Broken Striker!

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Motorsporting

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My striker/firing pin broke! I couldn't (can't still) believe it. I only have about 6,000 rounds through this firearm - it's barely a year old. The maintenance on this part is 10,000 rounds. I am deeply concerned that S&W continues to make the striker from MIM. I have been shooting for over 2 decades, with a variety of firearms (a LOT of time with 1911s and the last few years with M&Ps), and I have NEVER had a critical "malfunction" like this. I contacted several major manufacturers, and along with Sig, S&W makes their strikers from MIM. According to my information, from contacting customer or technical support, Glock, Walther (PPQ for now, and others forthwith), and Springfield use solid, machined steel. I LOVE my M&Ps, but this might cause me to switch.
 
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what is a MIM striker? and does S&W use a vendor for the strikers w/ all M&P's? or just the weapon that the striker broke on. thanks for the info.
 
bearfoot said:
what is a MIM striker? and does S&W use a vendor for the strikers w/ all M&P's? or just the weapon that the striker broke on. thanks for the info.
Click to expand...



MIM = metal injection molded. Cheaper than investment casting or machining. IF done correctly (heat treating is biggest variable), it's fine for this application.
 
6,000 rounds = 500 rds per month, that's a fair amount of use. Call Smith they will probably send you a new one for free, no big deal.
 
Motorsporting said:
My striker/firing pin broke! I couldn't (can't still) believe it. I only have about 6,000 rounds through this firearm - it's barely a year old. The maintenance on this part is 10,000 rounds. I am deeply concerned that S&W continues to make the striker from MIM. I have been shooting for over 2 decades, with a variety of firearms (a LOT of time with 1911s and the last few years with M&Ps), and I have NEVER had a critical "malfunction" like this. I contacted several major manufacturers, and along with Sig, S&W makes their strikers from MIM. According to my information, from contacting customer or technical support, Glock, Walther (PPQ for now, and others forthwith), and Springfield use solid, machined steel. I LOVE my M&Ps, but this might cause me to switch.
Click to expand...

I'm curious as to where the "10,000" round for maintenance came from....S&W? Thanks
 
First, I also would like to know where the 10,000 round life for the striker came from! The life of all internal parts of guns of any type are usually expressed as "Replace as necessary", rarely based on rounds fired.


Even more important than number of rounds fired is how many times the gun has been dry fired. Contrary to common belief is that dry firing imposes higher stress on many parts and leads to failure. Some older designs will literally break a firing pin or striker in as little as 10-20 dry snaps.


How many times have you dry fired your gun in addition to the 6,000 rounds fired???????
 
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SpartyME said:
All Gen4 and Gen5 Glocks have MIM strikers
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Not according to the "Technical Support" person I spoke to yesterday (at this number: 770-432-1202). I even asked the same question in a different way to see if he understood. He told me, unequivocally, that the striker was a solid piece of machined steel. I would love to know for sure, so if you have a different source of information to share, please do so. I will try calling again and see if the answer changes ...
 
Last edited:
Alk8944 said:
First, I also would like to know where the 10,000 round life for the striker came from! The life of all internal parts of guns of any type are usually expressed as "Replace as necessary", rarely based on rounds fired.


Even more important than number of rounds fired is how many times the gun has been dry fired. Contrary to common belief is that dry firing imposes higher stress on many parts and leads to failure. Some older designs will literally break a firing pin or striker in as little as 10-20 dry snaps.


How many times have you dry fired your gun in addition to the 6,000 rounds fired???????
Click to expand...

My local gunsmith showed me the back of the Armorer's manual where there is a "maintenance schedule." There are near a dozen "services" listed with round counts as the determining factor. As is an asterisk suggesting 30,000 "dry fire cycles" requires a new striker. There is ZERO way I am close to the 10,000 rounds and/or 30,000 dry fire cycles. Additionally, I have M&P 1.0s that are probably well beyond these numbers, without a broken anything.

My LGS replaced the striker assembly for free, since he knows S&W will send him a new one. This reminds me of a quote in Tommy Boy about wanting the "warranty listed on the box" and something like, "all that means is they sold you a guaranteed piece of ____." I'm glad S&W has excellent service, but for a little more money (according to the gunsmith ~$15), they could have invested in a higher quality part. I just posted and shared this as an FYI and to ... vent my concerns.
 
Steve912 said:
That is a surprise. :( Could you post a pic?
Click to expand...

Just the tip...

enhance
 
I'm curious what model suffered the break? All the M&Ps I have are 1.0s. My first, a full size 45 was the only one to suffer a striker break. It had something like 7500 rounds down the pipe, all factory, along with probably at least an equal number of dry fire trigger presses. Back then, the black-anodized strikers were reportedly prone to breakage at some point or another. The silver strikers were supposedly improved. The good news is S&W's factory warranty covers everything from the parts to the shipping involved in getting your pistol repaired. The down side is that you are without your pistol during that time. I am a proponent of backup guns. For what its worth, I had a slide lock spring on a G23 break once, and the slide proceeded to "slide" off the frame during a course of fire. Who carries a spare slide lock spring? I'd never even heard of that spring breaking and I've owned and shot Glocks (a lot) since 1987 when they were hard to give away. All guns are mechanical devices and will fail at some point or another.
 
