Hey all,
I am a brand new member on this forum, although I have enjoyed reading some of the threads here for a while. It is very useful to have opinions on just about any S&W firearm at your fingertips with a quick google search, and this place is always one of the first ones to pop up. I am a member on a couple of other forums. I am very active at one of them and not so at the other.

The reason that I created an account here was to share a story about my first M&P gun, which I purchased a month or two ago. I figured that at least some of the members here would be pretty interested to hear it.

Before I fired any rounds through my new Shield (PC 9mm), I took it home and cleaned/lubed it. My very first shot out of the gun, the slide locked to the rear on a full magazine, but the slide lock was not engaged. I unloaded the gun and tried to figure it out for a while and finally found that a tap on the back of the slide put it back into battery. I then immediately field stripped the gun, wiped off any lube that was on it, and re-lubed the gun. it functioned fine for the rest of that day (I only shot a few rounds)

In the next 200-250 rounds, the gun had the same issue about 7-10 times, and I dismissed it as being in the break-in period/burr wearing down/ etc, and the occurrences did grow less and less frequent, which seemed to prove my theory. ( I shot a total of 650 rounds through the gun. )(by the way, on a press check with a round in the chamber, the gun does not go back into battery on its own. I didn't know if that was a problem or not, but it did not bother me. I just pushed the slide back forward)
The last time I was at the range, two things happened. First, the front fiber optic popped out from the recoil and shot straight back, hitting me in the shoulder. Second, the gun malfunctioned again! I was lucky enough to catch it on video this time to have proof, as well as recreate the problem (by only racking the slide) for photos. At this point, with all of the issues I had been having, I knew I was going to at least take it back to my gun shop and have him look at it, and most likely send it to Smith. He asked to take it home and shoot it, which I was fine with (he is a great guy and runs a great shop). He told me that he shot about 200-250 rounds through it until something happened... the frame cracked. So, after about 900 rounds, the gun broke. I want to add here that I was good about cleaning/oiling the gun and making sure everything was in order, so it did not have anything to do with that, and I trust the gun store owner who I let shoot it and I don't think he would do anything stupid with the gun so I do not hold him at fault. Plus, He handled the situation extremely well, and will definitely have repeat business from me because of that. He apologized profusely (even though it was not his fault) said that he would deal with Smith about my gun directly, and give me a brand new one as soon as he got them in stock, which he did. Tonight, I am going to clean my second brand new Shield and take it to the range. Hopefully this one works out better!

I just thought that some here may like to read this story!
I will try to upload pictures once I get them to upload to my computer.

I hope your new shield works out better for you. Let us know how it went and welcome to the forum.

You should mention the shop in question. Sounds like he deserves kudos.

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Just Say No - To Social Media

Sure! I didn't know if that would be considered advertising or be frowned upon so I held back.

Deaton's Gun Shop
He has a pretty extensive website.

Good luck on the new Shield.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

Hope your second one works out better.

If you have a problem that isn't easily 'fixaable' don't hesitate to call the factory. They'll send you a shipping label and send it back, usually with a fast turnaround.

And, that problem has been reported a lot, so if you aren't satisfied and can't work it out with your dealer (who sounds like a peach), send it back.

Anyway, we're glad you found us and there are tons of info on this web for the asking, Just about the best site on ANY subject. Also the mods keep a tight rein to keep the atmosphere pleasant. You won't see many trolls around here.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Thanks for the welcome everyone!! Here are a couple of pictures.

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Left the NRA. Joined the GOA.

Welcome to the forum and lucky you...I took a look at Deaton's. Pretty nice and well organized website. That along with excellent service and a supply of CZ bolt .22's makes me envious.

Glad AlHunt prompted you to mention their name. That kind of service deserves mention and your business.

Oh, and your photography skills are gonna get you a bunch of likes too.

I have noticed the out of battery condition on a couple of guns I looked at when I was deciding on my new .45 Shield. One was so bad, I pointed it out to the dealer. They pulled it off the display while I was there (hopefully kept it down and sent it back). Maybe a bad production run recently? Weird part, the one that I saw that was really noticeable was a .45, which can't be run off the same line, at least not at the same time.

Thanks man! I cant take credit for the photo of the cracked gun, that was sent to me by the shop owner. I did take the other two though.

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Left the NRA. Joined the GOA.

It seems S&W is OK with a certain return rate. Likely the bean counters have decided shipping and repairs cost less than a better quality level.
Are they so confident of the brand's name recognition they don't bother to concern themselves with maximizing repeat customers? With our current president, gun sales are down sharply due to the fact he doesn't want to confiscate our guns. Seems like a good time to promote good will.
After two bad S&Ws in a few months it's not likely they'll see any more of my business.

