Annoyed at S&W

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As a competitive IDPA shooter I want the slide to go forward after inserting a loaded magazine, it saves a step and saves time. If one of my autos “sticks” I try to have it fixed. You do it however you want and I will do the same, be it a M&P, Kimber, Para or Glock , mag in slide forward saves time.
 
It is not supposed to do that. Anyway, I was not slamming it in at the time. Well look everyone, If you like to have your guns malfunction on you all the time then that is your deal. I wnat my guns to perform like they were supposed to all the time. Guns ar3e not supposed to load themselves, if anyof you had any common sense you would already know this, Just to clarify one more thing incase you did not this either, You gun is not supposed to shoot itself either.

Please CLOSE THIS THREAD.

Nearly every semi-auto in existence can be made to "auto forward" under certain conditions, whether they are "supposed to" or not. If you want an auto-loader that will "perform like they are supposed to all the time", such as what you suggest above, then the Glock probably isn't for you. There are many, many documented cases of Glock pistols that "auto forward", either consistently, or at random. So what are you going to do if/when that happens with yours? Are you going to stand around and throw a fit, or are you going to keep your head in the game and run the gun anyway?

IMHO, you should always expect the unexpected. You should expect your gun/holster/ammunition/gear/rig to do something you don't think it should do, and you should have a contingency in place for when it does. If something as minor as your slide "auto-forwarding" is enough to take your mind out of the fight, then you need to really address the numerous possible issues that could come up with your gun/gear/rig in your training, before you are standing around wondering what to do about them in the middle of a fight.

As for me, I've got two different Glock's that will "auto-forward" from time to time on a reload. The only thing that crosses my mind at that point is, "extend - touch - press........".
 
It is not supposed to do that.

Are you making a statement about the gun's design and engineering, as in "S&W designed the M&P so that the slide is will not close if you whack the magazine."?

If so, S&W disagrees. From page 16 of the M&P Owner Manual, found at http://www.smith-wesson.com/wcsstore/SmWesson2/upload/other/M&P_Pistol_Manual_10-30-10.pdf:

WARNING: DO NOT USE EXCESSIVE UPWARD FORCE
WHEN INSERTING A LOADED MAGAZINE INTO THE
PISTOL. EXCESSIVE UPWARD FORCE COULD CAUSE
THE SLIDE TO MOVE FORWARD, CHAMBERING A ROUND AND
MAKING THE PISTOL READY TO FIRE.​

I interpret this as follows:

(1) S&W acknowledges this is a possible behavior of the pistol when whacking home the magazine. This acknowledgement is sufficient to understand that S&W did not design the pistol's innards such that this is actively prevented. (Examination of the gun's guts also shows this to be true.) Furthermore, their testing and use of the gun shows this can and does happen, and they don't consider it a flaw to be engineered out of the gun.

(2) They clearly state the reason for their warning, which is that the slide may chamber a round, leading to a loaded gun which could fire with negligence or a *real* malfunction, like a protruding firing pin. It should be noted, however, that in the case of a protruding firing pin, the gun may fire regardless of the method by which the slide is closed short of pinching it and sloooooowly closing it -- which none of us do. If you close the slide with the slide release, it will move into battery as forcefully as it does when slamming the magazine causes the slide to close.

At the range, I often slap the magazine home to load my gun. It is not a fault in the gun; and it is not mishandling on my part because I desire and intend for this to happen. I ensure that any risk of an unintended discharge is minimized by proper gun handling. The gun is not pointed at anything I am unwilling to destroy, and I am sure of my target and what is behind it.
 
Just so you all know this to, I sent an email to s&w and they repied. If your gun is doing this send it back so it does not MALFUNCTION, have them fix it.


____________________________________________________
No sir they should not do that.

Regards, Miguel
1-800-331-0852 Ext. 4125


From: -----
Sent: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 4:07 PM
To: Smith & Wesson Support
Subject: M&P question

I am looking into purchasing a M&P 45. I was able to shoot one at my local range. My question to S&W is; Are the M&P pistols’ slide supposed to close automatically when a full magazine is placed into them?
 
