I recently purchased the S &W M&P Shield and completed class with a NRA instructor.

While shooting my shield for the first time after my range training, the slide "stuck" open and my magazine still had one round in it. I could not get the slide back into place.

One of the employees at the range was able to get the slide closed and had their gunsmith look at my shield. He removed the recoil spring and rolled it on the counter. He said it seems warped or out of round.

My question for shield owners....does your recoil spring seem warped or out of round when you roll it on a flat level counter?

Mine is straight, although I doubt if a spring under that much compression would cause a malfunction. The malfunction maybe bent the spring a little. Call S&W and ask for a new one.

Sorry for your issue, but I have to say.....FINALLY, I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE!!!!!

I had the same exact issue. My Shield locked up about 5 times. On the recommendation of the gun store, I ran 250 rounds thru it to "break it in" I actually ran 300 thru, but on like the 299th round, it locked up again. So, I left it, brought it back to the store and we shipped it back to S&W with the slide jammed open all the way to the rear. About 3 weeks later I get my gun back with a new barrel and they said it was good to go. Well, they were wrong. At the range, yesterday, it locked up on the 97th round. But this time, it released on its own.

If you field strip your gun....look at the barrel/chamber where it would contact the slide at full lock and see if there are interference marks.....mine had distinct impact marks at 4 and 7 o'clock.

I am on the fence about what I want to do. Its either send it back to S&W again or leave it and just try to shoot the problem out of it.

I would like to stay in touch with you since we seem to be the only two people experiencing this problem.

CJ...
At least this time it didn't stay jammed open on you.
If you do choose to send it back again, at least this time, you'd only need to ship the barrel & Slide, as opposed to the entire pistol. You should be able to do that without going through an FLL.
(just looking at what little bright side there might be)

I hope it gets worked out for you.

Thanks.

I sent it back like that so S&W would be able to see the problem. It was kinda easily "un-jammed" by smacking the back of the slide with my palm.

Great point about just shipping the slide and barrel. Without having to use the FFL, will really speed up the process.......maybe I'll call Smith tomorrow and see what they think.

I have sent back 2 M&Ps to Smith and never needed an FFL to send or to get it back. S&W sends me a tag. I call Fedex. Tell them there is a firearm in the box and its a done deal. Where is there a need for an FFL? am I doing something illegal?

Nope, perfectly okay to do. And I have a Sigma returning from them tomorrow (tracking number shows it in town and going to be delivered tomorrow).

__________________
G21C,Shield.40,LCP

You should not need a FFL if the gun is registered in your name, but if S&W decides to replace the gun (along with a different serial number) then you will need a FFL to register it as a new gun. S&W will reimburse you the FFL transfer fee if you send them a copy of the bill. I went through this with my Bodyguard.380 1 1/2 years ago.

Sorry for the confusion I caused in my last post (about not needing an FFL).
What I meant was that by sending just the Slide & barrel for replacement, one wouldn't need to ship via UPS/FedEx either. In the past, I've shipped Slides, or Slide & barrel via the smallest USPS Priority mail 'if it fits it ships' box.

UPDATE: I just field stripped my shield to check how well it was oiled (just returned from repair) and we're going to the range tomorrow.

When I put the slide back on, I didn't have the WARPED recoil spring in the correct position and it was sticking out of the front of the gun between 1/4-1/2".

I couldn't get the slide back far enough to release the take down lever in order to get the recoil spring loose. I worked & worked with my gun to get the recoil spring back into place. As I pulled the slide back, I could see the recoil spring moving from its center position to the right, touching the metal side. I finally tried rotating the recoil spring and it popped back into place, pinching my thumb & forefinger in the process.

I called Smith & Wesson yesterday and they are sending me a new recoil spring....I hope this resolves my issue with this gun.


jlamiller

anyone have a picture of these bent springs and locked slides?

Pix #1 I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the top of the coil spring is warped.

Pix #2 Coil spring is out of place and slightly beyond end the slide.

The spring looks pretty normal for a captured spring set-up. I've seen the same thing on Berettas, a PPS, Solo and quite a few others. It usually happens because the OD of the rod is smaller than the ID of the spring. Plenty of non-captured recoil springs will look the same once they're actually in the gun, it's just you can't see them. My M&P FS 9mm recoil spring assy. looks the same.

Naka: I was assuming he meant the rods were bent, with the internal rod not perfectly aligned with the larger rod; however, maybe he was talking about the SPRINGS being wonky (it does seem like that--even though in his pic, I thought the internal rod bent slightly upwards...more likely my eyes are bent).

FWIW, the flat wound coil springs can often look like the end coil (or coils) are slightly warped, or unevenly pressed, so to speak. I've seen it for years in the springs used in the Chiefs Special pistols (which aren't captured, but which are flat would springs).

The important thing is that they don't extend past the front end cap on the captured recoil spring assemblies. This is important even when talking about springs made of round wire, or braided strand springs (Sig). If the end of a round or flat coil spring, or core element/braided strand spring, gets stuck between the end of the guide rod and the dustcover's guide rod hole, things can get bound up and stuck.

When dealing with captured spring assemblies I always make sure that the end of the spring (whether flat, round or braided) doesn't stick out and forward of the end cap during assembly.

If I came across a spring which came out from behind the end cap on the rod during functioning, and it appeared the spring was damaged (and wasn't going to remain captured by the front end cap during normal operation - since it's possible to adjust the front coil back behind the cap in some designs), I'd replace the assembly.

While I've been typing this, I've had the names of at least 3 different major pistol manufacturers cross my mind, where this sort of potential problem could occur and was discussed in armorer classes.

__________________
Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer