M&P340.... Disappointed :(

[nooch450]

Hey guys,

I'm new here but not new to S&W revolvers.

So far I've got a
-Model 29 44 mag
-Model 19 Comp Carry
-TRR8

I just picked up my 1st J frame. An M&P 340 that I waited for almost 2 years to find one in stock....

I've had it for about 7 days now and the first time I shot it was yesterday and I had a pretty bad issue...

1st of all I want to say that when I got the gun I noticed that there was a blemish where they installed the pin that retains the front centering pin detent. (See picture) I figured it wasn't such a huge deal, the guy who was assembling it must have slipped or over drove the pin in at some point and than pushed it back out from the other side. Not great for a $1000 gun, but I'll accept it...

2nd thing I noticed was that the blast shield was loose above the barrel. I was able to wiggle it out, spread it a tiny bit and put in back and. No problem now, nice and tight!

3rd thing I noticed was that when I spun the cylinder there was a slight wobble in the ejection rod. Not terrible but noticable.

Now here comes the fun part. I went out yesterday and shot about 8 cylinders worth of PMC .357 ammo out of it. After the last cylinder I fired when I went to open the cylinder to extract the empty casings it was sticky, it didn't want to open as easily as normal. When it did open BAM the ejection rod, center pin and center pin spring went flying! After searching for them for a while I simply couldn't find them... They are lost in the leaves and dirt in the woods.... Very disappointed...

I went home and cleaned the gun thinking that the ejection rod came loose and flung off when I opened the cylinder. Well... Looks like the extractor threads snapped off!!! (See picture)

So I'm probably going to have to get all new parts for this thing... I wonder if Smith and Wesson will be able to just ship me these parts instead of me shipping the gun to them for warranty repair. I've been reading horror stories about 6-10 month turn around time!!!!

I waited almost 2 years to get my hands on one of these and now I'm screwed after only owning this thing for a week....

Are these new style J frame extractors, extractor rod, center pin and spring DROP IN style parts or will they need to be fitted to the gun?

This stinks...

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[waffles]

Yep that's pretty bad.

 

[SAFireman]

Send it back to S&W, they will make it right!

 

[M29since14]

I would send the gun back - and ask them to replace the barrel shroud, while they’re at it. I’ve never seen an extractor rod break off inside the extractor, but I imagine it happens. Sorry to hear of the troubles.

To answer your question, the parts would probably “drop in” with very minor fitting, but since you’ll have to get the broken rod part out of the extractor, which may or may not be easy, I’d let S&W fuss with it. There may be other things they will discover and correct, if it all works like it should. I’d let them fix the gun like it should be.

 

[nooch450]

Send it back to S&W, they will make it right!

Yeah, I'll probably just have to wait forever and hope the same guy who assembled the gun to begin with isn't the guy who works on it....

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[nooch450]

I would send the gun back - and ask them to replace the barrel shroud, while they’re at it. I’ve never seen an extractor rod break off inside the extractor, but I imagine it happens. Sorry to hear of the troubles.



To answer your question, the parts would probably “drop in” with very minor fitting, but since you’ll have to get the broken rod part out of the extractor, which may or may not be easy, I’d let S&W fuss with it. There may be other things they will discover and correct, if it all works like it should. I’d let them fix the gun like it should be.

Actually all these parts need to be replaced. The extractor rod is missing (with the threads snapped into it) and the extractor itself has no threads left!

On these J frames it appears that the extractor rod has female threads and the extractor actually has the male threads.

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[jeffrefrig]

That's a darned shame; just a good thing nothing happened that would hurt someone. Thanks for sharing. It keeps simple safety rules fresh in our (MY) minds. Hope S&W makes the gun right.

 

[nooch450]

I'm going to try to give Smith and Wesson a call tomorrow when they open up. I have to say that I'm really disappointed and I'm not looking forward to this. Especially after reading about long turn around times and crappy service some from some people...

I hope they make this better and I don't have a long crappy experience.

