Reply from a few weeks: My M&P 40 Blew UP!!

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The ammo was reloaded by me. All was new brass, I don't buy junk and separate it. I shot many rounds through my Smith 4006 that is metal of course. I never reload to max. I have reloaded thousands of rounds in rifles and handguns and have never had a serious malfunction. One time I did forget to put the powder in a 308 and got a stuck bullett!! but that was a long time ago. I only carry quality factory ammo, mostly Hornady when I carry or go hunting. But to plink or practice, I reload. I have 3 7mmwsm's, 2 300 wsm's, a 270 wsm, a 25 wssm, and a 223 wssm. Factory ammo that is affordable is non existent in these calibers.
 
You said it was factory ammo, now you say it's reloads. Which is it? You keep changing your story.
 
Hello. No matter what the specific facts are in this case, I am sorry you are having trouble. I do hope you can get some better resolution. Just curious, was Smith and Wesson made aware that you were running reloads in your gun? If so, they may have seen an "easy out" and simply backed away from your problem because they were under no obligation to solve it. Just a thought.

But just think of the different reaction there would be with potential customers if they had simply "taken one for the team" and replaced your pistol. You would be singing their praises to anyone you talked about guns with.

Sometimes I think corporate America can be a bit shortsighted. Best of luck with whatever your next gun is.
 
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I see a crack in the frame which appears to have originated at a corner of the trigger cutout. I didn't see a 'blow up'. Did I miss something?
 
MichiganScott said:
The majority of Glock failures tend to be with .40 S&W's also. Maybe it's time to discard the .40 totally or relegate it to steel framed firearms.

There's more to the story about the FBI going back to the 9mm from the .40 because of the increasing number of small framed recruits and better 9mm ammunition. The .40 was designed to be used in 9mm framed handguns. There were some spectacular failures before manufacturers learned that the process was not as simple as replacing barrels and recoil springs.

I don't own a .40 and never will. When I want something bigger than a 9mm, it's a 1911 in .45 ACP.
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I had a Sig Sauer P229 in .40 S&W. I never shot it, I never carried it. It sat in my safe for years. I traded it, and some cash for a 4" 629 (no dash). A great trade for me.

I will never get rid of my P226 in 9mm, but I agree about .40 S&W, I liked nothing about it.

I shoot all of my 1911s 10 times better than the p229.
 
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Do the 357 sig guns have the problems the 40 s&w guns have?
 
How about providing the lot # of the 40 S&W Winchester White Box, so that other forum members can check it against their ammo inventory. Otherwise this thread is just another lamentation against S&W, polymer frames, and the SAAMI Specs of the 40 S&W cartridge.
 
pushpullpete said:
Gentlemen, read the posts. I believe he stated that he shot
Federal, then reloads & the gun then had an issue with the
Win WB. Sorry guys "but", try to keep up. :eek:
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Oh I read the posts. I just find it far more likely that the reload ammo weakened the gun for an eventual failure with the Win whitebox stuff. An expensive lesson, either way
 
jcs152112 said:
After all the remarks and the troll statements about my experience. I am going to try to post pictures and show the reply I got from Smith & Wesson. I sent the ammo that was involved, but did not receive it back because I was told they were not ammo manufacturers so they could not ship it back. They did not test the ammo because "we do not test ammo", but I was required to send it back. I had an M&P 40 that exploded with Winchester white box 40 cal ammo. I sent the gun and the ammo to Smith & Wesson. I am posting hopefully the letter I received. Anyway, to those of you who said there were no pictures, and pretty much called me every name in the book. Here is your proof. I am screwed, I have nothing to show for this but a $779.95 pistol that did not function. Don't tell me I paid too much. I have already talked to the dealer I bought the pistol from and they were afraid to pursue the problem because of their relationship with Smith & Wesson.
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As andyo5, said in post #28, "I see a crack in the frame which appears to have originated at a corner of the trigger cutout. I didn't see a 'blow up'. Did I miss something?"

This from your Original Post!

