I was cleaning my 1.0 M&P 40c last night, and as always, I checked the striker block function. To my surprise, I was able to push the striker all the way forward even though the striker block button was fully extended from its hole. The striker moved forward as easily as when the striker block button was fully depressed. That's not supposed to happen. I removed the striker and cleaned it, the striker channel, and as much I could of the striker block mechanism. None of them was very dirty. I reinserted the striker but nothing changed -- it still refused to be blocked. I then got my previous striker, which had always been blocked by the striker block, and inserted it. The striker block worked perfectly with it.

Clearly, the problem is with the current striker, not the block. I looked closely at the current and the old striker and could not detect any signs of wear or other differences between them. (The current striker has 2,000 rounds on it, and the old one has 4,500.) I am not an armorer or a gunsmith, so I have a couple of questions:

1. I am assuming that the striker should never move fully forward when the striker block button is fully extended. Is that correct?

2. If my assumption above is correct, how much of a safety issue is there when the striker block does not block the striker?

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What, me worry?

Yes, with the striker block in it's fully-extended position, the striker should not be able to move forward to the point where the firing pin is exposed.

It's a serious safety issue if you're like me and you carry one in the pipe. Without the block working there the pistol, if dropped, the sear could trip and release the striker firing a round.

Pictures of the old and new striker would be great, as I had a striker assembly sent out to me that actually went to a 2.0 and I have a 1.0 pistol; mistakes happen. The 2.0 had a definitively different angle on the sear engagement surface, but I do not recall whether or not the striker was able to defeat the block with it being a 2.0 assembly.


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Hello,
I am not a gunsmith or armorer either but I do work on all my pistols for the most part. It is my understanding that the striker block should keep the striker from moving forward to keep the striker from releasing if dropped or impacted. In this case I would contact Smith and Wesson and see what they can do for you. They might just send you a new striker assembly Good luck.
WK.

AD1:
Yes, you are correct. The striker cannot be moved forward with striker block in place.

AD2:
It is a huge safety issue. That is the moment you may experience ND while carrying with chambered round. Always consider M&P as Single Action handgun.


Regarding the strikers - you may not be able see the differences without using caliper. Sometimes hair distance matters.

You first need to "Cock" the striker by moving it rearward. Same thing happens when you rack the slide on an assembled gun. This will engage the striker block and prevent the striker from moving forward unless the striker block is depressed.

Thanks, Lee. I did not know that moving the striker rearward engaged the striker block. A little while ago, I reinstalled the problematic striker assembly and pushed the striker tab rearward multiple times,. The striker block engaged and prevented forward movement of the striker every time. Problem solved!

Now why did it seem to fail last night? Normally, when I am cleaning my 40c, I'm O-C enough to move the striker tab back to clean out accumulated gunpowder residue. Thus I would unknowingly engage the striker block, which is why it always worked when I checked it. During last night's gun cleaning session, I guess I got lazy and did not move the striker tab enough to engage the block. I won't do that again!

And thanks to all of the other posters who pointed out the necessity of having a properly working striker block in order to have a safe gun. If you want to check your striker block, it's easy to do any time you remove your slide. Move the striker tab rearward (it's the silver block protruding from the channel at the rear of the slide), then let it go forward. Then try to push it further forward. If the striker block is working properly, the tab will not move. Next push in the round silver button (that's the striker block) next to the striker tab. Now you should be able to push the striker tab forward. If it all works as described, it's OK.

I've been an M&P 40c owner and a member here for over six years, and I'm still learning useful stuff about my 40c. That's one of the many reasons the Forum is such a great website.

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What, me worry?

Many 1.0 models had rather rough bore holes for the striker block . Might remove the rear sight , block and spring , order a new spring and wrap some fine sand paper of a rod and smooth the bore hole and polish the striker block . We've had 1.0 model since they came out up to the last 1.0 about 8 years ago and now have a 2.0 but all had some smoothing of the bore hole and apex striker block and there spring . never failed to work as designed .