M&P 45acp Magazine Insertion Interference Problem

[mbrodack]

Folks- I hate to say it, but my affection for my M&P 45 semi-auto pistol is starting to wane. I almost have gotten over the rough trigger movement & weight, but the pistol has an worsening issue when inserting a magazine. The leading upper-right corner / edge of the magazine is interfering with the magazine release tab inside the magazine well, sometimes preventing the mag from sliding in a little more than half way (I have five of the S&W stainless steel mag's & the problem occurs with all of them). If I slightly depress the mag release while sliding the mag in (a real trick to get the timing right!), or manipulate the mag either by slightly rotating it counter-clockwise, or by angling it away from release's internal tab, the mag will fully seat & operates normally from then-on. Problem is that it appears there is excessive clearance & play in the mag well itself allowing the mag too much movement inside the mag well causing it to catch the underside of the mag-release tab itself. I fear the mag-well portion of the molded plastic lower is slightly out of spec or distorted. I can't comfortably do any kind of tactical reload or even a moderately quick insertion- this is not good. No diferecne with the slide rearward or forward. The gun is about 3 months old and I've shot about 1000 rounds; I've not dropped it, modified / or otherwise done anything more than range shoot. I've completed 2 thorough cleanings so far with no change (it's getting worse). I'm upset as I chose the M&P after shooting the daylights out of about 20 other semi-auto's and fell in love with one of my gun shop's demo M&P's. I bought my 45acp expecting the same overall general performance & trigger feel that the demo had. I'm planning on bringing the 45 to my dealer tomorrow and see if they have any suggestions and or advise if the I need to look into a warranty service with S&W. -Anyone have any suggestions (and no, I'm not going to file down the release tab!)?

 

[B P S]

I experienced the same thing when I switched the magazine release to left handed release, At first, every once in a while a mag would hang up. Since I figured out what was causing the problem I insert the mag the same way every time & it goes in without a problem.

Practice at home or at the range, what works & what doesent & then repeat what has worked, til its just second nature to feed the mag in the same way every time.

Best of luck, Lee

 

[insomniac]

call Smith and send it back, they'll fix it no prob.

sky is not falling.

these things sometimes happen with any mass-produced product.

i know you already stated that you're not going to try to fix yourself, but why not? if you look in there and can see what's happening, i'd bet that two or three strokes with a good file would solve your problem.

if you live in central FL, bring it over and i'll do it for ya

 

[GKC]

I've never had an issue like this with any of my M&Ps. I'd suggest that you call S&W, they will send you a shipping label, and they'll fix it and have it back to you in a few weeks. That will be a lot better time spent than tinkering with it yourself, or having to learn a workaround to compensate for an out-of adjustment pistol.

 

[Maddmax]

I have zero problems with mine. Call S&W and they'll pick up the tab both ways and get it fixed. If it's doing the same thing with all 5 mags,something is wrong inside your handgun. They are actual S&W mags right ? Not a knock-off brand...

Also,write down what you just told us and include it with the weapon when you send it in.

 

[dfhawkins]

+1 on each of the folks that recommend sending it back to S&W. Take advantage of their willingness to make it right. You don't see that kind of business philosophy every day and Smith still goes the extra mile for their customers. Politely state the problem, get the gun back to them on their dime, be patient, and they will certainly help you understand why so many of us choose S&W over others. Here's where I guess I'm supposed say YMMV (not that I really think it will ).

 

[Rastoff]

I can sympathize with you. I absolutely hate shipping a new product back for repair. It should work from the box. Still, S&W has the best customer service of most gun companies. They will pay for shipping and get it back to you within 2 weeks. That's good service if you ask me.

 

[mbrodack]

M&P 45acp Magazine Interference No More!

Thanks to all for your genuine advice. FYI- I called S&W warranty center and the rep I spoke with advised they had been on a 10-day shutdown for the Holidays and are now just returning to a bit of a backlog. Would be about 2-3 weeks turnaround, but he was more than willing to help me & look at my pistol as well as take care of the FedEx costs to & from S&W central. I figured before going that route I'd try my dealer and spent some time with their S&W certified tech guy (thanks, Brandon!) He found the problem is with my magazines, not the pistol (yeh!). Tried some brand new mag's & they work like they're supposed to with no issues. Appears the mag's I had are an older series without a tiny chevron-shaped detent which S&W apparently now stamps in the upper-leading corner of their more recent production magazines for the M&P (45 only?). This apparently provides for just enough extra clearance so the mag won't hang-up on the mag-release tang when being inserted biased / off-center. The other 3 mag's I had were used, and were of the older production style without the chevron detent (these mag's were the ones I believe I was unknowingly using the most this past weekend and were the ones giving me the most trouble). These old-timers also appear to have some roughness on the upper edge, probably from some prior hard use. I'm going to lightly file & polish the leading edge & upper corner of the 3 older mag's which should hopefully mimic the newer production's more chamfered design. Nonetheless I'll probably still will only use the older mag's for casual range shooting where I'm not pushing any speed (loading) envelopes. By the way, the M&P shot great today while I was at the dealer's indoor range afterwards! Thanks again everyone…. MB

 

[GKC]

I figured before going that route I'd try my dealer and spent some time with their S&W certified tech guy (thanks, Brandon!) He found the problem is with my magazines, not the pistol (yeh!).

I'm glad you got it resolved! Interesting problem...and the way things work for me, you'd probably have sent it in with the one new/working magazine, and S&W wouldn't have been able to find a problem. You'd get it back, and still have problems when you used the other magazines.

Lesson learned for us all: when we have a problem related to magazines, we need to make sure to note if it occurs with them all, some of them, or just one.