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[MG34/bar]

Don’t have any very recent experience with factory repairs (last was about 1.5 years ago, but they wouldn’t send me any parts as they wanted to fit them at the factory, but the turn-around was about three weeks only. Hope you have the same luck.

 

[Lou_the_welder]

I think that warranty repairs have a quicker turnaround. Or so, that has been my experience.

You have to send it in.

You can't buy the parts and put them together. They do need to be fit to the gun. I would ask for the shroud to be replaced.

That happened to me on my R8 after the cylinder was replaced on warranty. I had posted a thread on it. Same thing. I opened the cylinder and shot out the ejector rod. They shut down the range for me, just to look for the rod. I seriously thought it had unscrewed somehow. When I realized the threads were snapped off, and still had a piece stuck in there, I knew I had to send it in.

 

[nooch450]

I think that warranty repairs have a quicker turnaround. Or so, that has been my experience.

You have to send it in.

You can't buy the parts and put them together. They do need to be fit to the gun. I would ask for the shroud to be replaced.

That happened to me on my R8 after the cylinder was replaced on warranty. I had posted a thread on it. Same thing. I opened the cylinder and shot out the ejector rod. They shut down the range for me, just to look for the rod. I seriously thought it had unscrewed somehow. When I realized the threads were snapped off, and still had a piece stuck in there, I knew I had to send it in.

Thanks for the feedback. How long ago did this happen to you and what was your turn around time?

If it was just the blemish on the shroud I would let it go... But because I have to send it in anyway I'm going to ask for that to be replaced as well.

It shouldn't have showed up that way.

Something tells me that whoever was assembling it had trouble with the combination of the extractor, extractor rod, and the centering pin detent. It has obviously been messed with for some reason (the blemish showed that). Also the slight wobble in the extractor rod is another indicator that something just wasn't right...

It's amazing that they just sent it out this way and quality control inspection let it by...

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[.455_Hunter]

All of my currently owned S&W revolvers are pre-lock, both with and without MIM. The J-frame DAO style is really the only current production examples that interest me. Stories like this don't inspire confidence.

 

[cometpx4]

M&P 340

The Smith and Wesson we used to know is gone. The Ruger LCR/LCRX is a much better choice in this modern era. The barrel cannot be "clocked", they don't crack where the barrel meets the frame, the trigger pins do not snap, etc..
I know, i know, anyone can make a lemon and most are really good. Actually, most are really not good and you have to get lucky to get a good one. I inspected about a half dozen airweights at my local dealer on Friday, (638's, 640's and 442's) and not a single one was in any sort of condition i would buy. Clocked barrels, crane and frame gaps, the forcing cone edges had burrs all over them, one cylinder would not open, etc..
This horse has been beaten but the days of buying a nice, reliable revolver from Smith are gone forever. If you want to buy a Smith, buy their plastic.
I am not faulting them, as they are trying to run a business and i just don't think they can fit a good revolver into the business model anymore.
A gun that's designed to save your life in an emergency blows apart after a couple cylinders ?? Its actually kind of pathetic.

 

[waffles]

The Smith and Wesson we used to know is gone. The Ruger LCR/LCRX is a much better choice in this modern era. The barrel cannot be "clocked", they don't crack where the barrel meets the frame, the trigger pins do not snap, etc..
I know, i know, anyone can make a lemon and most are really good. Actually, most are really not good and you have to get lucky to get a good one. I inspected about a half dozen airweights at my local dealer on Friday, (638's, 640's and 442's) and not a single one was in any sort of condition i would buy. Clocked barrels, crane and frame gaps, the forcing cone edges had burrs all over them, one cylinder would not open, etc..
This horse has been beaten but the days of buying a nice, reliable revolver from Smith are gone forever. If you want to buy a Smith, buy their plastic.
I am not faulting them, as they are trying to run a business and i just don't think they can fit a good revolver into the business model anymore.
A gun that's designed to save your life in an emergency blows apart after a couple cylinders ?? Its actually kind of pathetic.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Lou_the_welder]

Thanks for the feedback. How long ago did this happen to you and what was your turn around time?

