****IMPORTANT CLEANING NOTE FOR ALL****

[DJBiker]

Forgive me if this has been mentioned before, and that this is a long post, being my first here.

****IMPORTANT CLEANING NOTE FOR ALL****

I learned something this weekend the HARD way and wanted to let everyone know about this potential issue so you don't have this problem like I did.

I cannot stress this enough!!!! When you disassemble the M&P pistol for cleaning you know that you have to push down the little yellow sear disconnect lever to get the weapon apart, so now you know what lever I am talking about.

When you finish cleaning the weapon, be SURE the disconnect lever is still in the down position prior to re-assembling your weapon!!!!!!

I cleaned the lower and when wiping the trigger assembly down, I inadvertantly pushed the sear disconnect lever up and without realizing the error, assembled the weapon.

Let me tell you, this was a problem. The slide did go on just fine, however the barrel and guide rod were protruding from the front of the weapon and out of lock. I could not cycle the slide, nor could I get the slide back off. The slide was basically locked in place and would not move more than 1/4 inch in any direction.

The take down lever was loose, and the barrel appeared to have locked in place against the block.

After a lot of cussing, pulling, pushing, and head scratching, I though about the sear disconnect lever. I looked in the grip to see the position of the lever and thought I saw that it was in the down position, however what I was seeing was the magazine safety and not the sear disconnect lever.

Well, let me tell you that accessing the sear disconnect lever with the gun all locked up was difficult at best. I ended up reaching the lever through the ejection port with a cotter pin puller, push the lever down, and the gun came apart easily and then reassembled like it is supposed to.

So, whenever you clean your weapon, make sure that little yellow lever does not get pushed back up when wiping down everything or you will have a real headache to deal with. Now let's go shooting!

 

[hdfinder47]

Thanks for the heads-up. I have a PRO 9 coming and am not familiar with "non Glocks".

 

[BlackRain17]

Thanks for the info.

 

[bloodlord77]

Hmm. Strange. I return the sear disconnect lever to the "up" position all the time when cleaning my M&P's and have never had any problems with reassembly whatsoever. I wonder if yours having the magazine disconnect had something to do with it? Niether of mine have that.

 

[bloodlord77]

Thanks for the heads-up. I have a PRO 9 coming and am not familiar with "non Glocks".

I'm sure that if your familiar with glocks, you'll have no problem with the M&P....Good luck!

 

[TSQUARED]

I never use the sear disconnect lever for takedown of my M&P's. The thought of locking up the gun was enough to frighten me.

 

[OKFC05]

So, whenever you clean your weapon, make sure that little yellow lever does not get pushed back up when wiping down everything or you will have a real headache to deal with.

or just pull the trigger...............don't ever have to touch the sear release if you don't want to

 

[Bicky Robby]

or just pull the trigger...............don't ever have to touch the sear release if you don't want to

What he said. But reminders like this are valuable for new the new shooters who come here for help and advice. Thanks for sharing your problem.

 

[justsumstuff]

Isn't the sear pin a safety To prevent the necissity of pulling the trigger to disassemble the gun?

 

[OKFC05]

Isn't the sear pin a safety To prevent the necissity of pulling the trigger to disassemble the gun?

Yes, it's an engineering attempt to compensate for operator error. It won't stop the people who don't know how to clear a gun (and who don't have a sand bucket to point the gun at when clearing) from shooting holes in the wall. But it helps with manufacturer liability.

Did you ever see anybody clear a gun by racking the slide and then removing the magazine? Boom!
Or someone dryfirng the mirror, then put in the loaded magazine and as an afterthought, take one last dryfiring shot? It happens.

When cleaning or dryfiring, the gun should be cleared at a safe area, and there should be no ammunition in the room. One of the owners of Bond arms killed himself by violating this rule.

 

[busabill1397]

thank you for taking the time to post this tip.

 

[MMac]

After making sure the gun is empty/clear, I find it just much easier to pull the trigger to release the slide than pushing down the sear lever. At least you have the option on the M&P.

Yesterday I cleaned both a Glock & M&P. Only difference was you pull the trigger first on the glock, then release the slide. On the M&P, you lock the slide open and drop the slide release lever, then drop the slide and pull the trigger.

The advantage I see on the M&P is with the slide locked open you can see the gun empty first as you drop the slide release lever and pull the trigger. If you feel uncomfortable pulling the trigger, use the sear lever to release the trigger to pull it off. I didn't realize it may be a problem if the sear pin gets pushed back up before re-assembly, so thanks for the heads up if I do decide to use it.

 

[Fastbolt]

If you don't mind me offering an opinion ...

While I obviously can't be there to see what happened with your specific M&P pistol, I rather doubt the position of the sear disconnect lever had anything to do with your problem.

