Years ago there were issues with glock's, and small bodied people or woman shooting them , not functioning properly. I never shot any glock's. But I have shot numerous semi-autos of many calibers. I own 7 semi-auto's. 3- .22 cal, 1- .45 cal, 1- 9 mm cal, 1- .40 cal and now a S&W EZ 380 cal. NEVER ONCE HAVE I EVER HAD A ISSUE with the way the gun was gripped. Not myself or anyone else that i was with, during firing any gun. I don't buy the grip issue, unless related a Grip-Safety problem. To me,a Bad Grip issue is JUST a POOR manufactured firearm EXCUSE.As a small bore rifle competitor I have personally shot more then 35,000 rounds. Pistols, about 5 to 8 thousand rounds. I personally believe, the issues with the Semi-Autos being produced TODAY are TOTALLY THE FAULT OF THE MANUFACTURERS, producing **** guns. I have two semi-autos, a S&W .22 & a Colt .45. Either one of them can have the slide worked properly by a 10 year old girl. The trigger pull of the .22 is 2-1/2 pounds by measurement, the 45 trigger pull is about 4 pounds. BOTH of these guns are over 50 years old. 2 recent .22 cal pistol purchases have a 5 pound & a 6-1/2 pound trigger pull. As an example Anchutz Target rifles made around 1995 have triggers that can be adjusted to as light as EIGHT OZ's. (1/2 pound) There is no need for pistols having slides so difficult to pull back, that normal strength woman and elderly people CAN'T WORK THEM. With 5 to 9 (the SCCY 9 mm has a 9 pound trigger BY DESIGN) pound triggers. It's very difficult to practice, and hold small groups with heavy triggers.

@ RonRiley The grip safety problem you mention is usually from an improper grip so, yes, grip can be an issue. Like you, I’ve never had issues with guns relating to grip. I can tell you for a fact though that I had to teach my wife how to properly grip the guns that work flawlessly for me so they would function the same for her. Many buyers of newer guns have never shot a gun before...again, if no one has ever taught them how to properly hold a gun, very possible they don’t know...and if not done right, it will lead to problems. Shooting is not a one size fits all sport.

Same here. My wife and I each have one with zero issues and I finely gave up counting rounds at well over 3000 each and now have a boatload of brass to reload. We had been sticking with 95 gr FMJ Fiocchi. We even tried a few other brands of ammo with-out any issues.

Funny thing, word got out quick with my wife liking her EZ-380, ease of function and control and all the women at her work place (that weren't already CCW) started taking safety classes, CCW classes to get permits to carry and started their own little shooting club. After checking out other 380s and some of the smaller 9s, they all went with the EZ-380 for CCW. It even caught the attention of many of our friends and other wives started getting their CCW permits and have EZ-380s now. Most reasons were easy to control, function, shoot and didn't feel like a cannon carrying it.

So "we" must have gotten the "good batch" of EZ-380s. Beyond any human factors (for beginners), there hasn't been any equipment malfunctions or failures with any of them around here either.

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THIS WE'LL DEFEND ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

I VERY HIGHLY agree.

And also add many "new" people have never learned how to properly clean a factory new or used weapon either. Factory new is packed with storage lube because no one knows how long a weapon will sit in storage, or sit in the box at a LGS in the back room before being sold. Storage lube needs to be scrubbed off, scrubbed and scraped out of EVERY nook, cranny, slit, slot, recess, etc. with a good gun cleaner and then redone again to make sure you got everything missed the first time on the entire weapon. It's made for STORAGE and will collect dirt and gunk if not cleaned off, it doesn't lube. The bore needs to look like a polished mirror when your done. That helps the bullet & case slide in easier to seat and after being expanded from the pressure from being fired slide out easier. Polishing the feed ramp also helps the bullet slide/feed into the chamber with less resistance. Bolt needs cleaning to slide in the upper, face has to have all the residue cleaned from the corners so the bullet case sits flush against it. Firing pin needs to slide freely in its slot. The extractor needs to be completely clean from all gunk so it can pivot against its tension spring then fully slide over to fully grab/lock/hook on the bullet case lip for extraction. All that storage lube needs to be cleaned from the slide and lower grip including the trigger & springs. Amazing how much "trigger grit feel" will disappear doing that. A small amount of lube on the hammer and functioning it by hand smooths up the trigger quite a bit too. Check for any mold or stamping burrs that may need attention. Then use a good gun lube before re-assembly and function the weapon by hand a couple dozen times. Check any wear areas that might need a drop of lube. Mags I completely strip down and wipe with a dry lube. Check feed lips for burrs, if the front of the lips are sharp I might take a small round file and "dull" them just a hair to take the square sharp edge or burrs off the ends. That takes any excessive drag off the bullets as they are pushed off the lips, fed up the feed ramp and into the chamber. A little "fine tuning" a proper lube can go a long way and there's a lot less stress with preventable problems once you hit the range.

