I'm officially a brand new gun owner and the S&W SD9VE was the first gun I have purchased in my entire life. I was really excited for this purchase for a while. I researched and came to the conclusion that the SD9VE would be great starter gun for me after reading so many good reviews on this firearm.

After purchasing the gun, I went straight to the gun range. Purchased some ammo and targets along with protective eye/ear gear. I loaded the gun, pulled the trigger, and got absolutely nothing. Removed the mag reinserted the secondary mag, still nothing. Just a click "sound".

Long story short, the firing pin went bad. I was extremely disappointed. I always that S&W was a good brand but with me being a novice, S&W has not made a good impression on me. After 2 days of owning the gun, I had to send back for repairs under warranty on the 2nd day. The firing pin was stuck and would not budge and it appeared the spring was all jacked up as well.

Has anybody else had this happen to their SD9VE? If so, did you send back under warranty or attempted the repair yourself? What can I expect as far as the warranty repair, is it quick? I heard some people getting free magazines sent back after repairs or some S&W swag. That would be nice. Any input would be helpful to this first time gun owner. Thanks!!


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I think you should look to make sure the striker moves freely. I would even clean the firing pin and striker channel before I did anything else.

I've not had any problems with mine, so I'm sorry to hear about your problem. I've heard that S&W has good customer service, but I'm sure there are others on this forum that can give you first hand experience. This is a bummer, but don't let it dampen your excitement about gun ownership. Good luck.

I know it's a dumb question, but did you clean it before you started shooting it? Sometimes brass finds its way into the striker channel and causes problems, a quick cleaning of the striker channel will most likely solve your problem, if not I'd just send it to smith and tell them to fix it.

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I maybe getting these parts confused but the striker does not move freely. It is stuck. The guys at the range told that this part should slide back and forth with minimal resistance.


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Yes, I cleaned it prior to going to the shooting. After I cleaned it, someone told me not to place oil near the striker/firing pin. I think this maybe part of problem because I did oil the entire gun including the striker.


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No sir, if you look at that white collar to the left of where you circled it's just beyond there underneath. All you've gotta go is remove the rear slide plate and the whole firing pin assembly is good to remove just blow out the channel clean it with some solvant and a couple patches and put some lube I'm there.

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Also if you do what I recommended remove the barrel and recoil spring before you do that, if I remember right to get the rear slide plate off all you do is push the collar toward the barrel end and take the slide plate off then take your assembly out.

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You have to hold down the Striker Block (little cylinder in slide) to move the striker assembly back and forth by hand. If you have been forcing it, you probably have damaged the assembly. The striker assembly and channel should be clean and dry.


Oiling instructions are in the Factory Manual.


It is fairly simple to remove the striker assembly if you know how, but it sounds like you need a gunsmith. If it is a new gun, probably should contact S&W for a return shipping tag.

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Science plus Art

If I were you, I would send a letter, or call S&W, and tell them like you told us, this is your very first firearm EVER, and you chose S&W because of their outstanding products and customer service! If you lead them to believe you will NEVER buy anything they make, you will receive some goodies, I'm sure!

So injustice got confirmation that my pistol was "signed in" at the warranty shop yesterday. I'll update with the issues they found and date in which it was returned back to my possession.


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S&W should fix things quickly and send it back within a week or so. They may not explain everything that they do to it; sometimes they just say things like "repair made" or such. But it will work fine.

As for the striker, it was definitely in the wrong location in your photo. The good news is, it is an easily replaced part.

Stick with S&W, and you will appreciate their customer service, which is as good as any in the gun business. Most of the time, you just won't need it, but it is there if you do.

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S&W Rover

Ok, so I finally got my gun back!! I came home from work and there she was. Of course somebody over 18 years of age had to sign for it. Luckily my fiancé was home at the time.

They replaced the firing pin/striker and it passed range testing. Everything should be good to go. I'll go to the range tomorrow and shoot off a couple rounds.

To my surprise, Smith & Wesson actually sent a new magazine on the return!! That was a nice bonus for sure. Can't say anything bad about the service. So far so good. Now I got 3 magazines to play with. The whole process was free of charge too. Didn't have to pay dime. Hope this helps.


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Thanks for the update

I just had my firing pin fail , usually I can see it in the hole but I don't . Was dry firing with my 9mm "sure strike" laser cartridge (done many times before) . My SD9VE is maybe a year or so old . Maybe 300 rounds thru it . I am not adept at gun smithing so I guess a trip back to S & W .

There have been posts about losing a firing pin when dry firing on an empty chamber but not with a snap cap or similar item there, as you state.

S&W seems to say that dry firing is O.K. but you are not the first to report that a firing pin broke off.

Have you made sure the striker body is free and forward?

If you have any friends , relatives etc that can help you just give S&W a call and see if they will send you a striker assembly. You will get back in service much faster that way and become familiar with your firearm that way (it isn't difficult at all to remove and replace the entire assembly)
Norm

Sorry about your problems Skrilla on your 1st gun.

It can happen with any gun whether it's new or old, but being your new at guns, it's worse in that you don't know what to do.

S&W has good CS and with the SD/VE models, they're lifetime warranty.

Find some (good) gun oil of your preference -- as gun oils is another "what's the best" type argument. It doesn't have to be real expensive stuff, but not anything that's watery like RemOil that Walmart sells, which works good for bolt actions, but not semi's which has many more moving parts. You need something that's synthetic to hold up to heat/cold and not run off/freeze like 3N1 machine oils will. I will say many of us have gone to synthetic oils/greases. Mobil1, Lucas Gun Oil, Slip2000, Pig Snot and many others have proven themselves.

Smith & Wesson will fix it free of charge and possibly send you a gift for your troubles. You will get it back within a month.


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