Kinda new to handguns so please forgive me on the wording......Just picked up a new SD40 VE at a local sporting store yesterday and a box of Hornady Critical Defense rounds. Loaded the clip and went to cock the gun and the round will not seat. The back seems to be getting hung up where the back of the cartridge fits in to the slot. Tried it a few more times and sane issue. I pulled that clip out and tried some Federal hollowpoints I had. They seem to work better but only 50% of the time. Has anyone else had this issue and what is the fix for it. I own a Glock as well and never had a issue and have shot at least 500 rounds thru it. I can post a pic of the misfeed if that would help.

thanks

My routine with a new handgun is to field strip, clean and lubricate the gun before firing. I also strip the magazines apart, check the feed lips for burrs (deburr if needed) and clean the magazine with CRC silicone. Spray, wipe DRY, and reassemble.

I load from an open slide. seat the magazine, and then "slingshot" the slide (pull it all the way back and release it). Never ride the slide down, just let it go.

It should work after that routine unless there is something wrong with it. The most frequent cause of feeding problems with a new gun at the range is lack of or improper cleaning and lubrication.

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Science plus Art

Thanks for the reply, ill try those things and see what happens. I got some pics, ill post them in a few mins.

Here are the pics, seems the front shoots up but the back end is where its catching.

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This is going to sound ridiculous but are you sure that the round you have is a 40 Cal?

And if so do you have some other 40 Cal rounds you can try out to see if they seat properly?

Its almost looking like the case is too large to fit into the barrel.

lol YES they are .40, I have tried 3 different types of ammo, some a little better than others but non are reliable.

Those pictures make it look like the shell is rung right where the feed ramp joins the chamber. Is there are ridge or edge there? I've fired mine enough that the transition where the feed ramp and chamber come together is rounded off. There is a definite wear pattern there.

I bought A sigma .40 in 2008. DID NOT clean it and took it to the range.
Never missed a lick. I then cleaned it, removed the slide etc. light oiled (very little) then proceeded to see how many rounds I can get after that by NOT cleaning again till it chocked, gklithched, etcetc,. FTF etc.
After 1000 rounds no cleaning and no problems. And I have my shooting buddy as a witness. I said ok i can really trust this gun. it is mine forever and I WILL NEVER sell it or let it go..
Something majorly is wrong with yours that a simple cleaning won't fix,./. to trust your life to.. I would run back to where you bought it and tell them you want another gun,, or see how much off they will give you for another .40 no glitch gun like mine. THEY ARE out there. ANd IF you have to send it to SW for repair,,, need to have them tell you how many test rounds they went thru... to say its FIXED then Shoot the bejezus out of it when you get it back... IT SHOULD NOT DO THIS>>>>> AT ALL>
I had a 9mm sigma I traded off because it would hang up FTF,. getting the least bit dirty..after 2 boxes (100 rounds) For me that ain't good enough to carry. Besides what's the fun in shooting a gun that doesn't work??? or you can't trust???
SEND yours BACK>> **** I now have 3000 so far NO GLITCH rounds thru my Sigma. ***** ONLY my 2 cents for your safety.

I agree, There is no way I would trust it, of course the store has a no return or exchange on firearms. I contacted S&W and they are sending me the shipping label- hope to have it next week. Such BS especially on a day old gun

Don't be too discouraged- Every manufacturer will have a bad gun once in a while. S&W makes a good product. When you get it back it shouldn't give you any problems. I have the Sigma .40 and it is a fine weapon.

My guess is that you are being too gentle with it and riding the slide forward or not fully retracting it to the rearmost stop.

On the range withe the pistol poited in a safe direction, insert the loaded magazine, get a firm grip on the "handle", with your strong hand, straighten your trigger finger and place it on the frame in one of the litle dimples provided on the SD frame. Now place your oher hand on top of the slide, grip firmly, and pull back toward your chest while pushing forcefully straight out with your strong hand, now try to rip the slide off the gun! If you do this correctly as the slide reaches it rearmost travel the hand on the slide will smack you in the chest, the slide will slam forward and all will be good.

If that doesn't work, a trip home to S&W is required.

i just got my sv de 40 today and it is doing the same thing i used 155 gr gold dots 180 gr speer lawman and wwb and it does that with all of them

so did they fix it im having the same problem and just bought mine today

Replied to your PM

A little work on the feed ramp with a dremel will fix it. You can do it yourself or send it to S&W they will do it for you.

FWIW my SD 40 VE works like a charm so far. I wiped it off, placed 6 individual drops of oil where the manual said to, and proceeded to run about 265 error-free rounds thru it in one session. That included 250 rds of several different types of Federal 180g FMJ, WWB, and about one magazine full of Ranger T.