I have only about 2,500 live rounds through my M&P 45. Even so, I have well over 100,000 dry presses. There is no damage to my striker.

If it does fail, I will call S&W for a replacement.

Dry practice does not damage your gun. S&W has told me on several occasions that it will not and I have not personally experienced any failure because of it. I do a lot of dry practice and my shooting is better because of it. I will continue.
 
You can get a less than stellar part from any type of manufacturing process at one time or another. Railing about MIM-at least the parts S&W uses-is senseless.

I've only seen one Glock firing pin/striker, looked like it was stamped to me.
 
If you want to say it differently Steve912, man up and do it yourself. Don't try to make it look like I said something you want to say.

Dry practice does not damage an M&P. I have the mileage to back it up.
 
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Rastoff said:
If you want to say it differently Steve912, man up and do it yourself. Don't try to make it look like I said something you want to say.

Dry practice does not damage an M&P. I have the mileage to back it up.
Click to expand...

The fact that you haven't encountered something is not evidence
that it is impossible, or false. It just means you haven't seen it.



Did you not post previously that you "always thought" gas tubes
on AR's were aluminum?
 
Steve912 said:
The fact that you haven't encountered something is not evidence
that it is impossible, or false. It just means you haven't seen it
Click to expand...
Rastoff is not just going by his experience; I guess you missed the part where he called the manufacturer and asked them about it several times; have you done that?

What is your position on this, are you saying your personal M&P was damaged by dry fire?
 
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Rastoff said:
If you want to say it differently Steve912, man up and do it yourself. Don't try to make it look like I said something you want to say.

Dry practice does not damage an M&P. I have the mileage to back it up.
Click to expand...

I've heard the same thing from S&W senior execs and my gunsmith, all I'm saying is that in the maintenance schedule in the back of the 2.0 armorer's book that he showed me, there is an asterisk to replace your striker after 30,000 dry fire cycles.
 
Bullet Bob said:
Well, at least the OP isn't "utterly shocked" as he was when he posted this earlier on the 1911forum, so I guess he's feeling better with time. :)
Click to expand...

Nope. Definitely not feeling better. Still shocked that something I represent as so reliable drastically failed. Perhaps you've had other experiences with firearms failing, but after 20 years of shooting, training, and competing, this was my first time. So, yeah, shocked. Thanks for your help.
 
Glock firing pins are most definitely MIM. All you have to do is strip one and look at it. If it was made in the last 7 or 8 years, it will have the characteristic round marks, which I'm told are mold release marks. Glock went to MIM on firing pins, locking blocks and extractors 7 or 8 years ago, well known and documented. I'll also say that most of the people you speak to on the phone at Glock are reasonably clueless and don't know what they are talking about, even some of the "techs".
 
Steve912 said:
The fact that you haven't encountered something is not evidence
that it is impossible, or false. It just means you haven't seen it.
Click to expand...
You're correct, but you also can't prove a negative. What I can say, and prove, is that I've personally seen over a couple hundred guns used by people that I know do regular dry practice. Based on how I do dry practice, I can safely say that those people I know do at least as much as I do. But, if they only did 10% of what I do, it still represents well over 1,000,000 dry presses on handguns. This is no longer a small population statistically speaking.

Out of all that use, not one of those guns has ever broken due to dry practice.

I had an extractor break in my 1911. That was probably due to practicing type 3 malfunctions with snap caps; not caused by dry practice.

I hear of firing pins or strikers breaking and some claim it's due to dry practice, but there's no evidence. It's more likely that the failure is due to improperly hardened metal than too many dry presses. Of the few firing pins I've actually examined, they look more like the result of compression fractures than tension failure.

A long time ago, the hardening process was not as controlled as it is today. A single action hammer that was allowed to slam into the frame, without the slight cushioning the primer provided, could crack the frame. This single type of event has been brought forward and is used to claim that dry practice causes all manner of breakage. I'm sure the same thing could happen in a modern gun, like a 1911, if the trigger is pressed with the slide off; don't do that.

I reiterate, dry practice will not damage your gun. Until I see some proof that it will, I will continue to do and teach to do dry practice. It is the single best way to improve your shooting.
 
bub075 said:
Glock firing pins are most definitely MIM. All you have to do is strip one and look at it. If it was made in the last 7 or 8 years, it will have the characteristic round marks, which I'm told are mold release marks. Glock went to MIM on firing pins, locking blocks and extractors 7 or 8 years ago, well known and documented. I'll also say that most of the people you speak to on the phone at Glock are reasonably clueless and don't know what they are talking about, even some of the "techs".
Click to expand...

I called again today, and yes, this "tech," after putting me on hold, said the striker is "cast." When I pressed, he said "sorry, that's proprietary information." I confirmed by summarizing his answer as, "so all you can tell me is it's a cast part, it's not a single piece of machined steel" and he said yes.

One tech says machined steel, one tech says cast, ... I have found several reports on-line confirming that no one knows for sure. Frustrating.
 
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