Brand new BLEW UP IN MY FACE ON SHOT#16

[smoothshooter]

I purchased a brand new M&P15 yesterday. Was in the process of zeroing this evening. I had fired 15 rounds over about 15 minutes. When I squeezed the trigger next, the gun blew up, knocking my glasses and earmuffs off, and burning my right forearm. As near as I can figure, the round didn't fully seat and allow the chamber to close BUT the gun fired anyway. Much of the gas blew out through the magazine exploding it into pieces and sending unfired rounds everywhere. It scared the **** out of me. I am an army vet and have never seen anything like this. I'm taking it back to dealer tomorrow and expect he will be helpful, but ***....I don't feel comfortable with another S&W. Will probably just get my money back. Is this a problem with this model or did I just get the one in a million?

First off, I seriously doubt the explosive force of the failure is what knocked your glasses and earmuffs off. Your startle response jerking back of your head and turning away from the threat would have been the cause for that when you had a perfectly natural reaction to an unexpected and sudden occurrence that spewed hot gas and various particles in unexpected directions. Your statement that much of the gas escaped down the magazine well confirms this.
I have been present when something like this has happened a couple of times, and while startling to say the least, does not normally result in serious injury to the shooter. Bystanders to the right of the ejection port are a potentially a different matter.
Firing out of battery can happen with several different designs of autos, Glocks being the brand I have the most personal knowledge of. Particularly in .40 caliber.

 

[Ed Fowler]

Most of the firearms were made with safety to the shooter in mind, got to give them credit!

A friend tried to shoot a 308 cartridge in a 20-06 it chambered OK but when he pulled the trigger it blew the shells in the magazine to the ground, the trigger went somewhere and I have the bolt with the cartridge stuck tightly to
the face of the cylinder..

It was a Remington 700, he was not injured just scared. I do not ever stand on the right side of a right handed shooter just for this reason.

Smith & Wesson has been very safety conscious for a long time, I do not own any of the new plastic stuff so cannot speak for them.

 

[bamashooter]

Even better. Go to Google and search:
"whatever you're looking for site:smith-wessonforum.com"

The bolded part is what matters. It restricts your search to this site. It works for any site. Sometimes you need the "www", sometimes you don't.

Also, if you put a + in front of a particular search term it only returns results WITH that term. A minus sign does the opposite.

Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a trail here somewhere that leads back on topic ...

Happy searching.

More times than not you can actually take it further to a specific sub-header. For example: site:smith-wessonforum.com/smith-wesson-m-p15-rifles [search term]

Less the brackets.

 

[GaryS]

That was Pepper Anderson's favorite shooting grip!

I've been shooting DA revolvers double action since the early 1970's and have never read or heard any professional recommend shooting a handgun with a cup and saucer hold. Such a hold does nothing to increase the isometric tension needed to shoot a handgun accurately.

The cup and saucer hold is a sure sign of a newbie, just like holding an AR by its magazine or mag well.

 

[SeniorChief5352]

OP,

Any updates or follow up from S&W yet?

Thanks!

 

[MichiganScott]

The OP's last post was on 1/12 and his last visit to these forums on 1/15. I doubt he'll be back.

 

[Luger9x19]

I sent an email to the OP asking for an update. We'll see if they respond.

 

[Pro2nd]

FWIW.. As far as we know.. this could all be fake..
Could be a S&W hater, or who knows..
Far as I know, someone dropped their riffle, broke the mag, then propped the BCG back a tad, snapped a pic....

Or....... this is real.. who knows man..

 

[g-dad]

The OP's last post was on 1/12 and his last visit to these forums on 1/15. I doubt he'll be back.

The OP was on today @12:15 but no reply. So maybe we'll hear back with a resolution.

 

[Kilminator]

Reply to all

S&W response was No Response. They said they sent letters to dealer, dealer says they didn't. This comes as no surprise to me! S&W is just like everyone else in this country. No personal or corporate responsibility!

I accept my responsibility! I should have done more research. I would have seen that mine is a common problem. Bad design, bad instruction, bad operator....who knows. It just happens a lot! Had I visited this forum or simply googled this rifle, I never would have bought it. My Bad!

As for you folks that want to judge me and espouse your expertise about what "really"happened, turn off your computers and go outside and talk to someone. You aren't nearly as smart as you think you are.

