the 357 last week at the range but it is a new barrel so I had no more issues after that except for my target getting blowed off the target carrier and left in the middle of the range so I decided to end my range session not that I don't trust other people at the range but I don't and it is my life, I can always buy another target!