I had field stripped my pistol and had just put it back together. I popped a loaded magazine in and pulled back the slide to chamber the round- forgetting to put the take down lever back- and then this happened... (attached)

I can't pull the slide back and I cannot for the life of me push that take down lever back into fully horizontal position.

And yeah, there's a loaded round in it.

Any useful tips? It looks like I may have mis-threaded the slide when putting it back on, but now I can't move it.

Attached Images

2013-03-11 15.31.56.jpg (76.6 KB, 592 views)

Can you move the takedown lever to the vertical position? Can you move the slide forward at all?

__________________
M&P40c/15-22/SD9VE/Mossy500

No and no =(

That happened to me (just not loaded) I just kept playing with it and finally got it to go back. If it's not in the slide grooves I wouldn't force it. Time to see a gun smith if that's the case. Good luck.

I "think" I know what your problem is. I've seen this before (no...honest, it didn't happen to me...lol)

My understanding is that you did not function test the slide before you put a loaded magazine in, is this correct? Can you remove the magazine?

Can you post more pictures showing the incorrect slide alignment and the barrel/recoil spring/guide rod portion of the gun?

I am betting that your alignment is fine but your guide rod is not properly seated.

What complicates this is you say you have a round chambered. If this was not the case and assuming the guide rod is misaligned, you could wiggle the front of the guide rod and probably get it to seat.

With a chambered round you better be damn careful on the muzzle end of this problem. Because wiggling the guide rod will cause the slide to move forward and with enough force to possibly discharge the weapon. Be very careful!!!

If you are unsure of anything you are doing, I would take it to a gunsmith.

Good luck.

A gunsmith will more than likely punch out the roll pins holding the sear block and locking block. This will free them from the frame and allow a little wiggle room for adjustment and freeing up your slide.

__________________
M&P40c/15-22/SD9VE/Mossy500

Correct, I did not test. I'm sort of new to guns. It says in the instruction manual one way of resetting the sear deactivation lever is putting in a magazine. I had always just used my pinky finger before.

Yes, I removed the magazine.

Attached are more pictures.

Attached Images

	2013-03-11 19.39.15.jpg (88.5 KB, 738 views)
	2013-03-11 19.38.14.jpg (58.4 KB, 814 views)
	2013-03-11 19.35.54.jpg (52.0 KB, 775 views)

While I can not offer a fix for your problem I feel the need to mention that you should always work the slide a few times before placing a loaded mag in the gun. This will prevent problems like this. You can use a mag to push the sear level back just use an empty one. You should not have ammo around where you are cleaning a gun anyway. We all do stupid things at times. My first day with my M&P FS 9mm I had a moment of stupidity and decided to pull the trigger on the gun to remove the slide. There is now a small hole .355 in dia in the living room floor because of my negligent discharge. It was just plain stupid of me. You will get over it. Just pay attention to everything you do when handling a gun. EVERYTHING. There is no room for an oops with a firearm.

Sorry if I was too stern but its important to remember.

Michael

If I was you I would call Smith & Wesson. Obviously they cannot have you mail it with a round in the chamber. They can probably tell you of a S&W gunsmith in your area?

I read about a similar sounding problem with a military Beretta. It was tough for the gunsmiths.

Like with locks, electronics, and automobiles, the people who work on them regularly, often know the exact problem, because it has happened before. Often it is not at all expensive. But until you walk in the right door you will not know.

But before you drive to the gunsmith with a loaded gun - call and ask instructions. Once a person puts a handgun inside a gun case they tend to forget which direction it is pointed. I am guessing he would want it pointed downward?

Well, naturally it would be nice to see a photo of the top of the slide to see if it is locked up nice.

No way to get a photo up the empty magazine opening.

I have a medical scope for looking in ears that I got when my kids were young and those scopes were cheap. I need to see if I can photograph with it usning modern digital camera?