For the folks who offered helpful advise and understanding....thanks

 

[handejector]

S&W response was No Response. They said they sent letters to dealer, dealer says they didn't.

Tell them to send the letters again.
Make sure they have the right address.

It is highly unlikely that they will just keep the rifle and do nothing.

 

[rtquig]

I don't understand what the dealer has to do with this. The gun is under your name and warrantied. They owe you an explanation.

 

[grice]

An AR-15 will fire out of battery if the bolt is close to closing but not fully locked .

Not gonna venture to guess what went wrong but as long as your OK and the gun is warrantied consider yourself lucky.

Engine 49 guy is correct. I wonder if the carrier was wet or dry?

 

[Flyingfool]

Were are all these reported out of battery firing mishaps?

Is this truly a real problem? Is OOB failure rate much higher than other AR's?

What specific safety design features are so different in the sport 2 that are not found in other brand of AR that prevent OOB discharges?

I'm not following what S&W did to a 40-50 year old design that wojld make the sport2 so susceptible to OOB discharge?

It would seem to me that if OOB is so dangerous, and there was something so inherently flawed in the design, in this letigious society, it would be foolishness for S&W to attempt to "cover up" this flaw, rarhwr than own up to it and recall the model. If truly flawed, they risk company ruin completely by not recalling them.

I am in no way saying that any individual mishap was not OOB. I'm just concerned being a sport 2 owner, and trying to make sense of the OOB situation.

 

[rtquig]

After reading the OP's post yesterday, I went back and reread all the posts in this thread. I then went on Google and looked for pages of problems for the M&P 15. There were many articles on the 15/22, but not for the M&P AR 15 Sport or other M&P AR 15's. No pictures, no reason why the firearm was not sent to S&W by the OP. In his last response on 3/1 he has some nasty things to say about knowing better that to buy this platform. Something is not right here.

 

[MichiganScott]

After reading the OP's post yesterday, I went back and reread all the posts in this thread. I then went on Google and looked for pages of problems for the M&P 15. There were many articles on the 15/22, but not for the M&P AR 15 Sport or other M&P AR 15's. No pictures, no reason why the firearm was not sent to S&W by the OP. In his last response on 3/1 he has some nasty things to say about knowing better that to buy this platform. Something is not right here.

I figured he was a drive by when he insisted that he was taking the rifle back to the dealer instead of dealing directly with S&W. His comments yesterday at 3:13 pm pretty much solidify my opinion. S&W takes all kabooms seriously.

 

[C J]

As for you folks that want to judge me and espouse your expertise about what "really"happened, turn off your computers and go outside and talk to someone. You aren't nearly as smart as you think you are.

He pretty much just proved he is someone with a grudge against S&W. They aren't perfect. They make some mistakes. But this is the ONLY example of someone claiming an OOB problem with a S&W 5.56 that I've seen and I have looked. There are lots of examples of the 15-22 having problems. That's well known. But nothing else.

 

[JaPes]

I was thinking of buying some flavor of S&W M&P 15, but this thread says they blow up so I won't. I think I'll assemble my own from the cheapest parts found on the internet.

 

[WVSig]

I love all the blinders that S&W owners put on about their race to the bottom Sport II AR15s. M&P built this rifle to hit a price point. They have modified the configuration from its original offering in order to get production costs down so they can continue to move the metal. It is a budget rifle designed and made to meet a budget price point. There is nothing wrong with that but it is what it is. I do not understand why people are so quick to bash the OP. He didn't call your wife ugly he stated that the gun he bought malfunctioned the first time he went out to shoot it. He is understandably upset and has lost faith in S&W and the rifle he purchased. Why so much hate? Why do so many people refute and disbelieve that this actually happened? Why the need to call someone who you know nothing about a liar and a fraud? Seems pretty petty to me.

The way I read it S&W replaced or repaired the rifle but would not offer an explanation as to what happened. This is to be expected. When there is a failure of this nature it is rare that the company will disclose what possibly could be a defect in the product. Doing so opens them up to liability.

Why the blind allegiance to the brand? S&W like every other manufacturer makes mistakes. S&W has a great track record of correcting them. I can however understand that if you are unfamiliar with S&W and the AR15 platform, which the OP appears to be if you did not get an explanation of what went wrong you might be wary of using a replacement Sport II.