Nice the way your dealer took care of you like they did. One of the reason why I purchases local if at all possible.

I purchased a new PC shield and took it the the range once. Had some issues with the barrel wear so it's been with S&W for the last two weeks. They have had it their hands now longer than i have. I look forward to getting it back.

The fiber optic coming out out has been reported by several others. The sights are not made by S&W. I would check the new one to see if it's loose. S&W will take care of it if it is. Hope #2 works out.

Sorry to hear about your luck, but thanks for sharing it. It helps with compiling a knowledge base, and maybe troubleshoot similar problems.

FYI, there's been a few folks recently with a jammed slide problem. Perhaps your issue is a piece of the puzzle.

As has been said, it's good service you got from your LGS, but if you have unexplained reliability issues, a short call to S&W customer service will bring a pre-paid FedEx shipping label in an email. They even come to your door for a pickup. It also means you get notified of it's status.

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with the next one.

Well the new gun shot well and the action was much smoother, but the very first shot was a light primer strike. (Winchester 115 gr fmj) I had one more light primer strike in the 200 rounds I put through it tonight and both rounds fired upon loading them back in the mag a second time. Hopefully that was just a mishap and will not happen again now that the gun has started to break in.

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Left the NRA. Joined the GOA.

You're making assumptions. Other than that, I suppose I got all my S&Ws from the good batch...

In the meantime, I'd like proof, instead of just throwing theories out there to make a point.

edit ---Went through this a week or so ago. S&W produced something like 1.26 million pistols in 2015. How many failure reports are on this forum? And many of the same reports on this forum, will be on others, sometimes using a different user name. So what do we have, complaint wise? 50. 100? How does that compare percentage wise, out of 1.26 million?

Boy do I feel bad for you. I have a 9mm Shield that is about 6 months old and I had one from the first run and both of mine worked perfectly. I have run about 300 rounds of Fed aluminum and another 50 or so of mixed hp through the new one and not one problem. So sorry that you have had such a bad run with both of yours and I truly hope you get it all sorted out. You have a great store there, I envy you.
Be safe, Frank.

moved above

Thanks for the well wishes! I am hoping that this one will work itself out, as I am pretty tired of dealing with the issues, even though the dealer has been wonderful about the whole thing. I will feel pretty bad if I have to take this one back to him too (not that its my fault both guns malfunctioned) but if I have to, i will.

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Left the NRA. Joined the GOA.

Thas the reason I put combat night sights on mine. I don't use +P ammo either.

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Painted my Mag release red

Originally Posted by Autonomous
It seems S&W is OK with a certain return rate. Likely the bean counters have decided shipping and repairs cost less than a better quality level.
Are they so confident of the brand's name recognition they don't bother to concern themselves with maximizing repeat customers? With our current president, gun sales are down sharply due to the fact he doesn't want to confiscate our guns. Seems like a good time to promote good will.
After two bad S&Ws in a few months it's not likely they'll see any more of my business
Yes, let's talk percentages.
Both (100%) of the S&Ws I've bought in the last few months have more than one mechanical defect. Not the kind of business I want to associate with, thank you.

I hate math, but tally this up for me. I have 3 Shield's, 10 M&P's, 2 SD9's, and over a dozen 3rd gens and have only sent one back to the factory for repairs (an M&P 22 made my Umarex with a broken manual safety lever). I have purchased 3 of these in 2017. So I suppose technically that would be a 0% failure rate for me. Although I do field strip and inspect guns before I buy them.

I've noticed that my 9mm Shield's slide tends to stick a little when riding the slide forward such as during dry fire or press check for that last eighth inch or so. It seems fine when sling shoting the slide or letting it go forward when releasing the slide using the lever. I can see how this would allow an out of battery shot, which might have been what caused the OP's pistol to come apart. I don't carry my Shield and probably haven't put more than 200 through it. I just haven't had the time to ring it out, but was hoping after a few more rounds it would smooth out. Now, I may just send it back.

Four S&W's in the last three years. None have been sent back.

Here is a picture of one of the light primer strikes. The one on the right is unfired in the picture

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Left the NRA. Joined the GOA.

I hope this isn't a carry gun.

I purchased a shield 45 pc with the hi-viz fiber optic sights in late feb 2017. second time out to the range I noticed the front green insert was gone. have reached out to hi-viz and s&w both within the last week with NO return at all. hopefully I get some type of response from one of them. the inserts only cost 99 cent each, but SHOULD have lasted more than probably 150 rounds.

The photo of the light primer strike is also off center, that could be an indicator of an out of battery condition.

Not normal. Get it retuned. Either bring it back to your gun shop or send it to s&w with that picture.