I can't imagine the slide closing just from inserting the mag after having just bought a 40c. My slide lock is so tight, it takes real effort to use as a release.

However, like most of my Rugers, I don't use them as a release and I'm not convinced they were intended to be used that way what with their smallish design. Totally unlike the actual slide release on my P91DC. I am loving this pistol though!
 
I can't imagine the slide closing just from inserting the mag after having just bought a 40c. My slide lock is so tight, it takes real effort to use as a release.

However, like most of my Rugers, I don't use them as a release and I'm not convinced they were intended to be used that way what with their smallish design. Totally unlike the actual slide release on my P91DC. I am loving this pistol though!

My M&P40c will "auto forward" without fail, if I insert the loaded magazine
hard enough, and it has since the day I bought it. It's not a matter of the slide lock being "tight" or "loose", rather it is a product of the inertia and the subsequent energy that inertia creates, that has to be dissipated when the loaded magazine is "sent home" with a bit of force. Most semi-autos, regardless of make/model, can be made to "auto-forward" if the mag is inserted firmly enough, especially after they get a bit of wear on the slide-stop lever and mating surface on the slide.
 
Issues with Smith and Wesson

I bought my first S&W revolver Model 19 .357 mag in 1972 and I carried it on duty for 10 years and I have kept the gun ever since. My department then mandated the S&W model 66 for the next five years. We then switched to the Beretta 92F and I carried that for 15 years until I retired. I had carried S&W model 39 and 459 for awhile as alternate weapons but they were not good guns. My department is now switching over to the M&P 40, so I bought one to use in private security work.

I have fired about 200 rounds through it. It auto loads whenever I tap the magazine in, I am not happy with this since none of my semi auto's have ever done this. I also am not happy with the 40 cal round but will keep it since many security jobs call for a CCW with 40 cal pistols.

I shoot an XDM 4.5 9mm in USPSA Limited class and a Glock 17 3rd gen 9mm in Open class. As a former rangemaster, I found that one gun design will not make everyone happy. You need to test what feels right for you. S&W had a poor reputation for building semi autos in the 70's and 80's, that allowed Glock and Beretta to come on strong in the law enforcement market in the mid 1980's. I hope my S&W continues to be free from any problems as my Beretta.
 
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My M&P40c will "auto forward" without fail, if I insert the loaded magazine
hard enough, and it has since the day I bought it. It's not a matter of the slide lock being "tight" or "loose", rather it is a product of the inertia and the subsequent energy that inertia creates, that has to be dissipated when the loaded magazine is "sent home" with a bit of force. Most semi-autos, regardless of make/model, can be made to "auto-forward" if the mag is inserted firmly enough, especially after they get a bit of wear on the slide-stop lever and mating surface on the slide.

You are right. I got mine to do it last night, but it took a REALLY good slap to have this happen. I could see after some time that it could be easier to do.
 
Once again, your guns are not operating correctly if the slide closes when you insert a magazine. "Auto-Forward" is a name given to the malfunction of somebodies gun that does not want to do anything about it. I spoke to S&W, they want you to send in a gun that is not working correctly. They will and have corrected this malfunction on many M&P handguns. The Glock that I picked up today, G17/G3 does not do this. Because of all the people saying it would, I really slammed that mag in there and the slide would not close unless I closed it. The Glock is not Malfunctioning.
 
All 3 of my M&Ps "auto-forward" if I slap the mag in hard. As an IDPA competitor, I LIKE that feature. I have no desire to send it off to get it "fixed". It's just fine like it is.
 
OK, if it is a malfunction and a danger, there seems to be a LOT of malfunctioning pistols out there. Not to disperage my precious M&P, I google Glock slam charge...:D

Anyone can google this, but you will see a couple of hits on this. Just so happens, when I googled and selected a link, it was to a defensive carry website and the first post was about a M&P 40. Followed by three or four people chimming in that their glocks do it and it's normal...

inserting mag/slide goes forward?