Although I'm generally a revolver guy, I've owned perhaps 15-20 automatics over the years, and this is the first one I've ever pushed that hard on the first range trip and gotten flawless results. I think of it as hi-cap revolver. :-) Love it; even though I prefer classic wood & steel, this gun is highly practical and definitely a keeper.

Best of luck getting yours running smoothly.

Some guns just dont like certain ammo...I always try round nose FMJs first then go from there

J Rick is right, this very problem came up 2 weeks ago on this forum and the guy sent it back to S&W. They dremeled the ramp and a reply said all was good. Good luck, my month old SD9VE is ALLSOME!!!!!!!!!!

Let the slide go forward full speed from its rearmost position and DO NOT "ride it home." Confirm to see if it is happening while shooting, and if it still is happening after a couple of boxes, call S&W for a shipping label and have them fix it. Be sure to send pictures and a letter of explanation.

Why not run 100-200 rounds of target FMJs through it first before sending it off? As I said some guns just dont like certain ammo, try different HPs some might feed better than others.

The same thing happened with my brand new, out of the box sd9ve. It would not load a cartridge of any brand and jammed so that you could barely pull the slide to eject the round. I took it back, they checked it out and found it to be defective. The chamber was either slightly small or out of round and they replaced the weapon. The new one is fine but now there are at least two instances of this defect with new SDs.

I have the new SD40VE. Its shoots real nice. Put 100 trouble free rounds thru mine. If you are having issues send it back to S&W. They will make it right.

I have noticed with my SD40 VE that if you don't let the slide go at its rear most point in the travel this will happen. It needs the full slingshot effect to seat the cartridge. Just make sure you don't ride the slide at all when letting it return to battery and you should be good to go.

Never had it happen during the firing cycle.

Hope this helps

I HAVE ENCOUNTERED A SIMILAR CONDITION WITH NEW UNFIRED SEMI-AUTOS. I LIKE TO DROP A ROUND IN THE CHAMBER, DROP THE SLIDE, AND INSERT A FULL MAG. SOMETIMES THE SLIDE WILL NOT ENGAGE FULLY. SMACKING IT WITH THE HAND WILL NOT HELP. I OPTED TO SLIDING A ROUND STRAIGHT DOWN BEHIND THE EXTRACTOR, DROPPING THE SLIDE, THEN INSERTING THE MAG. -- WORKED GREAT -- PROBLEM NOT SOLVED -- I DID NOT CLEAN PROPERLY -- DID NOT LUBRICATE PROPERLY (OVERLOOKED LUBRICATING AND EXERCISING THE EXTRACTOR). IF THE EXTRACTOR IS NOT FREE YOU WILL NOT EXPERIENCE PROPER FEEDING. -- ALSO USE GOOD SYNTHETIC OIL FOR TRIGGERS AND HARD TO REACH PARTS -- FOR ALL SLIDES (ALL RIFLES - ESPECIALLY SEMI AUTOS) AND RELATED PARTS USE A GOOD SYNTHETIC GREASE SUCH AS LUBRIPLATE EX2B OR TETRA LUBE GREASE. - THEY ARE LITTLE PRICEY BUT WELL WORTH THE MONEY IF YOU VALUE YOUR FIREARMS. LOTS OF LUCK

That is hard on your extractor as most pistols are not designed to feed that way.

Finally sent it in and got it back 3 weeks later. They said the feed ramp had to be worked on and polished and the ejector had to be adjusted. Seems to feed just fine now

Try breaking it in with at least 100 rounds of FMJ before trying hollow points.

Funny... I got a SD40VE last week and it does the same thing...but only with Hornady. Cycles target ammo and Golden Sabres like a champ though. I forgot about this post until I started a google search with "SD40VE won't feed Hornady"

DoH! there's your problem... Your using a clip in your magazine-fed semi-auto!

I purchased my SD40VE back in March. Mine had a similar issue intermittently, I would say once every 15-20 rounds I would get a FTF. I finally emailed S&W and sent it back with my magazines. That was 2 weeks ago so I'm hoping to get it back soon. Based on everyone else's experience I expect it will be just fine. It just sounds to be without for 3+ weeks.

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S&W gunsmiths are said to be out of the office till 8/12/13. I would expect you won't get it back for a week or 2 after that.

I'm having feed issues with my SD40VE as well. it seems to be a problem with the extractor. If I push the extractor in(pulls away from the bullet case)the slide slams shut. is the extractor bent and have to be replaced? I seem to have no problem with factory ammo, just reloads?? Please let me know if I need to send in to S&W, or if I can fix this myself. I have already done the dremel feed ramp polish trick as well. Thanks!

Uh, I think you answered your own question-don't ya think?

Did you do the reloading? Were the cases cleaned and is the reloader set up to properly resize them during the reloading process?

If the gun does fine with factory ammo I'm guessing the reloads you're using are not up to factory specs...

