Disappointed with my M&P 22 Compact

[dsk]

I've had one of these since they first came out. To date I've put maybe two or three thousand rounds through it. Not one of my most frequent shooters, but nor is it a safe queen. I've mostly used it to teach new shooters rather than shooting it a whole lot myself. Function-wise it's been very reliable, but.....

The first issue I had with it was extreme barrel leading. Repeated application of JB Bore Compound on tight patches smoothed it up enough that the problem has mostly gone away.

Second problem was the roll pin in the slide walking out. Eventually I put some Loctite green on it and it now stays put for a few hundred rounds before starting to walk out again.

Then a couple days ago I took it out to the range, and I couldn't hit a steel plate to save my life. I came home and looked at it, and discovered that the rear sight shifted in its dovetail. Firm finger pressure moved it back over. It's plastic so I don't know what I can use to secure it.

At the same time however I noticed the thumb safety had gotten very mushy. Not a firm on-off click like usual. I played with the safety a few more times and..... it went completely limp. Just flopping around. Turns out it uses a flimsy leaf detent spring, which broke.

I looked online and there's nowhere that I can purchase a %#@*! $0.50 cent spring anywhere. I plan to call S&W and see if they can send me one, otherwise I'm debating if it's even worth spending the money on shipping to send it back to them for repair.

 

[swsig]

My 1.0 M&P 40c needed repairs at around 10,000 rounds. S&W took it back, made the repairs, and returned it to me at no charge. They even paid for overnight shipping both ways via Fedex. You shouldn't be out any money for the repairs or shipping. Contact customer service and get a repair authorization. They'll email you a prepaid shipping label. Good Luck!

 

[DUSTYDOGDAN]

I think if you explain to S&W that this is a pistol that you teach new people to get into shooting with a product they make that S&W will pay for shipping both ways and the repair will be a no charge.
I own a M&P Compact but to be honest I have only fired 300 or 400 rounds through it because we have a little Browning 1911-22 I teach new shooters with.

 

[dsk]

Yes I plan to call them Monday. I'm just annoyed that I can't even buy the spare parts for it. Hopefully they'll either send me a shipping label or at least be willing to throw a couple of springs in an envelope.

 

[Dave Lively]

Hopefully they'll either send me a shipping label or at least be willing to throw a couple of springs in an envelope.

The Shield Plus I bought a few months ago had a dead front night sight. I expected them to ask for the gun back but they just sent me the sight which is what I wanted. About 7 years ago I wanted a new rear sight on my S&W 69 because with heavy loads it shot low even with the sight bottomed out. They insisted I ship the whole gun back. The sight was replaced quickly and at no cost to me except for the hassle of shipping the gun back, which was a big exception.

I seem to recall Fedex changed their shipping policy a few years back so all handguns had to be shipped overnight instead of ground. If that is correct the added cost might explain why S&W is more open to shipping parts instead of guns.

Either way I hope you get the gun repaired quickly. My 22 Compact has been very reliable and trouble free.

 

[lihpster]

I bought mine used, but it appeared unfired. I never shot it, just held it and manipulated the safety. My safety has broken the same as yours. I will be sending it back, just extremely busy at the moment. Hope your situation gets taken care of in a satisfactory and expedited manner.

 

[ImDrRich]

I think Roll Pins are a big problem. I've had two back out of my M&P V.2 9mm subcompact, complained to S&W, and they happily sent me two new ones. Those required very little time prior to backing out again.

I wonder if solid pins would be better?

 

[dsk]

I've previously owned two guns with solid pins that would back out whenever I shot them... a Beretta .25 and a Uberti 1866. The problem is usually an undersized pin or oversized hole. Or in the case of roll pins, poor quality of the spring steel resulting in insufficient tension. That's why when you remove a roll pin you're normally supposed to replace it with a fresh one, as the old one has likely fatigued from use.

 

[dsk]

Called S&W today... it's on its way back to the mothership. They gave me a pre-paid label. I'll give them the list of issues with it and see what they say/do.

 

[dobegrant]

Hopefully they sort all the issues out and return it quickly.

 

[Rodan]

My M&P .22 compact has been just about flawless. It's one of my favorites, especially suppressed, and nearly always finds its way into the range bag. I normally shoot CCI SV through it.

The only issue for me was the factory rear sight design, which ejects the sight blade on a frequent basis. A set of sights from Dawson Precision was an easy and permanent fix.

 

[dsk]

Mine's been extremely reliable function-wise, the issues I've had notwithstanding. That's why I've used it as a training gun, because there's less chance of a malfunction interfering with the student's concentration or causing a safety issue. For pure shooting fun though I've been relying mostly on my SIG P322, simply because it holds twice as many rounds and has a better trigger. But reliability-wise the Smith still smokes it.

 

[Pubtym]

I have the M&P-22 Compact. I have about 500rds of CCI mini-mag through it. No problems.

 

[Gman556]

My 1.0 M&P 40c needed repairs at around 10,000 rounds. S&W took it back, made the repairs, and returned it to me at no charge. They even paid for overnight shipping both ways via Fedex. You shouldn't be out any money for the repairs or shipping. Contact customer service and get a repair authorization. They'll email you a prepaid shipping label. Good Luck!

What were the repairs they had to do?

How was the accuracy at 10,000?

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Buying an all metal .22 pistol will cure all your problems.

 

[kstewart61]

Not every gun is perfect there always a bad build. I purchased a Walther ppks 22lr brand new long story short and 3 trips back to Walther is works flawlessly now not a problem. Only reason I didn't get a new one was none were available at the time but everything was replaced didn't cost me a dime.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

 

[Rodan]

Buying an all metal .22 pistol will cure all your problems.

Not hardly...

I have seen plenty of issues with "all metal" .22 handguns. Just search "model 41 problem" here on this forum and I'm sure you'll have plenty of reading...

 

[buckshotshorty]

I would not complain about a broken spring @ 3000 rounds. In any event, Smith will fix it at no cost to you.

 

[dsk]

Buying an all metal .22 pistol will cure all your problems.

My only all-metal .22 pistol is a Llama XV, and it has had a lot of problems. Still fun to shoot, but it never goes through a range trip without several jams.

 

[Dave Lively]

Buying an all metal .22 pistol will cure all your problems.

Over the last 30 years I have owned a Browning Challenger 3, S&W 41, Walther TPH, Taurus 94, S&W 617 and a Compact 22.

The Challenger 3 had an occasional misfeed, my S&W 41 is very finicky about what ammo it will work reliably with, the TPH was doing good to get through a magazine without a jam, the Taurus had to go back to the factory twice for timing problems and a barrel that started twisting in the frame and my 617 starts to have really stick extraction when I shoot CCI standard velocity or any other ammo with a plain lead bullet.

My 22 Compact is reliable with any high or standard velocity ammo I have tried. Metal has no advantage over polymer when it comes to making a reliable and durable 22.

My biggest complaint with it is that it is a lot harder to shoot well than my 41 and 617. Both of those guns shoot so well I am willing to deal with their fickle ammo preferences.