Disappointed in 40C plastics

[HDBeagle]

I just picked up my new 40C last night (Fire date 5/14) and have a few rough/sharp spots on the plastics.

The bottom of the trigger is uneven, like the left/right molds were not lined up right.

The tool in the bottom of the grip has sharp edges.


The baseplate and grip do not meet with an evenly spaced gap. Doesn't seem to hurt function, just looks a little bad. Guess I don't really care about that part.

The trigger is the most disconcerting and needs to be addressed soon. Any idea how to smoothen those bits without making it look cruddy?

 

[rrich1]

I would contact s&w about it.

 

[Bkreutz]

You could send it back to Smith, a replacement plastic part may or may not be better. I looked at all my M&P triggers (the ones on the guns and the ones in boxes where I replaced it with an Apex) and none of them exhibit any "casting flash". I never inspected the tool/grip retainer when it was new, and all of mine have 5000 rounds minimum through them (one over 60K) so looking now probably isn't a valid observation. None of the magazine baseplates have an even gap. You haven't posted any pictures so how bad it appears is unknown to any of us. Personally I would smooth out any rough spots with a razor knife, a file, or fine grit sandpaper. (or any combination of the 3).

 

[NCW Ray]

Pictures would help us determine if a couple of passes with some sandpaper would suffice or whether a vacation to S&W is warranted.

 

[robkarrob]

A fine file or sandpaper can easily remove any sharp/uneven edges, or you can try to send it back to S&W. S&W has sent back guns with a note that they did not find any issues.

Bob

 

[Rastoff]

I would like some pics please. If you have trouble posting them, you can email them to me and I'll post them for you: [email protected]

I suspect that what you've found is normal. The M&P line is not a "high end" series of guns. They are intended to be produced as inexpensively as possible. The focus is on function, not form. Thus, the gun will work fantastically, but might have some cosmetic irregularities.

Still, I want to see pics. Yours may be far out of spec.

 

[HDBeagle]

Pics

Once again, the grip gap doesn't seem to be a big deal, but after dry firing a bit I have to do something about the trigger. Difficult to get a pic of trigger, but you can see the seam. It is really the variance at the tip of the trigger that is most problematic. Not thrilled about sending to S&W if I could just even it out myself, just not sure of best method to so it. Sandpaper to take off the sharp edge might be enough.

 

[NCW Ray]

Magazine base-plate gap looks about like mine. As for the trigger, it appears to have more of a ridge than my 40, 40c & Shield 40 have. If it's not your only pistol and you don't mind being without it for +-month I'm sure S&W would take care of it. But if it were me I'd take a sharp blade and knock it down and then sand it smooth. If I screwed it up I'd order a new one from Brownells or other supplier for less than $20.

 

[hardluk1]

Now it time for a few minutes of fluff and buff.

 

[Llando88]

Hmm...looks a bit bigger gap than my Oct 13 FS9:

Ref the trigger, I gave up on the OEM trigger and put in a Apex poly trigger. I really like it.

 

[rwsmith]

The sandpaper......except

If it was just sanding off a sharp point I'd do it but it sounds like there is way too much mis-fit on this one. Call S&W.

 

[Rastoff]

The magazine gap looks normal to me. My 45 and 40 and 40c have similar gaps.

Here's a pic of the stock trigger on my M&P .40S&W full size gun:

I don't know if the parting line on mine is larger or more pronounced than yours, but it has never bothered me. Still, it is there. You can see that my trigger has been smoothed ever so slightly by my trigger finger.

If it were something I was concerned with, there are a couple of ways to deal with it. Sand paper is one. Some 400 grit will take that line right out. You should probably follow that with 600 and then 800 grits to make it really smooth. Be sure to use wet sand paper. The water will help carry away the particles and keep the sand paper cutting properly.

Another way to handle it is by scraping. To do this you may have to remove the trigger; maybe not. Take an Exacto knife and hold the blade perpendicular to the trigger. Then lightly scrape along the parting line. Just a few passes should remove it right down to the bulk of the trigger.

Like I said, it doesn't bother me, but I'm not you. If it bothers you, alter that gun to make you happy.