Simple fix-don't use those reloads.

For those of us that reload, you can buy a Lyman Reloading Pistol Max Cartridge Gauge in the caliber you are using. Or you can do the "plop" test using the barrel in the gun you are shooting.
The only problem with the "plop" test is if you have 2 different brands of pistols in the same caliber, especially a Glock. They don't fully support the case and the brass has a tendency to "swell" at the bottom of the case that the sizing die can't get to. The glock brass works fine in the glock but not so much in a different brand pistol. Sometimes you can use a factory seating/crimping die as a fourth step and it can "correct" some of the problems because it resizes the cartridge as it crimps.

My Dillon 550 fully resized the brass so my ammo was brought back to spec and worked in all guns.

I only neck resized my bolt action rifle ammo because I was going for max accuracy...

at 200 rounds finally had a failure to feed. checked the gun out. everything was fine. swapped mags, ran fine, reloaded the ftf mag did it again. unloaded it and checked the ammo.... had 5 rounds(winchester white box fmj) with significant burrs on the projectile. worked fine once those 5 were gone. So I guess the motto is "check your ammo"

New member, same issue. Mine (SD40VE, new-3 months old) has ~ 300 rounds through it with no problems. Federal only, 180 gr. FMJ.
HP only loaded for HD-never fired.
Last trip to the range, fired once and stovepiped. Ejected mag and cleared round-appeared to be partially in the chamber, nose up.
Re-inserted magazine, racked the slide and-jam.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Never fired the pistol again, rounds would apparently get stuck under the ejector-wouldn't slide under it.
Changed ammo and magazine to Fiocci 170 gr. FMJ.
Repeat. Jam.
Cleared the pistol, cleared both magazines and sent back to S&W for repair.
23 days ago.
Purchased S&W M&P Shield40 for the interim.
Opinions?

I finally received my SD40 from S&W Repair. The WO states they "Replaced BBL".

Replaced the barrel? And no explanation? It seems to feed fine and eject properly, but the ballistics/fired casing provided with the pistol when new, and the sample bullet on file are no longer matched to this frame S/N.

Weird...

I have about 500 rounds through my SD40VE and no issues with feed or fire! My girlfriend limp-wristed (aka didn't pull the slide back with much gusto) the slide once and a round got jammed up--but after telling her to rack it like she means it--no problems since (that was in the first 40-50 rounds).

I think your issue might be the rounds you are using i had the same problem with golden sabers rounds when i got my S&W SD40VE. and i did some research and it turns out you shouldnt use ANY kind of hollow points in them until you have broken the gun in. try using some kind of fmj round instead, at least until you put around 200+ rounds through it. then do a deep cleaning and oiling. after that you shouldn't have any more feeding issues. at least i didnt with mine after i broke the gun in. hope this helps anyone having the same problem.

yep my SD needed a nice feed ramp polishing. i also polished the sear as well. this is a common issue with a brand new sigma/sd

give the feed ramp a polish, field strip and clean, if it still has FTF issues send to smith and they will get it working. remember these things are not handmade like kimbers. they are mass produced. things happen and lemons do surface. for the price you wont be getting a handmade custom firearm.

did it come with a spent shell casing? try using the exact same ammo as that. it obviously fed once for the factory to be able to fire it

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Fugitive Recovery Agent

alot of people blame the type of ammo in this thread. ive shot at least 20-30 different kinds of ammo in the 5000-6000 rounds ive shot through my SD since i got it in october. it had problems for first 200-300 rounds. once i polished the ramp and sear, did the basic steps to correct its been fine. ive shop ****** reloads, FMJ, JHP, nylon jacketed from harters. it eats everything and i have not had any issues for the last 4700 or so rounds. i trust my SD with my life. its my EDC. it goes bang when the trigger is pulled EVERYTIME.

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Fugitive Recovery Agent

I have the same issue with my SD40. What I found was it misfeeds with only one of my magazines. Try to clean the magazine or try another before trading in your handgun.

Do the .40 rounds have a taper like the 9mm? I notice that when I fill a SD9VE magazine until the rounds start to show through the side they are stacked sort of randomly. Even so it feeds just fine.

Looks like S&W did a good job in the transition from the two-stack section to the top single-round feed section.

Not sure what the outcome has been for the feeding issue. But looking at the first picture, looks like the firing pin is protruding slightly and catching the casing.

An update would be nice...I have a the SD40VE as well, picked up from my FFL and went straight to the range and ran 200 rounds with no issues.

Excellent catch! I didn't notice that when I looked at the pics the first time.

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SD40-VE owner and proud of it!

That WAS a good catch. And it could end up being...interesting. And exciting?

How do I do that ? Do you know their pricing

Just contact s&w customer service. They have lifetime warranties in their guns. Shouldn't cost you anything to have it fixed.

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