It sounds more like the takedown lever may have shifted the wrong way while the slide was being reinstalled, allowing the recoil spring assembly to essentially shift the wrong way.

The original sear disconnect lever had a dog-leg angle to it, presumably to make it easier for users/owners to locate and depress it for field stripping. Unfortunately, that angle also made it susceptible to being caught against the slide's pickup (or stripper) rail during reassembly if someone had flipped it back up and forgot to lower it again before putting the slide back on the frame. A change was made to the top end of the lever, making it straight. This may have made it a bit less easy to quickly locate and depress the lever for field-stripping, but it allowed the slide to be installed on the frame with the lever in the "up" position (if it became pushed up during the cleaning process without the user noticing it happen).

Here's an original angled sear disconnect lever in an older sear housing block, alongside a block with the current (straight) lever. The old lever is on the left from the viewer's perspective.

Since the sear disconnect lever only serves to toggle the sear down at the rear and release the striker, it's unlikely its position caused the recoil spring assembly to slip the wrong way off the takedown lever. It does sound, however, like you had the slide on far enough that the sear had caught the striker's foot (since the lever was up and had freed the sear to lift upward at the rear, catching the striker), so you had to depress the sear disconnect lever in order for the sear to release the striker, allowing you to remove the slide, barrel & recoil spring guide and correct the problem.

Sometimes a takedown lever can pivot out of the takedown/reassembly position and make reassembly more difficult than it's intended to be. I've had to occasionally stop while starting to install a slide on a frame, because I suddenly noticed a takedown lever had shifted/rotated a little, and reposition the levers on my own M&P pistols so reassembly would proceed normally and without difficulty. I remember noticing this when I attended the M&P pistol armorer class.

Just my thoughts, anyway.

 

[agksimon]

I had this same thing happen to me yesterday, when re-assembling my M&P9c. I always leave the sear disconnect up and don't usually have a problem. This time, the takedown lever moved out of position and the gun locked up and it was a real @#%#@&% to get the gun back apart. I did manage the get the sear diconnect down and was able to get the slide back off. From now on, I'm pushing the sear disconnect down, before I re-install the slide.

 

[chuck s]

Little levers? We don't need no little levers!

1. Clear the weapon, lock the slide to the rear, and rotate the take down lever clockwise 90°.

2. Ease the slide forward.

3. Pull the trigger.

4. Pull slide off the front of the frame.

To reassemble just put the slide back on the frame, lock to the rear, and rotate the disassembly lever.

-- Chuck

 

[markush]

Hmm. Strange. I return the sear disconnect lever to the "up" position all the time when cleaning my M&P's and have never had any problems with reassembly whatsoever. I wonder if yours having the magazine disconnect had something to do with it? Niether of mine have that.

Mine has the mag disconnect and I too return the sear disconnect lever to the "up" position all the time when cleaning my M&P! Something else is wrong here guys! That lever being up has nothing to do with the OP's problem. All it does it raise and lower the sear. It will have nothing to do with keeping the barrel out of battery or making the recoil rod stick out!!!

 

[tenntucker]

or just pull the trigger...............don't ever have to touch the sear release if you don't want to

That's the way I do it. I never move the lever.

 

[Fastbolt]

Mine has the mag disconnect and I too return the sear disconnect lever to the "up" position all the time when cleaning my M&P! Something else is wrong here guys! That lever being up has nothing to do with the OP's problem. All it does it raise and lower the sear. It will have nothing to do with keeping the barrel out of battery or making the recoil rod stick out!!!

I tend to suspect it's the takedown lever slightly rotating out of position and letting the recoil spring assembly shift and get caught in the wrong position when he's reinstalling the slide on the frame. If the lever is nudged out of the straight/vertical alignment it can cause occasional issues (and frustration) during reassembly.

Kind of like how when the collar of the 3rd gen recoil guide rod isn't precisely positioned in the "nail notch" on the barrel lug during reassembly it can allow it shift and miss catching the frame's circular notch, which pushes the rod out too far and can "lock up" the gun since the parts aren't in the intended positions during reassembly.

 

[ibm_db2]

Thank you, i had some problems too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LedFowl]

I tend to suspect it's the takedown lever slightly rotating out of position and letting the recoil spring assembly shift and get caught in the wrong position when he's reinstalling the slide on the frame. If the lever is nudged out of the straight/vertical alignment it can cause occasional issues (and frustration) during reassembly.

If I understand right, I've accidently done it. In my case, I couldn't move the slide at all; the OP says he could move it about a quarter inch. The takedown lever was stuck so tight I had to tap it down carefully using a mallot.

Stuck, it looked like this:

Not my most shining moment. I'm certain I'll do it again, too.