Comes from keeping prices down and lower overhead with production assembly lines, quotas, random quality control checks that still meet with-in specs to get them out the door faster. I've noticed that over the years looking at first run models, then a couple years down the road looking at he same models but different run with the same tooling. ...Still in spec.

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THIS WE'LL DEFEND ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

New to the forum... I've only been shooting my own personal handguns for a year and a half, but in that time, I've managed to put over 4k rounds of 9mm down range.

I got rid of my Remington RM380 because of frame wear (aluminum), and purchased the 380EZ.

Last week in a mini-match (idpa practice), round 6 of 6 ejected with the spent casing. Later in the week, I went to the range with the intent to prove it out.

I started by numbering all the magazines, then loaded each with 8 rounds. Magazine 3 ejected round 8 with the spent casing, but none of the others did. So I worked that magazine with varying rounds. By the end of 2 boxes, the symptom was gone...

So far at least. I doubt that the spring tension was affected to a big enough extent to make a difference. Maybe it was something else in the magazine though, or a combination of a lot of things. Like others, I don't have a clue.

Well, my EZ is back to its old ways of having the last live round not load and get caught in the ejection port. I even had a live last round completely eject from the gun a couple of times. My last range session had last round issues about 25% of the time.

I contacted S&W again today and this time they are sending new followers for all my magazines and a new recoil spring assembly. We'll see if that makes any difference. If not, the next step will be for them to replace all the magazines. They don't think it's the gun, but said if the mags/springs don't fix it, I should send it in... So, the process continues and their customer service has been excellent. (For the record, my round count is currently at 2400 and except for this last round issue, the gun has functioned flawlessly.)

So I am having the same problem with my wife's EZ. Stovepiping last round on any of four magazines. Not every time, but often enough to be annoying. I contacted S&W over the web and they recommended I send the gun in for inspection. They never even suggested it could be the magazine springs...

As you may have seen in one of my previous posts, mag springs were the 1st thing they sent to me...back in January. The springs helped for a while, but didn't completely fix the issue. The rep I spoke with this time suggested the followers and the recoil spring assembly was added at my request. The rep seemed surprised by my round count of 2400 and said they would have to pull an RSA from the line for me. I certainly won't be surprised if I ultimately have to send the gun and mags in for inspection.

Well, I sent in my wife's EZ to S&W this afternoon. Hopefully, they will be able to replicate the problem and provide a fix. I'll post back when I hear back from them and/or get the weapon back.

Thats what mine did today, first trip to the range.
Towards the end of the day, after about 4 mags ran without problems.
Back to the range soon with more ammo. Seemed to be working itself out.
Shot my shield 45 after that today & not a glitch, only 2nd time out with that one & never a hiccup first time out.

Quick follow up... Went to range today after replacing mag springs, followers, and recoil spring assembly. Shot 250 rounds. Experienced 11 last round issues in 63 opportunities. Contacted S&W and was told it's not the magazines and to please return my EZ to them for repair. Received shipping label and just wrote the letter requested to detail the issues that I have experienced. Will ship via FedEx on Monday...2-day air.

Buy a revolver that will solve your problem!

Buy a revolver that should solve your problem!

Ha...I own a couple of Smith revolvers, a 65-3 and a 49. Love them! Just bought the EZ for fun and as a gun my wife might be interested in. As far as semiautomatics are concerned, I'm a CZ fanboy. I've never had a malfunction with any of my 5 CZs...and they are ridiculously accurate and ergonomic.

True, but you're in the middle of a reload with a revolver before the issue even surfaces with the EZ. How many people in the target demographic even carry a reload, much less practice emergency reloads?

S&W sent me new mag springs (painted yellow) and followers. It made the stovepipes MUCH worse. I sent the gun and all mags and springs to S&W yesterday. I hope they fix it and return it promptly.

S&W currently has my EZ too, but were adamant that I not send my 5 magazines, claiming it wasn't the magazines since I had replaced all the springs twice plus all the followers once and the recoil spring assembly. I hope they can fix the gun, but I'm skeptical. They've had mine for more than a week and a half. We'll see.