If you have owned guns long enough you have had a gun or 2 that you lost confidence in and sold or abandoned in the back of the safe. Why are so many people roasting this OP? Seems like people have to circle the wagons for some reason as if they themselves are under personal attack. Sorry I just don't get it. It also does not do a lot of good to help attract and keep new members to the forum.

Many people find this forum because they Google questions about S&W guns. Some of those Google searches involve problems or issues. It make perfect logical sense if you are having an issue with a product Google it a look for answers before you act. So they come here and post a question and get roasted by the community. So they leave.

For those who do not think this has happened before with S&W rifles before I direct you to look at this link. Wolf which a lot of budget shooters shoot out of their budget rifles has a warning about M&P rifles firing out of battery. They don't have any such warning about any other brand of AR15. Now I take it with a grain of salt because part of it is a CYA move on their part but the fact they felt the need to publicly post this warning means they have seen more than a few out of battery firings from M&Ps but I am sure those were all drive bys as well.

Advisory - Wolf Performance Ammunition, steel cased ammo, brass ammo,

 

[MichiganScott]

I purchased a brand new M&P15 yesterday. Was in the process of zeroing this evening. I had fired 15 rounds over about 15 minutes. When I squeezed the trigger next, the gun blew up, knocking my glasses and earmuffs off, and burning my right forearm. As near as I can figure, the round didn't fully seat and allow the chamber to close BUT the gun fired anyway. Much of the gas blew out through the magazine exploding it into pieces and sending unfired rounds everywhere. It scared the **** out of me. I am an army vet and have never seen anything like this. I'm taking it back to dealer tomorrow and expect he will be helpful, but ***....I don't feel comfortable with another S&W. Will probably just get my money back. Is this a problem with this model or did I just get the one in a million?

I will attach a couple pictures. They aren't very good. The carrier is stuck in place I assume with the expended round in chamber. The bulk of the energy blew out the magazine well. Thanks for the well wishes....I am very thankful!! I've grown up around firearms and spent 6 years in the army. Ive literally seen hundreds of thousands of rounds go down range, never seen anything like this. It could have been a lot worse.

The weapon was wiped down, and thoroughly inspected prior to loading. The ammo was new factory loads. I bought several boxes at the same time I bought the gun. It is Federal XM193F M193 ball ammo. 5.56mm which is what my rifle is chambered for. There were 16 rounds fired, there were 16 holes in the target. One of the last group fired hit about 10 inches low at 25 yards. I assume this was the final round that was so low because the detonation occurred without the breach being fully closed. My guess but I'm open to other theories. I took the gun to the dealer today and we called S&W together. I documented everything and left the gun with the dealer. S&W asked a number of preliminary questions and sent us a shipping label to return. The dealer agreed with me that the gun detonated out of battery. I expect S&W to contact me when they receive the weapon and make some determination. Thanks for all the concern.

S&W response was No Response. They said they sent letters to dealer, dealer says they didn't. This comes as no surprise to me! S&W is just like everyone else in this country. No personal or corporate responsibility!

I accept my responsibility! I should have done more research. I would have seen that mine is a common problem. Bad design, bad instruction, bad operator....who knows. It just happens a lot! Had I visited this forum or simply googled this rifle, I never would have bought it. My Bad!

As for you folks that want to judge me and espouse your expertise about what "really"happened, turn off your computers and go outside and talk to someone. You aren't nearly as smart as you think you are.

For the folks who offered helpful advise and understanding....thanks

The way I read it S&W replaced or repaired the rifle but would not offer an explanation as to what happened. This is to be expected. When there is a failure of this nature it is rare that the company will disclose what possibly could be a defect in the product. Doing so opens them up to liability.

Uh, no. Reread all four posts by Kilminator. His latest claim is S&W is lying about contacting his dealer concerning the rifle.

I could understand his concern about using another S&W rifle if this truly happened. So far none of his posts indicate that S&W has done anything but accept the rifle back from the dealer. His first post was from 1/11/18. S&W may be backed up right now, but they have always given claims of product defects priority if for no other reason than to protect themselves from bad press on the Internet.