Random failure to feed with M&P 2.0 Compact

[Dave Lively]

I own 2 M&P Compacts. The first I bought right after the 2.0s became available and has a few thousand rounds through it without a single failure of any type.

The second is an OR version with a Holosun 507C I bought to give shooting with a red dot a try. It has about 700 rounds through it and was also 100% reliable until my last trip to the range where it had a single failure to feed that required my giving the slide a push to chamber the round. Ammo was 147 grain Speer Lawman which is IMO good quality FMJ practice ammo. Gun was clean before I started shooting it and the FTF occurred about 120 rounds into the range session.

Guns are mechanical devices and no mechanical device is 100% reliable. One random failure out of hundreds of rounds fired does not mean the gun is unreliable, particularly when the cause is unknown. But despite that it bothered me enough that I marked the magazine and plan to run more rounds through that particular mag using the same ammo next visit to the range. This is my home defense gun so its being reliable is much more important than it would be on a range gun. But a single failure is not going to make me switch to using a different gun for home defense.

How much would a single failure bother you? Would you accept it as a normal part of shooting and go on as if it hadn't happened? Try to duplicate it by shooting more of the same ammo through the same magazine? Use a different gun for home defense until you verify there is not a problem?

 

[Bozz10mm]

My M&P 2.0 Compact has been totally reliable through 1400 rounds. Not a single malfunction from day 1. If I were to have a single feed malfunction tomorrow, I wouldn't lose faith in the reliability of the firearm. Perhaps it has something to do with the extra weight of the red dot on the slide. Or perhaps just an under powered round.

 

[Beju]

I would chalk 1 out of 120+ up to an out of spec round, or if I was doing drills, maybe my grip was a bit off, perhaps adding drag to the slide, slide stop, etc.

Lawman isn't bottom tier import ammo but any means, but it's probably also not getting the level of QC that Gold Dot does.

 

[hardluk1]

Plunk test a few rounds of the problem ammo to be sure it passes that test .

 

[SFury79]

With that many rounds through the gun I would not give it a second thought. Especially if I put more rounds through the gun with no issues.

 

[dajogejr]

Wouldn’t bother me one bit. But… the first thing I do with any pistol, and any new mags…
Silver Sharpie, and number them. Number, dots, whatever suits your fancy. Old habit, I always number them with a sharpie.
If you had to remove it, Hoppes 9 and a cotton Q tip take it off like nothing.

 

[stansdds]

Could have been a round with a bur on the rim of the cartridge that dragged on the breech face.
Could have been some debris around the extractor/extractor spring which prevented it from pivoting to allow the round to fully chamber.
If the round was not already entering the chamber when the failure occurred it could have been the case mouth catching on an edge.
Did your thumb make accidental contact with the slide or slide stop and slow the slide just enough to induce a failure?

 

[Dave Lively]

Did your thumb make accidental contact with the slide or slide stop and slow the slide just enough to induce a failure?

No, an M&P is a large enough gun that it is easy to hold without that sort of issue.

 

[BBMW]

I wouldn't worry, but I'd watch. That could easily be one out of spec round. If that mag, gun combination works with other ammo cleanly, I'd be okay with it. I'd shoot a few mags of your carry ammo through that mag/gun and see if there are any hiccups. If there were, then I'd worry.