I was surprised, well not really, but within that single google hit, there are multiple people saying their gun does it, be it M&P, Glock, HK, Baretta, Bersa etc. I believe their are a couple of people that say that it isn't supposed to do it.

I really don't care one way or the other who is right, I don't have a problem with it, but I'd say eventually, Vector's G17 is going to do it because judging by this one link, there wasn't a single person in there that said there glock never did it.

Anyway, Vector, I hope you're not disappointed in your Glock when it starts to do this. Seems its not a matter of if, but rather when.

I tried my M&P 40c again, it took me 4 tries to get it to close. I could see after the first slam, the slide lock had slid down quite aways. I also tried to no avail on my SR9c, and it didn't give at all. Hmmm, come to think of it, no one in that link mentioned their Ruger would perform a slam charge, guess that makes Ruger the best!:D
 
Ruger is one of the better guns out there.
Iy does not really matter what people say about the slide closing, they may like it or hate it. That is not the point. The point is, it is NOT supposed to do that. The gun is malfuctioning.
 
yeah, I got your point. It just appears Glock isn't immune to it, maybe you'll get lucky. Either way, you have a nice gun, enjoy it.
 
Ruger is one of the better guns out there.
Iy does not really matter what people say about the slide closing, they may like it or hate it. That is not the point. The point is, it is NOT supposed to do that. The gun is malfuctioning.

The point is, just about EVERY semi-auto on the market will/can be made to "auto-forward" under certain conditions. I have two Glock pistols that will do it consistently during quick reloads. I have 2 Bersa pistols that will do it. Even my Para LDA will "auto-forward" if you insert the magazine with enough force.

The bottom line is, if it is your goal to buy a semi-auto pistol that will never "auto-forward", you're going to be looking long and hard because most of them will/can be made to do it. Instead of focusing so much on the condition itself with any pistol, I think time would be much more wisely spent training ourselves to get back into the fight after a reload, regardless of what action it is that causes the slide to go forward.
 
I have 226 SIGS in 9 and 40, XDM9, 1911's, Ruger SR 40c yadayada....my daily carry is a M and P 9c. They are great pistols. Honestly, most of the stuff out there right now is very reliable. If you have issues send yours back, SW will make it right; and so will virtually every manufacturer.
 
So there's been a lot of bashing a lot of guns here...I really don't care what anyone says, when my slide goes forward when I slam the mag in, it's NOT a malfunction, it's what I want and what I expect. So it's a good thing. What I'm concerned about is that no one has commented on the OP's statement about the slide going forward and how it would "make the guy in the next lane's day" if his finger was on the trigger. Why would the guy in the next lane care, unless you had the gun pointed at him when you inserted the magazine? If you did, you probably should not have been at a public range until you learned muzzle control. Your muzzle should have been pointed down range when you were inserting the magazine into the gun, and if it wasn't, you should correct that before your next range trip...
 
S&W says its a malfunction and you are letting them give you a product that does not work correctly. They will keep putting out product that is malfunctioning as long as people like you let them.
 
S&W says its a malfunction and you are letting them give you a product that does not work correctly. They will keep putting out product that is malfunctioning as long as people like you let them.
They "say" that because their attorneys TELL them to say it. It's NOT a malfunction for many/most of us. Watching that "malfunction" in a match was one reason I looked at the M&P. The "malfunction" works quite well for myself and many others. I'd be disappointed if it DIDN'T work that way. I hope they DO continue to put out products with this "malfunction".
 
Now I wonder why their attorneys TELL them to say it. Is it because it is not safe or because its a mistake. I am thinking I am going to believe the people that make the gun than you. They are willing to fix the mistake. Oh, wait a minute, the gun was not designed to do that. Now if the gun was not designed to do that and it does, ummm, what is that called again? It kind of like the gas tank on the 79' Pinto. The gas tank was not designed to explode when it got hit from behind. Was that a cool feature too? Did YOU go out buy the 79' Pinto for that neat feature?
 
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