If it was just the blemish on the shroud I would let it go... But because I have to send it in anyway I'm going to ask for that to be replaced as well.

It shouldn't have showed up that way.

Something tells me that whoever was assembling it had trouble with the combination of the extractor, extractor rod, and the centering pin detent. It has obviously been messed with for some reason (the blemish showed that). Also the slight wobble in the extractor rod is another indicator that something just wasn't right...

It's amazing that they just sent it out this way and quality control inspection let it by...

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My notes:
327 R8 broken extractor Sent 8/7/20 received 9/22/20

 

[44 mag]

3 out of the 4 New S&W revolvers i recently purchased had issues ...

 

[nooch450]

Hey guys, Quick Update. I called S&W this morning and explained my issues. They want me to send the gun back to them so they can repair it. They sent me a pre paid FedEx shipping label and asked that I send it in with a letter describing my problems. The man I spoke to said the minimum turn around time for revolver repair is 6 weeks... I don't really have any other options so I am sending it in. I will keep you updated.

Below is my enclosed letter to them. Let me know what you think:

Hello,

Please review the information below that describes the issues I had with this M&P340.
Serial Number = “DPNxxxx”

1. There is a significant blemish where the factory installed the pin through the barrel shroud (below the barrel) that retains the front centering pin detent. I would appreciate if the barrel shroud could be replaced to reflect the appearance of a new firearm.

2. When I first received the gun I noticed that the blast shield was very loose above the barrel. I was able to wiggle it out by hand, spread it a tiny bit, and put in back in with a drop of red Loctite between it and the frame in order to keep it in there nice and tight. Please make sure that if this needs to be removed for repair that it is re-installed with a tight quality fit.

3. Prior to firing for the 1st time I noticed that with the cylinder open when I spun the cylinder there was a slight wobble in the ejection rod. Not extreme but noticeable by eye. I find this to be unacceptable because the extraction rod on this model is what detains the cylinder in the frame and keeps the front of the cylinder lined up with the barrel properly… This may have somehow been related to the biggest problem I had described below.

4. When I shot the gun the 1st time I shot about 8 cylinders worth of PMC 158 grain JSP .357 ammo out of it. After the last cylinder I fired when I went to open the cylinder to extract the empty casings it was sticky, it didn't want to open as easily as normal. When it did open BAM the extraction rod, center pin and center pin spring went flying! After searching for them for a while I simply couldn't find them... They are lost in the leaves and dirt in the woods… I went home to clean the gun thinking that the extraction rod came loose and sprung out when I opened the cylinder. Upon taking it apart is when I found out that the male threads snapped off the extractor causing the other parts to take off on me…

When repairing this firearm please make sure that a thorough inspection and quality control check is completed. I want to be sure that everything is within proper specifications. For example: timing, clocking, runout on the extraction rod, proper cylinder lockup and play, ext. Unfortunately I do not have confidence that the original assembler of this gun did everything correctly after the issues I have discovered. I am hopeful that Smith and Wesson will correct these issues and return my firearm in factory new condition.

Thank You,
Dominick

 

[joebuck]

Good letter to them. Sad that you have to hold their hand to have them fix it right. $1000 for an M&P 340? Ouch. Oh well, don't take it back till its 100% then shoot the hell out of it and send it back every time it breaks.

 

[Marshal Tom]

You should have just asked for a replacement. That firearm has so many issues that I would never feel confidant with it after knowing the extent of of those issues. They should just replace it with a new one!

 

[nooch450]

You should have just asked for a replacement. That firearm has so many issues that I would never feel confidant with it after knowing the extent of of those issues. They should just replace it with a new one!

We will see how the gun comes back from them. If there are still issues I may have to go that route. I live in NJ and if they replace the firearm with one with a different serial number I'll have to get a new pistol purchase permits and pay for all the BS that goes along with the transfer and blah blah blah.

The confidence with the gun will be established after firing a couple hundred rounds of ammo with no problems followed up with a deep clean / inspection of the parts.

Fed Ex picked up the package already so it's out of my hands.

We will have to wait and see what happens

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