M&P's Auto Forward

[Houdini1953]

At least you have the manual and have read it and this is the third red warning on page 16 of the manual.

While I am used to racking the slide when qualifying for a carry permit I slammed the magazine and chambered a round and automatically ejected it by immediately racking the slide and had to re-chamber the round I ejected onto the range floor.

So now I pay attention to what is happening to my slide when I insert a magazine, actually the auto forward to me is a good thing even if you waste a round out of 17 or 18 if you carry like I do ready to go with the pull of a trigger!

 

[viper7342]

My yet to be fired M&P 40 does the auto slide release too.

 

[Houdini1953]

So go shoot your gun

Your gun is just sitting around not doing anything at all you need to pay attention to it and let it shoot a few rounds, ya gotta wear the new off it sometime so go ahead and shoot it already!

 

[bgjr1966]

I have several semi-auto pistols mostly Smith's, I can make any of them do this on a mag change, and I agree it is a benefit in competitive shooting. I tried it with my new M&P 9, and found that with only 6 rounds in the magazine, I could slam the magazine home, and the slide would go forward, but NOT strip the top round off the mag. This does not help in competitive shooting or real life. Based on this fact I made the decision to abandon this practice, and go back to my training and manually rack the slide. It is my opinion, that if this was in fact a design feature, it would work 100% of the time, with any number of rounds in the magazine. Just my 2 cents.

 

[missiondude]

I have several semi-auto pistols mostly Smith's, I can make any of them do this on a mag change, and I agree it is a benefit in competitive shooting. I tried it with my new M&P 9, and found that with only 6 rounds in the magazine, I could slam the magazine home, and the slide would go forward, but NOT strip the top round off the mag. This does not help in competitive shooting or real life. Based on this fact I made the decision to abandon this practice, and go back to my training and manually rack the slide. It is my opinion, that if this was in fact a design feature, it would work 100% of the time, with any number of rounds in the magazine. Just my 2 cents.

I would like to see a video of it not striping a round. I have never had it happen with anywhere from 1 to 10 rounds in the magazine. I have done it hundreds of times, as has my wife. The only way I see this hapening is if you jar the pistol enough finding the magwell, as opposed to the mag bottoming out. I can slap the magwell with my bare hand and no magazine and get it to auto forward.

 

[bgjr1966]

I will do some testing at the range this weekend and report back. I gave it some more thought, and I may have had the not stripping the top round off the magazine issue, with my 5926.

More info to come.

 

[Jman78]

Hello all,

This is my first post, so i will apologize if i am not familiar with the local forum jargon.

I just picked up my M&P 40c and shot it today. I did experience the auto-forwarding on both of the mags that came with my M&P. I will say that i did not read the manual before shooting, and found the auto-forwarding to be a little un-nerving to say the least. I thought something was wrong with my new toy. Found this thread and read the manual and saw that others are having the same "issue".

I say "issue" cause according to S&W, and some forum members here, this is normal with a hard mag insertion. I just tried it with my mags partially( 3 and up would trigger the auto-forward) loaded. I tried inserting the mag nice and easy and the slide would remain locked.
If i slammed her home, she would release the slide.

Now i have had firearms for the last almost 20 years. I have had Glocks, Rugers, Colts, and Sig handguns. This has never happened to any of my other pistols. So i guess we are still on the fence with this "issue".

I must say that the M&P does have a bit more kick than my Glock 23, but also it is a little smaller and has a shorter barrel, so i am sure that accounts for some of the additional kick i experienced.
The gun is still not unpleasant to shoot, but i wouldn't hand it to my grandmother.

The gun functioned flawlessly with the 50 rounds i put through it, and look forward to shooting it some more to get use to it. I guess i will characterize the M&P slam auto-forwarding a M&P characteristic and try my best to adapt to it until, either the "problem" is addressed by S&W, or i learn not to slam it in.

Also, does anyone know why S&W didn't bother to include two pinky extensions with both of the mags ? When i first started to shoot with the non-extension mag, i felt like it would fly out of my hand, and had to adjust my grip on it. I suppose that the full size mags with the grip extension installed will cure this issue i have with this unfamiliar pistol.

Oh well, live and learn right ? I'm off to play with the grip adapters to find my comfort zone. I will add this site to my daily routine of browsing, and look for any other updates to this thread.

 

[growr]

All 4 of my M&P's have this trait and as an active USPSA/IPDA competitor I REALLY like that as a feature. Don't know where some feel that it is unsafe however.
Don't know if it was really designed to do that or if it is a side benefit, regardless I LIKE it!

