I recently purchased a M&P 45 used online. I have had several new ones in the past with no problems. This one came looking like new except for the three obviously used mags. It has a problem with failing to feed properly. The rounds fail to feed properly jamming while part way into the barrel. I went out last week and had the same problem. I used five different magazines and two different types of ammo. Mainly I use American Eagle FMJ. I tried some Blazer brass with the same results.

Gun was cleaned and there are no obvious signs of deformities on the feed ramp. I love a love/hate relationship with the M&P. I carry a M&P 40 every day at work. I am not crazy about the looks but they are great shooters. Any ideas or should I send it back to Smith?

Got a M&P pistol armorer at work (since you carry a M&P 40)? Who knows what some budding young "internet taught, kitchen-table gunsmith" might have done to that particular M&P 45? Let an armorer give it a once-over if you have one on staff.

What color are the mag springs in the .45 mags? Orange? Purple? Light green? Any of the coils kinked/bent? The light green painted springs are the latest, last I checked.

I've fired 5-6 different types of duty JHP's through my own M&P 45, as well as a couple brands of ball ammo, all of them feeding & extracting/ejecting with monotonous reliability.

I've used a 3 color mag springs, although one of the original orange painted ones acquired a weird bend/distortion (which didn't interfere with feeding, oddly enough, but it got replaced right away after i discovered it). I'm still running a mix of purple and new light green springs, but the next time I place an order for new springs I'll replace all the purple ones with the latest ones.

Make sure the extractor hook is clean and dry. Ditto the mags.

S&W might offer to have it shipped back to be checked under their warranty (even though you're not the original owner, but they also might not even ask), simply because the M&P is their flagship pistol line.

__________________
Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

I am a retired LEO working for a large security company. We have over 5000 employees carrying guns in the US, all S&W. Some revolvers, early semi autos were TSW 4006's and now the M&P. We changed over about 4 years ago. We have over 40 full size and compact 40's in use. The only problems were bad mag release buttons on the early guns. a broken sear deactivation lever and broken firing pin.

My mags used here were 3 black springs, 1 orange, and 1 purple. All were OK and looked the same as one of my new and unused orange springed mag. I compared my 40 and the 45's extractors. The 45 is much harder to push and sticks out away from the frame. The 40 extractor sets flush with the frame. Is this normal for the 45??

We had 2 out of 48 FTFeed. Its an out of spec extractor im pretty sure. Call CS and theyll send you a shipping label. Theyll replace it and polish the feed ramp and mouth of the chamber.

The green painted magazine springs were not tempered properly. Last March or so I received some more mag springs, they were painted black. I hear that the newest springs may be a different color. At any rate, stay away from the green painted springs.

I don't know what S&W's warranty policy is for used guns, but I'd give them a call or e-mail anyway. I carry a 45FS that has had just over 7K rounds. After it had passed the 5K mark, it started having some feeding problems with a CCI Lawman 185 grain FMJ round I was using for training. It still functioned reliably with 230 grain stuff. I sent it back and the recoil spring as well as some other parts were replaced. Figure 4-5K lifespan for the recoil spring in order to maintain reliability. Even Glock now recommeds replacing at those intervals. I would also consider just buying new magazines for your use. Have the others refurbished if they need it, but keep them for training afterwards. Your problem could be that someone "gunsmithed" the pistol without knowing what they were doing, or just shot the daylights out of it. I found that Botach Tactical had the best prices on the 45 mags at $23 a piece, and got them with two-three days of ordering. That was a couple of months ago.

I too smell a kitchen table gunsmithing job....let S&W take GOOD care of you. You will NOT regret doing so.

Randy

In another thread here a user posted a similar problem. I had feed issues with my used M&P45 and it was a burr on the extractor. I massaged the extractor edge with a bit of 400 grain sandpaper and it never had a feed issue since. Hand cycle the slide very slowly and see if you can pick up where it's binding; chances are the extractor isn't letting the case rim slide smoothly underneath against the breach face and it's binding the gun up.