Sd40ve not loading completely

I just bought a SD40VE not a month old yet. I have fired 2 mags without any problem. Now starting on the third I am having a problem of failure to feed completely. I have cleaned and tried again but still the same. I have pulled slide all the way back and let slam but still sometimes it will not load completely. While shooting, sometimes will not feed completely but all it takes is a thumb push and then most of the time the slide will finishing locking into place. Everything slides smoothly and gun worked great until now. Any suggestions of what the problem could be? I have even tried changing ammo and grain.

I am having the same issue. I also have a friend with and M&P who was having the issue. S&W took his gun and repaired it free of cost. They threw in two new Mags also. He hasn't had an issue since. I'm going to contact them this weekend. Here's a pic and clip of what mine is doing. Good luck.



[ame]https://vimeo.com/156990305[/ame]

That is exactly what mine is doing. Would you please let me now what you find out? I would greatly appreciate it!!

What type of ammunition are you shooting? I think that might be related.
I've had this problem only with light reloads, and mentioned my experiences and some likely causes in jaweber68's thread

http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-wesson-sd-sigma-pistols/465098-jamming-new-round.html

This is not out of the ordinary for modern pistols when they are new!

It could be caused by the pistol having a "stiff" action from having preservative or dried-out oil from the time it was in the supply chain to your gun dealer.

It could be caused by a very stiff recoil spring that hasn't broken in yet.

It could also be caused by the ammo being a little out of spec.

And it could be caused by the chamber not being fully reamed to SAAMI dimensions -- although this is the least likely of the causes that I can think of.

I recommend you clean it -- with special attention to the rails and the grooves in the slide -- then oil it well. Then go fire it! Assist the slide forward as necessary for the first 50-150 rounds. Shoot another type of ammo if you have it available. The pistol should loosen up and function fully by that point, and be fine thereafter. If it doesn't start performing the way it should by the end of that short break-in period, call S&W and they will send you a pre-paid UPS label to ship back to the mother ship in Springfield, MA. You'll get it back in 2-3 weeks, fixed.

Thanks for all the info. I have tried different ammo and cleaning multiple times and still same thing happenes. I ran several rounds but today I sent off to s&w for repairs. Thanks again for all info and I will be glad when it gets back!!!

It's not the ammo. I've tried everything in the spectrum. I have stacks of partially used boxes at this point.

I could see it being a possible dirty rail issue as mine started after shooting 100 rounds of PMC through it. I did have a couple of real dirty rounds. My gun was a lot dirtier than when I use Hornady or other ammo.

only happens when you cycle the slide by hand right?
mine did it when it was new. shoot it more,it will clear up.
dont think its ammo,mine eats anything that will fit in the magazine

I just got my sd40be last week, shot it for the first time yesterday, let's start by saying I have several acp's, have had several more, things like my service model Springfield xd45, ruger p90dc 45, rm380, Sig 9, and the list goes on. I picked up this s&w sd40ve, the name itself is supposed to be "self defense" and "value enhanced" i got it because it looked good for an inexpensive firearm, felt good in the hand, even more with a hogue hand-all grip, and it weighs about 2/3 of what my springfield does, so i had intentions of this being my main carry, well my issues started once i got it home, from the start the magazines BOTH rattle like crazy when rounds are introduced, figured well ill live with it till i can fix the issue, that doesnt bother me at all compared to when i started to fire it, it did as you guys have mentioned with half loading a round, at one point every other round did this very thing, unless i went mad man and dumped rounds as fast as possible, different rounds had same problems, and after owning several acp's "limp wristing" is not even part of my vocabulary. Weak recoil spring, maybe. Spring needs broken in, doubt it as I ran approx. 250 rounds of assorted ammo, different in grain, brand ect but all round nose ammo, my xd45 is about a month old, I have fired in every way imagine able and I can only get it to fail if I flip it upside down, I have over 500 flawless rounds thru it, but the s&w can't even clear a mag without issue? This being my first s&w period and noticing the same problem with the m&p is making me consider using this one as target practice and staying away from s&w in general, I won't carry what I can't trust, and a rtf every three rounds at best does not earn my trust in the slightest, so I still carry my xd45 every day, I had two more issues with the s&w, mag simply fell out of the pistol every third or fourth one, and EVERY spent casing I picked up had a bulge on the primer end of the casing and it's the only firearm out of fifteen to do so. With this many issues all wrapped up into one firearm I am hesitant at minimum to get ANY other s&w products, which is a shame because I really like the m&p ar10 at my gun shop, but again, should I trust this company with my shtf arms? I wonder if the hi point would have been more reliable than the sd40 at this point, which is sad to say about an "American classic" name like Smith & wesson. Let's hear you guys convince me to enjoy another, I will say, if the sd40 was even half as reliable as any of my other acp's I would enjoy it a lot, it's a pleasure to shoot, when it shoots.