I had the same issue. With 2 mags I tried a shim in one of them but not the other so I could compare the 2. No difference, still experienced a stove pipe about every 2-3 mags. Only have about 150 rounds using WWB though.

I agree with what some others have posted. I own several .380, .32, and .25 pistols. In virtually every instance ( unless gun has obvious mechanical issues) of " fail to feed", "fail to fire", "fail to eject", it has been an ammo issue; hard primers, overall length, base thickness, bullet design, etc. So with any small pistol the first thing to do is experiment with different ammo. My best example is: with my Bodyguard M&P I tried no less than 4 brands of ammo to find one that didn't produce "light strikes"; finally found that Hornady American Gunner was the ticket, and over 400 trouble free rounds later she's running great.

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John

While I agree with you that ammo can cause issues, I want to reiterate that these live-last-round stovepipe and live-last-round ejection issues are not ammo dependent. I've used 8 different brands of ammo and still experienced the problem.

Didn't the Remington RP9 have a habit of chucking out live rounds? Must be a 21st century thing.

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Release the Kraken

In the spirit of closure on this thread, my gun came back from S&W with two new magazines. They found nothing wrong with the gun itself. The new magazines function more reliably than my original ones, but I still experienced a last round issue at the range with one of them. I'm convinced there is either a design flaw in the EZ magazine or the materials used to make up the magazine components are somehow deficient. Wish S&W would fix this problem...

Those critters have their own set of problems

This whole thread reminds me of the Sigma .380 from years ago. I noticed that the 380 EZ’s have disappeared from LGS’s in this area. Even Cabela’s didn’t have them a couple weeks ago. You would think that a company as big as S&W would have done their homework before they released something.

Did you by any chance ask at your LGS's why the 380 EZ has disappeared?

Maybe it's because sales are so low no one wants to stock them.

Or maybe they're flying off the shelves so fast no one can keep them in stock.

It would sure be interesting to know why you can't find the 380 EZ in your area.

Don’t use Blazer Brass ammo.

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Jhawk412
Tulsa, Ok.

I actually have three 380 EZs and not a single problem with any of them. They are regularly shot by my daughter, her fiancé and me. In my opinion, many of the problems described in this thread could very possibly be due to weak grip or limp wristing or el cheapo ammo. I once tried to break in a gun with Blazer Brass and had numerous problems. Sold the gun as a lemon. New owner shot a Lawman ammo and not one single problem. Proper grip, stance and ammo are all necessary for the guns to work

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Jhawk412
Tulsa, Ok.

How many rounds are shot through each gun per session? How many total rounds have been fired through each gun? How many magazines are used during each range session?

In my case:
Nine different brands of ammo used. 7 different magazines used (only one hasn't exhibited the problem yet). 200 to 300 rounds per range session. Over 3000 total rounds through my EZ... Own many handguns and been shooting for over 50 years. Never had an issue like this with any other gun... While I agree with your last sentence, there is a problem with my EZ magazines (or gun)... Unlikely that I'd buy another S&W handgun based on my experience with the EZ.

I was careful when I said that the problems described COULD POSSIBLY BE the result if this or that. Did not say your problems or the other people’s problems were because of this or that. Obviously your have defective mags and/or gun and I don’t blame you for not getting another Smith. Since we’re measuring, I’ve been shooting since 1976, including 31 years in-law enforcement. I also trained thousands of novice or inexperienced shooter in Kansas’s required CCH class for a carry license. I’ve seen plenty of operator induced malfunctions during that time. The reason for my post was to let other readers know not all 380 EZs are bad. I love the gun and I think it is THE ANSWER for those of us who are older with weakening hands and have trouble loading regular mags and racking stiff slides. I will support any manufacturer who takes care of the niche market of frailer people who need to defend themselves.

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Jhawk412
Tulsa, Ok.

Hello,

First time posting. We are dealing with this same issue with my wife's 380 EZ. We just sent it back for the second time after trying new mag springs as well as a whole new mag. Most common issue is stovepiping last live round but occasionally ejects them or just jams. Three different brands of quality ammo, different shooters, doesn't matter.

Has anyone that has sent it back to the factory one or more times had any luck with getting S&W to offer a replacement or money back?

Thanks,
Brian

I only sent mine back once and they said it was the magazine springs and nothing wrong with the gun. They replaced all four of mine. Since then the "live stovepipe" has been greatly reduced. (I also determined one mag was very problematic and took it out of the rotation).