My wild guess is that the cheapest part to remove (drill) is the back plate. I have no idea how they would gain access to the front half (to move recoil spring guide rod around?).

Someone really good with that model will jump in soon.

It would be fun to see a photo taken up the empty handle.

Great advise! Crazy experience, glad nobody got hurt.

You know, this happened to me once, except my pistol wasn't loaded. I ended up tapping the lever a little to get it back in the vertical position.

Read on...

M&P Reassembly: Lever Stuck

It took me some screwing around to duplicate your problem (minus the chambered round).

I was able to push back on the slide & push forward on the frame, while pushing the takedown lever downward & the slide un-jammed right away.

As pictured:








Important to remember to push down on the takedown lever while you push the slide.
Once the slide pulls back, just push the lock upward to lock it open, then flip the takedown lever up into place.

Good luck.

Many times my FS 9 does this. Sometimes it does and other times it doesn't. I've even flipped the lever up only to have it come down again and do this. I have always been able to force the slide just enough to allow the lever to be positioned properly. Once the slide does a full forward/reverse travel with it right, it stays that way.

I have never figured out why it does this sometimes and not others.

Well thanks for the help guys. It was good to know I was suppose to be pulling the lever down and not up.

I could not push the slide even a nanometer in either direction. It was really stuck. I set the gun on the ground, safely pointed away. I took the claw end of a hammer and used that to pull down the lever with my right hand and with holding the whole pistol down with my left. Took some serious elbow grease but it worked!

Congrats, Did it scratch the slide at all?

Sweet, you may know this now but I have this happen from time to time when re assembling my 40c slide to the frame. Never so bad to where it would get stuck though, anyway I have learned when putting the slide back to keep my right thumb against the take down lever to keep it in the down position until I can lock the slide back.
Have a nice day!

No, no, no, a claw hammer is not a gunsmith tool. Please at least tell me you wrapped it with duct tape?

Yep! Me too!

LOL, it is now! Sometimes you gotta be resourceful. Seems to have worked in this case.

__________________
M&P40c/15-22/SD9VE/Mossy500

I wish I could help you, But like mentioned in previous post... ALWAYS function test your gun after field stripping it and BEFORE loading it...


Its for the children

My FS 9 has gotten caught a couple times like that. Pulling down while moving the slide got it straightened out. It's a bugger the first time it happens. I can't imagine how you felt with a live round in the chamber. Glad you got it straightened out.

It's happened to me a couple times (unloaded) with my new M&P9. Like unclejhim, playing with it finally released the take down lever.

I used a small rubber mallet to tap it back in position, unloaded, this happened during reassembly after cleaning!

I'll bet his ears hurt after that, lol.

I had that lockup problem (unloaded in my case) a couple of times with my M&P 9 when it was new. I had to force the takedown lever downward in to the verticle position to get it to so I could move the slide.

After it happened to me a second time I decided to look for a cause. I noticed a burr on the edge of the half round edge of the takedown lever shaft. I used a gunsmith file to knock it down. Then I used a fine stone to break the edges of the half round section of the take down lever. This seemed make it less likely the the slide would hang up on the lever. I also did a little polishing on the edges and flat surface adjacent to the half-round part of the lever. More importantly, I now make it a point to hold the lever firmly in the verticle position when installing or removing the slide.

When I recently bought a new M&P9c, I dressed up the edges of the takedown lever the first time I took the gun apart to clean it before my initial range trip.

I have to tell you that I didn't have to deal with this issue with a round loaded into the chamber. That is too scary to think about. Like some others above, I never load a gun until I have function tested it, and I never load anything while it is being worked on or cleaned. I also use dummy rounds to function test things (either snap caps which you need to buy, or dummies that I make up and keep on my reloading bench).

Anyway, I am sure glad that you were able clear this up without a tragic mishap.

By the way, I have often wondered why the guys at Smith didn't do a better job of finishing the take down levers.

__________________
Andy

A claw hammer is a carburetor tool.

Isn't it always about dollars?