"This M&P was a lemon! It jammed from day one, never functioned properly. was told to clean and oil it good as it could have dried out on display at the store. Had my gunsmith go through it, clean and oil it and for about 2 magazines it worked. This is with FACTORY ammo! Finally when my grandson was firing it, the damn thing blew up in his face, the slide flew back and hit a friend of his in the forehead cutting him, and parts went everywhere."

No evidence in your pictures of a catastrophic Blow-up and slide disengagement with parts going everywhere. All I see is a crack in the polymer frame behind the trigger cutout. You did not post pictures of the frame slide rails or any other parts of the pistol that came apart.
You made no mention of "shooting reloads" in your original post. I still have reservations as to what actually took place!

mb
 
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martybee said:
As andyo5, said in post #28, "I see a crack in the frame which appears to have originated at a corner of the trigger cutout. I didn't see a 'blow up'. Did I miss something?"

This from your Original Post!

"This M&P was a lemon! It jammed from day one, never functioned properly. was told to clean and oil it good as it could have dried out on display at the store. Had my gunsmith go through it, clean and oil it and for about 2 magazines it worked. This is with FACTORY ammo! Finally when my grandson was firing it, the damn thing blew up in his face, the slide flew back and hit a friend of his in the forehead cutting him, and parts went everywhere."

No evidence in your pictures of a catastrophic Blow-up and slide disengagement with parts going everywhere. All I see is a crack in the polymer frame behind the trigger cutout. You did not post pictures of the frame slide rails or any other parts of the pistol that came apart.
You made no mention of "shooting reloads" in your original post. I still have reservations as to what actually took place!

mb
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There certainly seems to be more anecdotal evidence of failures in 40 S&W than with 9mm even though there are many more 9mm guns out there. Most are not truly catastrophic failures with split chambers and broken slides. Most seem to show blown out case heads and cracked plastic frames. It also seem that you get a good deal more safety with a metal framed gun where a low level kaboom simply blows out the magazine or cracks a plastic grip but the gun is still working otherwise.

To the OP. I doubt that your reloads prestressed the frame to where it would crack with subsequent normal pressure loads. I think S&W screwed you by wanting the ammo sent to them and not telling you "oh by the way, you won't get it back and you will be totally at our mercy as to the resolution of the problem". I don't think it was a design or manufacturing defect in the gun. It was probably an overpressure round caused by bad ammo or setback from multiple cambering or simply lack of neck tension in a factory load but you won't be able to prove that without the rest of the ammo available for testing.
 
rsrocket1 said:
... but you won't be able to prove that without the rest of the ammo available for testing.
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NEVER send all the ammo. NEVER send the ammo box. Send multiple high-res photographs of the ammo box including receipts instead. There is nothing about the cardboard ammo box that they have to test. :mad:

But that said, the "R-word" appears to give S&W the perfect excuse it needs to throw any customer under the bus. :o

Where is the suspect ammo now? Does S&W still have it? Can someone pick it up for you so they can't use the no shipping excuse? :confused: I am in Massachusetts if that helps.

I've been using WWB in all pistol calibers with essentially total success for many years... but that doesn't mean Winchester didn't mess up a box. :o
 
Reloads!! Argh!

Put yourself in S&W's position. They have a gun with a cracked frame in the vicinity of the front block group and nothing else except the word of the owner that it "blew up" with Win WB after shooting reloads. The only explanations are manufacturing defect or faulty reload, perhaps a double charge or a under/no-charge that left a stuck round that got kicked out with the next good round by generated horrific recoil impulse. Guess where it gets reacted. The area of the frame that broke. No one really knows, but the only hard evidence is what's lying in front of them and the notional info that the gun digested some reloads. They could give you a new gun out of compassion, knowing full well that injection molded polymer doesn't have defects that show up in the high stress area. They have to do something and staring at the broken gun, they really have little choice but charity.
 
Sorry that your gun has issues and the S&W isn't going to replace it. I have a revolver at mother S&W myself. It is a Model 37 that cracked the frame right under the barrel. Waiting to hear what they plan to do with it.
 
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