I bought a new M&P10 from Bud's Gun shop. I did a quick function check and overall inspection and didn't notice any issues.

Once I got home and did a more thorough inspection, I noticed that the bolt release on the right eject port side of the rifle wobbles and rattles a lot. Has anyone experienced this issue on their rifle?

This is a new rifle and I expected the fit and finish to be much better. I can fix the bolt release gap with a wider bolt release, or fill in the gap with a steel or aluminum epoxy and then file it down or just remove the bolt release.

The inside of the upper receiver was dirty, the bolt carrier group was scraped up, worn slightly, and it had a sticky grease on parts of it. The barrel was also dirty. Is this typical of Smith and Wesson quality control?

When disassembling the bolt carrier group, I noticed that the top of the cam pin is parallel with bolt carrier group instead of 90 degrees as on an AR-15. Is this typical of DPMS 308's or just the M&P10?

If anyone has any better suggestions on fixing the loose bolt release let me know. BTW, I checked the bolt release retaining pin and it is tight.

Contact Smith and Wesson about your concerns

First, the dirt and grease... I would say typical. All new guns should be cleaned and lubed thoroughly before use. Some folks recommend cleaning esp. the barrel between each shot for the first 10 shots to break it in.

Now, for the slop in any components. If you feel the receiver is out of spec, contact S&W.

Cam pin - look to the manual (or elsewhere) on how to disassemble and reassemble the bolt. That should answer your question. I doubt it would be 90 degrees out of spec.

The Cam pin was correct according to the manual, and I shimmed the bolt release so it's not rattling any more.

Thanks for the info.

Smith and wesson told me they fire about 20 round out of the rifle at the factory. I had the same question about the dirty barrel. I just shot mine for the first time and the results were very good so far. Enjoy!