I had this happen to me when I changed from cheaper TulAmmo steel-cased ammos to Blazer brass.

First thing was go through an elimination process to see if any parts or limp wristing was at fault. Nope.

What I found was the thin-walled steel ammo fired/ejected and worked ok with no problems.

What was happening was brass ammos, having thicker/stronger case walls and sharp-edged necks, were biting into the ramp's trough and squared edges leading up to the chamber and slowed down the slide's forward momentum just enough to stop the slide as it was trying to lock in position.

Didn't seem do it on all rounds, but just enough to let me know that something wasn't operating as it should. No amount of cleaning/oiling helped.

For my correction, I got out the Dremel and some finely pointed stones and
slightly rounded off the bottom of the ramp's edge lip, where the ammo makes the bend going into chamber.

Reassembled and immediately ran 2 magazines for test check of problem. It had cleared up the slide stoppage. Broke gun down and gave a thorough polishing on barrel ramp and cleaned/reoiled things up.

What this does is it takes away any squared/sharp edges that ammo can catch on as it goes into the chamber.

I had to also do this on a Hi-Point 40S&W where ammo cases were catching on trough edges leading to chamber. So doing the S&W wasn't my first rodeo in eliminating a small problem in reliability, once I eliminated all other possibilities first.

If you don't know how to do this let a gunsmith or S&W help you.

Well, it was sent back to s&w today, I failed to mention that it will do this half chamber issue both live fire, and by hand, other issues with this same pistol were a bulge in the spent casings on the "bottom"of the case where it meets the loading ramp area, about every third magazine would drop from the gun during fire, rattle coming from either mag on even rounds, when mag is in the gun it will rattle no matter what from full mag down to the last two in the mag. I guess if you really want to buy one I wouldn't even bother taking it out of the box, just send it directly to s&w. As far as "new" acp' s having this common problem... explain why NONE of my other acp's bought new within the last 30 days have failed not even once! I've done the same thing with 4 brand new acp's, buy, take home and clean, lube, then go shoot, remmington rm380 flawless thru 350 rounds so far, Springfield xd45 service model roughly 650 rounds flawless so far, and a Sig sauer p290rs with 200 flawless rounds so far, s&w sd40ve went thru one 14 round mag fine and after that I can't successfully get any more than maybe 3 rounds without issue, I say the price reflects the performance with this line from s&w, and I should have spent the extra $120 on another sig. I feel that three out of four brand new pistols have debunked your break in problem theory, plain and simple the s&w sdve series are generally poorly made, might be better once I get it back, but I've had it less than a full week with a string of issues, I am seriously turned completely off anything but a revolver from s&w, I hope when I get it back they will give me good reason to try one more acp or auto rifle, but for now I will carry anything but that pistol till I know it's reliable at all.

Sending it back sounds like the best plan of action although a PITA. I have put about 300 rounds of various brands through mine including blazer aluminum 180g with no issues. I hope when you get yours back it has no issues as well.

I've still ONLY had this problem while riding the slide, and twice when shooting 200rds of light "minor velocity" reloads. Never a problem with BrazerBrass (165 or 180gr) (300rounds) or Federal RTP (800rds - LOVE these target rounds, BTW).

