Kaboom Panic

[Lockback]

It would appear from anecdotal evidence, that the .40 S&W cartridge seems more likely to result in the dreaded ka-booms than any other round.
When the .40 was developed, I thought it might be the perfect compromise between the big ol' .45ACP and the 9mm.
Now I'm not so sure.
I've never owned one and see no reason to invest in one when my 9mm's and .45's seem to work just fine ...

 

[Dino1]

Any one have an Idea how many of these pistols have been produce to the number of total failures? I bet the number is well below one tenth of one percent. And if it is, that would be a pretty good track record.
I will not discount that any major failure with a fire arm should not be discredited. It is a serious matter that needs to be addressed by the manufacturer. S&W needs to make a statement and calm the waters before it really gets out of hand. Maybe the Ammo folks should step in as well. Because my take on it is it is more of an ammo problem. The Shield barrel supports the round better than a lot of other .40 pistols on the market.

 

[Rastoff]

Any one have an Idea how many of these pistols have been produce to the number of total failures? I bet the number is well below one tenth of one percent. And if it is, that would be a pretty good track record.

I beg to differ. I think a defect rate of .1% is horrible. The accepted standard for a "world class" company is 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Put another way that's 3.4 parts per million or .00034% failure rate. That would be a good track record.

Let's not forget though, this "kaboom" issue is not isolated to the gun. In fact, it's much more likely to be the ammo than the gun. So, when you look at the ammo, the defect rate is well within the .00034% rate. In fact, I'll bet there are at least 100,000 rounds fired in the US every day. Consider that weekends probably double that number and you have at least a million rounds fired every week and failures like this are rarely seen even if you take into account every gun that fires a particular caliber. So, the failure rate of the ammo is probably far less than even the .00034% rate.

So, in the end, I agree with your assessment of the "pretty good" track record when you include both the gun and the ammo.

 

[Booboo357]

In most of these kaboom situations, I suspect ammo. "Bargain" ammo, such as Winchester White Box, has a reputation for lack of consistency. I've seen enough cat sneeze rounds in it and other similar brands, to figure that there are also hot shots in it too.

S&W uses Winchester White box a lot to test their guns. It can't be that bad. I personally never had a problem with it.

 

[HeavyDuty Ken]

Kabooms are nothing new, almost every gun store I've been in since the 1970s has had a photo or actual kB'ed gun hanging on the wall. What's different is the Internet and the spread of information - a kB happens Saturday in Outer Buttcrack, and everyone knows about it within a week.

 

[Ofc.JL]

And remember, the M&P .40 was designed as a .40 to begin with. Glock made their 9mm 17 into a .40 with the 22. Not a lot of room to spare in the barrel area. SIG could not get .40 to work in their folded steel slide 9's and stopped and designed the 229 series just for the .40. They were, IIRC, about 2-3 years late in offering a .40 cal pistol, just for that reason. BtW, the 229 was where SIG begat the machined slide for their pistols, and now build all of them that way.
Also recall that the .40 is already at +P pressures, it is not a weak round by any means.
Also, as previously mention...lead bullets thru a glock are a no no. Jacket round on top of built up lead deposits overpressure the fail limit on the barrel and BOOM! This is true of ANY tolerance fit projectile weapon using high pressure as a force.
I also tend to think that we are seeing some "detonation" issue that blew several .357 magnum revolvers into scrap metal in the 60's. That was, for the most part, traced to reloads w/ very little powder content in them. But not always, there were some cases where no one ever figured out why the revolver detonated.
This "KB" or "Detonation" issue will always be with use, due to the dynamics of pressure projectile weapons, and materials limitations.
You can't get something for nothing, ya know.
Just my $.02
Thanx,
Ofc.JL