I posted on a similar thread here, but S&W is now marketing the Performance Center EZs which have flashy colors and night sights. At least one YouTube review of this upgrade shows the same problem about 7 minutes in. I think it is a design issue with the magazines.

The first time we sent her's back they replaced the barrel. That obviously wasn't the problem.

I agree it has to be a design issue of some sort. We now have three mags and they all exhibit the same behavior. I do find it strange that some owners are reporting no problems at all or that the problem goes away. I don't have an exact round count but she has to be north of 500 by now. I doubt at this point that the problem is just going to disappear.

I know some link this problem to "limp-wristing" but she can shoot my Sig P320 and our kid's .22 Shield with zero issues. When she was active duty she could also shoot her issued Glock without a problem. It is a gun issue, not a shooter issue.

She absolutely loves this gun so I hope they either fix it right this time or offer a replacement.

Collectively the pressure has to be put on S&W. Individually they think they are fixing the problem. How do people start a class action suit or recall.???

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Steve....

I bought this gun for my wife who has arthritis. She previously had a Sig P320 but couldn't rack the slide well. The EZ was a dream for her, but this stovepiping has made her lose interest. After S&W sent new springs I got about 2 last round failures in 100 rounds, I think, through three magazines. Prior to that I was getting 25% failure on last round.

It is disappointing that this last round stove piping has continued without being fixed since this gun was released. Fear S&W isn't what it used to be.

I can understand your angst over having a gun that never has worked properly despite new mag parts and even a trip to the manufacturer. I suspect that S&W knows what is wrong, but may not be willing to admit it as it might run into a possible recall of thousands or hundreds of thousands guns. That expense could wipe out any profits they ever made on this model.

When the Sig 365 was having its problems they never came out and fully admitted that there were design defects and took back guns for repair on a case by case basis when customers complained, and eventually instituted the changes into production models, but they took a reputation hit over it.

It does make wonder what the real issue is and why they haven't corrected it in their current production. I am holding off on getting a 380 EZ because of the continuing problems and will likely go in another direction because of their inability to correct this ongoing issue. Don't need a gun with problems.

I don't think it's only S&W guns that have this issue. I've seen a lot of .380Auto guns fail in this manner.

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Freedom isn't free.

Went to range today with EZ. Shot 100 rounds, 50 Federal, 50 Fiocchi. 1 live stovepipe last round, one failure to go into battery next to last round. Otherwise flawless.

Could be...this is the only .380 I own besides an LCP Custom. That Ruger .380 has never had a malfunction of any kind. I've never seen this last round issue in any of my other (different caliber) handguns. I find my EZ very frustrating. It's a great gun except for this annoying flaw.

I complained to S&W, about stove piping & jams. Told them I also had 2 more mags on order, since they said they would send me replacement Mag Springs. They only sent 2 springs, to replace the original mags springs that came with the gun.
HERE'S THE CURE, We have ALL been waiting for.
Before I replaced any mag springs, I decided to test ALL 4 mags I had (2 bought after buying the gun). To see if All 4 would need replacement springs. I took a small long screwdriver, pressed down on the mag follower (the thing that pushes the bullets up). While holding it down, I sprayed a LIGHT coat of Dupont NON-STICK Dry Film Lubricant with Teflon,into the mag. I then took a Long Q-TIP type swab and ran it all over the inside of the magazine. Both sides and ends. I worked the mag follower up & down a half dozen times.Took about 30 seconds to dry. Went to the range filled each mag with the max of 8 rounds. Fired all eight rounds. I repeated this with ALL 4 Mags, reloading Each mag a total of 3 times. 4 mag's, 3 times each, for a total of 96 rounds. NOT A SINGLE JAM OF ANY TYPE. WORKED GREAT. This was using the same original 2 mags that had jammed in one way or another at least 4 out of 8 times, when originally tried. PRIOR to using the Dupont dry lube. The lube is probably readily available at any big box store, I got it at Amazon. DO NOT OVER DO IT WITH THE SPRAY, the lube could build up, causing, follower jams, due to lube buildup or caking.

