Duh... Slide locked back without recoil spring

[Rastoff]

And this condition could not be resolved by lifting up on the chamber? Maybe a few taps on the back of the slide with a nylon mallet?

The reason I ask is, if the barrel could get stuck this way without the recoil spring assembly, could it possibly do this with the recoil assembly installed?

Just trying to see if we've possibly found a flaw, however unlikely, in the overall design. If the gun could possibly do this when fully assembled, it would be a catastrophic failure in a self defense situation. If it can be 100% eliminated by a tiny correction in barrel design, it would be worth it to S&W and anyone counting on this gun.

 

[Jyezahn]

And this condition could not be resolved by lifting up on the chamber? Maybe a few taps on the back of the slide with a nylon mallet?

The reason I ask is, if the barrel could get stuck this way without the recoil spring assembly, could it possibly do this with the recoil assembly installed?

Just trying to see if we've possibly found a flaw, however unlikely, in the overall design. If the gun could possibly do this when fully assembled, it would be a catastrophic failure in a self defense situation. If it can be 100% eliminated by a tiny correction in barrel design, it would be worth it to S&W and anyone counting on this gun.

No, could not get it resolved that way, as once the locking lug dropped down, there was a wedge effect. I imagine using a mallet on the rear of the slide COULD be effective, but you risk damaging the locking block. It's much easier and safer to just remove the pins. With the recoil spring assembly installed, there is no way the locking lug can drop down that far, as there is no room for it to do so. Not to mention, when the gun is fully assembled, the take down lever pin is in a different position, which I'm sure also prevents the barrel from dropping down that far as well. Taken as a whole, no recoil assembly, take down lever pin flat, barrel dropped all the way down, slide farther to the rear than normal, it's just one of those things that the conditions were right. The gun was designed to operate fully with ALL parts, not with just SOME.

FWIW, you can never make anything 100% reliable, as anything can happen at any given time, if the conditions are right.

 

[Mackley87]

My father has the same issue now. He had to take the recoil spring out in order to ship it for oconus PCSING for the military and when he reassembled..BOOM! Can't get the upper receiver to go forward. I sent him the link to this forum but he's still having issues. Does anyone have a video or know of a similar video that could help out an old timer with a brand new M&P 9?