Randy

 

[LifeTimeRiches]

When you insert a loaded mag and slam it into it with the slide back sometimes it auto loads and releases the slide stop. I also called S&W on this after watching videos on YouTube and they told me it is an M&P gun, imagine you are in a gun battle and you need to load a new mag fast! The slide lock is meant to auto load the round, it could be the fraction of a second between life and death. I am in the air about that with many others confused if that is just a flaw in the gun. But, then again S&W came up with a good argument of why it does that. My opinion is if its meant to do that then why do you have to SLAM it in.

 

[jdh]

I've had Glock's prefection do it
About half of the issue Ruger P89 at the agency I retired from would do it.
A 1911 target with a very light recoil spring did it.
Just to name a few.

 

[Jman78]

I was playing with the M&P and my Glock 23. I noticed that if really slam in a mag in the G23, it will auto load. The M&P was much easier to auto load then my glock. When i went to the range yesterday with the M&P, i wasn't really slamming the mag in during a reload. Just a firm insert.

I was looking at the smith last night and compared the magazines with my glock's this morning. On the Smith i noticed that maybe the slide release bar extended a little to far in to the breech area, and could be bent slightly to get it out of the way. Or maybe(easier and less risky) the follower on the magazines could be trimmed down a hair or two with a small file. This could facilitate the right tolerance to not auto load, upon a hard (or normal as it seems to be in other pistols) magazine insertion.

The mag follower on the Smith seems to really be pronounced when compared to the glock's. I really noticed this when at the range and loading the magazine. That first round had to be fumbled with to load it in, the rest went in fine and loaded to capacity with out a problem.

I will try to contact S&W and see if i can get an extra follower for my magazine and try to file it down, and see if this is a cheap fix for this "issue/benefit." I will post back once i get it done.

 

[Lost Lake]

I just picked up my M&P 40c and shot it today. I did experience the auto-forwarding on both of the mags that came with my M&P.
I just tried it with my mags partially( 3 and up would trigger the auto-forward) loaded. I tried inserting the mag nice and easy and the slide would remain locked.
If i slammed her home, she would release the slide.

I guess i will characterize the M&P slam auto-forwarding a M&P characteristic and try my best to adapt to it until, either the "problem" is addressed by S&W, or i learn not to slam it in.

If I take an M&P with no magazine and smack the mag well I can get the slide to release. I have no idea why that would bother someone, but each to his own I guess.

I'd be a lot more worried about only getting two mags with your gun. All mine came with three...

 

[Lost Lake]

Follow up post....

Just picked up a new M&P 9c yesterday and I can tell you this one won't auto forward.... I can't even release the slide with one hand. I have to either pull the slide back or use two thumbs to push down both release levers at once. The slide lock must have a burr on it or something because it locks against that slide HARD.

Magazine count in the box: 2 mags with pinky extension and 1 mag with the flat plate.

 

[NCW Ray]

If I take an M&P with no magazine and smack the mag well I can get the slide to release. I have no idea why that would bother someone, but each to his own I guess.

I'd be a lot more worried about only getting two mags with your gun. All mine came with three...

I had an officer doing this with his Sig P229 40 with partially loaded magazines and the magazine spring would compress just enough when he "slammed" the magazine into the gun to cause it to not feed a round. I would call that quite bothersome.

 

[Lost Lake]

Well, I got the new 9 to "auto load".

Even with the super stiff slide lock, it will release when a mag is slapped in.

 

[45caldan]

My brand new M&P 9c does NOT do this.....
came with 2 mags

 

[Chevayea]

My new M&P 9c does about half the time. More specifically, it has a harder time auto forwarding when I use full size factory magazines opposed to the compact 12rnd. Not sure what the difference is but it is more reliable on the comapact...by reliable I mean it is more likely to auto forward. This is a feature that I like and would prefer it happen all the time.

 

[SoCalDep]

I had an officer doing this with his Sig P229 40 with partially loaded magazines and the magazine spring would compress just enough when he "slammed" the magazine into the gun to cause it to not feed a round. I would call that quite bothersome.

This will happen with M&P's too. I've seen it myself four times. It requires an "excessive" slam, but it can happen.

 

[WGSNewnan19]

youve got to remember something - the full magazine is not pressing on the slide stop. it is being held only by the tension of the slide. when you smack the magazine in you are forcing the gun to go away from the slide stop. remember it is just floating and is released by the inertia of the gun going the other way. its kinda like removing the slide plate from a revolver. you dont hit the plate or pry it - you simply hit the frame with your hammer away from the plate and it comes off. the forcing of the frame away from the slide stop causes it to release. with strong recoil springs and unworn slide notches it makes it more difficult but it will become easier over time with more wear and usage.

 

[Racerg]

My new m&p 9c auto releases consistently. A little unnerving at first, but I feel better knowing I am not alone. I never had this feature on my SW99 that I have had for the last 12 years. thanks all for sharing.