The S&W 380 EZ is the nicest handling gun for a woman I have found in years. It's easy to Work the slide for people with hand issues. 4-1/2 pound trigger by Test. It's a lot easier to load the mags then most other guns made in the last 10-20 years. About the same size as a lot of other current "carry" guns. A friend that recently purchased one, after testing, said it is very accurate. For those of us not in the "Know". The 380 uses the same WIDTH bullet as the 9mm. With a shorter case. For cleaning, you can use a 9mm or 380 (if you can find one) or 38 SPL or 357 Mag Cleaning brush. Also to make life a little simpler if your planing a LOT of range time-Mag Loading. Amazon sells a Yellow Magazine loader for this gun. Two of them for about $10. They really help, if you shoot a lot, or have hand issues loading the mags to full capacity. NOW, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS GUN, Before the "Fix", it would have laid in the safe forever. Enjoy !!! My Wife is MUCH HAPPIER NOW. "Happy Wife-Happy Life".

Brian, I just posted a "CURE", fixed My wife's 380 EZ mags. using Dupont Dry LUbe with Teflon. Find my post for more info. Regards. Cheap Fix, I hope it works for everyone else. Because it turns a piece of **** into a truly great defense gun.

Ron, really appreciate your input but 4 successful reloading cycles per mag isn't enough of a test to declare this a "cure"... If you successfully cycled "each mag" say 20 to 30 times without issue, then I might be more inclined to believe you could be onto something. ...but I certainly agree with happy wife-happy life!

99% of the hand gun functional issues I see at my gun club are semi-auto pistols in 380 or smaller. Most of the issues are mag related as in they have feeding issues mostly. How many times have you heard of a 22 semi auto FTF/FTE issues? Personally I have read about lots of them.

9mm or greater for semi-auto pistols IMHO.

I cleaned my mags and sprayed with dry lube. EZ was as clean as a whistle, except is has been impossible to end up with a clean patch thru the barrel. [this should have nothing to do with the stove piping but the grooves are so rough it never gets clean] Went to the range and fired 50 rds. Geco rn. had 3 stove pipes and 2 fail to chamber wedged up on the feed ramp. E-mailed the mother ship and had very quick response. Waiting for label and instructions now. Time will tell. Quick

Personally I don't think they can fix it without a design change to the magazines.

Still haven't received my 3 replacement magazines. Called S&W today since they received my other 3 "defective" mags 2 weeks ago. They claimed the magazines are currently out of stock, but there are 3 on order for me...

I had a problem with my 1911A1 FTE. The problem was my grip. Worked on that and no more FTE issues.

also see https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/whats-wrong-grip/

Thanks, but it's not an FTE problem. It's a failure to properly chamber the last round from the magazine.

If someone has a spare magazine they don't mind messing with I would try changing the angle it feeds at, lower in the lips in just a little bit so the first round will feed lower than normal into the gun but then again so we'll the last rounds. That solve the problem I had with the 22 with the exact same issues. Old Beretta model 70. The Mag lips would get spread when throwing a MAG in on an open slide with a full magazine. Also has anyone tried cycling a gun y hand and how does the last round feed. More reliable still don't feed, always feeds? I don't have an easy would love to get one for the wife but this issue is driving me nuts. Almost willing to buy one just to see what the heck the problem is. This came from my phone not going to try to correct it too much trouble so please excuse the bad grammar even wrong words it tends to throw out there. George

Do you mean sand down the follower to lower the tip of the bullet in the magazine? I have 7 magazines (or will have once Smith replaces the 3 that I returned to them). I also have 5 extra followers and more than 10 extra springs, so I might give that modification a try at some point...but Smith should really fix this problem.

No don't mean sand down the follower. Just curl the lips on the mag just a little bit check it against the MAG with the same number of rounds in it you can see the difference in down with pitch you get. Be careful if you curl them too much you'll have to file them because they fit inside a Groove in the slide. But there is some tolerance to get away with just curling them a little bit can make a huge difference. Another gun I had was a Beretta model 19 34 it had all the issues of the E-Z except it was not consistent with any last round stovepiping or last live round stovepipe e it wood stove pipe it would throw the last round out and catch it in the slide it would fail to feed it would fail to eject stovepipe an empty case and it would do such at any time. But the cure for that was very easy you have to get in a 45 replacing a extractor on a 45 I checked around in the Beretta the same way you check it on a 45 take the slide off the gun but a live round under the extractor and see how it holds it it should be loose somewhat loose not tightly held otherwise it can throw the timing off on the whole pistol this maybe the other issue on my Beretta 1934 I trim the extractor so it held around loose instead of very snug all problems solved with a gun and this gun was a mess. Just a thought. Again sorry voice to text does not work well on my phone so it literally could say anything.