I agree, I hope it runs like I thought a Smith should, I know that riding the slide was not a factor either, I make very sure of hand placement with everyround I fire on the range, I would think if riding the slide was an issue it would be with the .380 over anything, small pistol in a larger than averagehand, but not even with that little guy. II've heard a lot of good things about the sd9ve, but seems like moving up to the .40 has caused issues in not only my pistol, but I've seen a ton of complaints about the same sd40, I think with the exception of the issues I had, for the price it looks decent, I really like the grip on the rear of the slide, fits well in the hand, but a hogue improves the feel dramaticly, the simplicity is great, when it did fire without too much issue it seemed accurate enough to be lethal if needed, recoil is very manageable, I drilled dimples in my rear sight and re colored them, I liked that better than the smooth paint that had already gotten scuffed, but if it fires and functions correctly I will upgrade to trijicon,and I plan on doing the trigger as well, I just want it to be clear, I hated how my particular pistol functioned, not neccesarily the pistol itself, I might have had a different opinion of the identical one that is still on the shelf.

I agree, I hope it runs like I thought a Smith should, I know that riding the slide was not a factor either, I make very sure of hand placement with everyround I fire on the range, I would think if riding the slide was an issue it would be with the .380 over anything, small pistol in a larger than averagehand, but not even with that little guy. II've heard a lot of good things about the sd9ve, but seems like moving up to the .40 has caused issues in not only my pistol, but I've seen a ton of complaints about the same sd40, I think with the exception of the issues I had, for the price it looks decent, I really like the grip on the rear of the slide, fits well in the hand, but a hogue improves the feel dramaticly, the simplicity is great, when it did fire without too much issue it seemed accurate enough to be lethal if needed, recoil is very manageable, I drilled dimples in my rear sight and re colored them, I liked that better than the smooth paint that had already gotten scuffed, but if it fires and functions correctly I will upgrade to trijicon,and I plan on doing the trigger as well, I just want it to be clear, I hated how my particular pistol functioned, not neccesarily the pistol itself, I might have had a different opinion of the identical one that is still on the shelf.

still waiting :/

So I've owned my sd40 for far more time than its been in my possesion, as a few of you have read above, it was sent back a week after purchase, well Smith has had it for about three weeks and even though it was "junk" and flawed when I got it, well I miss it, anyone have even a hint for me on how patient I should really be? Tell me your experiences with returning a flawed pistol to s&w, good or bad, want to know what I'm in for.

Finally got this paper weight back, they polished the feed ramp, tweaked the mag release, and supposedly did several other things, feeds good so far, unless you are racking the first round, still locks it half open requiring a "bump" to the slide to chamber. Still provides me with the wonderful "glock smile" on every case, however it is less pronounced. As far as reliability, well it has everything involved that makes me hate glock, after all it might as well be an s&w glock, I am strongly considering trading it off for the first thing I can get, has got to be an upgrade to even jump on a Hi point, these pistols are California junk, don't waste your couple hundred bucks, most likely need to send it back, just to be still dissapointed. I will never buy another s&w semi, might, and I use a strong might try a revolver, but highly doubt it. Try placing the blame on the shooter, or ammo, or the sky being the wrong shade of blue, but bottom line is the pistol is an over priced paper weight, I've fed it well over 500 rounds now, even after the manufacturer "fixed" it I'm still having issues, and now have two major firearm companiesthat will not see much of me, s&w and glock, total trash and i'll not waste my time again, anyone in colorado want to trade me? I'll take a Hi point 9mm carbine straight across, no joke.

I deleted the last few posts.


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Thank you, only real point I had at all is my particular s&w has given me a rash of problems, and a result of feeling uncomfortable buying the brand again, and as far as glock goes, or hipoint, or ruger or any other brand for that matter, if the manufacturer will not answer the customer requests, I should not answer with a paycheck to them, I have good reason for backing away from certain companies, and yes I do apprichiate hi points lifetime warranty on the firearm, not the owner, they may be big ugly and bulky, but when a bolt is hammered into the barrel and fired, the gun was not damaged in the normal explosion of the barrel, and glock still refuses to build a single stack, or even a carbine, same overall pistol for the past few decades, nothing to be wowed over, I do my best at this point to buy quality firearms and not be a sheeple

I apologize for my attempt at sarcastic humor in this thread. I accept my post was deleted for a reason.